Midnight Ramblings

Keyword Sketch Cards

2012-01-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

Some more keyword sketch cards (clockwise): unique, mermaid, Avalon, quilin, fertility, release, cat, fox, hope, spontaneity

Firefly Hunters

2012-01-29T18:43:00.001-08:00

Firefly Hunters
Medium: Watercolors
Size: 15x20 inches
Prints and original painting available -here-

Cold Foggy and Wet

2012-01-26T15:31:00.001-08:00

It's been cold, foggy, and wet lately. Yay, California Winter is finally underway. I woke up this morning to find the hills on the far side of the ravine adrift in a sea of mist. It had a bit of the feel of this painting, though perhaps more blue-greys for the live oaks and evergreens. The rain has been making it a bit more difficult to find the chances to spray fixative layers (since I like to leave the painting outside for about half an hour after spraying to let the fumes dissipate a bit). Making progress. Perhaps it can be finished by the end of this weekend?

Greeeeeeeeeeeens

2012-01-21T21:59:00.001-08:00

Mmmm...lovely dark greens.

Firefly Hunters Sketches

2012-01-18T22:26:00.000-08:00

A new piece that I'm ready to start painting tomorrow if I can drag myself to the desk to feel up for it. Sniffly with another cold. It's ready to go though, sketched out on the board. Some of the sketches that sparked this final form:

An extremely rough thumbnail scribble when I was brainstorming for "Breathe". This was a tiny composition idea. A coiled up dragon nestled in the hollow of the tree roots. It never took for "Breathe", but when I was flipping through my sketchbook a few days ago, it caught my eye again. I started to play with the dragon's shape and in particular that spiral that unfurls from its body.

As I sketched a more detailed dragon, the rest of it quickly started taking shape in my head. Ghostly shapes moving through the woods. Firefly Hunters. Some alternate titles: Ghosts, Silent Shadows, Ghost Shadows. I scribbled a new thumbnail as well, for a more horizontal composition.

After I had the composition decided, I started sketching a whole lot of foxes from various angles, with the plan being to scan these and then play around with size and position digitally.

A shadowy figure wanted to make an appearance in the distance as well. Sketched a few thumbnail possible poses for her.

Scan the disparate pieces, and fit everything into the initial thumbnail composition with layers, cutting, cropping, resizing, flipping.... Until I'm happy with where all the pieces are, and how it meshes into a whole. Then I print it out and transfer to the final sketch, redrawing and refining much of it in the process!

Some L5R Art

2012-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

Found a bunch of these that I had forgotten to post when the product was released last year. Some Legend of Five Rings cards that I did a while back.

From the set Before the Dawn:

Wisdom of Fukurokujin

Blessing of Inari

I teased Jim Pinto, the art director on the project with this initial sketch for Inari instead, which in the initial art description was called "Fortune of Rice":

Spite of Ekibyogami

* * *

From the set Empire at War:

Ride the Wave

Samurai Vessel

* * *

From the set War of Honor

Wall of Air
The original watercolor paintings for all of these are available if you click on the images.

Wind Machine

2012-01-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

Wind Machine
Size: 17x31 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints & Original Painting for sale -here-

Somewhere at the edge of the world, spinning out cloud wisps and phantom winds.

My favorite part of working on this one was doing the clouds and sky. First piece completed in 2012!!! Always feels odd to sign the new date at the beginning of the year. This piece fits in with an "Inner Workings" series theme that I have in mind to pursue with a few more paintings to come!

Wind Machine (painstakingly slow) Progress 2

2012-01-09T23:33:00.001-08:00

Painstakingly slow, but progress is being made on this piece. The background is mostly done. I think that once the foreground is done, I'll spray it all with fixative and do a final wash over some parts to further tint sky and mountains. I wanted to keep the spray minimal over the foreground elements, because I've found it makes doing fine details harder, since the paint beads and sits on top of the more heavily sprayed areas.

Oh and yes, there's my -actual- teacup over there on the far left. I've pointed this out before, but since someone mentioned my paint-water-bowl-cup again last time, yes, there they are. Somehow I've landed on the exact same size and shape for both. But you know, I don't think I've quaffed from my paint-water cup in years now. What I'm usually more in danger of, is swirling my brush around in my tea instead, then uttering a few choice words that I have to cover Claireling's ears for (especially these days...she's turned into a little myna bird), and stomping to the kitchen to clean it out and refill.

Inklings 3 released!

2012-01-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

Shipment of Inklings III finally arrived, and the book is on sale now, only from Shadowscapes. 8.5x8.5 inches, softcover, 58 pages of b&w ink artwork done over the past two years. Lots of drawings that have only been viewable in this blog, travel sketches, and keyword sketches. The book is $20.00. And as always a sketch option is available for an additional $15.00

Wind Machine Progress

2012-01-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Finally getting a chance to sit down and start this painting. Feels like it has been forever since I've done a full sized piece. I think end of October was the last major one I completed. This piece is 30x17 inches, the biggest that I've done in a while. I really need a bigger desk...working on something this large gets kinda awkward. There was an npr segment I was listening to the other day about a guy who was looking for the perfect couch. He spent 20 years with a ratty old so NOT-perfect couch simply because he was waiting to buy the one. Well, that's how I feel about my desk. One of these days I'll find it!

So far the cloud-swirls are emerging mostly as I have in mind. It's almost like painting abstractly though. If you look at the previous post I made with the sketch, I only had very simple and light lines marked for some basic cloud shapes. The rest is coming out as I paint, pulling out the irregularities of the washes and emphasizing certain elements.

At a stopping place for tonight because I intend to spray some fixative tomorrow morning and try to get the sky colors even darker. Don't want to spray tonight and have the fumes stinking up my office over-night. I've learned a bit from my experiments with fixative layers in previous paintings these past few months, so I've cut out a very rough mask from some scrap pieces of paper that I lay over the bottom unpainted areas. I didn't feel up to cutting out all the branches and arms of the windmills in a mask, so for the main bulge of the machine/tree, I just loosely taped a plastic bag so that there would be a softened border for the masked area.

Of a Different Feather

2011-12-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012!!

Of a Different Feather
Size: 5x10 inches
Medium: Watercolors

Wind Machine Sketch

2011-12-28T12:59:00.000-08:00

Feels like ages, but I finally have a new sketch ready to be painted. Fairly large piece, 17x30 inches.

Inklings 3 coming soon!

2011-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Inklings 3 proofs arrived in the mail today! This latest installment will be 58 pages, a little bit longer than the previous two books. Softcover, 8.5x8.5 inches. Features ink artwork that I've done in the past two years 2010-2011. It includes about 20 stand-alone full page ink drawings, many vignettes, 110 keyword card art pieces, and about 30 of my private travel sketchbook drawings.

This should hopefully be available in January. Here are some previews:

Wind Machine

2011-12-05T14:35:00.001-08:00

Wind Machine
Size: 9x12 inches
Medium: Ink
Original & Prints available -here-

Breathe

2011-11-15T14:05:00.001-08:00

Breathe
Medium: watercolors
Size: 11x11 inches
Detail closeups -here-
Prints and original available -here-

For my personal Christmas cards this year, if I can get around to getting them printed up and mailed in time, moving at the snail's pace I've been going this year! Played around with my box of blue magic from Kremer. I love these pigments!

* * *

Some of the sketches and in progress shots:

Sketchbook scribbles. Brainstorming.

More sketchbook brainstorming.

Playing with composition in photoshop, combined face and tilt of head and neck from one sketch with the attitude and pose of the body from another. I liked the movement that the diagonal from her arms created. The second figure felt too static. But her expression suited what I wanted.

Finalized transfer sketch.

Breathe in progress

2011-11-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

In progress piece. Playing around with my Kremer blues.

Inner Workings

2011-10-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Inner Workings

Size: 15x19 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Closeup detail views -here-
Prints and original available -here-

The strange and beautiful tie of the rules of mathematics and physics, to the organic wonder and growth of life and nature.

Some of the in progress shots:

Time

2011-10-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

Inner Workings Finalized Sketch

In response to those who have objected to my integrating steampunk elements into this piece, I want to address a bit. While there is just steampunk for steampunk's sake (Claire's halloween costume for example. :) ), I feel that this piece is not in that category. At a glance it is swiftly slotted into what we all conceive of as "steampunk" these days because ANYTHING with clockwork is automatically put into that genre now.

What this piece is about, and what I hoped the title would convey, was not simply just jumping on the steampunk-wagon. It's a juxtaposition of man-made vs. natural and how the two flow in and out of each other (a common theme in my other works as well). It is the imposition of human conception of time parceled out into cycles of seconds and minutes, with the natural diurnal rhythms that exist regardless of our recording and observation of. The pendulum arc of the girl on the swing is an echo of this rhythm as well.

But also, however random nature seems to be, when you come down to the building blocks, at its heart nature is a vast, fantastic, incredible machine which manifests itself over and over in geometric and mathematical ways. There is a strange tie of such hard physical science to subjective beauty and life. When that becomes most evident is at that juncture where we meet the natural world.

Our bodies are aware of time on a level that our minds have more difficulty grasping. We have internal biological rhythms that coincide with the moon each month, and with the flow of day and night. I mentioned a month ago about Claire's first recognition of the moon in the sky, and it was a comment that Dana made that night about how she seemed to know it already that gave an initial spark to this concept. Even barely knowing the word "moon" and never having laid eyes on it, her physical body was already attuned to it and the cycles of time.

Inner Workings Sketch

2011-10-23T23:13:00.001-07:00

A sneak peak at a piece in progress (partial scan of the full size).

I had so much fun with the sketches and designing for Claire's halloween wings, that I got inspired to do a painting along those lines. I've been in a bit of an idea-rut lately, so I'm pretty excited about this because it sprang to mind as a full-fledged concept, along composition, colors and title, which will be "The Inner Workings of Life".

I think I'll be trying some fixative layering on this too, on a larger scale now than the experimental pieces I've been toying with in the past couple months. It will be interesting to see how it works for a more ambitiously sized piece.

The sketch is taking forever though, on the illustration board. All the little gears and cogs are making my drawing hand ache!

More Steampunkaliciousness!

2011-10-19T21:53:00.001-07:00

All done! Now to chase down that kidlet and see if she'll wear it.... The top pops off so that I can drop one of those LED pumpkin tea-lights into the canister. The entire thing is made of foam (and a chopped up old contact lens saline solution bottle). The only actual metal is in the D-rings I used to secure the shoulder straps.

Dana thinks this little detail is excessively silly:

Spirits of the Wind

2011-10-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Spirits of the Wind

Medium: Ink
Size: 9x14 inches
Detail closeups -here-
Prints and original available -here-

Very roughly based on this photo I took last year. A live oak tree out in a grassy field, with the swirl of clouds spilling out above it. When I posted it on deviant art, people were commenting that the clouds looked like a dragon.

Playing around with the idea a little bit, and planning to eventually do a painting along these lines.

Steampunkalicious

2011-10-18T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm getting super-caught-up in making Claire's Halloween costume. I don't even know if she'll tolerate WEARING half the stuff I'm making. I figure if she doesn't, I'll use it all for myself at a convention someday. :)

Steampunk wings. Thus far made completely from these foamie sheets I bought a while back for some other project, then spray painted coppery colored. So it's super-light. Which it will have to be if I'm to get Claire to wear it (and then once there, she'll hopefully forget that it's on her back). I'm having a blast. And actually getting some painting ideas with this too that I think I'll have to tackle once this current October obsession is past.

The stuff on the bottom right is Dana's poor dissected chess clock. He broke it the other day and was about to just toss the whole thing in the trash when I cried out, "WAIT!" He was completely bewildered as to why I would want clock guts. Why wouldn't I want clock guts?!?!!? Anyway, still mulling ideas on integrating some of that stuff in as well.

Learning to Paint Bamboo

2011-10-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Sifting through my stockpile of pens and brushes, and I am reminded of the lessons I took when I was in grade school in the afternoons with a lady who taught me the basics of Chinese painting. I went to her house with my brother and a couple of other neighborhood kids after school. For some of them, the time spent in her kitchen was not much removed from glorified babysitting. My brother liked to draw, copying some of the cartoon characters from the stacks of how-to books she had on hand. She noticed at one point that I was interested in some of the traditional Chinese art books. I wonder if something clicked inside her when she saw that; if it made her delve into something she obviously loved.

She gave my parents a list of materials. That weekend we went to San Francisco's Chinatown. We entered a store that on the outside was just like the dozens of others that catered to the tourist ideal of imported Asian goods. Past the twin kierun that guarded the gilded exterior. Past racks of polyester brocade dresses, earthen tea kettles, porcelain cups and bowls, paper lanterns and umbrellas, chopsticks, incense. The basement of the store was filled with prosaic and practical goods, and more like a thrift store than the jade and glittery upstairs.

At a glass counter, my mother handed the list to the clerk, who began pulling out various brushes, and describing the providence of their hair: goat, squirrel, wolf, horse. Brushes, ink stick and stone, and translucent rice paper.

After that, my time at my teacher's house changed. No more cartoon how-to books. The other kids still doodled with pencil and googly-eyed creatures. But she showed me how to mix the ink stick with water and grind it against the stone, releasing a mellow scent like old leaves and earth, and thick black ink. The ink stick itself was cast with the relief of a dragon on it, twining down the length that lay in my hand, melting slowly in to a pool of rich darkness.

The grinding of the ink, the smell, the tactile roughness of the rice paper, the entire process becomes a part of the art-making. It is a ritual where everything and nothing happens, before the brush is even lifted.

She showed me to hold the brush straight upright, and to not let my drawing hand rest on the paper, in order to facilitate sweeping gestures. A single brush stroke was like the choreographed movement of a dance. She made it look so easy. Her hand was just an extension of arm and body and mind - graceful, elegant. It was one of the most difficult things I ever tried - creating the illusion of looseness, simplicity, and freedom with careful forethought and planning. For weeks, she made me practice dozens of pages of bamboo: graceful, stark, in black and white. Grind the ink, lay out the paper, and dance the brush across the pages.

Queen Bee

2011-10-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

Queen Bee

Watercolors
7x10 inches
Prints and original available -here-
Detail closeup -here-

Another fun little piece. It seems that summer is finally making (delayed) way for autumn. The sweltering days have passed, as it started raining here last week. But during one of the brief intermissions in the precipitation, when the sun had warmed my terrace, the bumblebees were out in force. They were quite busy amongst my lavender. Taking advantage of those last sunny gaps in the days.

On a more technical note, I was playing around a bit more with fixative on this one. It wasn't the main purpose for the piece, as for the previous, but I did want to try some more.

I mainly used the fixative for helping to build up the background color's intensity, much quicker than it normally would take me to do such seamless graded washes. Usually it requires many more layers to achieve the full darkness of a color, but by doing a very light spray (I just did a quick pass of the fixative over the page) I managed to get the cerulean blue to it's full intensity with only two washes, while still being able to blend smoothly.

New batch of pendants!

2011-09-28T11:36:00.001-07:00

Whole new batch of pendants uploaded! New designs from my more recent art.
-click here- to view them at my Etsy shop.

Experimenting with fixative layers, Part 2

2011-09-26T19:03:00.001-07:00

Eternity

5x10 inches

This post is a continuation from yesterday. -Click here- for part 1.

So I stopped spraying after the three layers from yesterday night. I think I reached the limit of what would be paintable. Even though the fixative is supposed to be workable with watercolors, I could see that it was slowly clogging up the paper's porousness. In some areas like the upper left, especially, it starts to get really grainy. Which isn't a bad thing -- it added a new dimension of texture. But I can see that if I kept going, the pigment would just start to roll off. Maybe a lighter hand with spraying in the future, would allow for more layers.

Also, that weird blotchiness that I mentioned this particular sheet of paper had? That never quite went away, but those areas started repelling pigment even more so than others. I was left with a lot of mottled whitish areas that were just refusing to take any color.

I pulled out a white gel pen, and started doing something with those splotches. Some of those splotches I had done on purpose; it was the ones from the paper's weirdness that I had to work at more to integrate. I added a dusting of white highlights in those areas, as well as adding highlights to the figure herself.

A lot of this is something I would usually have done via lifting instead. But because of the fixative, it kind of turns this whole process into something like a melding of watercolor and acrylic techniques. It's watercolor while a current layer is wet, but then it becomes permanent like acrylic once it's dried and I spray it.

Softening the hard edges of the gel-pen white. Adding more hints of blues and oranges to the shading.

Happy with the result, and definitely something I will try again in the future. I was pushing the extreme with this one, spraying so often and across the whole piece, but it was to see how far I could take it. Probably would use it more selectively, and with a lighter hand on the spray nozzle!

Experimenting with fixative layers

2011-09-25T21:22:00.001-07:00

Giving something a shot that I've been meaning to try for a very long time. If you've worked with watercolors, you'll know that one of the quirks of watercolors is lifting. This can be used to advantage in numerous ways:

smoothing edges between one color and the next
creating a very gradual graded wash
pulling out small areas of soft highlights
correcting minor mistakes (sometimes you can lift and pull enough color out that you can almost get a fresh start for a small area)
blending of tones from one layer to the next

Of course, lifting also has many disadvantages that can be incredibly annoying as well:

when trying to get a very rich dark tone with layers, subsequent layers keep pulling color up, and so you reach a saturation point sooner than desired where you can't get darker.
layering on top of a smooth wash sometimes will pull up spots and irregularities
textures with particularly sensitive colors (blues and purples which are more prone to lifting) get smoothed out or obliterated when a second layer is brushed on top

You learn to appreciate the advantages, and to know and work around the disadvantages after a while. I had an idea however, of trying to spray workable fixative onto a piece in between layers, in order to try to work up to a really nice rich dark tone in areas, and also to maintain texture across layers. I'd lose a lot of the blending qualities that occur with lifting, that naturally happens every time you layer, but it would be interesting to see what results I could get if each glaze was fixed and made permanent.

So, using one of the sketches I did for a keyword card a while back, I penciled it onto a board and decided to give it a try tonight.

Going to use my Elderflower purple as the main color, as it is usually one of the most easily lifted colors I have, and one of my favorites.

* * *

First glaze of purple. About 5 minutes (plus the half hour of laying out the initial sketch) into this however I get a nasty surprise. I'm using my usual Strathmore illustration board 500 series, which I usually love. But on very rare occasion, (3 times in the past 11 years of many MANY paintings, so not often at all) I've gotten a bad sheet that has these weird speckles in it that only appear once I put water to the board. They seem to absorb the water differently and puff out. I get really annoyed, but it only seems to be on the lower half, with a little bit in the middle. And I really don't feel like re-sketching the piece.

I almost toss it, but decide to forge on ahead with the experiment. Maybe the fixative spray will help. Or maybe the fixative spray will do other weird things. I haven't ever tried fixative and then continued working on a piece. The only time I've ever used it is on pencil drawings when I was absolutely finished, even though I buy the "workable" version just in case I need to do corrections or additions.

* * *

Oh yes! The fixative has seemed to work quite well, and the paper is still taking liquid and pigment fine. I don't know if this will hold up well for multiple sprayings. We shall see.

But so far it is working as I had hoped. The second layer is MUCH darker than it usually is with this particular pigment, and I'm still keeping the textures from the first glaze.

Second layer is more purples, some burnt umber and paynes grey thrown into the mixture as well. The weird mottle texture on the paper seems to be less obtrusive now as well, so I'm glad I decided to continue instead of prematurely chucking the whole piece and starting over.

One major downside is that the spray is stiiiiiiiiiiiinky with fumes. Might need to wait a bit longer between spraying and continuing to work so that I don't get lightheaded with fumes.

* * *

Another sprayed layer. Still looking good. I'm a little concerned with whether I'll reach a point where it's too many layers of spray. Already the liquid kind of rolls around a little bit on the surface, rather than being absorbed by the paper immediately. But so far it still seems okay.

Added more purple to the corners, and started a bit of naples yellow glow on the left side. Started on some finer details using mixtures of reds and blues. I'm really happy with how rich the purple tones are getting, with so few layers applied. It doesn't usually reach this saturation of color very easily.

Stopping point for tonight. Will have to wait til tomorrow to have more fun with this.

Part 2 can be found -by clicking here-.

The First Moonrise

2011-09-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

The First Moonrise
Medium: Ink
Size: 11x7 inches
original available for sale -here-

One evening, about a month ago, Claire was restless. We took her out of her crib, and down to the front room with the big picture room where Dana started to read her some books. But she looked outside and saw the moon, noticing it for the first time. Her eyes rounded and with the moonlight glowing in them, she exclaimed, "Up up UP!" We explained it was the moon, which she knew of by reputation through the pictures in her books, but this was the first time that the concept and reality were merged. UpupUP! So high and piercing bright, something almost primal that pierces through our windows and walls and structures.

A Moment

2011-09-21T20:52:00.001-07:00

A Moment of Music

5.3x7 inches
ink on bristol board
original for sale -here-

A bit of a breather today. Had a chance to do a couple of ink drawings. I haven't touched my piano in almost a month. I think this one was a subconscious reminder to let my fingers relieve their itch. Perhaps later tonight.

* * *

Moonshadows
5.3x7 inches
ink on bristol board
original for sale -here-

I had this sketch languishing in my sketchbook for a while now. It was a first pass at brainstorming ideas for the illustration I did for "Sultana Lena's Gift" for Realms of Fantasy Magazine, some time ago. The final painting focused more on the mechanical bird, but I had some initial ideas to center more on Lena.

Black Knight of Dark Night

2011-09-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

Black Knight of Midnight

Size: 19x18.5
Medium: watercolor
Detail closeups: -here-
Prints and original available: -here-

The third and final piece in the series, "The Witch's Three". Baba Yaga's trio of knights. I particularly had fun painting the tree in this one, getting the upper branches to fade into the shadows the way I had in mind. I mentioned in an earlier post about a tree I once saw with huge swirling roots that inspired this. Here it is:

Photo from 2004. It's an enormous ficus tree at a botanical garden on Kaui'i. I loved the swirling ridges that the roots shaped. Anyway, the tree in this Black Knight painting is not a ficus, but definitely borrowed from the shaping of this photo.

Black Knight progress & keyword cards

2011-09-15T22:12:00.000-07:00

Finally got started painting this yesterday. I find it frustrating that the less time I have to paint, the more I procrastinate about finally setting brush to fresh sketch. These days I only have a couple hours that I can snatch in the middle of the day, and then evenings. But often by the time evening rolls around, my brain is too tired to really engage in a piece.

It's not as hard to get myself sketching, but for some reason getting the colors in mind and actually starting to paint starts to get intimidating. As if too much time to think about it, just gives time for the anxiety to start ratcheting up.

I've been frequently asked in emails what do I do about artist block, and I never really had an answer for that in the past, because I didn't ever feel like I got blocked at all. But I think now I do have an answer for it: If you're feeling blocked or unmotivated, perhaps the answer is just that you're not drawing/painting enough.

When time spent art-making becomes too precious, then the pieces themselves start to become imbued with this sense of "preciousness" -- this need to be perfect. One can't get caught up in that, because then a painting becomes about the expectation, and not the actuality of doing and creating. Sure it's nice to have a finished piece at the end of the day, that you're proud of. But as soon as a painting is done, it's on to the next one, the next story to grip and involve, the next process and evolution.

My minutes and hours have become precious, and it forces me to feel that each line and stroke and color choice has to be important. It has made staring at a white sketch laid out on a board intimidating, and it surprises me that I can revert to such a state after being immersed in creating paintings day after day for so many years. It reminds me that I can't take for granted the ease I have with creative processes. It's something that comes with practice and has tto be maintained.

It's why last week I did a couple of quick paintings, trying a spontaneous shakedown to just jump into mini-paintings without over-thinking them. I think I'll need to do those more often!

Despite a couple of scheduling setbacks, I've managed to make some good headway in this piece. And after the initial dragging of the feet, I'm eager to dive into it now!

* * *

And a few more keyword sketch cards for a batch of orders going out next week.

left to right: dna, unicorn, yeehaw, wolf, fulfillment

Night Magic

2011-09-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

I was reviewing some of the keyword card sketches I've done in the past year, with some thoughts of starting to gather together ink drawings for the next installment of an Inklings book. I came across, for keyword "nostalgia". On this evening when the cricket-orchestra is loud outside my screen door, it stirred some thoughts.

My own nostalgia frequently coalesces from my memory in the form of fireflies.

I left Summit, New Jersey when I was 7 years old, and there are no fireflies in the places I have lived in California. I remember nights that seemed so black and muggy you were swimming through them. The voices of the older kids I played with bounced from the trees around me as we delved into the darkness. Were there flashlights? I don't remember. I remember the blinking pinpricks of light. I remember the pine trees, and fragrant needles underfoot. And fireflies piercing the fabric of the night. I remember catching the sparks in our cupped palms, and watching them glint from inside the glass jars.

I was squeamish of bugs. Elizabeth was the tomboy, the oldest girl, and the alpha of our group. She would pick up caterpillars from the tree outside my house, hold them between her fingers as they slowly curled up into a tight fuzzy black and yellow ball, and then wriggle straight and arch again in a mesmerizing fashion. She would try to put them in my palm, and I would just stare at her with my fists clutched tight behind my back, shaking my head emphatically, "No no no." She would casually pass her hand across the thread of a dangling emerald-green inchworm, and offer me that living writhing jewel. Sometimes I would tentatively take the proffered gifts. I wanted the older kids to like me and didn't want to be excluded from all their games.

But the fireflies needed no social prod to fascinate me, to entice me into chasing after their sparking flashes, and capture their blinking lights in my hands. They transcended being insectile. They were summer magic. Inevitably, after capture, they would glow and flash in our jars for a while, but then the lights would fade, like banked coals. We watched hopefully, but when they lay dark and still, merely insects once again, we reluctantly unscrewed the jars and let the cloud of lights lift up into the night.

Black Knight finalized sketch

2011-09-11T21:58:00.001-07:00

Finalized sketch for Black Knight of Midnight!

Lots of Ink Drawings, and Etsy Update (at last!)

2011-09-06T15:37:00.001-07:00

A bunch of ink drawings that I did during the quieter moments at Dragoncon. Fortunately, there weren't too many "quiet moments" -- it was an extremely busy show, I'm happy and thankful to say!

Dragon and fox themed. Well, I did happen to be at DRAGONCON, and foxes were on the mind because a friend had lent me the book The Fox Woman, by Kij Johnson. It was a quick, but engrossing read, and I recommend it to any fairytale/folktale or kitsune lovers.

Leap
6.5x9 inches
ink on bristol board

Faery
5x6.7 inches
ink on bristol board

Dragon
5.5x6.5 inches
ink on bristol board

* * *

A batch of ACEOs. These are all available at my etsy shop, ranging from $18.00-$25.00

* * *

And finally, a big batch of pendants. New designs from recent paintings will be coming in the next month or so.

Dragoncon, keyword sketches, and rethinking black knight

2011-08-30T15:34:00.001-07:00

A couple more days until Dragoncon. Packpackpacking. It's a little bit easier that I just had a show this past weekend, so at least all my print inventory is in order. It's just a matter of figuring out how to distribute everything into my suitcases and carry-on. Heavy bags -- augh.

* * *

Bunch of keyword cards I've been negligent about uploading.

clockwise: beauty, siblings, journey, dragon, submission, guardian

from the left: jewel, dragon, tree, oblivion, dreams

harmony, fox, medusa, beauty

clockwise: weatherwax, butterfly, joy, monster, sweetness, roots, oak, hedgewitch

* * *

Rethinking the black knight sketch. I think I like the other composition better. Going with this one instead.... Though who knows, after a week away from it at a convention, I might come back to change my mind again. I'm beginning to think that when I have more time to paint, paintings are just EASIER. I don't have time to question my own judgment - which can be a good and bad thing!

Black Knight Sketch

2011-08-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

Black Knight, final piece for my "Witch's Knights" series. Had some time while listening to speakers at SFBATS to scribble some sketch ideas for this. I have in mind misty-dark woods with the moon gleaming through a gap in the central tree. Hoping to polish this sketch a little bit, and then get down to painting it when I return from Dragoncon next week. Leaving on Thursday, and still so much packing to do!

* * *

Alternate background idea. Swirled ridges of the roots here remind me of a huge ficus in hawaii. I know, not geographically appropriate, but tickling my artistic fancy.

Tea Sprite

2011-08-23T14:30:00.001-07:00

Tea Sprite
Size: 3x4.5 inches
Medium: Watercolor & Gel Pens

Another quick piece, while Claire was napping today. Sipping my own tea -- Milk Oolong. Burnt Umber washes, and scribbling of a gel pen into the wet paint. Interesting random blues and purples resulted as the ink dried.

Mist and Verdure

2011-08-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Mist and Verdure
Size: 3x5 inches
Medium: Watercolors

A mini-offering. My painting-time these days has been so limited that I hoard every bit of it and spend days brainstorming a piece, sketching it out, pondering color schemes, before finally setting brush to paper. The thing is, it's mentally exhausting doing that, and I felt the need today to just let loose and paint something without over-thinking or planning. Sketch to finish, a couple of hours. Scribbled directly onto the board and then liberally doused with green washes and Essence of Oakland.

A walk through the redwoods today helped as well. I went hunting blackberries. Finding blackberries in Joaquinn Miller reserve is not hard. Finding the ripe ones is the trick. There are parts of the paths where there are literally 6-foot walls of blackberry bramble-hedges.

It was misty this morning, a cloudy haze that softened the upper branches of the redwoods. The leaves were shiny with condensation, and the blackberries were bright exclamations of tart red and glinting ebony amongst so much grey-green. Mist and verdure, to curl through my memory into a splash of color on my page this evening.

Into the Green

2011-08-20T22:14:00.001-07:00

Into the Green
Size: 12x16 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Sketch: -here-
Prints and original available -here-
Detail closeup -here-

Cover for the next Dreamscapes book (don't know the release date yet. My guess is either end of 2011 or else Spring 2012). Finished in time for me to start turning my attentions to packing for SF BATS, and then Dragon*con the following weekend. Somehow those just crept up on me so quickly!

Dreamscapes 3 sketch & Upcoming Conventions

2011-08-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Cover for the next Dreamscapes book, ready for painting!

Hoping to finish this before Dragon*con sneaks up on me. Speaking of which, here are a couple of upcoming appearances:

SF BATS (San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium) - August 27-28, Golden Gateway Holiday Inn, SF. Booth in the bazaar from 10am-5pm.

Dragon*con - September 2-5 - Atlanta, GA. Booth in the Exhibitor Hall.

As always, if you plan to attend this and would like me to bring along any specific books/prints/originals, let me know before the show! I don't always pack everything I have, and so I can't guarantee it'll come unless you speak up.

Red Knight of Burning Day

2011-08-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Red Knight of Burning Day
Size: 20x21 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Original and prints for sale -here-
Detail closeups -here-

The second in my "Witch's Knights" trio. Black knight will be coming, but before I get to him, I have to take a brief detour to work on the cover for my upcoming Dreamscapes book. Once that's done, I can come back to finishing this series. To see the earlier piece, the white knight, -click here-.

Redwoods and Poppies (and a Red Knight painting)

2011-08-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nearly finished. Spent the past few days painting towering redwood trees and blood red poppies. Turns out the initial background colors have worked out as I had hoped, their definite not-red tone that I had worried about before, serving to make the red of the poppies really pop out (Popping Poppies!)

I've spent the past few days also coincidentally wandering amongst very similar environs. The poppies that surround me here in California are a bright golden color instead, but the glorious stretch of the redwoods straining up to the heavens possess the majestic tone I try to capture in a forest. The world around me sneaks into my paintings even when I am not consciously attempting it. They become these reflections of an alternate existence, with the thread of a story, idea, concept, that ties them to true reality.

Red Knight slooooooooooowly coming along

2011-07-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Slow (and not terribly steady) progress being made on the red knight painting. It's turning out more purple and gold than I originally had in mind though. But here's to hoping that will make the intended red foreground pop more. It's in that stage where I don't know if I like it or not, but that's when I just need to keep plowing on.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take a break on this probably in the next few days. The graphic designer working on my next Dreamscapes book has gotten back to me about cover concepts, and I need to get that one done first. Deadlines have precedence over Personal Projects. Here's the initial rough sketch:

Still waiting on feedback from the designers though, so until then I can keep plugging away at the Red Knight. Generally I like working on only one painting at a time. Dividing my energy just gets me really anxious; especially when I'm right about at a point in a painting when I'm uncertain about the colors and I really need to push past that difficult stage.

Red Knight finalized sketch

2011-07-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to getting started on painting it this weekend!

Red Knight sketch

2011-07-13T19:33:00.001-07:00

Finally getting around to starting the next piece in this series, Baba Yaga's Red Knight. Pages from my sketchbook a I was working it out:

Started with the thumbnail sketch for the overall composition. From there, worked on sketches for the main figures -- the mounted knight, as well as the hounds. After I had the varied sketches, I scanned and started fiddling around with the composition at larger scale. Moved, rotated, scaled the hounds. Minor bit of lighting roughed as well. The knight's pose was tweaked a little bit too. The angle was difficult for me, and so after it was scanned, I needed to scale his upper body and arm down a bit.

Keyword ACEO cards

2011-07-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

A batch of keyword custom ACEO cards. Left to right: dragon, sirius, lemuria, gardener, solace. The dragon will be up on etsy when I have a chance to make the listing. The other 4 were custom ones.

White Knight of Bright Morning

2011-07-04T16:02:00.001-07:00

White Knight of Bright Morning
Size: 19.3x21.6 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Original and prints for sale -here-
Detail closeups -here-

Baba Yaga of Slavic folklore: she was wise woman and witch, bestower of gifts and curses, life and death, crone, grandmother, and goddess. "My white knight, bright day. My red knight, round sun. My black knight, dark night," so she names her three servants.

This is the first of what will eventually be three paintings. Red & Black are forthcoming.

* * *

Some of the inspiration for the background:

A birch grove on Manatoulin Island in Canada. Crisp edges and the mottled texture of the bark very striking. The morning sun streaming through the trees on a chill winter day in New York. Shadows and light. Lines and edges and a latticework of fine branches. Though my references may have been a little more close to home, white birch forests are found in Russia as well, and so it made an excellent setting for this piece.

White Knight Progress

2011-06-27T10:14:00.001-07:00

Making slow and steady progress on my white knight. Had a fun two weeks of flu and cold back to back (one of the hidden joys of motherhood) and so wasn't feeling up to doing a whole lot. But it's shaping up nicely. Many times when I'm working on a painting and finish it over the course of a week, it's too fast to get any perspective and objectivity, and I end up absolutely hating the piece and thinking it's awfulterribad. Only after a week or two of shutting it away in my closet can I look at it and see that I do like it (or not). Working much more slowly like this, I'm having more time to get a clearer opinion of the piece as I go, and what things to change, and what direction to move. So I suppose it's having its benefits as well!

White Knight Sketch

2011-06-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

"White Knight of Bright Morning" I think will be the final title, in reference to Baba Yaga's white knight. This is a concept I've had rattling around in my brain for many years now actually, waiting for me to have the time to tackle. There will be three pieces to the series eventually, with the Red Knight of day, and Black Knight of the night to complete the set. This is 18x21 inches. One of the larger pieces that I've done in a while.

* * *

Here were the initial sketches that led up to the final:

From my sketchbook. Focused first on the knight on his horse. Was tempted to make it a unicorn, for the purity and new dawn that the white knight represents, but managed to steer away from that with instead a headpiece on the horse mounted with stag horns; giving it a little of the connotations that a unicorn has, of innocence and sacrifice, but also binds it to some more earthy images and traditions. I wanted the composition to be panned out from the knight a bit, with the sun a looming presence through the trees; perhaps even glowing ghostly through the outlines of the trees. A grove of birches - stark white/grey/blues.

After scanning the initial sketch, I could play around with it in photoshop for the final proportions. Extended the trees up. Added more deer/antelope/stag-ish creatures leaping in shadow forms through the trees. They will be translucent, ghostly. For this mockup, I actually just cut and pasted deer/kierun sketches I had from previous paintings (4 of wands, and sagittarius), using them just as rough shapes to get the concept here; refining and changing them later for the final form.

Keyword Sketch Cards

2011-06-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

A few more batches of keyword sketch cards.

awesome, pisces, elf, skullbunnies (for my artist friend Ben Seto), dance

sacrifice

clockwise: god, teacher, water, push, orchid, hope, griffin, psyche

Essence of Beauty

2011-06-02T00:02:00.001-07:00

Essence of Beauty
Size: 11x15 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints and original available -here-
Detail closeups -here-

Inspired by an ancient Chinese fairytale - the story of Yeh-Shen. This tale is a variant of our more familiar Cinderella story. Yeh-Shen's dead mother's spirit lives on in a golden carp who befriends the lonely girl. When Yeh-Shen's jealous step-mother discovers this source of happiness, she kills the fish, and serves it for dinner for herself and her daughter.

But the spirit is not so easily banished. When Yeh-Shen's step-mother and sister head off to the spring festival, her mother's dead spirit visits and tells her where she might find buried and hidden a beautiful gown of kingfisher feathers and golden shoes to wear to the festival.

Yeh Shen Sketch

2011-05-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

Sketch for the next painting!

Been a bit slow here lately. Hopefully can get this done over the next week.

Spring Spirit

2011-05-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

Spring Spirit

Size: 5.25x8 inches
Medium: Watercolors

Here's my little spring muse. She stole all my flamenco costume hair flowers one day. Insisted on wearing ALL of them at once on her head.

I don't really work from photographs very often. So this was a bit of a technical exercise for myself. I liked the original snapshot quite a bit, except for the fact that it was very fuzzy and out of focus. So it made for a good reference for a painting instead, because I could sharpen some as needed, but keep a sort of softness to the piece overall.

This was what I initially wanted to use as the reference for "Garden", but I eventually went for a different pose that tucked the little girl's face down a bit to be hidden by the hat and lend her some anonymity, and instead saved the first idea for a future painting (now).

Shadowscapes Tarot (cards only edition), & more keyword sketches.

2011-05-08T14:06:00.001-07:00

Llewellyn has released a new edition of the deck, with just the cards. For those who don't want or need the companion book, or just want a spare deck of the cards themselves. Signed copies of it are available -here-.

Also, some more keyword sketches: reincarnation, creativity, reincarnation, freya, release

And to moms out there, happy mother's day! Hope you're enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Ten Suns

2011-04-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

Ten Suns
Medium: Watercolors
Size: 10x16 inches
Detail closeups -here-
Prints and original available -here-

A Chinese legend:

There was once a time when there was not just a single sun in the heavens, but ten suns. These ten suns were embodied in the forms of celestial Sun-Birds, who lived in a mulberry tree far out in the eastern sea.

Alternating amongst themselves each day, it was the task for a single one of the Sun-Birds to spread his wings and fly over the lands, to light the skies. As he soared across the vault of the heavens, the sun\'s glorious radiance bought warmth and life to the fields and people. In a day-long journey, the Sun-Bird flew to the western mountains. Each night, that Sun-Bird would come back to roost at the mulberry tree amongst his siblings.

Day after day, the Sun-Birds performed their duty, until they bored of the routine. On that fateful morning, they all took flight, in a burst of overwhelming flame and glory. The ten Sun-Birds flew out across the lands, and the people cried out in pain at the furnace that opened up from the heavens with the heat of ten suns beating down upon rice fields and rooftops and heads.

It fell to the Archer God, Houyi to remedy the situation. Drawing his great bow, he shot down nine of the ten Sun-Birds. So it is today, that there is but a single Sun.

Ten Sun Crows - Sketch

2011-04-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

On the drawing board.

Garden

2011-04-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

Garden
Size: 9x12 inches
Detail closeup views -here-
Original available -here-

Final painting for this Realms of Fantasy Magazine story. Should be in an upcoming issue in next few months, story entitled "Isabella's Garden", by Naomi Kritzer.

Garden Sketch

2011-04-14T17:53:00.000-07:00

Sketch for an upcoming Realms of Fantasy Magazine story. Always fun to work on these!

Ten Sun Crows - ink drawing

2011-04-07T16:35:00.001-07:00

Another little something I did while at wondercon last weekend.

This is an ink drawing on bristol board. It measures 11x7 inches. Grey, brown, and black inks were used. On sale -at my etsy shop-.

Brainstorming for the next painting, which will be on this story.

According to Chinese legend, there was once not just a single sun, but ten.

Ten sun birds lived in a mulberry tree in the eastern ocean. Each day, one of them would make the day-long journey across the skies to the western mountains. Until one day, all ten descended on the earth at once, and the archer Houyi was forced to shoot down all but one of the wayward sun birds.

The text on this piece says:

Each day, it was the task for one
of the Sun Birds to fly from the Mullbery
tree in a day-long arc across the
skies, to the Western Mountains.
Until one morn, on a whim, all ten spread their
wings at once, and a burning wind kissed
the earth.

ACEOs (from wondercon) on etsy

2011-04-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

While at Wondercon this past weekend, during the lulls in traffic, did these ACEOs. They're on sale at my etsy shop now for $25.00 each.

Bridge of Wings - The Herder

2011-03-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Bridge of Wings - The Herder
Size: 13x16 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints and original available -here-
Detail closeup views -here-
Matching pair to The Weaver, viewable -here-
Pencil sketch viewable -here-

There is a legend of lovers: it is said that the stars Altair and Vega in the summer night sky are the celestial glimmers of the Weaver Girl and Herder Boy. The Milky Way spills in a glistening river, sprawling across the heavens, and forever keeping the lovers apart, except for once a year when all the magpies of the world would fly up and form a bridge of wings that the Herder Boy and Weaver Girl might briefly touch, before spinning back to their corners of the sky. This is one of the reasons why magpies are considered auspicious birds and bringers of good fortune.

Wondercon 2011, San Francisco Moscone Center

2011-03-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Turns out I will be at WonderCon this year after all. Initially, I had sent in the paperwork too late, and was on the waiting list, but I got confirmation last month that I will be having a spot after all. Look for me in the artist alley! The booth will be listed in the program book as "Shadowscapes - Stephanie Pui-Mun Law".

As always, if there are any prints/books/items/originals in particular you want me to bring, don't be shy about leaving me a note or emailing to request. I usually only bring a small portion of my inventory, and so if you're looking for something specific, best to let me know ahead of time!

Wondercon
April 1-3
Moscone Center South, San Francisco, CA
Artist alley booth #AA-122

Bridge of Wings - Herder - sketch

2011-03-17T19:43:00.001-07:00

Sketch for the next piece, to match The Weaver

Keyword Sketch Cards & Some New (& Old) Etsy Originals

2011-03-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

A few newly listed pieces on etsy. Left two are new ones. The mermaid was what I did as a demo at an art expo in Pasadena years ago. She had gotten lost in my drawers and I came across her last week. These, and other little originals can be found -at my etsy shop-.

This week's keyword sketch cards:

left->right: dragon, angel, muse, healing, dichotomy

left->right: will, apparition

Bridge of Wings - The Weaver

2011-03-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

Bridge of Wings - The Weaver

Size: 12.6x16.3 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints and original available -here-
Detail closeup views -here-
Sketch -here-

White Nine Tailed Fox

2011-03-02T22:24:00.001-08:00

White Nine Tailed Fox
medium: watercolors on illustration board
size: 14.6 x 4.4 inches
detail closeups -here-
prints and originals -here-

I got sidetracked from the other sketch I had prepared. I've been reading the Shan Hai Jing, a very ancient Chinese mythical bestiary, detailing all manner of fantastical gods, places, peoples, plants, and animals to be found under heaven. I had often come across references to it in other readings (The story of Nuwa and her transformation into the jing wei bird, for which I also recently did a painting, finds one of its earliest mentions in the Shan Hai Jing), and figured it was time to get down to the actual book itself.

I came to the early entry of the nine-tailed fox. This creature resides upon the Green Hills Mountain, amid the jade and cinnabar, and is a fierce man-eating beast. The commentary also mentioned a story of Yu the Great (the founder and progenitor of the legendary Xia Dynasty, China's supposed first dynasty over 4000 years ago). Yu sought an omen that he would marry, and as he rode through the hills, he caught sight of a white nine-tailed fox. This was the sign that he had been searching for, and he took it to mean success. Nine tailed foxes were thought to be auspicious creatures.

Bridge of Wings - Weaver Girl - sketch

2011-02-28T14:42:00.001-08:00

Next painting. I took on this Chinese story about a decade ago. Revisiting it, as I have been meaning to do for a while.

Here's the old version, dug out of the archives....

Keyword Sketch Cards, & Oakland appreciation

2011-02-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

clockwise: empty, outdoorsy, eternity, bats, sorrow, soul

* * *

It's called Oakland, but we actually have a whole lot of redwoods here too. I've wanted to go hiking for a week, but it's just been rainy and drizzly lately. Had my opportunity today when the sun broke through the solid gray screen of clouds. Hetaded up the road to Joaquinn Miller preserve, just around the corner from where I live.

I don't take advantage of its proximity often enough, and I was reminded of this as I started down one of the trails and that spicy scent of redwood quickly enveloped me. The recent rains were evident in the lushness of the undergrowth, the damp pine needles underfoot, and the verdant draping of moss along the tree trunks.

The trails closer to home (across the street) are a bit inundated with alien species (blackberries and ivy), but higher up on the ridge, it's mostly native plants.

Claire got impatient about a mile along the trail, so we had to turn back at that point, but it was nice to stretch my legs.

Forgotten Bells of Ys

2011-02-21T22:24:00.000-08:00

Forgotten Bells of Ys

Medium: Watercolors
Size: 12x17 inches
Detail closeup views -here-
Prints and original for sale -here-

Pencil sketch -here-

The sailors and fishers have seen the gilt shadows
stretching proud arches upon the glass seas;
and I have heard echos of eons dead bells
drifting in tides of ghost melodies.

There are many legends of vanished cities, sunk beneath the hungry ocean waves. One of the most famous was the beautiful city of Ys, off the coast of Brittany, in the Bay of Douarnenez. There was once a King of Brittany, named Gradlon. He fell in love with a druid woman, a Queen of the North, the sorceress Malgven. Together, they slew her husband, and took his magical horse Morvarc'h who could fly across the shifting seas as upon land. The lovers fled back to Gradlon's lands. Their journey across the seas took so long, that Malgven grew pregnant, and gave birth while still in transit. Their daughter, born on the shifting ocean waves, was named Dahut.

Malgven died in the birthing, but to honor her, and as a gift to his daughter, King Gradlon built the most glorious and beautiful of cities. There were great white temples to the old gods, fantastic towers and spires and palaces. These were all built below the sea level, and protected from the deadly waters by bronze walls and a gate, to which Gradlon held the only key. He named this city Ys, and its beauty was to be rivaled by no others.

Dahut grew to be a lovely young woman, doted on by her father, but she reveled in debauchery. Ys was transformed into a haven for her wicked ways. Each night, she took a new lover, and in the morning had him executed. One day, a strange knight, clad in red armor came to Ys, and Dahut was smitten by him. He convinced her to acquire the key to the city gates to satisfy his whim and prove her love. In drunken giddiness, Dahut crept to her sleeping father's bedchambers that night, and lifted the key from the chain around his neck. She brought it back to the red knight, triumphant; but the knight turned out to be none other than the devil!

The gates to Ys were opened, and high tide and storm that had been raging all the while, came crashing through the bronze doors, flooding the city. Gradlon awoke and instantly knew what had happened when he found the key missing. He raced through the palace to his magical steed Morvarc'h, flying up above the waves that quickly were enveloping Ys in their saline embrace.

When he caught sight of Dahut, he pulled her up behind him on Morvarc'h, attempting to fly away, but time and again she kept slipping, and Morvarc'h struggled to stay above the clawing waves. A Saint appeared to Gradlon, telling him, "You must abandon the demon who sits behind you." Gradlon resisted, but eventually Dahut slipped from his grasp, falling back into the ocean, where she was transformed into a mermaid, forevermore to swim among the ghostly bells of Ys.

* * *

What seems a very long time ago, back in 1998, I did a painting on this theme. I was not yet working in watercolors back then. Digital was my main medium. Here's a little glimpse of one of the (really bad!) pieces I did back then. So...uh...yeah...I think practice every day for over a decade has paid off.

Inking tools, and newest assortment of pens (art-geeking)

2011-02-20T22:32:00.001-08:00

I'm often asked what I use for my ink drawings.

Paper:

Strathmore Bristol board, smooth, 300 series, is my preference, for ink. They also have a rough version, which works fine for ink too, though it has a tiny bit of tooth that shows up when scanning. So if you want a nice clean scan, the smooth is better. (Rough works great for pencils, however).

This bristol board is what I use for drawings like the ACEOs that I've been doing lately, as well as larger pieces like these:

I usually buy an 11x14 inch pad of it, and cut down sheets to whatever sizes I need. When working, I find it best to tape the piece of paper down by the corners to a masonite board to protect the edges, and also for ease of transportation and comfort when drawing. That way I can work while lounging on a couch, with the board on my lap, instead of always at the desk! Or at a convention table. Or in bed.

For my travel sketchbook, I have currently been enjoying Hand Book Artist Journals. Mine is a 6x6 inch square journal, with nice heavyweight sheets. They're thick enough to use brush pens and not have anything seep through to the back. It is cold press, so does have a bit of a tooth, but that makes it suitable for pencil as well, if you choose.

I also sometimes pick up sketchbooks with a neutral color base, and that makes for extra fun with being able to build up darks, or lights (with the use of white gel pen).

I usually prefer spiral-bound sketchbooks, so that the pages can lay perfectly flat. And while Hand Book journals are not, it still does flatten reasonably well. The other advantage to non-spiral binding is that the pages don't get as mangled when the book is tossed haphazardly into your backpack or purse. With spiral-bound books, I usually hand-construct a protective little box that the book can slide in and out of quickly, out of scrap mat board.

* * *

Here's my main and basic drawing tool, Hi-Tec-C gel pens:

I first found these during my brief stint in Japan back in 2001, and instantly fell in love with them. When I got back to the US, the only place I was able to find that sold them were local chain Kunikuniya stores (selling Japanese books and stationary) in Japantown. I was lucky enough to have that close by. Though later I found them online as well, and now I usually buy them from my favorite pen-site, jetpens.com.

The ink flows very smoothly. They come in dozens of colors (though I mainly stick to sepia, black, and brown). My preferred thickness is 0.3, which is a very nice and fine line. Occasionally I use some of the bright colors to accent paintings, blending the ink out with a wet brush. The painting on the right here, "Potential", is one example of such. I used red hi-tec-C gel pen for that really shockingly brilliant red of the butterflies, and blended with a wet brush while the ink was still wet, so that it melded with the watercolors.

* * *

New acquisition, Kuretake Fudegokochi Brush Pen - Gray Ink:

My father-in-law sent me this link to a review of this pen a couple weeks ago. As luck would have it, I was in need of a new brush pen, since the old one I've been using was running rather dry. I really like this one, though it's rather firmer than I was expecting. Though if you press hard, you can get a slightly wider line. It is water soluble, so fades out nicely if you take a brush of clear water to it. It's also not as light of a grey as I hoped for though, so I still need a secondary brush pen of some lighter shade.

* * *

Another new acquisition, Kuretake Brush Writer Blendable Color Brush Pen - Light Grey:While I like the Kuretake Fudegokochi Brush Pen, I absolutely love this one. Its tip is much more of a real "brush", and so you can get a nice variety of strokes with it, and can really lay in a light grey wash or thin detail lines quite easily, with a fluid and organic grace. And they come in so many different colors (24)!

The only downside is that it's rather spendy. $7.50 for one pen. I'll have to see how long the ink in this lasts to decide whether its worth it to continue purchasing them.

* * *

Sakura Pigma Brush Pen - Sepia Ink:

Though I've usually stuck to black, this time around I picked up a sepia (mostly because hi-tec-C has a new sepia color as well!)

I like to have a very light grey brush pen for gradual shading, and sometimes for "sketching" (before applying darker tones), and a second brush pen of a much darker shade for bolder lines and shapes.

This pen has a very fine point, but the brush allows for thicker lines quite easily as well.

* * *

And finally, Uniball Signo White Gel Pen:

I did a post a while back about the uses of white gel pens for painting. You can find that post -here-. I also use them with ink, when working on neutral tone paper. The shadows get worked in with the greys and blacks, and the highlights can be pulled forward with white gel pen.

Forgotten Bells of Ys Sketch

2011-02-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

Next up. Maybe I can get this painted over the long weekend.

Keyword Sketch Cards

2011-02-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

Felt it was time to change things up a bit. You might have observed that in this and the last installation of keyword cards and aceos, that I've started incorporating grey brushpen into the mix as well.

Clockwise: Enchanter (aceo), solace, Oya, cricket, patience, hope, panda, growth

Climbing the Dragon Gate

2011-02-12T22:35:00.001-08:00

Climbing the Dragon Gate

Medium: Watercolors
Size: 12x17 inches
Prints and Original available -here-
Detail closeup views -here-
Original sketch available -here-

In Chinese and Japanese legend the lowly carp spends its life trying to swim up the Yellow River. At the source of the river is a great roaring waterfall. If the koi were able to swim up that waterfall, it would be rewarded and transformed into a dragon. Thus, the koi is a symbol of personal advancement, perseverance, determination in the face of impossible obstacles, and inner strength. The journey of the carp to become a dragon was a metaphor for young scholars passing the Chinese state exams and become a mandarin.

* * *

Dana is amused by this painting. He says it looks like all the carp are saying, "HORRAY! You made it!!! Go go dragoncarp!!!"

Tea Misadventures, and Carp

2011-02-09T22:20:00.001-08:00

My choice of "favorite tea mug" bears an unfortunate resemblance in shape and size to my paint-water-bowl.... That's just asking for trouble.

And that's NOT a pretty blue glaze on the paint-bowl. It's "clear" plastic. It has been my painting companion for 10+ years, following me from my brief stint in Japan. It has acquired some permanent layers of color on it now due to periodic uses on non-water-soluble mediums, and sometimes glue, that have sealed the dried watercolors in.

And a peek at how the latest dragon painting is coming along. I got a lot of the water done today, and started on some of the koi.

Rather woozy now though...still sick, and while the cold medicine is working wonders for my poor runny nose, it's really doing a number on my ability to focus and coherence....

"Climbing the Dragon Gate" Sketch

2011-02-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Final sketch ready to be painted.
The legend of how a carp must swim up the Yellow River and be transformed into a dragon.

Snifflings and Dragon Sketching

2011-02-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

In between sniffling and sneezing with the latest cold I've landed, sketching for the next painting. Third installment of Dreamscapes is coming along quite well though. All the step-by-steps and text is done. It's just a few chapter introductions left, and a couple of showcase pieces (of which this will be one).

2011 has so far been "The Year of Being Sick". It seems that our little household has perpetually had at least 2 members being sick ever since January 1st.

Keyword Sketch Cards

2011-02-02T13:22:00.001-08:00

clockwise: devotion, stars, moon, isis, foxcub, foxes

ACEOs

2011-01-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

A few more ACEOs: kitsune, courage, legend.

Kidlet Sketches

2011-01-25T22:56:00.001-08:00

Kidlets. Mine and others.

Some random sketches the past couple weeks from my pocket sketchbook that I carry in my purse all the time (I suppose that makes it a "purse sketchbook" then).

At Dimond Park, down the street from where I live.

Munching on corn muffins at Arizmendi Bakery.

And at the library.

Watching my nephew this morning. Drawing dragons, while he snoozed next to me.

Keyword Sketch Cards

2011-01-18T22:12:00.001-08:00

Next few batches.

clockwise: Scottish, angel, gourd, hedgewytch, faith, inspiration

clockwise: inspiration, light, dowsing, hawk, transformation, Thor, owl, snow

daisy, apocotastasis, doll

One White Soul

2011-01-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

One White Soul
Size: 12x18 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Prints & Original available -here-
Detail closeups -here-

Cover piece for The First Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle, that Tachyon Publications will be releasing soon (for real this time). Shows a scene that was taken out of the final draft of the The Last Unicorn, of a confrontation between the unicorn and one of her immortal rivals and fellow anachronistic mythical beast in a world that was rapidly moving forward and beyond magic, a dragon. "Little white soul," he calls mockingly to her when she speaks to him naively of the world.

First Last Unicorn sketch

2011-01-13T23:16:00.000-08:00

Ready to paint! And I'm ready to sleep. Good stopping point for tonight

First Last Unicorn sketches

2011-01-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, many years ago (I think 2004ish), I did this painting, as well as a number of pencil drawings that were intended for a book by Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn. It was going to be called The First Last Unicorn, because it had many chapters that were taken out of the final version of the book, but which were interesting in their own right and as stand-alone pieces seemed almost like self-contained short stories. These chapters, as well as a few other previously unpublished stories were going to comprise the volume.

Unfortunately, the project never was published and I didn't hear any news for a long time. In recent months there has been mutterings of reviving it, and while there is still no set release for those original paintings and drawings I did, Tachyon Publications will be releasing another edition of that book, which they have commisisoned me to do a different cover for. I'll be paintpaintpainting furiously the next couple days because it's a very short deadline (Monday, eek!)

Meanwhile, here's a peek into my sketchbook.

Some initial thumbnail scribbles for general composition.

More detailed unicorn scribblings.

More detailed dragon scribblings, and some birds.

The final rough sketch, all the pieces from those previous sketches combined and tweaked and resized and rotated in photoshop.

Shadowscapes Tarot - Releasing Original Watercolors

2011-01-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

It's always hard to let go of paintings. After years of working on them, waiting for the deck to get published, and then a bit more time for just pure sentimentality, I've decided to part with the original paintings at last.

The original watercolor paintings will be going on sale on January 19th, 2011 @7:00PM PST.

Advance viewing of the full price list and availability can be found -here-.

ACEOs

2011-01-05T22:40:00.001-08:00

Some more inking done today. Custom ACEOs.

Managed to get these done while out at the park keeping one eye glued on Claire.

Keyword Sketch Cards

2011-01-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! It feels weird to sign these first few drawings of the year with "2011". Anyway, after a few weeks break and enjoying familytime, here are some more keyword sketch cards.

Clockwise: Saturn, artist's choice, freedom, changeling, Aslan, spiritual, protection, selkie, owl, halloween, ancient, overcoming

Cath Palug

2010-12-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

Claws in the Night
Size: 12x17 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Details closeups -here-
Prints and original available -here-
In Progress sketches -here-

As told in Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch (or the Mabinogion), a collection of Welsh legends:

At the Black Stone in Llanfair in Arfon, the great sow Henwen gave birth to a kitten (after having previously birthed a wolf-cub and an eagle). Coll mab Collfrewy was the swineherd, and when he picked up this ferocious little kitten, ball of scratching and fur and claws, and Coll hurled it into the sea to drown.

The kitten clung to life as fiercely as it had clawed at Coll, and managed to survive and swim to shore at Anglesey, where it was discovered and raised by the sons of Palug. (Hence the name Cath Palug, "Palug's Cat", although it is sometimes thought to be translated as "clawing cat" as well.)

It is said that this Cath Palug grew to become an enormous beast who terrorized the surrounding lands. When word came of the ravages, King Arthur sent his knight Sir Cai to dispatch the giant cat. Nine-score warriors and champions rode alongside Cai...and none of them returned, save Cai. How the confrontation went - whether Cai slew Cath Palug, or simply fled...the poems and stories do not say.

VBC (Very Big Cat)

2010-12-23T15:52:00.000-08:00

Sketch on the table for upcoming painting. Cath Palug. Sir Kai and his buddies don't know what they're in for.

Sketches that led up to that final.
Palug with the Cat next to him. Wanted more focus on the Cat though. Tried a different pose. Stalk-stretching with the boy riding him. But that seemed too...domesticated. Like a horse (or He-Man's Cringer! oh no!) Scribbles of Kai and co. in the bottom right. Top left rough thumbnail composition.

Attempted combo of two concepts. Still not quite there.

Tried a different pose. Liked the low-to-the-ground panther-type-stalking, tail swishing.

Some more photoshop to figure out composition, and a digitally scribbled in tree for them to stand on instead of a cliff. Finally happy with this, and so it becomes the basis for the final sketch.

Smooth Backgrounds without Masking Fluid

2010-12-21T19:38:00.001-08:00

When working in the negative space and painting a background in around a foreground element that you want to keep clean, you might look at all the tight corners and crevices and think that the only possible way to accomplish the task would be with masking fluid. Not so - I rarely use masking fluid these days. I find that painting around is much faster and effective, and I feel that the various aspects of a piece are better integrated if I can avoid masking fluid's hard edges.

For this piece, in the initial stages, I painted around all the fish. I wanted the water to be smooth and blended, but not to interfere with the bright oranges and whites of the koi.

Started by using a round brush to lay in some greens quickly, starting from one corner where I do want a hard edge (the lower surface of the water). Work quickly, making sure the paint stays wet. It's not such a large area that this is difficult though. Starting in small tight corners is easiest.

The lower left area near the fish's tail is where I'm continuing the greens. Making sure that lower edge stays wet, I dilute the paint on my brush a bit, and then start to pull that wet edge downwards and around into the next chunk of background.

Dilute some more, and continue pulling that lower wet edge downwards until it fades into the white of the paper.

Once this layer dries completely, I can repeat this process, starting in a new corner and pulling the edges of the wet paint out to blend into the surroundings. As long as the edge always blends to clear, you can layer small sections of washes like this, and have a (mostly) seamless background.

Lo Clasico @ Fort Mason Cowell Theater

2010-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

Venturing out into the stormy sleet this afternoon to see Lo Clasico at Fort Mason's Cowell Theater in San Francisco with Bern. A Flamenco treat!

A little difficult to get too much sketching done since it was dark, but I managed a few scribbles.

Iron Khan

2010-12-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

Iron Khan
Medium: Watercolor
Size: 12x17 inches
Prints and Original available -here-
Detail closeups -here-

Cover for Iron Khan by Liz Williams, to be published by Morrigan Press within the next month. The floating city of Agarta in the distance.

Beginnings - Part 3 - Balancing Acts

2010-12-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

A continuation of -this post- from several months ago.

I've been meaning to get back to this topic for months now, but just haven't found the spare time. Adjusting to being a mother as well as squeezing painting time in hasn't left me with quite as much ~other~ time, like rambling in here.

So anyway, I left off last time at where I got my first few illustration jobs. Parallel to that however I was doing something else as well, which I think separates me a little from my other artist peers. Most of the other artists I know seem to fall into those who mainly make their living doing work for publication/commissions/illustration or working for a large game or movie company doing concepts or in-house art; and those artists who don't bother with the entertainment market and instead focus purely on licensing and print sales. Basically artwork that is dictated by someone else's needs and designs, vs. your own artwork which you then need to find a way to market and sell (if you intend to make a living out of it). Somehow I managed to land straddling in between with one foot on either side.

With the former, your self-marketing approach is to focus on the art directors. The ADs and their companies worry about the publicity and distribution of their products (featuring your artwork). However, landing the jobs and keeping your pipeline full is your responsibility. It can get tiring tracking the various jobs and commissions and making sure your schedule is not over (or under) booked, and keeping yourself on track and not procrastinating. Also your art becomes focused on realizing other peoples' concepts.

The latter model gives artistic freedom (of a sort). You're free to draw and paint whatever your heart desires; as long as you can figure a way to make it something your audience will want to hang on their wall. If you're fortunate, you can find that audience; and then things become a balance of staying true to your own artistic vision while resisting the temptation to just create "easy to sell" art. The key is to love what you are creating. If you ever feel pressured, unhappy, or forced to do subject matter then it is time to re-examine why you're doing it in the first place. If I didn't love painting what I paint...I might as well go back to getting a programming job. The down-side of this business model is that it's time intensive. You become a retailer of your own artwork: maintaining a website shop, traveling to shows to sell, dealing with shipping and licensing, etc.

Being in between these two has let me enjoy illustrating for publication the subject matter that I actually want to do. I don't have to maintain a constant packed commission pipeline because the other part of my business gives me the freedom to choose the jobs that really appeal to me. This results in me producing better artwork. Subject matter that you connect to is always going to inspire the creation process so much more.

A rather long aside, but to get back to my original tale about how I managed to find this path:
Parallel to sending out my portfolio to art directors of various game companies, I started my website. I also started posting artwork on Elfwood, which was only a couple years old at that time. I donated some artwork for Thomas to use on the web design, and for that favor I got links from the front page of the site to my gallery, and from there to my website. That was the beginning stream of traffic I had directed to Shadowscapes.com. Now there are many other gallery options as well - Epilogue, DeviantArt, GFXartist, etc, from which to gather traffic. This is good and bad I think. More options as an artist. But more options dilutes the viewers as well. I think that the successful results I saw were due in part to the limited websites of this sort, which focused attention. Similarly when I began to post prints to Ebay, the smaller size of it in 1999 meant my listings weren't just floundering under everything else.

I get asked by young artists how to establish themselves. I'm afraid there's no easy answer; my own path has been meandering and a result of serendipitous timing and emerging markets on the internet. I think that each artist has to find their own way - and in part the artwork itself dictates how that will happen. Even at the same place and same time, someone with a different style and voice would have to go about it in another fashion.

Two and a half years into my "two year post college plan" I found myself still in my software job. By this time however I had stretched out various tendrils in several directions. I was getting regular commission work from various game publishers, and I had a reasonable revenue stream coming from my website and ebay. It was hard to think of quitting software though. Health insurance, stable predictable job, stock options! But then some calamitous events in my personal life triggered me into finally quitting software and stepping into what seemed terribly scary - self employment, in 2001. I actually resisted completely severing all ties at first and managed to get Plumtree Software to agree to give me an extended leave of absence. However, I never returned.

For the first few years I did a whole lot of commission/game work. There's a sparkle and excitement to seeing your work in print. After a while though, that sparkle wore off and I realized that though being in print was a thrill, doing artwork that had meaning to me, AND that could be in print was even more amazing. At that point I started being more picky about what jobs I took on, deciding that it was better to dedicate my resources to personal work in between commissioned projects, and only taking on the jobs that really called to me.

... Perhaps to be continued again sometime in the (near) future. Any topics in particular you'd like to hear about? Please let me know!

Iron Khan in progress 2

2010-12-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

Got a reasonable chunk of painting time in today! Things starting to look blurry right now though *yawn*. Definitely time to call it a night.

Iron Khan in progress

2010-12-16T16:09:00.001-08:00

Some progress being made...

Blue Magic

2010-12-15T11:58:00.001-08:00

Oh my goodness, my box of blue magic arrived. The colors are so vibrant, and there are some gemstone based ones as well (mmm...Lapis Lazuli blue). An assortment of blues from Kremer. I can't wait to use these on something. Perhaps on the Iron Khan painting that's waiting to get started.

Big Batch o ACEO and Keyword Cards

2010-12-13T19:59:00.001-08:00

Oops, I've forgotten to upload these for a while. Here's a bunch that I've done in the past month.

ACEOs (clockwise): koi, Astraea, devotion, enchanter, monkey, monkey

Keyword cards: absolute, bravery, dragon, bard, Ganesha, compassion, orca, bliss, determination

Keyword cards: spire, Morrigan, universe, duality, wisdom, goddess, calla, owl
Keyword cards: path, dryad, stag, heather, fun, blessed, mischief

Keyword cards: spider, hope, fairy, sagisou, selkie

Iron Khan sketches

2010-12-12T21:00:00.001-08:00

Sketch for a book cover project in the works. Above is the finalized sketch that I'm ready to start painting. I'm thinking to hold off breaking out the brushes just yet though because last week I splurged and bought myself some brand new assortment of paints from Kremer Pigments. I'm so eager to try them out and can't wait for them to arrive! **art geeking** Ah, but this kit of Blues just looks so lovely....

Some of the scribbles that led to the final:

The initial 3 thumbnail concepts I sent to the client. The first and third options were more literal to the action of the story, while the second one more of a fantastical combination of various aspects. Authenticy to the tale as opposed to direct accuracy. It was my own personal favorite option, but I wasn't holding too much hope the client would choose it (because the client never ever picks the one the artist thinks is best!) Surprise, she did concur and picked #2, which made me very happy!

Elaborated on it, getting the details of the bird and figure down. Flipping through the manuscript to make sure I get the details of it correct.

Refining the City as well. Pulling out references for Asian style architecture. Haven't really done Asian cities very often (if at all)...more used to European castles and fantastical cities. Photoshop magic to get everything placed correctly and make sure the composition isn't lopsided. Then it gets printed out and I transfer the final drawing to the illustration board!

VOOTTOO December discount code

2010-12-05T21:44:00.001-08:00

VOOTTOO has just informed me that there is a 20% discount in December for all skins. Just enter the discount code "STEPHLAWDEC" when you check out. Also should note that if you need your order to be in before Christmas, the last day for that would be December 12th. I've just uploaded a whole bunch of new pictures from the past six months as well, so there should be more recent artwork available!

The Seduction

2010-12-04T23:05:00.000-08:00

The Seduction
Size: 17x12 inches
Medium: Watercolors
Detail closeups: -here-
Prints and original available: -here-
Sketches: -here- and -here-

* * *

She sings with voice that's summer-laced
She lifts her arms with lithesome grace
She dances, skips, steps back a pace,
and beckons, haloed in the light.

"Lay your head down, come and sleep.
Let weary world drift to your feet.
Lay your head down, come and sleep.
Taste of innocence so sweet."

She beckons, lures, and tempts to chase.
No shadows fall upon her face.
She chimes, "Come share a sacred place
we carve to keep back night."

"Anemones cup crimson wine:
Let words and needs sift past, like wheat.
Leave marigolds to dream of dawn.
Taste poppy juice, so rich and sweet."

She promises no promises taken,
nevermore to be forsaken;
a peace from which to never waken:
Taste of innocence so sweet.

* * *

In European legends, it was said that a unicorn could not be captured by force. The only way to subdue the fantastic beast was to let a maiden wait alone. Lured by her, the unicorn would venture near, and lay his head upon her lap, at which time the hunters could spring on the creature.

In Medieval writings and art, the unicorn was frequently symbolic of Christ, most famously in the unicorn tapestries depicting The Hunt of the Unicorn and telling the story of Christ from birth to resurrection.

Custom ACEOs

2010-12-01T15:10:00.001-08:00

Samples of my new offering of some custom keyword ACEOs. These are the same concept as the keyword Special Edition tarot cards where the customer provides a single word for me to base the image from.

Left to right: Koi, Gryphon, Dhampir