This Just In!!!

A bit of a quick commercial break from your sponsor here....

I have posted some images on my "For Sale" blogspot...they are mostly works on paper, from The Stardragons and something from Sea Monsters. All are reasonably priced as they are mostly mixed media works in acrylics,oils, china markers and watercolors and pencil and were interiors to two books.... and prices are listed. Take a look! Something for everyone and every price range.

http://bobsartforsale.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!!!

Sketch Day...in Texas

Collaborations! Me(left) and Teddy Harvia(right)
David Cherry(left) and me(right
Me(left) and Cat Conrad(right)

At the convention we attended, one cool program item was creating a collaborative art piece within a certain time. The object? One artist starts off and the other, takes over, and we switch several times until it's finished. The object here was to do a "Perfect Martian". Well, after abit, that became a Martian dragon(!!) as we switched off to different partners. The results were often hilarious and, alot of fun to see evolve, especially for the audience!!!! I worked with my pals Teddy Harvia, David Cherry and Cat Conrad(the guy with the cool hat and shirt at bottom). There's sheer joy in creating this kind of work. The finished results-some of which you see here, were auctioned off for charity where they can do some good for alot more people. Enjoy!!

Back from Dallas...

Filmmaker and pal John A. Davis and, me(right)

It's been a bit of travelling, for the best part of a week...so...sorry, nothing up yet. Back from Dallas where we had a GREAT time at Con DFW, a small but very cool SF con in Dallas, TX run by some of the nicest people I've met!! Lots of fun! Saw old friends David Cherry, Teddy Harvia, Teresa Patterson. Hung out and had a GREAT party and great food with good friend and filmmaker John A. Davis(Jimmy Neutron, The Ant Bully) and his wife Kim Saxon. In the meantime, more paintings are coming, for sure!

It's been a crazy time!

Wednesday...Project and Sketch Day!

Pyramid Scheme 2(rough color idea)

Humorous ideas for fantasy book covers are always a joy to do. This was one for Eric Flint and Dave Freer's PYRAMID SCHEME 2 which is a sequel to a cover I did in 2001. Breaking down ideas to a single, simple image is always tough, but I came up with this idea that showed the Midgard Serpent reading the riot act to Thor, her arch nemesis, while he was a captive audience in her coiling tail!! I liked the idea but the problem was that centering the serpent, made the serpent too much the focal point....I worked really fast to get my idea down, as I usually do.

Refined working sketch(SOLD!)
It hit me what the problem was, after a suggestion from the publisher I did this sketch so that we have a side view and, we see Thor and Middy face to face. Another given was the five-sided pyramid(which is an alien black hole that is messing with time so all these characters can be together!) had to be featured and of importance somehow.

The finished painting, 17x24 inches. This came out a peach and was a pure joy for me to do. I did it in acrylics on canvas. I used the moon as a circular design image to tie together the elements. It also looked cool. I also added in a mountain peak off to the side on which I placed some other characters. I particularly like the texture of the serpent and the look on Thor's face. I sort of posed for Thor and beefed myself up some. This kind of work is similiar to the concept art I did for THE ANT BULLY three years ago. It's alot of fun to do this kind of work, part of my inspiration comes from Don Maitz as well!

We'll have a break here, at least until Monday as I am off, so if you don't see anything new, don't panic too much. In the meantime, have a look at some of the great work on my wife's blog http://daubdujour.blogspot.com/
I think you'll dig it alot. I do!!! She's the one who got me into this blogistuff!

More fun with Light, Dragons and Rocks

The Dragon Tower(8x10,oil, SOLD)
I have a thing going here. Castles, imaginary lands, and I threw in some dragons just for the helluvit. Just lots of fun working with the palette knife and various lighting effects. The highlights on the facing rocks were all done with putting some nice thick paint on the canvas and kind of "carving" into it, like as I have said before, frosting a cake. About an hour on this painting. I used alot of Neo Megilp, and some Linseed Drying Oil. Knowing when to stop is a big thing to the success of these paintings.

The Darkness and a Rainbow....

Castle Dark(8x10, oil SOLD) This one came out just about as "painterly" as it gets. Painting is like surfing. I have never surfed(save maybe the net) but I think it is the same feeling. When you are on the "wave" you're rolling and the emotional level just builds. This happened here from the get-go. When I got into the rocks and the waterfall...I was kind of in that "zen" spot many painters claim to want to reach. I brought this one to a show, and it sold on the spot. More Castles and lost lands to come...I promise. You think I don't want to experience that kind of "riding the wave" feeling again? I've worked all my life to get that!!

Cold Enough for a Mammoth....

Bridge for a Mammoth(8x10 $SOLD!) Fun little mammoth study, with more cool enviroment around him. It's so cold, the thoughts of mammoths are not far away!!! This came out nicely textured as well, I was quite happy with it.

A Legend Passes On...

This was going to be a new painting, as I take leave to Boston for a SF con that I'm going to this weekend. But...I give this space to someone else...

I found out that one of my greatest inspirations-Peter Ellenshaw-has passed away at age 93. Needless to say, some of Peter's best work you have never noticed-he was a matte painter for films such Disney films as Mary Poppins(1964)(the first film I ever saw in a theater!) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea(1954),Treasure Island, In Search of The Castaways(1959), The Love Bug(1969),Island At the Top of The World(1974) and The Black Hole(1979), just to name a few. His last matte work was when his son, Harrison, called him out of retirement to work on Superman IV: The Quest For Peace(1987) as a matte supervisor in some very adverse conditions, and finally Dick Tracy(1990) on some of the hand-painted mattes for that film(digital matte work in the mid-90's more or less made the painted versions obsolete, to the detriment of the industry IMHO). He was personally hired by Walt Disney back in the formative days of the creation of Disneyland and many of the movies Disney produced, to work on the special effects. When he left the film biz in the 80's he spent his days painting AMAZING landscapes!!! His work and, his humble attitude were captivating to me, and while I never personally knew him, I found his work to inspire my own. If you want to see what I mean and read a little more about the man, go to http://www.ellenshaw.com/ and you'll see exactly what I mean. I'm literally in awe of what he does.

What inspired me was his spirit and, a combination of talent and his style...and he lived a good,long life... as we all should. There are two volumes of his work, presently available and I own both of course. So, a time of silent rememberence for this man, from me.

Castle in the Fog...

The Foglands(8x10- $ SOLD)

Nice little 8x10 gem, very textured, I have to say. I like these mysterious lands that I often wander in in my mind. I used palette knife to great measure here...borrowing inspiration on Sanford Robinson Gifford, and Thomas Cole....

This one sold, to a friend from Scotland, at Boskone, and the fact he is bringing it "home" is like a kind of great feeling!

Dragons of London....

Well, Wednesday is Sketch Day. Time for some sketch book drawings to show you what I've done as ideas. These two dragon sketches I did in London last Fall. And where better to draw them? London is a city guarded by dragons-four to be exact, that mark the "City of London" which is sort of an area within the actual city we know as London. The above dragon I did sitting in a little French cafe near Upper St Martin's Lane. Nothing more international and bohemian feeling than sipping a Cappucino, listening to Radio One's "80's Flashback Hour" and drawing a dragon- as people walk by. Anyway, I based the composition on an old etching I bought at a small print shop, and I liked the overall arrangement of the landscape, I just reworked it to include a wizard and some kind of water dragon. I like scale so hence the small figure.

Apollo and The Python

Still in London there are more dragons to be found. In the Tate Gallery, which is home to many J.M.W. Turners, there is one painting called "Apollo and The Python" It shows Apollo and a python which is guarded by a massive, flame snorting dragon. The painting is incredible and, shows exactly how "Fantasy Art" has been with us for ages. The dragon is wounded, mortally and is collapsing into an abyss after a large log was apparently dropped on it. This is the one Turner that seems to not be available as a print, postcard or in a book!!! I was so taken with it I quickly sketched the general idea down as fast as I could. Apollo would be off to the left. The dragon is also quite dark, and subtle, so it takes often a second look. What draws us in is the dragon's wounded tail-an open, fleshy raw gash(left of the picture). If you ever go to London, know that dragons lurk there....more paintings soon!

Bob's Bonestell...

Chesley's Moon(8x10,oil SOLD!)
I sold this before it was even posted!! Anyway, some emails and nice comments have prompted me to take an "oil paint" look at Space Art done like painting-a-day, this is, a small size in a certain time limit. So I did my take on a classic Chesley Bonestell, but with my own touches. If only Titan looked this inviting. Instead it's hazy and covered in mud. But who is to say this isn't another ringed world in another solar system? Lots and lots of fun to do, and made me feel very nostalgic. Maybe I should do a bigger, longer one of this? What do you think?

Three Horns...

Triceratops study(9x12, oil,$SOLD!)
If you feel like you have seen this guy before, you have, back in December, but this was my chance to rework it and finish it up more, add some color and detail. I did say I liked Dinosaurs didn't I?

Painting in Salem...

The Lone Tree-California(8x10, oils $SOLD!)

We went to Wendy Snow-Lang's frame shop THE ART CORNER(see links)Saturday, for the ice sculpture walk in Salem, as she was a participating store. Wendy invited us to paint for the day, long with her husband Chuck Lang. Both good friends from many years. So this is what I did, a landscape from a California trip, with some incredible surf and this little tree on a huge rock. I love the physical *feel* of the texture of the paint here. I used a palette knife to good measure,painted on panel.

This also us the chance to try out out "Guerilla Paint Boxes" which are these nifty little boxes by which one can transport paint, brushes and paintings themselves and, with the flip of a lid, you can be set up and painting on location in no time! Above is me doing just that.

Here's Chuck at his set up painting some still lifes. He paints in acrylics which have their own advantages(less mess cleaning up, IMHO).All in all, a great time, great company, great pizza and great North Shore Italian food later!!

It's Friday...Sarah Again(Redux)

Sarah Redux(8x10,oil $SOLD!)
I did something I usually don't do- it was too tempting not to. I added something to a painting, later. John Davis pondered what she was near that made the highlights on her hands and the lighting overall. So I painted in these little globs of light. It's more storytelling now...I think anyway. That wasn't the purpose...but...I could not resist...

The Memory of Trees...

The Grove(8x10, oil, $SOLD!)

I started this painting, from a picture we took out West, with brushes, and found myself diving back into "illustrator" mode-define,define,pick,pick, do every blade of grass...arrgh! So it was time for Behavior Modification-I "sentenced" myself to dropping the brush, and using a palette knife to paint with. These are triangular(some are)trowel-shaped tools that have a handle and are good for cleaning up your palette-scraping old paint off it-hence "palette knife". However, most artists use them for actually painting with-it makes you think in broad terms when painting so you scoop up some paint and literally smear it onto the canvas. It forces you to make accidents with paint, work for you. And then you can use it to mix and burnish down colors, and spread them around. The thing is you get this great texture as you pile up colors. That happened here, and the magic happened...I stepped back...and I said "yes!". Moments we live for.

A dragon for today....

The Great Dragon(pencil concept)Okay, this is a sketch from my sketchbook-"The Great Dragon" . I had an idea to do a dragon that was absolutely huge-destroying a high perched castle. Of course, my friend TOm Kidd did something of a huge dragon too, but what can you do? Artists always have the same concepts come to them at the same time at one time or another. It's kind of like saying which version of "Come Together" do you like? The Beatles version or, Aerosmith's? Same song, two ways of doing it. Ideas and concepts are not sacred, but shared and what makes them interesting is how they are treated.

Anyway, no painting today, just busy, but I figured I'd put up something from my files to show you where my mind has been.

The sun on a warm coast....

The Golden Coast(8x10, oil SOLD!) I really love the ocean. I'm a water sign, maybe that's why? This was somewhere on Muir Beach, in California. It was what painters and photographers call "Magic Hour" with the lighting. That beautiful sunset that makes everything look....gold. It's so freezing cold here I am thinking warm thoughts of this time....enjoy!!

Like a Wave...

The Dark Wave(9x12, oils $ SOLD)To confess, this painting is from a bit ago. But you probably haven't seen it and I did it fairly quick so it fits the bill. Been a little bit busy so postings of totally new works will be irregular. I love the ocean and the ocean looking mysterious and even frightening is an alure for me. Anyway. More new stuff soon, really. But this just in....

Last night we went out with friends Leslee, CA, and Ron and Sarah(who was painted in the previous post) and had a terrific time at a great Chinese restaurant and Jazz club called "Chans" in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. I mean, there is NOT ALOT going down on a cold night in "Whoon-sock-ettt"(RI speak) but this makes an entire nightlife in one place in what is sadly a town that was big during the mill days, and part of it died when they left. Anyway, we saw a group called Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish and they were great! I need to do more of that-getting out to a place with great music and atmo. It was cheap, the food was excellent and a bargain and the friends were great to be with. My philosophy-get out, enjoy life, and friends and good music, food and wine/drinks. These moments never come again, appreciate them for this and you truly are alive.

A Study of Sarah...

Sarah Study(8x10, oil, $100)
I did this little gem in about a half hour, maybe 40 mins if you include me futzing with it. I had Lou Anders in mind for this-he wanted to see me do figures so this was the time. Sarah McG is a good friend and she has alot of costumes and really gets into this so she posed for me. I did it as a study for a larger personal work that you'll see some bits and pieces as I go along. I had such a good time painting Sarah, I'll do some more and even a portrait(I used to be a portrait artist can you believe?) in costume.
These are the kind of paintings that make me think "Yep, I'm doing something right".

The Cold Sun

Cold Sun(8x10, oil $100) Somedays, the sun just hangs there, and, like my friend Leslee says, the sun "is like a smile from a person with a headache". That just about sums it up on winter days. Here is a remembered landscape. That is I saw tthe sun like this and ran in and just applied paint until I had it. The landscape is just an experiment in receding colors , using some warms in the foreground to give the illusion of more depth.