Beaver Lodge Cutaway Sketch

Certain things pose particular challenges when trying to illustrate a concept, such as how to show an entire environment, including both the inside and outside, in a single image.  I say illustrate, because whenever this type of problem is posed, it usually is not something to be solved using photography. This conundrum is often best solved by doing a cutaway illustration. I am working on just such an illustration right now for an educational publisher.  As I gathered information to design my own version of the cutaway beaver dam, I was surprised how poorly rendered most of such existing illustrations were. I ended up relying on photography to inform me on what the beavers and their houses looked like  and then created my own version. I referred to elements from dozens of sources to come up with my drawing, which I hope not only solves the problem, but does so in an aesthetically pleasing way. I am pretty happy with how it is coming together. I will post the fully rendered color version when it is complete.

Dragon Mountain Redux

Last year I did illustrations for a Boys' Life fiction article called "The Secret of Dragon Mountain". It was a cliffhanger story (quite literally as you can see from the main scene below) that readers were invited to finish. Well, a winner was chosen and I was asked to do another illustration to correspond with the winning entry. In the scene, he looks at the photos from his recovered camera. Luckily, my model lives in the neighborhood and it has not been long enough for him to get to outgrow the role.

It will run in an upcoming issue along with the complete story and previous illustrations. Thanks to Kevin Hurley, current BL art director and Scott Feaster, previous AD who was fantastic to let me work with Boys' Life so much in the past. It's great to have wonderful clients.

See Dragon Mountain sketches here
And also here

Autumn Dusting in 90th Annual Spring Salon

Autumn Dusting (Mt. Olympus)- 36" x 60" Oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

I am proud to announce that my painting Autumn Dusting has been accepted into the 90th Annual Spring Salon at the Springville Museum of Art. I am always happy to be accepted an I was pleased to see many of my friends and several former students on the accepted list. The announcement of the award winners is yet to come, so my fingers are still crossed for that also. The show opens this Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014 and runs through July 6th.

Previous post about Autumn Dusting progress

Caveman Dinner

Caveman Dinner-10" x 12" mixed media by Greg Newbold

I've been working on a bunch of stuff that either is not ready to show or that I cannot yet show due to confidentiality agreements, so I thought I'd dig around for an oldie but a goodie. This little gem was for an article in Eating Well magazine from a few years back that outlined the benefits of the "Paleo Diet". Since then there has been a barrage of similar diets that seek to recreate what early man must have eaten. Lots of fruits, nuts and grains, lean protein, no sugar, salt or...no taste. Well, anyway, I tried to look at the subject in a humorous way as the scientist observes from a slight distance what the unsuspecting caveman as his daily diet sizzles over the fire. I don't know about you, but I won't be choking down grubs and bugs any time soon in the name of nutritional well being. Not to mention how close he is to the flames. Fire safety anyone? I don't think I have ever posted this one on the blog before. At least I couldn't find it. But if I have, just call it one from the archives while I get to something new I can post.