Week ONE

Well so far so good.  Here are the first five days paintings.   I'm hoping to improve my skills in value and clean color application, and with 360 more days of practice I'm fairly certain I will reach this goal. 

Also I was going to do just animals but my cravings may dictate my subject matter as on day two when I really wanted fresh cherries but had to settle for my homemade cherry jam.

 One day a week I think I will dedicate to ocean life... or in this case fish bowl life.

Daily Paint Challenge

I have seen and been inspired by artist daily paintworks and have been wanting to do something for awhile now.  Well this month is the month.  my birthday is on the 24th and that is the day I will start my challenge.  I will be painting one animal a day but that is not the challenge.  My goal is to paint an animal in five brushstrokes/layers or less.

         How is this a challenge you ask?

Because I nitpick everything to death and I want to practice being more precise and clean. I also want to have more experience drawing animals.  I plan to sketch out several character studies then paint the final selected pose.

         Why not start now?

Because I want to put together a reference library to work from and what better day than to start on my birthday.  Hurray!

         What will I do with my finished works? 

Sell them of course.  But because I am an illustrator and an author,  I will publish them all into one book.  But that will be next Christmas.  Right now it's just one day at a time.  Wish me luck!

Below is a pelican I painted while in Mexico and I tried to do a simple sketch.  It looks like it was done in 6 layers  so this will be similar to the paintings i want to do,  whether or not a use a pen like in the second I'm still debating.

 

Everett Reuss Days

I attended the Everett Reuss Days Plein Air painting competition in Escalante Utah this year.   I didn't win any prizes but I had a blast even with all the rain.  I sold several paintings which is always welcome validation for my career choice:)  He is the piece I entered this year (1)and a few others I painted (2,3 & 4).

Electric Mosaic 

                                                                  Calf Creek Trail

                                                                 Kodachrome Color

                                                                      Shattered Stone

The Artist

This is a complete experiment, but I found these thumbnails from my friend for a story he wrote and I thought they were adorable.  So I took them to Photoshop cleaned and corrected them, then digitally painted the pages.  Its at the printers right now and I can't wait to see it!!

The Coud Maker

Here is my latest book made for my BFF who, as a child, believed his grandpa made clouds for his job.  Happy Birthday Rob, this one's for you!!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I found these Die Cut designs I drew fifteen years age when I designed Scrapbook supplies for From Jens Pen Designs.  Thought I'd put up a few of my Favorites.  Enjoy!

Monster Book of ABC's

Well my letters have inspired me to  make a coloring book. 
This, as you can see by the letter A, is the first illustration without added words,

Studio Letters

I ordered some more tiles last week and Bisque Imports had a sale on their alphabet tiles.  so on a whim I ordered some.  I got them in and decided I would paint them with illustrated monsters.  Here are a few I have finished.  I can't wait to get them hung on my wall.  You can see my process in this photo as not all tiles are finished. 

Wallis Sanded Paper

So I found this little watercolor I did on Wallis Pastel paper a few years ago.  I had experimented on the paper and was really excited about the results.  BUT  then.... Wallis stopped producing the paper because of production issues.  I have been waiting forever it seems for them to perfect the process so I can get more paper.  I'm now on a waiting list to get some.  fingers crossed its soon.

Here are two more I did on Wallis Paper.

Arts to Zion Studio Tours

Its a new year and with it I signed up to participate in the studio Tours.  My house is packed with art and I am ready to go.  If you're around pop on in and see what I'm up to.  The link to the Arts to Zion website with all the info you need is below.

artstozion