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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Firebrand


Firebrand, 28.5 x 22, oil on canvas.

Finished this one up about two weeks back, and have just been waiting to get a good photo of it.  I am now sold on the fact that the family point and shoot is no longer up to the task of shooting my paintings -I could not get the color right on this piece for the life of me.  Here's to Mother-in-laws with photography degrees and excellent equipment (Thanks Char!).  
I don't think I really intended to have the glows go quite so "fiery" but once I got the cads on my brush, I couldn't help myself.

The Guardian


 The Guardian, 30 x 24, oil on canvas.

About time this one was finished.  Believe it or not this guy has been lurking in the studio since about last April.  The water, Good Lord, the water.  How it taunted.  Quite a challenge getting all those waves in there, I think it turned out alright, but I'll definitely have to tackle another "maritime" piece for some much needed practice.  I'm sure that there's some dumb-easy trick to painting water that I just glossed over in the alla prima painter's handbook, but man - this was a challenge.  I also suppose this could be considered my first "dragon" painting.  Though I prefer to think of the beasty as an overgrown snapping turtle.  The finished drawing below for some comparison.



During the painting of all that water, I decided that the little silhouetted shaman/priest fellow on the cliff had to go.  I think it works a little better for the composition and storytelling (I like cliches as much as the next guy, but this was definitely a decision that I was more in love with 8 months ago than now), plus it was a complete pain to keep painting around him...

Oh, and I also managed to spell the file name incorrectly - yay, English.