Another Commission Done!

There is something to love about working on wood. I decided for this commission to use charcoal on a gessoed wood panel surface. The wood texture shows through a bit and gives more character to the piece. This was done for a friend in Ontario from a photograph...the pose in the photo was captured as a bit of a "happy accident."

Conte Sketch - "Prayer Beads"

I have been perfecting the art of drawing hands...they are tricky! There is so much character and life in the hands of old people.

Finished Commission!

My friend Gillian commissioned this portrait of her dad, my very first commission in CONTE! So excited! It turns out she was really pleased with the reddish brown tones in the end. I am always very satisfied when a client is happy with the end product. Now I am on to a black and white commission in a wood panel with a 2 inch cradle, for another friend. I am slowly making progress on all these projects despite working 2 jobs and trying to plan for my trip to Turkey to attend the World Youth Congress in July. Lots of things to look forward to in the near future!

Looking for Good Homes

I still am looking for good homes for a couple of recent works, especially the cat...it actually has real gold flakes mixed with the paint! Currently they are hanging in my bedroom...take a look!

I LOVE Charcoal!!

Another fresh, spontaneous sketch. I love the way this medium can be used for lighting/highlighting effects. I have also received a couple of requests for commissioned charcoal drawings so that shows that people will pay you to do what you love! The next one will be sepia and charcoal with the white highlights...so exciting!

Bald Man in Profile

I feel like a magician when I produce drawings like these - it felt like it just fell off the pencil and onto the paper. I love the character in this man's face, once again it is from a Flickr.com photograph courtesy of Lonnie Dean: . Many Thanks! This last month has been as hectic as any in recent memory - I now have a one bedroom suite near the beautiful Cook St. Village in Victoria, and I have been running around like crazy checking out art and design school programs and trying to figure out where I'm working this summer and where I'm going to school once I go back. In cases like these art provides some much needed therapy - even if it is only a two hour charcoal study like this one.

Fred Dred (Many Thanks to Photographer Gianni Neiviller)

I am on a major charcoal kick...something about the fine control that can be achieved plus the possibility of unpredictable chaos appeals to me. I am not yet quite confident enough in the medium to use the larger charcoal sticks or the powder...but I will get there. This drawing is another of my favourites, I found a fantastic photo on Flickr.com and the photographer Gianni Neiviller graciously granted me permission to use it at a reference. For some reason the way the drawing turned out really reminds me of Morgan Freeman, with the exception of the dreadlocks of course. I am very excited...tomorrow I am doing my first ever drop-in LIFE DRAWING CLASS...I am about to embark on a journey of development and reaching my full potential as an artist and challenging myself in new ways is a great place to start.

Vivian

I just love the freshness and delicacy of this piece, I did it from my friend Vivian's Facebook profile photo. I am really liking the charcoal/white charcoal combination on toned paper but I'm not thrilled by the tooth of the illustration board. I'd like to do a similar charcoal series on Studio Gallery Panel from Blick on which I will lay my own toned ground.

Irish Setter

Its safe to say that running and painting are the only things that have kept me sane the last few months. Its a long story, but until December I was doing a very stressful internship at the Cancer Agency in a very difficult academic program, having recently been diagnosed with a learning disability that I've had all my life. Well not exactly learning disability, but a mild form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. This program is not particularly accomodating of any students who think or learn differently from the norm - I need to stick to routines, need to be given clearly exactly what is expected of me, and I have odd behavioral and facial tics. And because I tend to get "tunnel visioned" on a particular aspect of the procedure I had people purposefully creating situations in which I would mess up or make mistakes. Needless to say, I was incredibly stressed for those months. I dreaded getting up and I hated going to the cancer agency even more. There has been something very positive to come out of this though - every day we would see people who thought they had their whole lives ahead of them to be what they wanted to be, but then with the results of one test it was all over.

All my life up to this point I have let the naysayers get me down, I was told "Art is not a real job, try healthcare, its more of a steady paycheck." Or my least favourite phrase in the world "Its something to fall back on" - I think this is a detestable phrase for a young person to have to hear. But from what I have seen...we do not always have a lifetime ahead of us to make something of ourselves, sometimes there won't even be another tomorrow. So I made the decision to take some time off school to focus on drawing and painting - and lately that hasn't been easy either. I've been second guessing myself like crazy, times are tough and it saddens me that people in our culture do not value the arts.

So....now the source of my stresses is a financial one. I'm trying to decided when to go back to school and what I want to study because as sad as it is its very difficult to survive if you are not in school and have not completed a university education. Right now I just need to stick with the running and regular posting, this is the only way I can keep from going stir crazy. I've been running 25-30km a week and I plan to gradually increase that to 40km per week over the next month. Then sooner than I can blink it will be summer racing season, lots of redemption to be had for being injured for the last half-marathon in the fall.

Now THAT is amazing art...

Desire
Originally uploaded by Robert_Eric

Every so often you stumble upon something that is truly unique. There is a lot of art out there that tackles common subjects in common ways. This is far from that. Airbrushing is currently one of the hottest art forms and it enables artists to create living, breathing works of art. Of all the pictures I've seen from the World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden, Austria, this is my favourite. I have an all new dream summer vacation destination, that's for sure. Maybe I will have to make a trip back to Austria this year...

THAT FREAKIN' RIGHT HAND!

Every so often, a piece will totally stump me. I thought, I'll just dash of a quick drawing using one of my friend's Facebook phots...but NoooOOOOO...at 3am last night I was just ready to give up. I'll work on one part of it for ages, and I'll end up scratching my head at why it doesn't look any better after 6 hours of work. This is one of those. The right hand took longer than the rest of it combined, and it still sucks. Hands and mouths have always been my biggest challenge but for some reason this one continues to stump me. Oh well, I will keep working away at it.

My Setup

Okay okay...I am an Olympics addict. I set up my easel in front of the TV so I wouldn't miss anything, particularly hockey. Today is Sweden vs. USA in women's hockey which is what is showing in the background here. The painting I'm working on is of Tucker, who I still maintain is the world's worst dog. To get him to sit still for the reference photo I had to ignore him for about ten minutes first. And of course, I underestimated how fussy and difficult his poofy white coat would be. He just had a bath so I couldn't help think of a giant Brillo pad when I was photographing him.

BooBoo's Stair of Death

My roommate's cat likes to sit on the top stair leading to the basement, which is a pretty steep drop if of course you happen to trip over her, which I'm sure is her intention. She is so dark and fuzzy that she just blends right in. Needless to say, while going downstairs I have nearly killed myself and her several times. This is further indication that cats are just as disdainful as I have always thought.

Strawberry ACEO

3"x4" - Watercolour on Paper Mounted on Cradled Panel - FOR SALE - $30
I am really beginning to like miniatures...this is another of those paintings that just fell off the brush onto the paper. This one also comes after a long spell of feeling like an unmotivated slug...my roommates have become very used to my frustrated rants and ramblings. Some days the ability just isn't there. I'm completely reworking 2 commissioned portraits because I wasn't happy enough with them to even show the client. Part of it was having less than optimal reference photos, but mostly I'd been feeling uninspired. I'm hoping for a better result this time around - then I'll be moving onto my biggest commission yet (24"x36"). Please contact me for purchasing info for any of my paintings, or see what I have for sale on my Etsy store.

Self Portrait in Charcoal

Admittedly, I haven't gotten as much art done in the last few days because I have been watching...the OLYMPICS. I did manage to dash this one off last night though, which is my first charcoal drawing in probably about five years. I'm not quite as comfortable with charcoal and pastel as I am with wet media but I am actually reasonably pleased with this one. Of course I have also been plagued by camera and computer technical issues but I think these are all worked out now so I should be able to get back to a semi-regular posting schedule. I really think every artist should attempt a true self portrait at some point. Its amazing how the way we view ourselves is so different from how others view us.

The Completed Cat!

FOR SALE - $200 - Can be purchased from my Etsy store
Yes I realize I already posted this, but I felt it needed a few touchups. Long story short, this was commissioned by a woman back at Christmas, who has now decided she doesn't want it, so I would like to find it a good home. I am still debating whether to add bits of gold leaf to the cat's fur and to cover the entire 2 inch wooden cradle with gold leaf as well. I am thankful for Ampersand Gessobord, as well as Golden Artists' Acrylics! I must say, this is the painting of which I am most proud.

Another Work in Progress plus Reference Photo

The Reference Photo

A fun little painting I have been working on the last few days...I have made it my goal to post more work in progress photos. I have also had a sweet tooth lately...hence the preoccupation with candy.

Commission in Progress

This is a triple portrait of three children which is in progress - I used some less than optimal photo references from my old camera, except for the little guy on the right. Thank goodness for the miracles of Photoshop! Hopefully their mom will be sending me some older photos this week so I can put the finishing touches on it, but its Carly (top), Cameron (right), and Joel (bottom). I mostly just need to make sure all the light sources and shadows are consistent which is always tricky when using separate reference photos. Oh well, in the meantime I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.

My Tribute to Monet

I think it goes without saying that we can all learn from imitating the masters. Here is my tribute to one of my favourites, Monet. This one is for sale for $300 including frame. 14x18" is the unframed size so with mat and frame it will be 18x24"

Peek-a-Boo!

Peek-a-Boo! - Acrylic on Gessobord - 5x5" - FOR SALE - $50

George - Acrylic on Gessobord - 11x14" - FOR SALE - $200

Sweet Things - Acrylic on canvas - 6x6" - FOR SALE - $75

I have been in a painting frenzy the last few weeks. Mostly trying to get commissions done, but I've also done a few non-commissioned works which I'm going to post to my Etsy store. One thing I'm still struggling with though is how to properly photograph my work. With the flash the glare ruins the image, and without the flash the image is blurry. Anybody have any advice?