Going For Gold

I have been a big slacker about keeping my blog updated and apologise... life seems to get in the way! At any rate here is the progress of my newest piece of a cat stalking some goldfinch. I have titled it "Going For Gold" size 18"x24"

Pyrography - the art of woodburning

While this blog is mostly about my scratchboard, I have taken a recent dabble into wood burning, also known as pyrography.

I did a bit of burning back about 8 or 9 years ago with a cheap woodburner bought at a local craft store for about $25.  It was a lot of fun and at the time I was relatively happy with the results, but I also knew that higher quality wood burners existed where you can control the temperature and use more variety of tips to get different effects (as well as much better results).  So a better wood burner has been one of those things that I had thought about getting on many occasions, but it never became a top priority of my disposable income.  Anyways this year when my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas... finally that was what I told them.  My Dad is a woodworker, and has been for longer than I have been alive, so I knew he would know where to get one!  They got me an optima 2 burner and it comes with a couple of tips.  It is so fun to work with and I am hooked!

This was my first project with it and I was amazed how many similarities it shares with scratchboard, so it felt very natural and easy to me, though there is still plenty for me to learn and certain mistakes I hope not to make next time.  I am already planning my next project with it.

As you see it here is about life size.  It was just a small 5" x 8" blank (at least the working area).  The wood is basswood and I purchased it at hobby lobby, a local craft/art store chain.  I liked the natural look with the bark on.  However I am looking forward to working much larger (this small size was tough to get the details all as I wanted them with the size tips I have right now) and with a variety of different woods to see what I like.

I titled the piece "Caterwaul"  and this is it as a work in progress until what I am calling completed (though I may still mess with it a bit more)

Finished!!

"September Serenade" is officially completed and varnished and has taken a road trip to Boulder to Mary Williams Fine Art, one of the galleries that carries my work.  Now it is a waiting game to see if her client likes the piece.  If not I will bring it home and likely send it to some competitions or shows.  You can see the full view of the piece on my web site with the zoomify feature.  I also addedother new works,  Vinni and Takin' A Lickin',  to my web site.

After heading to Boulder I went up to Rocky Mountain National Park and it was snowing, but I still found a herd of bull elk.  It was fun to photograph them in the blowing snow.  I have not had a chance to look at them yet, but I guess you could say it was an elk kinda day.

Elk piece almost done

Last week I got to spend in Tennessee teaching a teacher in-service to 50 art teachers.  Almost everyone seemed to enjoy the class and many were excited to take the medium back into their classrooms to teach.  It was also fun to see the variety of styles and personalities come out in the pieces they created.

This week I felt determined to finish up the large elk, "September Serenade", which is a 2'x3' board.  The background gave me some problems, as seems to be normal for me and backgrounds, but I am fairly happy with how it finished up.  The steamy breath got ousted and a more complete background emerged.  I have signed it and am pretty much calling it done, though may tweak it a bit more tomorrow if I see anything that bugs me.  It is always a balancing act of trying to keep your main subject front and center vs having enough background to make the animal part of its natural environment.

One of my Christmas presents this year was a quiet air compressor to use with my airbrush indoors.  I've already used it a little bit and laid out a white clayboard (uninked scratchboard) for a project, but have to finish up some other stuff (couple of small commissions) before I will be making major strides on that one.

Steaming it up

Well I am still working on Serenade... background trees I am leaving fairly simple and somewhat similar to my other elk piece "The Challenger" on the off chance that they sell as a pair. 

I decided to give this guys some steamy breath to balance the left side of the board.  Not 100% done yet, but inching closer.  The steam is created with very fine grit sandpaper.

New work

While the elk piece is on a wee bit of a standstill I did manage to finish up a smaller piece (12"x12")  I am usually pretty good with titles, but nothing is coming to me for this one so I welcome suggestions.

As most of you know usually eyes are my favorite part of the animal to do so I don't often choose photos where the eyes are not a prominent feature, but I really liked the curve of the neck into the head and then the tongue rounding it out.  It just makes a really nice circle for MY eyes.  I hope you enjoy it too.

scratch, scratch, scratch

My cold seems to be clearing up and more energy to work on this one.  I am nearly done with ehelk, but there will be some subtle background elements still to go.

More Serenade

Some progress on the elk, though not moving on it as quickly as I would like with work, holidays and now a cold :(

September Serenade

I have started a new 24"x36" board of a bull elk, at the request of a collector.  It has the potential of being pre-sold if she likes the end result.  Keep your fingers crossed for me... but I guess if she doesn't like it hopefully some one else will down the road!

I am finding the angle on the head to be more difficult than I expected, in part because my primary reference is not as clear as it could be and I don't have any other photos at quite this angle.  Oh well, I will get it all sorted out.

Here is a bit of detail from the face area.  There are a LOT of lines on the face, building up the values slowly in order to get it just the way I want.

These big boards take time and with aprospective buyer on the elk my pair of wolves has been put on hold for now, but here is a bit of an update on them too.



Colored and Finished!

"The Naturalist" is now officially DONE!

14"x11"
scratchboard and ink
timber wolf and painted lady butterfly

To view it at 100% check out the zoomify version at: http://www.aphelionart.com/zmnaturalist.html


 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Limited edition prints are available as well as the original!

Happy Halloween

Well where do the days go... once again it has been too long since I have had time to post on here!

But like usual I have not been quite idle...

I just finished a decent sized colored commission, but am unable to post it at this time as it is a surprise birthday present for the person who will recieve it, so it has to wait until after their birthday to be shown.

I have also started several new boards including a bighorn sheep kid (8"x10"), an elk (24"x36")  and this horse piece (10"x8"), which I am calling Wisdom.

I heard recently that I have been accepted into the Colorado Governor's Show, to be held in April in Loveland, CO.

In other recent show news I had two works accepted into the Colorado Artist Guild art show and ended up winning 1st place in the drawing division with "Patience Is A Virtue".

I also had three works accepted into the Estes Park show "Lines Into Shapes" show and cleaned up there too winning 3 awards.  "Walking the Line" was the winner of People Choice and the Mayor's Award and "The Challenger" was winner of the Len Taylor Memorial Award (which I also won last year).

Back from Jellystone

I am now home from my Yellowstone trip as well, and I believe that will be my final longer out of town trip until 2011.  I had a wonderful trip and saw lots of critters, took LOTS of photos and enjoyed spending time with nature!

Now here it is October and I need to get cracking on some artwork!  Less computer time and more art time is in order for the rest of the year to prepare for all the shows I anticipate for 2011.

Here is an update on the larger pair of wolves on the 24"x36" board. 

As well as a progression on the small wolf (14"x11"), which I am pondering coloring

I am also still working on my commission and will be starting a few more boards very soon.

Cuteness!!

I spent yesterday at the Denver Zoo and a good portion of that time was spent watching 4 baby siberian tiger cubs, born May 31.  How cute are these little ones!!  There are two males and two females born to mother, Koshka (Koosh-kuh), and father, Waldemere (Wald-uh-meer).  I believe they are both first time parents.  More photos posted on facebook if interested.

Catching up! The last few weeks!!

Well what a busy time my last few weeks have been!  My art fair on August 28-29 was a success with lots of people coming through the  booth, decent sales and lovely weather.  My booth took 2nd place in the fine art category too!   Here are some pictures of my booth early Saturday morning before people were coming through.  There was a steady flow of people both days.  Originals on the back and left side walls, framed prints on the right side.

The left wall (originals other than the Greeley Poster)

Framed prints, cups, calendars, magnets, bookmarks and more on the right wall

Just two days after my art fair I flew out to San Diego for Society of Animal Artists 50th anniversary Exhibit opening of Art and the Animals.  What a fantastic time all weekend!  About 100 artists (as well as many spouses and patrons) were in attendance and it was so fun to visit with old friends as well as making new ones!  A wonderful group of people indeed.

I arrived on Tuesday afternoon to be able to do everything there was to do.  On Wed we went whale watching and although we did not see any whales we did find a large pod of bottle nose dolphins, as well as seals, sea lions, and various sea birds.  It was a lovely day on the water and I didn't even get sea sick!

Snowy egrets scuffle over bait fish on a boat in the marina

Brown pelican flies low over the ocean

Sea foam from an outgoing tide made great patterns

On Thursday we all bussed to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  I had not been here in almost 15 years, and it had changed from how I remembered.  My favorite part of this day was a cheetah demo where a cheetah chased a ball.  I am excited to work from some of those photos in the future.

Male gerenuk courts with a female in estrus by demonstrating high stepping behavior.  She was ignoring him ;)

Bald Ibis - not exactly pretty in the typical sense, but I loved the iridescent feathers and lighting

Cheetah chases ball as part of a demo

Friday it was off to the famous San Diego Zoo!  What a zoo it is as well!  Tons of great photo opportunities!

Not really exotic, but this female red breasted merganser had great light and was actively preening

Grizzly bear shaking

Who can resist a meerkat in evening light??

Saturday was a busy day with meetings, talks by Robert Bateman, off to the museum to see the exhibit (finally) and the awards dinner.  I also did a scratchboard demo at the museum.  Here is a picture taken by a friend of me with "The Interrupted Drink" at the museum.  Darn plexi-glass picks up a lot of glare :(  The entire show of about 150 works was simply spectacular and it was a true honor to have work included in this exhibition.

The piece I worked on for my demo - 14"x11" Wolf

From San Diego I flew to San Fransisco to see my Aunt, Uncle and two cousins (ages 23 and 18), which I had not seen in about 10 years. 

It was fun to catch up, but now it is great to be home too!!!

2011 Scratchboard Calendars NOW Available!

This beautiful over sized 2011 wall calendar (measures 9.5"x12.25") is printed on glossy paper and makes a perfect gift or a beautiful accent to any house! Each calendar is hand signed by Cathy on the front cover with a custom inscription available at no extra charge (please include what you would like it to say in your paypal notes). Every month has a different scratchboard image from Cathy's work. This years calendar features both color and black and white works. Reasonably priced at just $15 (plus shipping of $5 in USA, $8 elsewhere) they are sure to delight!


Last year's calendar sold out, so order early to make sure you get one!

To buy one please go to: http://www.aphelionart.com/2011calendar.html