House portrait, 8 x 10 inch

This is another drawing I finished the night before last (full image and a detail). About half way through I started feeling like I was on slightly shaky ground, but it all came together and now I am very happy with it.

2-point perspective

I spent quite a bit of time on the preparatory work on this because I made a significant change to the viewing angle.  The reference photos were from a lower vantage point. Fortunately, the task was made easier by the fact that the house's proportions are somewhat uniform.  I am pleased with how it's coming along, and I'm very glad to get past the pencil stage on this house and two others I'm working on right now. I can start inking!

House Portrait; preparatory work

Sketches and penciling in...

Twin house portraits

I finished the second of this pair a couple of days ago.

Pen and Ink House Portrait, 7 x 9 inches

I completed this one late last night. It’s smaller than the last one: 7 x 9 inches.  It was done with a combination of black Pigma Micron pens and sumi ink.

The commission calls for two  originals of the same house, so I am starting a duplicate drawing today.

Detail:

Black Walnut Ink House Portrait, 11 x 15 inches

This is on Bristol paper. I chose not to use any washes on this one; it's all cross-hatching.  I couldn't get the scan to go dark enough to pick up the shading on the sidewalk and pavement--you can barely see it, but it's a little darker on the actual drawing.

A couple of detail shots:

School Donor Recognition Wall Art (Mixed Media)

I posted work-in-progress photos of this project here over the summer, and finished it in August. However, it wasn’t until recently that I had a decent chance to get some photos of the finished product.

Late last spring I was commissioned to create artwork to honor donors to a school fundraising campaign.  The school wanted something similar to a tile mosaic piece they had seen pictures of online for a school in another state, depicting a stylized facsimile of the building’s façade with donor names in the windows.  They wanted the finished piece to be around 30 x 40 inches, and it would hang in the school lobby.

I considered attempting to duplicate the sample with a polymer clay mosaic, with lettering embossed in the clay tiles. However, after experimentation, I realized that I just didn’t have the means to emboss scores of names without going through an incredibly slow and mistake-filled process and, besides, I am very inexperienced in working with polymer clay.

So I finally decided to create a textured building exterior using acrylic gel mediums (I didn’t have much experience with various fancy gels, either, but I at least knew my way around acrylic paints and matte/gloss mediums.)

I was still puzzled how I was going to do the names, but I somehow stumbled onto acrylic transfers.  I had never heard of acrylic transfers before, but after a test I decided it might work well for the task.

I worked on panel, and used wood scraps and molding to imitate architectural details.  The stone texture was put on with Golden coarse pumice gel sealed with extra gel medium for durability; the plants are painted polymer clay; and the names are acrylic transferred photocopies.

Considering both size and complexity, this is probably the largest commission I have done and the most technically sophisticated project I have attempted.  I am pretty happy with the results, and the people at the school were, too.

I was very impressed with the Golden gel mediums I used, by the way.  Cool stuff, fun to work with.

Pen & Ink house portrait, with detail

Here is another house portrait done with black walnut ink.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to scan the drawing, and instead used my sub-par little camera. The detail shot turned out better because you can make out the texture of the line work.

This drawing is 11 x 15 inches on Bristol paper.

More pumpkin art

Emancipation Proclamation pumpkin art

Another sculpted pumpkin

I had a hard time with his teeth; his fangs just didn't work out.

Necromancing with the stars

Sent from my Motorola Smartphone on the Now Network from Sprint!

Jack-o'-Lantern Spectacular

Here is another pumpkin I drew and carved. I am eager to see it lighted.

Third pumpkin drawing, last week

Pen and Ink House Portrait, 11 x 15"

...finished a few days ago, delivered today.

Jack-o'-Lantern Spectacular - work in progress

Work is under way. I wish I had more time to work on some pumpkins there, but maybe I'll be able to make some more time soon. Here is a shot of my second drawn pumpkin, and a photo of the work shed with other artists hard at it. I'm excited about seeing the final project, with everyone's creations illuminated in the woods at Iroquois.

Pen and ink house portrait closeup

...in its final stages. Maybe done tomorrow?

Pen and ink house portrait progress

 

 Another progress photo. I think this is coming along quite well, and hope to have it completed in the next few days.

 

A note: I am having trouble getting this image to display horizontally.  If this picture is up on its end, then you know I didn't figure it out and gave up trying.

House portrait in progress

Enjoying the foliage

Pumpkin drawing

Here is the first pumpkin I’ve worked on for the Jack-o’-Lantern Spectacular in October. I wasn’t quite done when I took the photo; there was still some shading to do on the right. I am eager to try some more. Paid…to do ink work…on pumpkins? Get outta my way.