Greg Dechow Art Blog

Working and working some more

2011-12-11T16:43:00.001-05:00

Here's some of the paintings on my easel right now. These are pretty far along—with only 1 or 2 sessions left before each is done. As always, more on the way!

House by the Lake

2011-11-15T22:33:00.001-05:00

This one was a quick sketch for a good friend. Really cool house on a lake with lots of character!

Wedding Painter, Part 2

2011-11-08T21:12:00.003-05:00

Here are two paintings from my most recent commission. Once again, I was hired as a "wedding painter." It's a new trend that has been growing in popularity. I love doing this kind of work; it's great to be part of such an incredible moment in people's lives.

The first painting was done on the beach of the Longboat Key Resort Club. You can't ask for better scenery. The sun broke through the clouds with beams of light shining down right as the ceremony reached it's conclusion. Beautiful, but it left me scrambling to add it to the painting. The second painting was done at the reception and it is easily the toughest observational painting I've ever done. A large dark room with 150 people moving around and dancing is not conducive to painting! I'm happy with the results given the situation, and looking forward to more wedding paintings.

In Progress

2011-11-05T10:43:00.003-04:00

After a brief struggle of trying to make art I thought other people would like versus making art I know I love—I'm back. One thing I've learned about art: if you don't like it, no one else will. And if even if they do like it; you won't feel very good about it. These paintings are all in progress. Each one of them looked very different a week ago.

In other news I've got an awesome commission to do more wedding paintings. I'll be doing two plein-air paintings at a wedding on Longboat Key today. Pictures soon!

2011-10-08T14:15:00.000-04:00

Quick update. Two paintings I'm working on. Very close to being done! The color and composition is there, but both need the final touches of small details and a glaze or two.

Oil Paintings on the Easel

2011-09-26T22:39:00.002-04:00

Here's two new ones I'm working on. The first one started out as something very different. In fact, both of these had figures in them at one point. The second one is just an under painting right now, but it's a piece I've been wanting to do for months. My goal is to finish a total of 6 paintings by mid-October. Stay tuned!

Photography

2011-09-11T10:36:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone,
Recently, I've been getting a lot of freelance photography work. I've always loved photography; it goes hand in hand with my painting work. Not to mention, the immediacy of taking a photo is just refreshing when you're used to spending weeks on a single painting.
In response to the increased interest I've redesigned by photo blog at www.gregdechowphotography.com and added a bunch more photos. Check it out!

No worries though, more paintings are on the way! We're getting into busy season here in Sarasota and I've got about 6 paintings that need finishing up. So, I'll be working like crazy to get them done—hopefully they'll be in the Madeby Gallery soon!

Color Sketch for a New Painting

2011-08-16T22:48:00.004-04:00

Here's a new a one I'm working on. This is an image I've actually tried to paint before - about a year ago. It just didn't work out then and I wasn't happy with the piece. This time I think I've got it, and I'm really excited to see how it turns out this time.

This image is a quick digital color sketch. I'll be working on the final painting soon, it'll be 18" x 36" oils on canvas. I've still got about 5 other paintings in progress right now so be on the lookout for a lot more finished work here!

Heart of the World

2011-07-27T20:40:00.002-04:00

Here's a brand new finished painting. This one is 18x24, oil on canvas.

Apparently, I have a thing for dead trees. For whatever reason, I find them very interesting. In a way they are creepy. They're reminders of death you see everyday—monuments of their own existence. They're also beautiful. I believe they will likely be a reoccurring theme for me.

Maelstrom

2011-07-24T10:57:00.004-04:00

A 4 x 6 inch oil sketch. The final will be 16 x 20, oil on canvas.

Bridge to Nowhere

2011-07-24T10:52:00.003-04:00

A work in progress. It's about 75% done.

Maelstrom - Oil Sketch

2011-07-07T22:32:00.001-04:00

Here is a quick 5x10 inch oil sketch done in preparation for a new painting. The final will be 18x36 and I'm very excited to work on it.
I think I may start selling these little oil sketches. Surprisingly, I usually like them as much or more than the final paintings!

Color

2011-07-04T16:25:00.000-04:00

A color version of the sketch from the previous post. Hope to have a final painting to share soon!

Online store!

2011-06-26T21:36:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, I've got some exciting developments here. Be sure to check out my new online store at:
http://greg-dechow.artistwebsites.com/index.html

Just click on an image and you will have the option of ordering a print or greeting card. Prints come in multiple sizes and can be ordered on canvas or even framed. Very excited about this! Also, some originals are for sale as well. When you click on an image it will let you know if the original is available for purchase.

I'll be uploading all new finished work to this online store so definitely look into it and buy something you like. Thanks!

New Works in the Gallery

2011-05-24T22:20:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone, I've got 4 new paintings over at the madeby gallery in downtown Sarasota. Be sure to check it out if you're in Sarasota!

It's been a good year for selling paintings so it was time to get some new work in there. All of these are at the gallery now and there's some smaller Sarasota landscapes in there as well.

I've also got 5 new paintings in the works. Unfortunately, I started them all at the same time so it may be a week or two before I have much to show. Stay tuned!

On the Easel

2011-04-13T21:37:00.001-04:00

Hello! It's been a while but I have good reason. The last few weeks my life has been consumed with moving into a new apartment. Going from zero furniture to a whole apartment of furniture has been a time consuming and expensive process! Although, I really enjoyed designing the place—with a lot of help from a good friend—and it came out really well.
Here are some new paintings I'm very excited about. Titles are still undecided for these. They're all oils. The middle one is about 2ft wide, and the others are both 4ft wide.
Now that I'm all setup with my studio and no distractions, expect to be seeing even more work from me. Very exciting!

Wet Paint!

2011-03-10T22:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a new one! It's pretty early but I'm excited about this one so I thought I'd share. The image on the left is the initial under-painting and the image on the right is the first session of painting. Lots of paint so it's super wet—making for a very shiny and inaccurate photograph.
This is a unique painting for me. The inspiration for it came out of nowhere but I've got a very strong sense of where it's going. It's not there yet but check back soon!

Farm!

2011-02-28T22:54:00.001-05:00

Here is a new one! A very fun little sketch to do. It's a bit of a departure for me in terms of technique. I rarely ever use a palette knife for actually applying paint. It's fun though and I definitely like the texture and overall feel of it.

Split Sky

2011-02-02T21:58:00.001-05:00

Another new one! This is a 5x10 oil sketch on board done in preparation for the final painting. The final will probably be 12x24 on canvas.
The subject is a farm that I've drawn and photographed many times over the last two years. I've attempted paintings of it before without success—so far. I 'm excited with where this is one is going and eager to work on the final painting.

The Old Pier

2011-01-27T20:21:00.001-05:00

A sketch for a new painting. This composition may not be final, I'm tempted to go with an even wider format. Working on some other new paintings as well. And possibly some new commissions coming up, very excited!

Finished

2011-01-25T21:43:00.000-05:00

These are two paintings that have been sitting around unfinished for quite some time. They're the kind where I got to a certain point with them and had no idea where they were going. I've learned when you don't know what to do--wait. Something will occur to you eventually.

The Pier

2011-01-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, lately my job has been dominating my life. And unfortunately my personal work has suffered as a result. I never stop drawing and being creative when things get busy, but I find it hard to paint during those times.
The last couple months I've been caught up in some big projects for two of my company's major customers: CVS and Walmart. They've actually been great projects to work on, and I'm getting a lot of experience with branding and graphic design. But they really take a lot out of you!
I'm getting back into painting now though. My most recent commission is done and I'll be finishing up some paintings that fell to the wayside. The image above is a rough thumbnail for a new painting, very excited about this one!

Tiki Bar Commission!

2011-01-08T17:47:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I was painting outside at the Holiday Stroll event in Sarasota. While I was out there I met a woman who asked if I could do a painting of her Tiki bar for her. Of course, I said yes! That bring us to this painting.
The difficult part of being paid to do a "sketchy" or "impressionist" painting is knowing when it is done. It's easy to keep going and destroy the sketchy liveliness it had in the beginning. I believe this one is done. It's been a very fun painting to do and I would definitely like to do more work in this style. It's loose and sketchy, but there's definitely a sizable market for it.

Commission Oil Sketch

2010-12-19T13:35:00.000-05:00

I always do small paint sketches before beginning a final painting. I used to do these sketches digitally, but I've realized that paint is really like nothing else. The best way to prepare to paint--is to paint.
This one is an 8x10 oil sketch on illustration board. It was done in preparation for a commission I am working on. The final will be 20x24 on canvas...and it needs to be done by Christmas. Yikes! I've got a lot to do.

Holiday Stroll Painting Final

2010-12-12T22:07:00.000-05:00

I finished up the holiday stroll painting today. It's a very quick, lively sketch. This kind work is some of my favorite to do. I love doing the big, detailed oil paintings but this style of painting is pure fun. 12 x 20 inches, oil on panel.

I've started work on two new commissions. Very excited about these, I like the ideas behind them a lot and I think they are going to turn out great. Hopefully, I can share them within the next week!

A Work in Progress

2010-12-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

This one is still a work in progress, but it's getting very close. It's an oil painting on panel, 22 x 48 inches. I'm working on some new commissions and should have more new stuff to share soon!

Holiday Stroll, Plein-Air Painting

2010-12-06T20:06:00.000-05:00

This past Friday I was downtown with Ringling's madeby Gallery at the Holiday Stroll. It was a big event with lots of holiday cheer. I did a plein-air painting on site and we had a few artists from the gallery showing their works as well.
It's a fairly quick oil sketch on panel of some of the shops. The lighting was near impossible to reproduce in impasto oil paint. Bright red lights illuminated most of the lower part of the building and small holiday lights adorned the roof. I couldn't get in half the things I wanted to in a single session so I will be going back to this one and adding more to it soon.

Wedding Painter

2010-11-14T17:03:00.001-05:00

Recently, a friend of mine from college asked me to paint at her wedding. The whole event was amazing. It all took place at the Ringling Ca d'Zan Mansion here in Sarasota. You couldn't ask for more beautiful scenery.

A super quick 30 minute 12x16in oil sketch of the actual ceremony. The sun set much quicker than I thought it would and most of this was done in almost complete darkness. Luckily enough for me my phone has a flashlight on it and I was able to light the painting somewhat.

An hour long sketch of the reception dinner, also 12x16 oil on canvas. Thankfully all of the lights were on at this point and I could see my painting.

A detail of the ceremony painting. The paint got super thick and there was no time to go back into details.

I have to say I never thought I'd be hired as a "wedding painter." It was the brides idea and I think it's great a way to commemorate your wedding day. I hope to do more of this kind of painting in the future.

My Work

2010-10-15T23:27:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone, thought I would do a bit of a recap here and post some of my favorite stuff from the last two years:

Wet Paint

2010-10-03T16:01:00.001-04:00

I've fallen into a bad habit recently. I keep coming up with new images and paintings. This is normally a good thing. However, I keep doing this without finishing the pieces I'm currently working on.
I always seem to fall in love with that initial idea of an image, that first sketch or thumbnail. In that moment it's all I care about. And then as I get closer and closer to actually sitting down and doing that final painting, I just start to lose it. It's not as intense or immediate; it just doesn't matter any more. Whatever spark of emotion that inspired it is gone.
Hopefully that wont happen with this one. It's a digital sketch for a new painting. Like many of my paintings it's based on a scene I actually saw. Very excited to work on this one!
In other news, my job has been pretty fun recently. I spent the last couple weeks doing designs for a product for Target. Got to do a lot of different styles--from cartoon animals to fashion patterns to emoticons. Currently working on box fronts for CVS, hopefully they'll take them!

Demo!

2010-09-18T16:52:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, got some pics here from a demo painting I did at the Madeby gallery earlier this week. It was a Sarasota Chamber of Commerce event hosted by the gallery. As always, I met some interesting people and the event was a lot of fun. It was so crowded, people kept almost running into my painting. Considering how much paint I was using that could have been bad news!
The painting I did is a different version of a painting I did a few months ago. I will definitely be working on it more, but so far so good for an hour of painting.
Event photo by Brent Hickey.

Paint Sketches

2010-09-05T19:51:00.000-04:00

Sketches for some new paintings I am working on. Hopefully, I'll have some finished pieces to show soon.

Quick Sketch!

2010-08-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

This one is a quick sketch of a small part of a larger painting. More soon!

2010-08-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

If you're a regular visitor of my site, this image might be familiar to you. It's very similar to a painting I did a few months ago. I recently sold that painting. Strangely enough, I didn't like parting with it. So I am going to do another version.
With this one I want the whole image to have a motion to it. It's based on a dead tree I once saw. The idea of something dead having a feeling of motion and life to it interests me.
More progress on this one soon! I've got another brand new painting I am working on as well but it still has a ways to go.

City by the Bay

2010-08-08T11:54:00.002-04:00

Quick 12x20 sketch of Sarasota Bay!

In other news, after a year of working as a "contract employee" at my company I have been hired on full time. Very exciting! I am responsible for illustration, photography, and some design as well. I've learned a lot at my job and am grateful for the opportunity.
Also, it's nice to have health insurance and paid time off. Now, time for some vacation...

2010-07-26T22:25:00.000-04:00

This one is an 8x10in oil painting on wood. It's actually the first in a series I am doing for a commission. The job is to do a bunch of small paintings based on scenes from Sarasota. This one is of the boats in the bay on July 4th. It's a fun assignment and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will all come out. It's definitely a good push for me as it will force me to do a bunch of paintings very quickly. No time for hesitation!
I've been exploring around town; taking photographs for reference but the weather is really not cooperating. As much as I'd love to do some really moody, cloudy paintings of Sarasota...I don't think that's what they're looking for.
Also, it never ceases to amaze me all of the weird scenes and people I see just walking around exploring this little town.

2010-07-18T11:27:00.001-04:00

2010-07-17T15:35:00.001-04:00

2010-07-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

Some new work! The top two are finally done. The bottom piece--the farm painting--still needs some work.

In other news, I've come into some interesting tasks at my job. First, I've been asked to design some new products for my company. Very different! It's much more technical than my normal work and it requires a lot of thought about how the product will function, but it's actually been a really fun process. It will be exciting to see what comes of it, especially if the products actually end up being manufactured and sold to retailers.

On top of that I've been asked to help re-brand a company that my company owns. This one has been pretty surprising. I'm going to be redoing their logo, designing a large stone monument sign, another sign going on their building, and helping redesign their actual building. Definitely wasn't expecting that kind of responsibility, but I'm excited.

Sketcher Sketch

2010-06-20T11:21:00.000-04:00

This one's a 5in x10in oil sketch of the farm painting. I think I am going to be doing more finished paintings around this size. Big paintings are great and all...but spending a month on a painting kinda hurts my overall output!

2010-06-13T22:15:00.001-04:00

Here's what I've been working on recently. The top one is the current state of the 2ft x 4ft Beach painting I've posted before. I think it's really really close now with only one or two more sessions left. It's been an interesting piece to work on--it's based completely on a scene from memory. No sketches or photos for reference.

The bottom one is a quick oil study of a new painting. I'm not set on the color scheme yet and will experiment with a few more variations.

I've been meaning to go out and about to get some good photos of people to work from, but the heat here in Sarasota is killing my enthusiasm. I guess it's our equivalent of the north's winter; that time of year when being outside just isn't desirable at all.

Sunset

2010-06-06T20:43:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, this one is really close but it's still a work in progress. I like where it's going but there's one thing still nagging me about it; the shape of the tree silhouettes. They really don't do anything for the composition. Of course, that should have been resolved in the initial sketches! That's what I get for rushing to the final painting. Oh well, all part of learning!
I'm realizing now it's been way too long since I've done paintings of people. I have every intention of going photo hunting around town very soon, hopefully I'll get a lot of good people shots for some new paintings.

The Beginnings of a New Painting

2010-06-03T21:14:00.001-04:00

Here is one I've been struggling with for months now. It's kind of loomed in the background as I've worked on other things.

The subject is a farm by my house that I've photographed many times. I've had it in my head to do a painting of it for a long time, but it's been a very gradual process. Just recently I was struck with a clear vision of what I want to do with it. The sketch is a bit rough, but expect to see a more fully realized oil study soon.

The First Layer of Paint

2010-05-24T20:35:00.002-04:00

Here's the first layer on the final version of the beach painting. I attacked it with paint the other night and this is the result. A few things definitely got lost in the translation to a 2ft x 4ft painting, but of course that's the challenge of painting.

I'm having a lot of fun with this one, and am eager for the thing to dry so I can get back to it. Right now the whole thing is ridiculously wet, making it very troublesome to photograph as well.

I've got some more paintings I'm working on that I've yet to share so keep an eye out!

Paint Sketch

2010-05-15T12:34:00.003-04:00

Here's a little oil color study of the beach painting I've been working on. It's about 5in x 10.5in and it's pretty close to how the final will look. I'm thinking this is the kind of painting that has to be done on a huge piece of wood panel, maybe 3ft or 4ft wide. Nothing like a huge, epic oil painting!

You may have noticed I've changed the composition back to the layout of the original sketch. After some valuable input from my co-creator on this one, I decided it was indeed the best course of action. Another reminder to all us artists that if it's not broken...don't fix it. Usually that first thumbnail that strikes you as "it" is right on.

Aso Painting Framed

2010-05-11T16:46:00.000-04:00

This is the absolute final version of the commission I recently did for my company's 60th anniversary. Everyone at the company seems to like it. A group of about 14 people paid for it...so I am very glad they are all happy with it.
The only thing left to do is to get it to Hawaii for the company's big anniversary celebration. Fortunately, I'm not paying the shipping!
Expect to see some brand new paintings from me soon. I've got a few paintings planned out and am eager to start painting them.

A Sketch for a New Painting

2010-05-06T19:22:00.002-04:00

This is a half pencil/half digital sketch for a new painting. This painting will be a bit different for me in that I will be working completely from memory. I'm really excited for this one, I have a very clear vision of what it will be, although I'm not sure this sketch communicates it completely.

Figure Sketches

2010-05-02T10:32:00.005-04:00

These are 5 minute poses from a local figure class I went to recently. It was great to draw from a live model again, but the setup was terrible. The model wasn't lit at all, the only light came from ceiling fluorescent lights; making all of the poses incredibly flat and uninteresting. The model was great though! Lots of cool poses.

I don't think I'll be going back to that class again. If anyone knows of a good place to do figure drawing in Sarasota, let me know!

Demo Paintings

2010-04-28T12:30:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, these new paintings are demos I did at Ringling's madeby gallery during the Rosemary Rising event. I spent about an hour and a half on each one. I'm surprisingly happy with them considering I was talking so much that I hardly remember painting them.

The top one has been reworked a bit due to a calamity of astronomical proportions at the time of its original execution. That calamity being: I forgot my Prussian Blue.

I had no idea how reliant I was on this color until I had to paint without it. Losing it completely destroyed my color scheme. I improvised with an Alizarin Crimson/Sap Green/Cadmium Yellow color scheme that looked "vomity" at best. I've covered most of the "vomity" areas for now and will likely keep working on both of these.

Aso LLC Commission = Done!

2010-04-13T21:42:00.005-04:00

Hey everyone, here is the final of version of the Aso commission I've been working on. Everyone at the company really likes it, which is good! I work there, so if they were unhappy with it...it would be a little awkward. Now I just have to frame it and ship it, and that's it.

Last Saturday I painted on site at the Madeby Gallery as part of the Rosemary Rising event, and it was a great success. I met a lot of interesting people and got a lot of good exposure. It was great to see how people reacted to my work.

As an artist, you do so much work on your own and spend so much time simply working by yourself that it's easy to lose touch with reality. Is your work relevant? Will people respond to it? I was very happy that the response to my work was so positive. One man even cried at the site of my "Dead Tree" painting...I'd like to think it's a direct result of my skill as a painter, but there was something off about that one.

It was a lot of fun and I'll actually be there again Thursday April 15th painting at the gallery and talking about my work. Definitely stop by if you're in the area!

Sketch for a New Painting

2010-02-18T22:04:00.003-05:00

This is a sketch for a new painting. I think the final version will be much wider, and probably more realistic. We'll see where it goes. This piece has given me a lot of trouble; it's ended up being more of an experiment than anything else. It's also one of those pieces where I've completely deviated from the original idea of the image. A good reminder to do thumbnails and to make sure you have some idea of what you're doing, before throwing paint at a canvas.

In other news I am working on another painting commission and I am very excited about it. It will be one of the largest paintings I've done at about 4ft wide. It's going to the owner of the company that owns my company, and it's in celebration of the company's 50th anniversary.

Progress in Work

2010-02-10T22:43:00.004-05:00

This one is still in progress, but it's getting real close. I've got another landscape I've been working on that I just need to photograph, so expect to see that soon!

Lately, I've been swamped at work. Which is good! But not so good for my personal work. The drawing hand definitely needs some rest every once in a while. I'm aching to paint and do some illustrations based on the Dark Tower series. I'll be out of town this weekend though, so it will have to wait. There's always something!

Sketch for a New Painting

2010-01-18T18:29:00.005-05:00

This is a sketch for a new oil painting I am going to do soon. I've had drawings of this sitting around for a year or so now and never did anything with them. I was looking at some failed sketches of it the other day and all of a sudden I had a really clear idea of what to do with it. Funny how the ol' art muscle works sometimes!

I'm hoping to have either a new figure painting or landscape up this weekend. I'm going to enroll in a figure drawing class...as soon as I can find one! Really excited to get back to working from a live model. In other news, I'm still working as an illustrator at Aso LLC here in Sarasota which has been great, and I've had some luck selling some paintings lately which has been nice, too.

The Bay

2009-12-13T16:04:00.003-05:00

Today was a beautiful day here in Sarasota, and I took advantage of it to go to the bay and paint. This was a pretty quick sketch I did in 1 and a half hours. I've got some photos of the scene and may even do a larger more finished version of this painting in the future.

It's a lot of fun painting outside and talking to people. I think I inadvertently gave an old lady an art lesson. She was very curious! Also, I noticed that a lot of people are intimidated by art/artists. People would come up to me to look but they'd be really shy and not know what to say. Also, some little kids observed that "you just hardly ever see paintings like that any more," and I agreed. Very cute!

Dead Tree

2009-12-12T16:05:00.002-05:00

This one isn't quite finished yet. It's based on a photo I took of a very eerie dead tree I saw by the side of the road. Everything else around it was full of life and green, and there was just this dead tree jutting out of all this lively growth.

I'm still not sure where this one is going and it's kind of rough right now, but I'm enjoying using tons of paint. I was determined to go outside and paint today, but once again it's cloudy and windy out. Yargh! Maybe tomorrow though!

New Plen Air Painting

2009-11-08T10:31:00.003-05:00

This is a 2 hour painting I did at opening night of Ringling's Madeby Gallery. It was great to paint from life again and have so many interesting people come up to me and talk about art. It was a lot of fun, and fortunately my painting sold 40 minutes into painting the thing. The CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida bought it, interestingly enough.

The whole experience makes me wonder about the potential of plein air painting at big events and such. It's definitely got me in the mood to paint from life. I'm going to do a 30x40 version of this painting for my parents to hang above our fireplace...I consider it my rent.

Works in Progress!

2009-10-04T21:02:00.002-04:00

Sometimes life feels like a constant work in progress. Where is it all going?!?! I do not know, but here is some new work.

These works are all in progress. I've hesitated to post because I wanted to finish them first. But I can't stand a neglected blog, so it was time to post something. I'll replace them with finished works in the future.

I'm still working full time at Aso LLC here in Sarasota. I'm doing a lot of product illustration, and the cool part is a lot of my work is going to be in major retailers like CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and others. It's a good job and a good work environment. Of course, outside of work I continue to paint. Thanks for checking out my stuff!

Sketch for a New Paintin

2009-07-25T10:14:00.007-04:00

Well, I thought I was done with these South African paintings, but I found a photo hidden within the depths of my computer the other day that I like a lot. This is a drawing based on that photo, and I'll be working on a painting of it today. Should have more up soon!

Old Man on Boat update

2009-07-12T14:16:00.002-04:00

Some progress on this painting and a much much more accurate photo of it this time. The colors in the last one were way off.

Just got a new DSLR camera and will be doing more with photography. It's a Canon EOS 50D and it rocks my socks.

Oily Sketch

2009-05-25T13:30:00.004-04:00

Sketch of the old man on the boat. I'm thinking I'm going to do a huge painting of this.

FUTURE PENCIL UNKNOWN

2009-05-08T16:19:00.004-04:00

This one is a sketch for a new painting I'm doing. Its based on photos I took a while ago. I was at the Sarasota marina taking pictures and saw this lean old man with an incredibly long beard on his boat. He was doing various things getting his boat ready for whatever it was going to be doing. The guy looks like he just stepped out of a N.C Wyeth painting. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to this image.

Still working out the composition and pose. This is just a prepatory drawing; trying to get a sense of the image and what I want to do with it.

Getting into graduate school is much harder than expected. I applied to 6 schools and all of them say they've had record numbers of applicants. One of the MFA programs I applied to had 200 applicants for 6 slots. Yikes!! I have been accepted to the New York Academy of Art's program, but am still working out the logistics on that one(expensive!!).

Get Yo Oils On

2009-04-29T21:14:00.003-04:00

Ello ello. This one's a work in progress. It's the oil version of the Dark Tower piece. And it has been a lot more fun. The digital version was just getting way too dull and stagnate. It was mucho frustrating. Somewhat randomly I decided to go all crazy like on the oil version--figuring I had nothing to lose--and this is what I got. This is much closer to my original vision of the piece and hopefully I'll finish it this week. I think it needs just one more session of painting before it reaches THE FINAL STAGE OF COMPLETION.

Stranded

2009-03-27T08:55:00.007-04:00

This is the sketch for my next Dark Tower illustration. The color version is coming next, but I think this time I want to do a really nice oil painting. Digital is fun and very efficient, but it always leaves me wanting more. Having a physical, real painting is much more satisfying.

Let There Be Color!

2009-03-14T20:10:00.005-04:00

Hello, hello. This one is either a WIP or perhaps it's finished. As the artist folk know, the trick is figuring out which before it's too late. This is the color version of the Gunslinger sketch from earlier.

I'm on the second Dark Tower book now, and unfortunately I picked up the version illustrated by one of my favorite contemporary artists; Phil Hale. I say unfortunately because I'd rather not have known how he chose to visualize this world until I'd read all of it and done a few more pieces of my own.

Gunslinging

2009-02-26T17:19:00.004-05:00

I just started reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series. This image is a quick sketch I did while coming up with ideas for an illustration. I imagine this taking place while the Gunslinger is taking on the residents of Tull, and he has been forced to the edge of town. I'm still coming up with ideas for a full fledged illustration, and maybe I'll do a color version of this sketch.

I've got the illustrated version of the book, and am dissappointed with most of the illustrations, though a couple of them are quite effective.

Painting in Progress!

2009-02-22T14:57:00.005-05:00

This is a digital study for a painting I've been working on for a couple weeks now. The actual painting is actually almost a square rather than a rectangle. I went into the painting with very little planning and ended up wasting a lot of time. So, now I'm back to the process part trying to work things out. Also, this is probably the last image I'll be doing in my series of paintings related to Africa. I think I'm going to try some commercial illustration oriented things next.

Updates

2009-02-15T12:43:00.007-05:00

Salutations! That is probably my favorite way to greet someone. Anyways, here is some new/updated stuff. I've posted some of these before thinking they were done at the time. I found them again, and of course there was something not quite "finished" about them, they simply seemed incomplete. So I did my best to finish the job.

Gifts

2009-01-27T10:28:00.004-05:00

Both of these paintings are gifts. The top one is for my parents as an anniversary gift and the cat painting is for my godfather and his wife. I had a lot of fun putting on my "impressionist hat" and doing these, but it's not really the way I like to work.

Also, the landscape was done with water-soluble oils. I was pretty happy with the results. Though I noticed the water based Titanium White I have is really not very effective and is easily over powered by other colors. Surprisingly, that painting is very shiny, but the way it reflects light is very different from traditional oils. I was expecting it to be more matte considering it is water-soluble.

Works in Progress

2009-01-19T23:43:00.005-05:00

I don't post WIP's very often, but I hate not updating this for long periods of time. So here I am with a handful of paintings that aren't quite done.

For those who may have noticed, I took down my post about Andrew Wyeth only because it seemed illogical to have so much text on a site that is supposed to show my work. I'm sure I'll be writing more about him on my own soon. It's hard to believe his life is over. He is without doubt the artist I looked up to the most.

On another topic....Oil based paints are incredible. Lately I've been hating the drying time though, and I hate using driers even more than waiting it out. So, it occured to me I still had a bag of water based oil paints from sophmore year. I switched to traditional oils junior year mostly because that was what everyone else was using. Everyone thought I was crazy for using the water based stuff.

The other day I tried the water based paints again, and it renewed my interest in them. They aren't quite as fluid, but I definitely prefer their drying time much more. I'll be experimenting with them more in the future. Though I'm curious how durable those paintings will be.

2009-01-04T21:43:00.005-05:00

Helllllllo. It's been a while since I've posted. I worked at a Best Buy during the holidays which ended up consuming most of my time. I'll be working a lot less now and should have more time to do artwork. Woo!

I've finished applying to graduate schools and will hopefully know what I'm doing pretty soon. I submitted a really late application to a South African University that I really want to go to. If they decide to accept me this year than I will be going there in February which is really exciting.

These are both images I've been working on for a while. I've done a few versions of each in watercolors and oils, but I am still not convinced these are successful. Both of these seem too "heavy" and dark to me. I think I will do some slightly brighter versions.

Paint on Canvas

2008-11-17T12:27:00.006-05:00

Got some new paintings here. I'm just about done with this South African series of paintings I've been doing, and will be moving on once I finish the last two. Actually, I'm very seriously considering going to grad school in South Africa. Perhaps the best programs are in the U.S, but I really want to travel and live somewhere else for a while before buckling down in a career. I'm pretty excited about the idea of it, it's such an interesting place and there is a ton going on culturally.

Apartheid didn't even end 20 years ago, so relations between whites and blacks are interesting to say the least. On top of that, it is one of the only prospering countries in Africa. Imagine the U.S with twenty Mexico's around it, and that many more people trying to get in the country.

The painting of the girl in the bath tub has a bit of a story to it. The original version of it was done at the Illustration Academy a year ago. Most people I talked to thought it was the best piece I did while at the academy, so I was kind of proud of it. Well, during my senior year I had the bright idea to "improve it."

I royally screwed it up. It was terrible. I don't know what I was thinking on that one. Basically I turned the whole thing into a cloud of green with a blob of hair somewhere in the middle.

Well I found the mutilated painting the other day behind my bed, and decided to give it one more shot before throwing it away or painting over it.

A New One

2008-11-02T13:02:00.005-05:00

Hello, hello. This painting is one that has given me a lot of trouble. It's been in the works for a few months now. It's gone through a lot of different stages, but I am happy with how it is now and will probably leave it alone. The figure's pose and clothing was inspired by a random photo I saw on facebook. I suppose you never know where you'll find something interesting.

Also, I should mention that a lot of the stuff I have posted recently is based on photos I took in South Africa. I took a ton of pictures of South Africans walking the highways, and got some interesting results.

It always seemed like I never really had the time or energy to do paintings related to my travels in South Africa while I was at school (Wow, I should have done this stuff for my thesis). Now it seems all I have is time so I've really been exploring the potential of these pieces and experimenting with the idea of personal work. I realized recently I didn't start doing work that I would really consider personal until the last semester of my senior year.

Everything was simply done to fulfill assignments. Many of my pieces seemed to have more of my teacher's voice in them than my own. It's been an incredible experience doing this kind of work and I think it will help me in developing commercial work that still satisfies me personally.

Paintings!

2008-10-16T14:59:00.000-04:00

Some quick oil sketches here. I tried to keep it loose and did both in one session each. I've been looking at Nicolai Fechin's work recently (Wow) and I was inspired to try to add some texture to my work and let the white of the canvas show through some. It was a lot of fun and I'm definitely giving more consideration to the texture and overall surface I'm painting on now.

I've got some digital concept-ish stuff on the way and some paintings that have been in the works for a while. Woo!

Changing things up a bit.

2008-09-24T17:03:00.003-04:00

....Well, kind of. I went back to a process I'd kind of forgotten about. I did the first one mostly with acrylics and went back in with oils to touch up a couple parts. I used tons of paint and had a surprising amount of fun with it considering I used to despise acrylics.

It's easy to forget how simple and convienient other media can be compared to oils. It definitely allows for a lot more freedom when you're not worrying about drying time, hazardous fumes, dealing with layers of paint medium, or wasting your expensive oil paint. It was fun and I believe I'll be doing more pieces in watercolor and acrylics soon. Though I still love oils; as stubborn and obnoxious as they can sometimes be.

New Stuff and Progress on Old Stuff

2008-09-15T09:30:00.002-04:00

Hello peeples. Thought I'd put up some process stuff and some updated pieces I've already posted. The black and white ones are value studies for paintings. I'm actually working on the paintings right now, but the value studies look a lot better than the paintings at the moment.

I'm working on going to grad school for painting- applying for scholarships and stuff like that. There is a really big one I'm applying to that would pay entirely for grad school. So the paintings I've been working on lately are going towards my portfolio for that. Hopefully I'll manage to find a way to go to grad school without incredible debt. If not I guess I'll just have to get a job so I can move out! (I eagerly await the day...)

Also, is it me or is art in general a lot more fun when not in school? I don't know. I'm having fun and I feel like I'm learning a lot.

Got some more paintings I still need to photograph and those'll be up in the next couple of days.

New Stufffff

2008-07-19T09:35:00.001-04:00

Working full time and problems with my arm (beginings of carpal tunnel egh!!!) have been killing my productivity. But things are going better now and I hope to be much more active art-wise.
The last one is a random digital sketch, not sure where its going.

PS 3 contest

2008-07-12T18:20:00.000-04:00

Want a free PS 3? I do. This contest will help. Help me, that is. Not you. Don't go to that link below for a free PS 3.
http://money007.com/2008/06/win-a-playstation-3-grand-theft-auto-4-bundle/

Some stuff I forgot about

2008-06-10T21:23:00.001-04:00

I completely forgot about these two pieces. They were both done for advanced digital. They are also the last school assignments I'll be posting here. That is kind of strange. Now its just down to whatever I come up with on my own. Scary.

I've been doing the full time, 40 hour work week and it really has been really different. Going from college life into that has been quite an adjustment, and I'm still not used to the whole getting to work at 8:00 thing. Egh.

Fortunately, I've managed to get some art assignments at my job. I've done some illustrations for in-store displays (happy kids on a school bus, and one of kids jumping everywhere) along with working on instruction manuals for bandages/nasal strips/other stuff.

Oh yeah, the company I'm working for makes bandages, nasal strips, gauze, sterile pads, whatever you can think of in that general area of stuff.

I'm an intern and I think the life and role of the intern can best be summed up in these words: We do the things no one else in the office wants to do. Or didn't think of doing until you got there and they realized the overwhleming potential of you, the intern.

Thesis

2008-05-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

This is some of the work from my thesis. The rest of it was character designs, but they're not stuff I'm particularly proud of and so they aren't here. I also did a lot of work in trying to develop a story as I was originally planning to do a comic. I love comics and I really enjoyed the process of making one, but I didn't want to devote an entire semester of work to a comic that had an essentially flawed story. It was my first attempt at making a "complete" story and it became very clear to me how much I had left to learn.

So I focused on painting instead.

In other news, congrats to all the other 2008 Ringling grads. It's an exciting time and it's still hard to believe I no longer "go" to Ringling, I "went" there. The current job market is dismal at best, but we had such incredible artists in our class I am confident we'll do well. Good luck to everyone.

Also I'll be in Sarasota over the summer. I am interning at a First Aid company here named Aso, I believe I'll be doing graphic design and marketing work. Sound strange? It does to me, but I'm glad to have something new to look forward to. So, if you're doing the academy you'll likely see me stop by a time or two.

The Forgotten Ones

2008-04-13T22:52:00.001-04:00

They're forgotten because I did one 2 months ago and forgot to post it, the other is only a couple weeks old. They're both for Advanced Digital. First one was an open assignment and its based on a song by Pain of Salvation. One of my favorite bands although I can never find anyone who has heard of them. The second one is a wine label for Toasted Head. Also, they really don't belong next to each other.

Mo' Paintin, Mo' Problems

2008-04-03T23:09:00.001-04:00

Some figure studies and a study of my backyard. I meant to post more new landscapes but they're all at home so that'll have to wait. The backyard one is kind of disjointed, I was focusing on mixing the colors I saw instead of interpreting them to fit my own composition. I suppose it is more of an excersise than anything else.

The top figure study was a 2 hour painting I did in Custode's class and fortunately it got into Best of Ringling.

I would post thesis stuff, but might as well wait until after the show. This is a pretty stressful time. I'm really not sure how helpful thesis is as an assignment. I think I'd prefer working on individual assignments rather than having one huge project looming over me for an entire semester. Or maybe 2-3 "mini theses" of 2-3 pieces each could be a possibility.

Paintin'

2008-02-12T21:06:00.001-05:00

Portrait of Schneyder's baby:

Two session figure pose:

Game Cover

2008-02-04T11:44:00.001-05:00

Assignment was to do a game cover of any kind. I chose Shadow of the Colossus (the amazing PS2 game with big cuddly furry monsters that want to be your friend). This version is pretty much done, just need to figure out the text. Admittedly, it turned out being relatively the same idea as the original cover. Although my colossus is a visual combination of the first and second colossi you meet in the game. I think I gave it a bit more character and made it clearer what was going on. The original cover seemed kind of ambigous and static to me.

I would post thesis stuff, but the visual part of that is going pretty slowly. I'm doing a comic and really don't have any finished pieces to show yet. Figure paintings and sketches are next, once I scan em.

What You Are About to See May Shock You

2008-01-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry. I hope you're not too startled by this image. It creeps me out personally. The assignment was to do a self portrait. I've done tons of them recently and wanted to switch it up a bit and do something ridiculous.

Figure paintin'

2007-12-17T13:56:00.001-05:00

I wasn't too happy with my ilustration stuff this semester. Nothing seemed to come out very well, and only managed to get a couple pieces I'm not embarassed to show people. Guess that's a side effect of Pratt's trademark deadlines. Oh well, I learned a lot in the process. Anyways, that brings us to this post. Here's some of my better figure stuff from this semester:

Just noticing three of these are practically the same composition! Don't know if that's a bad thing, but it is kind of repetitive. I swear my other ones were not that composition!

Self Portrait!

2007-12-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

Just posting this real quick. I did 3 of these, and was incredibly close to doing another one of me as a Super Saiyan. Or maybe one of the kids from the crossfire commercials. Leather jackets, greased hair, and fire. That would have been amazing. Will be posting again soon with illustration and sketchbook stuff.

Oh yeah it's for the Senior Poster.

More Stuff

2007-10-25T11:53:00.001-04:00

Billboard illustration from last year.
Dean Cornwell master copy. I couldn't get a decent picture of it, too much paint on the thing.
Based on short story The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka. There is a day time version of it too, but it's got a puke brown color scheme and shall not be displayed here!
Orc at the Doctor's office. Think WoW. This one is from last year.
American Consumption of the Earth.

STUFFF

2007-10-25T11:33:00.001-04:00

Little late joining the blog craze, but figured its a convienient way to share mah stuffs. Here's what I gots

Triptych assignment for Pratt. I chose to illustrate childhood monsters. I swore these things existed as a kid.
Illustration Academy: Blue assignment
Anatomy of Desire short story illustration
2 session figure pose