New Work Underway

The initial drawing for my next still life.

Lord of the Rings fans may know the scene being depicted.

After transferring to the Ampersand Panel, starting the color work.

Trying to go for a fiery background for the left side of the piece.

This is the actual setup for the painting. I love playing with this step. different characters come and go, take different positions, and playing with the lighting.

I will be posting progress shots every other day or so, so stay tuned and watch the piece evolve.

New Work in Progress

Tentative working title is "Fight Night". the ringside seats will be filled

by characters from my collection of toys. I think it will be a fun piece once

it is finished.

Tune in again soon to see how it progresses.

Headed to a new home!

Just heard from the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod that my piece, "Well Played With, Parts Missing" sold during the opening reception. Wish I could have been there to meet the buyer, it always makes you feel great when someone selects your piece to take home with them from such a strong show.

I am very honored.

The Finished Image

Here is the finished image of "The Countessa", overall I am very happy with the

way this piece turned out. I concentrated on keeping the strokes light and not

overworking any area. I think it has a nice feel to it, and will be debuted at

Other Worlds Gallery

this Friday, stop by and see the Countessa in person.

And Now, For Something Completely Different

I haven't done a figurative piece in quite a while and have never posted on here.

so, here goes, these are sequential shots showing the process of how I work.

The piece is called "The Contessa", it is 7 x 5 and will be headed to Other Worlds Gallery once it is framed and ready for display.

I will post the finished image later today, hope  you enjoy.

A Couple of New Pastels

Time for a couple of updates

Here are a couple of new pastels

This one is titled "Space Port" which shows a couple of vintage rockets with some

images from an animated favorite of mine "Futurama"

I've reworked this one a couple of times and still aren't sure if I like it.

This one is literally "just off the easel", it shows a shelf in my studio where my still life items live.

Thinking of calling this one "The Usual Suspects" or "The Cast"

What do you think?

A New Still Life

A New Still Life

 I borrowed the idea for this still life from a couple of other artists, had a lot

of fun completing the piece in pastel.

"Gulliver's Travels" was always one of my favorite stories, and trying to do a

painting of it, tied down as Gulliver was when he awoke in Lilliput, was a challenge.

A lot of concentration was involved with the ropes, making sure they went where they were

supposed to, and making sure the lighting stayed consistent.

The painting is 24" tall x 18" wide and was done to show a friend what a painting of this size

would look like if she decided to have one of her vintage Nancy Drew book covers redone. 

Two more pastels for

Inspired By...

This one is titled "Not A Fairy" and was inspired by

Josilyn Bouffard.

The title came from her note on the original drawing.

This piece was inspired by Sophie Unkauf. I'm not exactly sure what it is, as Sophie did not include a title. I will have to ask her about it the next time I see her.

So far, this project has been a lot of fun. I have picked out my next three drawings

and hope to have the posted soon.

Right now I am working on a larger still life titled "Putting All My Ducks in a Row"

This is the start of a project that began with my pastel painting of one

of my grandson Alex's creature drawings. I got the idea to have kids, and

some adults do drawings from their imagination while they were at the opening

for my solo show at the Shirt Factory Gallery.

I ended up with nearly 35 drawings from that opening, and now I am starting

to work on each of them. The first three are shown below.

I call this project:

Inspired by...

"Happy Alien in Space"

Drawing on the left is by Alexander Francis

My pastel is on the right

"Candy Striped Sea-zebra" 

Drawing on the left by Aveleen Unkauf

"Asian Chicken Shrimp"

Drawing on the left by Maddie Unkauf

Each of the young (and not so young) artists that have contributed to this idea

have inspired me with their creativity and joy of drawing.

Hi, everyone, haven't posted in a while, so here we go. I will be posting more new work here, shortly.

I will also be keeping people up to date on the Adirondack National Pastel Exhibition that the Adirondack Pastel Society and the Shirt Factory Gallery are co-sponsoring.

I have also decided to start a new blog about the area arts scene. It will be a collection of my views, reviews of the shows, and general artistic comments. I will be starting this very soon, hopefully you will enjoy following along.

Check in tomorrow for more news.