So, this painting won the Painting Award at the Westmoreland Art Nationals this weekend. Which is very confusing because I'd already won that award at that show for this painting -

Turns out, the same collection of artwork is displayed in two different venues and they do a different judging with different judges at each one. Weird, right?

Anyway, I'm very proud of the awards. I guess since I keep winning awards at it I should do more of this painting thing.

What I'm working on now is an experiment. I haven't used gouache paint since art school, where I remember being frustrated by it. So, I'm going to try a gouache painting of this sketch to see if I'm any better at it 45 years later. Also, why is gouache so damned hard to spell?

Keep your fingers crossed. It's too hard for me to paint with mine crossed.

Had a blast turning out this new poster for Eat n Park Hospitality Group. I sure wish another client would pick up on this style so I can have even more fun.

Back in the day, when I was rendering these with fountain pens and ink, I did a ton of this pseudo woodcut look. It was big fun to draw, kind of like solving a puzzle.

This was the first product from Alcoa, an aluminum tea kettle.

And I'm entering this 2'x2' oil on panel painting into a show today. Gonna leave a big empty space on the diningroom wall.

Busy busy busy

Wow, another unintentionally long hiatus from posting. Until recently, it has been chaos in the studio working as fast as I could on all kinds of fun, interesting projects. Now, it's quiet again and I'll have a few days before the panic sets in that I don't have any work. "Gee, that looks like a good dumpster to live out of."

Four months ago I was approached by Eat n Park Hospitality Group to do some safety posters for in-house use. They sent me some samples of the style they were looking for and asked if I could do it. The pieces they sent were all 80s airbrush work and it took me a while to figure out how to pull them off in Photoshop. The fun twist is that they wanted the faces of their various VPs on the posters. It's a fun series to work on and I can't wait to start the next one. They are so popular amongst their people that VPs are vying for their own poster.

Another fun project I'm still working on is another book for Penguin Random House, Who Was Nikola Tesla. Who doesn't love Nikola Tesla?

This comic book project was insanely fun. A lot of it had to be drawn so as to be animated, which made for quite a chore keeping layers labeled. Can't wait to see the animations and printed comic.

This was an oil painting commission for Christmas. The client wanted a portrait of their deceased dog in a copy of Wyeth's Christine's World. Quite a challenge since Christine's World is a very large egg-tempera painting and this is an 11x14" oil on paper. Still, I'm very happy with the finished painting. And so is the client, which is what matters.

I somehow found time to squeeze in this full-page illustration for a gardening magazine. Some stuff is just too fun to pass up.

And, finally, I attended a WPaSCBWI event on picture books and spent the day listening to interesting lectures and doodling. It's what I do.

It's the time of year where if I'm not slammed with work in the studio, I'm slammed with yard work. Grass cutting, chainsawing, stacking wood, planting the garden, mowing the lawn again. There's always something that needs to be done outside.

Garden, mostly planted. 8 tomato plants, 4 bell peppers, lotsa pole beans, a potful of poblano peppers and some carrots. Oh, and weeds.

Had the opportunity to design a fun logo for a company in the food industry.

Did a bunch of storyboard frames to fill some downtime.

Sent off the sketches to my latest book about the Taj Mahal.

On a sad note, got asked to do a portrait of my friend Jeff Kowal for his memorial services.

And, on a happier note, am nearly finished with the latest painting of our niece if I can only figure out what to do with the background. This was only supposed to be an experiment but wound up being a finished painting. Doh!

Until this painting is dry enough to scan, these photos will have to do. 12x24" oil on panel.

I was finally able to get a decent picture of this commissioned portrait. Size is 16x20 on canvas. Now I'm waiting for the paint to dry so I can deliver it. Which is like waiting for paint to dry.

Here's a detail photo so you can get a look at my brushwork. As you can see, I'm not a big fan of blending.

Geez, it's been a bazillion years since I've added anything here. That's what I get for being crazy-busy in the studio for months on end. So, let's get some new stuff up here:

Just something I did for fun during my spare time. The line work is Prismacolor pencil on paper and all the coloring was done in ArtRage.

An illustration of Marie Curie for the cover of a children's magazine. All Photoshop. Fun but kinda creepy.

In the past couple weeks I had this portrait commission to work on. Oil on canvas, 16x20".

One of the projects keeping me super-busy was a book for Penguin Books, Who Was Bruce Lee?, which needed 80 line illustrations like this one. All Photoshop.

Last, but not least, I'm taking some time in the studio now to finish some of my personal projects. This painting has been sitting for months waiting for me to get back to it. Oil on panel, 12x24". With any luck I can get this finished this week and get started on the next one.

Had the chance to start a new painting this past week and this is the progress so far. Got buried with commercial work in the studio again, so who knows when I'll get back to it.

The first sketch began to feel one-dimensional to me, so I whited everything out with gesso and added the two chickadees. Placing something in front of the figure is going to give the painting more depth.

A bit more progress today painted while dealing with a Jeep issue. I love painting hands and feet.