Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Dreamdance: The Innocent

Medium: Watercolors
Size: 9x13 inches
For prints & closeup detail views: -click here-
(For more info on the Dreamdance Oracle, -click here-)

Satyros Phil Brucato writes for this card:


Innocence Dances beyond despair. For all the shit that life throws at us, the Innocent cannot be entirely defeated. Inviting you to left yourself above the ruins of mortality, this Dancer demonstrates graceful strength far beyond her apparent means. However fragile she appears, Innocence endures.
Like Classical ballet, however, innocence demands a heavy price. Both disciplines force us to stretch ourselves to the breaking point, defying the usual limits of mind, body, soul and circumstance. A wrong move can spell disaster, and so mindfulness and constant practice form the foundations of ballet and innocence. Despite impressions of childlike frivolity, the Innocent is a rebel, casting herself against oppression with strength of body, heart and will.

* * *

This was a piece with classical ballet as its inspiration. I started by watching lots of videos on youtube of various ballet pas de deux. I did several gesture drawings in my sketchbook from that.



Photoshopped a couple of compositions. Decided on the one on the left.  Too many directions on the other one.

Finalized sketch on the illustration board:

In progress painting. Skipped color rough for this piece, which I've been doing lately for almost all my paintings.  I had a fairly solid idea in mind already of what colors I was going to use.



Sunday, January 27, 2013

On the Darkest Night

Size: 36x20 inches
Medium: Watercolors
For prints, original, and detail closeup views, see -here-.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

My Favorite Trees

Some of my favorite trees, and the pieces they have inspired....

Enormous ficus tree at a botanical garden in Kauai, Hawaii. Standing next to it those roots came up to my waist in height. I love the way the roots swirl outward from the base, and have used that as inspiration for a number of pieces.

~~~

Banyan tree in Kauai, HI, along a hiking trail.

 ~~~

Another banyan in Maui, HI. We called this one "the big ole tree ball". It was a banyan that had grown on top of a huge boulder that was lodged in a dry stream bed. The roots draped down and around the sides.

Offerings




 ~~~

At Rancho Preserve, Los Altos, CA
I grew up around these oaks. There's a large field where they spread their branches to the sky. And along the trails, where it is dark and shady, they are thick with verdant moss.

Wind Machine and Inner Workings




~~~
And a few others:

Rancho Preserve, Los Altos, CA.

Setauket, NY. The skyline and branches are very different on the east coast, from my California trees that have leaves year-round.

Joaquinn Miller Park, Oakland CA. I only came across this one very recently the other day. So it hasn't ever been used as a reference directly; but I feel like this IS the tree I've been painting all the time, even though I never saw it before yesterday!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Dreamdance: Humor

Size: 9x13 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints & detail closeups: -here-

This one's based on Samba!

The initial sketchbook scribbles.

Photoshop composition arranging.
 Finalized sketch.
 Color rough.
In progress shot.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Dreamdance: The Precipice

Medium: Watercolors
Size: 9x13 inches
Previous blog post, with initial sketches: -here-
Prints for sale & closeup detail images: -here-

Happy new year!  First painting for 2013.  Always feels strange to sign that the first time at the beginning of each year. Another piece for the Dreamdance Oracle. Nine down, another 31 to go!


Sketch:

Color test:

On the drawing board.