November Self Portrait

I revisted this palette for another self portrait in oil. Self portraits are probably the most painted subjects in painting history, probably for many reasons. My reason for painting so many self portraits? I am pretty much the only model I can get.

Viola da Gamba

An illustration for an advertisement for viola da gamba lessons. A viola da gamba is a string instrument that isn't played very widely. I start with an ink line drawing on paper. I then bring it in to Illustrator to vectorize it to resize once in photoshop. Once I have the colors painted in I use a combination of texture and pattern overlays followed by adjustment layers to get it just right.

Crazy Fairy

Alchemy is such a sweet program. I never seem to use it in my usual work flow of paintings or illustration. Since I am generally so busy, if its not in the usual work flow I don't get around to it. I've written about Alchemy before and in fact the header of this blog was created using Alchemy. The strength of the program is randomized sketching. After using it a bit though it tends to get predictable and less uncontrollable. Good thing or not I'm not sure. Anything I've done from it definitely has an "Alchemy" look to it. This one I drew in alchemy then brought it into Photoshop to add some more depth. (ahhh texture overlays, where would I be without you)

November

Its the first day of November, my favorite month. I am going to paint so many sweet paintings this month, it'll be more than this blog can handle...

ok, now that I talked myself up, I have to back it up. heh. Well anyway here is a painting that I did last month and only just had the chance to scan it. I was trying to go for a perspective I don't usually take. In a way it is a painting of the floor. A space rather than an object. Something a little different from me.

sketches

Some quick sketches I've done lately. The first are some Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians and the second are hands from Bridgeman's hand book.

oil and pencils

Last weekend I picked up my brushes again. I painted a couple of quick sketches to get back the feel of oils. I always forget how much I love the smell of oil painting. I hope that I do not put my brushes back down for an extended time again. I also have sketches from my sketchbook. The internet is great because I control what makes it here. I don't have to put up anything I hate to look at.

Random work

A sketch for this week's ChoW, a sketch for a layout and an abandoned figure for an interface layout. Hopefully, I'll find some time to finish the chow by monday...