Amphibionicus - Symphony of the Frogs

This is my playful attempts at keeping the digital pixels flowing.  I drew a little inspiration from the artistic genius of Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte.  Their work in "Surrealism" opened the door to a whole new realm of fantasy for illustrators and artists alike.  And since I enjoy creating little worlds of imagination and wonder, who better to honor and emulate then these unique masters of imagery.

This piece like the last one I did " Utopian Sunrise", started to take on a life of it's own once I started working on it.  I started out with a general idea of where I was going with the initial imagery and then somewhere along  the line, the spirit of the work revealed  itself.   

The whole process for me in doing one of these, takes days if not weeks, in this case, of experimenting with different images and arrangements, until I start to get a feel for the over all piece in regards to lighting and color, and of course theme. And then there are the dozens of layers, filters, effects and fine tuning. Until I get the image somewhere to a desirable state.

The basic concept for this piece came from some photos I took on visit to Central Park, NYC,  this past Spring. I used a picture of the lake and some low lying trees for the background.  Then I decided to include the infamous Band Shell stage, where many a Shakespeare play was enacted back in the day. Then I added some lovely pink flowering trees.  So the stage was set so to speak, but had to step back to decide what would be unfolding in this scene.

During the whole process of creation, I had stopped over a friends house, who had a small frog pond in his back yard, which I thought was very cool.  And while sitting outside watching them, they started to sing.  The rest as they say was history, I decided that the theme to this piece would be a " Symphony of Frogs".  And that is more or less how I came to this visual conclusion!  That and the help of some cooperative amphibians, that agreed to pose for some pictures!

And not unlike the immortal words of Leonardo Da Vinci, sometimes works of art are not so much completed, as they are abandoned!  You get to a point where you either hit what you were aiming for, or you didn't!   The curious thing is that even when I am done with any work, whether it be a simple drawing, or one of these digital monsters.... I will spend days afterwards studying it.  To see what works, and what doesn't work.    And in some cases, I even end up getting ideas for newer works. Or better ways of achieving certain techniques and effects.

But for good or for bad, here is what I came up with this time around. Hope you enjoy it!

Utopian Sunrise - A Newer Beginning

Greetings my friends, it is long over due, but managed to dig down deep into the recesses of my creative energies and actually produce some work. Sometimes the energies are just not there, and sometimes when you get lucky, things come together in perfect harmony!

I have been struggling to to find something that spoke to me in a creative voice, and this just spoke to me in volumes. I like painting and drawing, but over the last few years, been just amazed at what you can do with some photos, and a little bit of digital magic.

I tend to live in a little fantasy world of my own at times, so it is no wonder that much of my work reflects that! I enjoy putting together these fantasy landscapes, composed of imagery from places I have visited in my travels. Sometimes art is not just about exploring the creative spaces of your mind, but the beautiful and complex places of the world around you.

The photos I have used in this, are from several different places, and composited together using Photoshop in CS3. I like putting things together to magically transform the context in which the images or places actually exist in reality. Creating a whole new world in the process.

Much of my work, and especially this piece is inspired by the creative genius of Roger Dean, and most especially Maxfield Parrish. I like the serene Utopian imagery he produces in his art. And Roger Dean is such a visionary with his use of color and design.

It usually takes me about three or four days to composite the image, once I have the main components. Constantly changing and refining the layers as I go. Usually going blind while staring into my computer screen for hours at a time.

I really wanted this piece to be special as I have not done one like it in a very long while. But I am very happy with the results. I find that each time I step away from doing work of this kind, I return to it with a greater desire and a better understanding of how to best achieve the effects and atmospheric conditions I am trying to attain in my little fantasy worlds!

I hope you all enjoy it!

Thanks!

The Christmas Fairy - Holiday Card 2009

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and prosperous holiday season and a very Happy New Year!

This is the design I went with for my traditional holiday card, that I send to family and friends. It was done in colored pencils. The medium that I am currently having a great bit of fun experimenting with. The original picture is 12 x 16.

Following The Masters - Challenge Seven - Self Portraits

I recently started following another online artist challenge hosted by Michelle Burnett called "Following The Masters". http://followingthemasters.blogspot.com/ Each challenge is designed to bring focus to the creative styles of past masters. This challenge's focus is the "self portrait".

One artist who has inspired my work greatly, at an early age, was the master illustrator and graphic designer M.C. Escher. His designs in woodcut and pen and ink were always appealing to me in their complex nature and detail. He is probably the reason I became fascinate with illustrating in pen and ink in the first place.

I tried to pattern this piece in a similar style that Escher might have used, while infusing my own unique flair to it in the process.

I like the hauntingly timeless style of cross hatching and pointillism. The style has it's roots in the Renaissance periods, and has developed it's appeal through the centuries, lending itself to the classic depictions in story books. Which is part of the reason why I fell in love with being an illustrator. The joy of telling stories with your art.

The Next Generation - And the ABC's of ATC's

A few friends of mine from an online artist community have endeavored to keep the thrill of the trade alive. We want to start a new trade exchange going, and since I am the self-elected coordinator (by default, since no one wanted the job ) I am posting this information here for future reference and leave the door open for future trades, for anyone else that would like to participate.

We are currently finishing up an exchange right now. And as you can see, it is a small grouping, which I wouldn't mind growing into a much larger community. All are welcome.

If all goes well, the next exchange I am planning will go off on December 21st of this year. This will give all new comers the chance to get those creative juices flowing and get some mini masterpieces ready for the event.

Things to know.....

The cards as I mentioned should be 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. ( No more, no less.) The artwork should be original, meaning not photo copied reproductions. They do not have to be exclusively drawings or paintings, you can do collages, if you so choose, of different pictures. So long as the finished product is a unique work of art.

Be creative as you want to , just be careful not to build a 3-D sculpture as it may present problems when it comes time to mail your art.

The card should be of a business card consistency and thickness, though you can use water color paper, bristol, or even thin metals. Obviously you don't want to put your art on anything too brittle or flimsy! So use your own judgement.

You can work with any materials you like, pencils, paint, wax, glue, glitter, string, etc. So long as it fits in the sleeve.

Now if you are interested feel free to e- mail me at renaissancebull@aol.com, and I will give you my address so you know where to send your cards. And I can answer any other questions you may have. And I can give you some further mailing instructions to make this easy and fun for all!

ATC's Continued.

These are the cards I received in the two exchanges I participated in. Needless to say I was quite thrilled to have taken part in the trades but even more delighted to have this small collection of portable art for my very own.

The appeal is to get as much of your art out there travelling around the world, and to get as much of others work into your own private collection. It is fun and inspiring. And it is fairly inexpensive to do. The only real cost is the card sleeves which you can purchase at any toy store, art shop, or comic book store. And of course the postage.

But I think it is worth the expense and effort, to have such mini masterpieces to keep and cherish. And these exchanges , like these blogs, brings us closer together as an artistic community.

Artist Trading Cards - ATC's

Some of you may be familiar with this concept of ATC's ( Artist Trading Cards). If you are not then let me ellaborate. Basically you take a small card 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. And you can paint, draw, or make little collages. But the basic idea is to produce a little mini masterpiece of your own work.

This has been going on world wide for many years. It has recently increased in popularity. Artists are trading these with other artists, and building rather unique collections of portable art. Very much the same idea as sports trading cards, only contoured to the art enthusiast.

I got interested in this when I was a member of an online artist community. One person volunteered to coordinate the exchange, and set a dead line for each. Then the participants would make there cards and mail them off to the coordinator. They would in turn arrange them fairly into sets, so that each participant got one set with a card from each artist.

The cards at the top were the sets I contributed to the two exchanges I participated in. It was a great deal of fun.

Natural Beauty from Niagra Falls.

Just a little slide show I thought would share, maybe some inspiration for future paintings! Enjoy!

The Mighty Niagra- Water, Fire and Lights!

I was feeling a little restless and decided to take a wee spin on the bike up to Niagra Falls. It is a place I remember from my childhood, and yet somehow as an adult, I almost didn't recognize it.

It has been almost 40 years since I was there last, and as I recall, I almost died. And no it was not from going over the falls in a barrel. I had gotten very ill and had a 107 degree fever. My family frantically cleaned out all the ice machines in the hotel we were staying at to give me a much needed deep freeze in the bathtub. So maybe that is the reason why my memory is a little foggy. But I doubt it.

I think what happens is that things seem more impressive and grandiose when you are young. As for the falls themselves, they are still cool to look at, but I can't say all that much for the surrounding area. It looks like it has seen better days. And as impressive as the falls are from either side, there really is not a whole lot to see there other than the various tourist traps, and they hardly measure up to the awe inspiring appeal of Mother Nature anyway or anyhow.

I decided to check out the falls at night, as I had often heard that they shine big colored lights on them. As an added bonus they were also planning a fireworks show for that night. So I was feeling most fortunate for being in the right place at the right time.

It was a fun trip over all, took lots of pictures and some video here and there. And decided to throw a little clip together so you can see some of what I was priviledged to experience first hand! Hope you enjoy!!!

Week 39 -40 DSFDF Challenge "Rower in Lake Michigan"

This weeks DSFDF Challenge hosted by Karin Jurick involves a woman rowing out on Lake Michigan. The challenge was to focus on rendering water, and hazy atmospheric conditions. But immediately I saw the expression on the woman's face and she seemed so forlorn. Like it was a pointless burden for her to be rowing in her boat.

This quickly led to me imagining her trapped in a snow globe, rowing in circles! Hopeless trapped in a pointless existence. Granted I took some artistic license with the globe, seeing as you wouldn't necessarily have ripples in the water below her if she was in an airtight, fully filled globe. But that is what I love about illustration, you can play around with the facts and reality. And if you know enough about me by now, I usually try and shoot for the visual gag, rather that adhere to the laws of physics.

An Illuminating Slide Show

This gives you a rough idea of the power involved in one of these strikes, pretty darn impressive! And such pretty colors too!

Mother Nature's Art and Effects

One of my passions in life besides art and the cinema, is nature. Just love when nature puts on a show, even more so when it is a light show! So when ever I get the opportunity I try and catch different events, such as lightning strikes. Just call me a fool in the rain!

And I will further add it takes a great deal of patience and perseverence! I wish I had more than one video camera. This way I could set up a bunch and leave them running! Get more coverage of the sky. But in a way , it is fun to try and catch a strike, sort of like hunting for fire flies! But a little more intense!

Digging into the Past

Since joining the challenge group (DSFDF) I have been forced to rediscover, quite willingly skills I had let fall by the wayside. I was never fond of doing landscapes, not because as others might say, it was out of my comfort level. But because I have honestly , always found them boring.

I tend to draw in a very illustrative style because I like telling stories of capturing little moments with my art. I also just enjoy presenting static images in interesting ways, either through aesthetic design, use of color or extreme lighting, or simply because of it's content alone.

The style I use relies heavily on tight delineated lines and shading, or modeling. Heavy light accents mixed with heavy contrasting shadows. Which is why I love illustration, you can take the rules of nature and chuck them right out the window. Also explains why I love doing digital work now in Photoshop and Illustrator. Explorations of the imagination.

And regrettably, I have lost the other side of art which is the personal expression and interpretation of the soul through art. Abstract art is probably the best vehicle for this exploration into the nuts and bolts of feelings. Shapes, colors, and shadows, randomly joined to invoke an emotional response.

This picture "Faded Fields" is a drawing I did some twenty years ago, because I loved the photo, I based it from. It was an early morning shot of a field. The lighting and the color is what attracted me to this image, of what is ordinarily in my mind a boring landscape. But there is a abstract beauty to what I call the perfect moment. Where you can't describe why something is beautiful, it just is.

I haven't done many landscapes, this is probably a one of a kind I just happen to find buried in an old portfolio. And I still like the image even today, and I am starting to feel a yearning again to rediscover the feelings behind the art.

" What Happens in the Fields...."

This weeks challenge was to explore the realm of color.  The image provided was a pastoral landscape of rolling farm land.  The object was to use a variety of color.  Not unlike the lesson learned in the Harry Chapin's song  " Flowers Are Red".

Instead of just using the standard green fields and blue skies, the challenge was to integrate a vast range of color.

I love working in technicolor, whenever possible, and of course interjecting my own brand of irreverent humor.    I decided to go for the obvious laugh.  Since we are dealing with crops and farm land, why not have a lost alien couple.  They have landed in the wheat and are now engaged in ritualistic activity of arguing over where they are.

Of course in any species, the man refuses to pull over and ask for directions.

Well I waited way too late to get under way with this latest challenge!   I pretty much took this down to the wire.  Got it in the mail to Karin  just around supper time of the last day.   Wanted to do so much more with this one, started to get a little punchy with the background and just wanted to  finish it on time.    But that is what happens when you wait until the last minute to start a very involved project.  That will learn me.  Hope you guys like it anyway? 

Another Dimension to Diana

Just wanted to throw in a quick post.  As much as I like working the old school skills, I like to take a lot of my art to the next plateau.   I am a fan of mixed mediums,  and I like giving my fine art a wash through the Photoshop bathtub.

I have been exploring the unlimited realms of the digital palette, for many years now...  and as excited as I was to have finished the original pencil drawing,  I am equally thrilled to play around and make a whole new piece of art from it.   I have been trying to pioneer my own unique style towards doing this.    And in doing so, hopefully leaving my own unique mark on the world.

The background for this is inspired by my love of symbolism and mythology.  I decided to go with a subtle but symbolic shape.   And in homage to the goddess, the phases of the moon became my backdrop for this piece.

DSFDF Challenge - "Companion of Diana "

    This weeks challenge was very cool.     It gave me a chance to dust off some of my drawing skills.

It also got me back into the concept of planning out your design through the use of geometry, mathematics  and proportion.   It was easy, .......... thank God for erasers! 

But I had alot of fun diving into this project.  The intricacies of the shading, versus the opposing light sources was interesting.

I debated about doing a background with this, but didn't want to clutter up the space as I wanted to keep the focus on the statue, rather than my ability to fill up a background.

And I spent so much time on her in a Zen meditative state, I kinda want you to be looking at her!

Anyway, it was good to get back in the drawing saddle.  And it was cool to do an interpretive piece on a bit of artwork, that was in itself an interpretation of a live model.  A clear case of art imitating art, that is imitating life!  

 Kudos to Karin at  DifferentStrokesFromDifferentFolks.blogspot.com     for doing this challenge.

A Pause for the Cause of Painted Pet Paws!

This is a recent bit of artwork a friend asked me to design for her charitable work with animals.

The basic concept was to effectively bring to mind the idea of artwork being used to help raise awareness and or money to save shelter animals and find good homes for them.

I decided to go with a simple design of a paint palette with five paint dabs to make it resemble in a very clever fashion,... an animals paw.  And I was happy to help.

After all animals are loving creatures that give back to us in so many ways! 

The Joy of Spring and the Agony of Defeat

I love the coming of Spring, the warm weather, the sunshine, the smells of nature and other pleasures.  But what I enjoy the most is getting my bike ready for riding.

Every autumn I place my baby into a hybernated state.   I place fuel additive into the fuel tank, remove the battery, place the cover over it and roll her into her little corner of my friend Tony's garage.

When I made my final preparations last fall, I failed to notice that I had dropped something.  A something of great importance, though at the time, seemed of no consequence to me.

My pal Tony, had found a square nut, on his garge floor a few days later, and had the great forsight and prescence of mind to pick it up, and save it.  And for reasons I will divulge shortly, I am glad he did.

So the other day, I decided since it had gotten warmer and finally stopped raining, that I would go over his place, and restore my bike back to a rideable condition.  And I made sure to do two very important things, the first was to grab the battery and the second was to grab the little square nut, pictured above.

When I got to his place,  I grabbed the battery out of my car and walked over to his garage.  I opened the door and saw my baby sitting right where I had left her months before.  And I set forth to  make her road worthy once more.

I removed the cover,  and rolled the bike out of the garage into the sunlight, so I could see what I was doing with greater ease.   The part of the proceedure was to put the battery back in, and in order to do this, I had to remove the seat.

So I grabbed a set of Allen wrenches and went ahead and took the seat off, so I could get to the battery compartment.  Once off, I was able to access the battery box, and set the battery into place.

That done, I went to go attach the ground wire to it's terminal, and to my surprise I ran into a wee problem.  The bolt that holds the wire to the terminal, just kept spinning and spinning. 

Hmmmm.... I thought to myself this is not good.

Then I made the little "two watt light bulb connection".   I dug into my pocket and pulled out the little square nut.  And then I lifted the battery out, to see if the nut would fit somehow in the battery terminal.   Wouldn't you know it, it did!  Hooray!

So I put the battery into the bike, and decided I would tightened the other wire first, only to discover that the terminal was missing it's nut as well.   Oh noooooooo........ damn!!!

Quickly I removed the battery, yet again, and gave a quick look in the battery box.... ah... success!  The missing nut was at the bottom.  So I retrieved the pesky fixture and slid it into the terminal and proceeded to slide the battery back into the bike, again.

Of course Murphy was lurking near by, and as I did this , the nut slid out of the terminal as I tried to slide the battery in.  I was treated to the sound of it bouncing deep into the inner workings of the bike, not to be seen or heard from again.  Aaaarggggh!!!

I searched, and searched, and searched..... couldn't find it.  So I decided that this was a poorly engineered design.  And  just an irritating tragedy!    My plans to get my sophisticated, state of the art motorcycle ready and road worthy were brought to a crashing halt!

So I drove to the nearby dealership with hopes of finding a replacement.   But if you have ever had to deal with a parts department, you know already I was facing a wall of frustration, for two reasons.

The first being is that they are always horribly understaffed.  And secondly, they are not manned by the most well educated individuals.   I am sure each parts dept.  has at least one well learned expert, but that person is almost never around!

As was the case when I arrived.  Instead I got a semi-eager associate who meant well but was not savvy enough to help.  And in all fairness the part in question was not a standard issue motorcycle component, so much as it was part of the battery which is technically a peripheral part of the whole.

He did his best to help, which meant that he took the one nut I did have, and found the highly trained parts man in the back, only to re-emerge moments later to sadly inform me that he couldn't help me.   But this I sort of knew walking in, .... though I gave it a shot.

Not deterred I decided I would wander over to the service department, with the hopes that maybe one of the techs could help.   Having worked over the years  in the automotive industry, I knew that often techs, when repairing things, will  save extraneous things like new hardware and use the old ones instead.

Thankfully, this was the case, and I was soon presented with a little plastic baggy, filled with not one set, but two sets of shiny brand new nuts and bolts for my battery.  Best part is that it didn't cost me a thing.   Well a part for some time and effort,  that will never be regained once spent!

So I headed back to my friend's house, and managed to install the battery, finally, before the sun started sliding downward into dusk.   It was too late to go for a ride, but I decided I would at least turn her over.   And with one push of the starter button, the proud mechanical beast roared to life!

I was dissappointed that I couldn't take her for a spin, but relieved that she was back in service once again.  And I comforted myself that there would be other sunny days in which to ride.  So I turned my bike off and wheeled her back into the garage.

I stared at the lonely nut in my hand and laughed to myself about how ironic that such a small insignificant lump of metal could render such a marvel of engineering that is my motorcycle, completely useless.  It boggles the mind!    But I guess in a Zen kind of way, it is reassuring to know that even the most insignificant of things probably serves a more useful purpose in life, than you know!    And to always hang on to those extra parts lying around.  Junk drawers can serve a useful purpose, once and a while!   Hmmm... there is a life lesson in there somewhere! 

" I think he has friends out there! " says Capt. Ahab.

Different Strokes For Different Folks - A Creative Consortium.

This is a bi-weekly project my friend Sheila got me interested in. Basically you are given a photo to work from, and you are left to your own devices to decide what you will do with it!

I immediately fixated on the "fatherly figure" and how detached he seemed from his family. It gave me the impression of a sea captain like "Ahab". Then I started developing the concept of the lonely at the top commander with his disgruntled crew .

The father seems lost in thought as he scans the horizon, his family almost seems to be standing dejectedly by, awaiting his orders. So of course with my crazy imagination, I decided to do a Moby Dick theme. With Ahab, having captured his prize, much to the shock and horror of his family. As if you can almost hear his wife's silent thoughts " This is not going to fit in the luggage rack on the Volvo! "

The rest as they say is history. I will probably start joining this fun project and posting my designs on a regular basis.