Maestro and the Muse

I am always truly flattered when a friend asks for my creative services as a favour. In this case it was my friend asking for an album cover for her band. They are an acoustic-eclectic duo I met while going to school at Queen's University. They have also just released a new album totalling 53 minutes and 12 seconds. It is largely influenced by the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. This is their MySpace page here http://www.myspace.com/maestronmuse.
I sincerely hope I get to design more of their album artwork in the future!

Thunder

Since its the holidays and all I figure we are all allowed to cheat a little bit. This is a painting I did a couple of years ago but is one of my favourites because of the power and dynamism. It was also my first "experimental" piece since before that I painted in a very realistic style. I never understood the appeal of some traditional horse paintings. I will resume daily small paintings on New Year's Day. Also, Opus is having a great Boxing Week Sale so it is a good time to stock up on art supplies in the New Year, with discounts of 20-50% on most merchandise. Happy holidays everyone!

Royal Gerbera

Now that my radiation therapy Term 3 Clinical is finished, I have time to spend a lot more time on my true love...painting. This piece was commissioned by one of the staff members at BCIT because the gerbera daisy is his wife's favourite flower. Although the photo doesn't show it very well, I actually used metallic gold gouache for the radiant petals so they really stand out. This combined with the cool carbazole violet background gives it a very regal appearance in my opinion. I have been experimenting quite a bit with unusual viewpoints and cropping, this has the potential to turn a common subject into a unique image.