Grasshopper Hunter in Spectrum 19

Just got my letter yesterday from Spectrum. Always a good thing when you get one since not getting one means you didn't get in. As always, competition was stiff  and the job arduous for jurors Peter deSeve, Dawn Rivera-Ernster, Jeremy Cranford, Scott Gustafson and John Schindehette. I am certain that the percentage of accepted entries was in the single digits, so I am proud to have a piece included in Spectrum 19: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. My entry was originally done for Boys' Life Magazine. The book will be published in November through Underwood Books.

Canyon Romance in 88th Spring Salon

Canyon Romance- 24" x 24" oil on canvas 

Yesterday I got word that my painting Canyon Romance has been accepted into the 88th Annual Springville Spring Salon. The Salon is always very competitive with nearly a thousand entries from which 251 were accepted. I am pleased and honored to be among such strong company including many of my friends and even a couple of former students. I look forward to seeing the show which opens tomorrow night, Friday April 20, 2012.

For directions to the museum, see the SMA website here

Temptation - Preliminary Drawing

For my  senior portfolio class we had a painted final. I had everyone choose some sort of portrait  and I gave them all three pieces of reference from which to choose two. I gave a sheet of various snakes, some random mechanical parts and had them choose an element (fire, wind, water, etc.).  I decided to paint along with them and I will show more of that later. Here is the preliminary drawing I did for it. I have wanted to paint this subject for years and never have gotten around to it. I think Eve often times gets a bum rap for being the one that succumbed to temptation, but I believe it was really a conscious choice that she did not take lightly. The painting itself is a bit of an experiment and I have some process shots I will show as well. 

Fruit Crate Detail

Just a detail shot of a work in progress. This is for a California fruit grower and will go on their packing crates. The rows between the trees still need some work, but the trees are finished. This is about a fourth of the overall piece. I'll show the finish when I wrap it up.

Puzzled

Digging through the archives a few weeks back, I found this cover I did for a murder mystery set in the southwest. It was titled Death of the River Master by Allana Martin and was published by St. Martin's Press. The story conflict revolved around water rights between neighboring towns on either side of the U.S-Mexican border. Murder and conspiracy ensue. As I recall, I quite enjoyed the story. I went for a metaphorical solution involving the desert mud and a couple of bullets forming a skull. I especially like how the dry riverbed mud puzzled all together. It made the textures and patterns a lot of fun to paint. I still really like this one. 

Sterling Hundley Figure Drawing Demo

I recently had the pleasure of spending the day with artist and illustrator Sterling Hundley and here is a sampling of his process as well as wisdom that I gleaned while I watched him draw.

He began drawing in Nupastel on toned paper which he prefers since it allows a push and pull of values that you don't get when working on white.  He dropped in large flat shapes in two values creating a simple light and dark arrangement.

Sterling likes to design the drawing and let the architecture of the figure dictate some of his choices. He tries not to get caught up in the face too often when drawing the figure. When that happens, he spends too much time there at the expense of the figure. He often  will purposely leave the face less defined,  insisting that it should be figure drawing, not portrait drawing. Sterling deliberately groups the values close together to create form and then softens edges and transitions to create credibility within the drawing.

At one point, he darkened down the knee  and other areas in the drawing, explaining that he needed room to pull out the highlights noting that "something can't feel light unless it is against dark". Sterling said that he hates nearly every piece of art he does at some point, insisting that "there is always an ugly phase". But he then admitted that he would rather see a confident, honest drawing than an accurate drawing.

Hundley  likes art that requires an act of participation. He noted that a frequent failure of the Atelier style of drawing instruction is that though it can produce technically accurate results, they can feel lifeless, leaving nothing for the viewer to do. He stressed the importance of learning how to manipulate the hand to give efficiency to the mark making.

When asked if he draws the positive or negative space, he replied that he does both, noting that "the negative space is as relevant as the positive space". Think of yourself as a designer, respond intuitively to the subject.

Toward the end of the drawing demo, Hundley laid forth the following  as his guiding principles:
Set up your art around the important things in life- Family/Health/Friends/Recreation/Business. Have a balance.

Build your "legend" by putting out there things that you are interested in. Build a fan base by allowing people into your creative process.
Be direct and honest - don't be afraid to show mistakes. Show your process and the decisions within your process.

If you make more good decisions than bad, you arrive at a better painting.
You are the bridge that brings the things you like together.
The only way to arrive at something personal is to inject your person into it.

You really have to work hard - the hours you put in are reflected in your work.
You can overcome deficiencies in talent through hard work.
Be exceptional at ONE thing and you can be successful; be exceptional at TWO and you can be a star.

Follow Sterling's work on his Facebook Page

3 Hog Night

I was approached a couple of weeks ago by a group in Emory Texas about using a piece of my artwork I had originally done for the Dueling Banjo Pigs blog and exhibit. The Lake Country Neighbors hold an annual pig roast fundraiser for their local food bank and wanted to use a piece I had done on t-shirts promoting the event.

The original piece on which I based the shirt design

I offered to design the shirt for them and this is the result. The piece in question needed a little adjustment in order for it to translate better into silk screen and I added the typography as well. I removed the textures and flattened out the colors for a cleaner design. I think it will be fun to see it on the shirts and they will even be sending me enough for my family. Fun times! I hope they send me some photos of the actual event with people wearing my design.