It begins...

I know what you’re thinking. Great! Another blog! Just when I thought there was a shortage on the world wide web.

First things first, let me personally thank you for including me in the panoply of internet content you squeezed into your busy day. I am brand new to the blogging world and a little apprehensive about it. I’m always so impressed by those who somehow find the time to grace the internet with witty, insightful, and enlightening prose. I feel grateful to those who have provided me personally with sage advice and inspired me to be a better man, a better father, a better husband. This blog will be nothing like that.

In all seriousness, my only hope is that you enjoy seeing my art and maybe feel inspired to do something creative yourself.

I thought for my first entry, it would be interesting to see the process from start to finish from my last piece, "The Visitation," completed a little earlier this year.

The blank canvas

First I washed the canvas with burnt umber, without doing any kind of under-drawing.

I used reference photos for models. I know it's not the same as drawing and painting from life, ok! But since I don't have hours and hours and hours and money at my disposal, we have to make due. (and yes, I used my lovely wife Cindy as the model for Mary. Not sure how you feel about that, but she did an excellent job as always). The picture above is the rough sketch-in with thinned burnt umber.

This is me rocking out to some killer jams as I do the color lay-in

basic color lay-in in progress

progress

Here is the finished product. You can purchase prints here