VIRTUAL ART GALLERY VI: CHILD ENDANGERMENT

Not the best quality jpegs; soon to be updated, hopefully.


"CALAMITY IN THE VALLEY OF THE CATS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
60"x70"
(SOLD)



"WHAT'S THE LION'S NAME, ANDY?" (GIA'S DREAM)
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
60"x70"



"SALLY PLAYS WITH SNAKES"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
22"x28"
(SOLD)

VIRTUAL ART GALLERY V: TALES OF THE SEA

I think inspired by a large part of American Folk Art, my fascination with this subject matter led me to purchase a couple amazing albums by WHITE WHALE and NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL , which, along with old Roxy Music, provided the soudtrack by which I painted to...


"LIKE TWO SHIPS: THE FISHERMAN AND THE MERMAID"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"



"BEWARE THE WHALE THAT READS CROSSWORDS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"


"A STRANGE DREAM I HAD ON SEPT.25th, 2006"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x48"



"TOILERS ON THE SEA"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
10"x20"
(SOLD)



"THE WHALER"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x48"



"ULYSSES AND THE SIREN (THE MUSE OF SEPT. 15th, 2005)"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x48"



"CHILD ENDANGERMENT"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
22"x28"



"BATH TIME"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"
(SOLD)



"DISASTER AT SEA"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"



"THE ADMIRAL WITHOUT HIS SHIP"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
36"x60"



"WATERWINGS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
10"x20"
(SOLD)

VIRTUAL ART GALLERY IV: HARLEQUINS AND HIGHWIRES

*Please forgive the redundancy of some of theses images. This is my attempt at culling some of my better-photographed and archived work into a few, more complete posts.



"ENGAGEMENT PAINTING"
OIL ON CANVAS
20"x24"
(SOLD)



"THE HARLEQUIN AND MAGICIAN"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
30"x40"



"PROBABLE CONCUSSION I"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
14"x18"



"WAITING FOR SUMMER"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x36"



"HARLEQUIN AND CHILD WITH PULL TOY"
ACRYLIC AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
(SOLD)



"PROBABLE CONCUSSION II"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
14"x18"
(SOLD)



"PROBABLE CONCUSSION III"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
14"x18"
(SOLD)



"NEAR MISS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x48"
(SOLD)



"GREATEST SHOW"
ACRYLIC AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
(SOLD)


I am currently attempting to hunt down and reshoot some of these pieces below...

"DANCING HARLEQUIN I"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
(SOLD)



"DANCING HARLEQUIN II"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
(SOLD)



"HARLEQUIN AND CHICKEN"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
(SOLD)



"SHIP OF FOOLS"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
(SOLD)



"LOVE"
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS
(SOLD)

VITUAL ART GALLERY III: "BIG EYES and LOWBROWS"

"THIRTY YEARS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"



"HUNGRY, HUNGRY"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
24"x30"



"LITTLE GUNTUR AND HIS CHOCOLATE HOMUNCULUS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
20"x16"



"NORRIN RADD, EVERYMAN"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"

NORRIN RADD: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

This was a rejected piece for the GALLERY 1988 Stan Lee show. Jensen opted for my marker piece of Stan "The Tailor Man" Lee. To each his own, I suppose--but I really like the way this turned out. I'm not sure how well it works outside of the theme of the show, but I'm sure I could justify it somehow. My inspiration once again being how Marvel Comics in the 1960's put their characters, even ones as omnipotent as The Silver Surfer or Doctor Doom cloaked in a SEARS MEN'S TRENCHCOAT and viola! Instant anonymity! In this case, Norrin Radd, otherwise known as The Silver Surfer infiltrates the general populace of New York City. In an attempt to "blend in", SS seeks out a tailor in The Village who measures and creates an ingenious disguise of trenchcoat, scarf and fedora--to which SS dons regularly throughout the next ten or so issues at least.

One such example...


Then my post it. I wanted something stark, bold...


*(It should be noted I've once again attempted to post more of my collage process; however, blogger is not letting me upload the jpegs for some reason!?)

The completed piece...

"NORRIN RADD, EVERYMAN"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"

"BEWARE THE WHALE THAT READS CROSSWORDS"

A bit of a change up, post-wise. Thought it might be neat to see my process in a different medium.

Continuing my fascination with maritime imagery, I knew I wanted to paint a beast of a whale and a boat made of crossword puzzles. Thus I began this little doodle on a yellow post-it probably while working on another project that was on my table.


By the second post-it, I realized I wanted to make my starving castaway a sailor and felt the image worked better weighted on the opposite side.


By this third one, which was only an overlay--I thought: "Why not have my mariner actually DOING the crossword?!"


I NEVER go this far with sketches or pre-painting. Usually opting to work things out on the canvas instead. However, there's something raw and bold about this little piece that's different than the final image, so I'm glad I did.


Then here it is in its completed state, albeit I skipped showing a few steps in terms of canvas prepping, collage application and underpainting. Perhaps another post. If you look closely, you can make out various words misspelled and crammed into the tiny crossword boxes.
"BEWARE THE WHALE THAT DOES CROSSWORDS"
OIL AND MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
18"x36"

CHARLATAN BALL #1 IN PREVIEWS

Typically speaking, when I purchase my monthly comic book ordering catalogue PREVIEWS, it's to see what books I WON'T be buying three months from now! hahaha But this time I was very excited to see Image had done a bang-up job on our CHARLATAN BALL #1 ad. Pretty cool, huh? They even put us smack dab on the first page of the Image Comics section!

If you want to check out some pages with lettering on them, check out this
NEWSARAMA article from a week or so ago!





Here is the Diamond Previews order info for anyone who is interested in pre-ordering...
April Previews Catalogue:
PAGE 148
SPOT APR08 2158 CHARLATAN BALL #1 SRP: $2.99

CHARLATAN BALL ISSUE #2 COVER: "Staring at the Wall"

I may be jumping the gun a bit in displaying these images from issue #2's cover; you know, seeing as how #1 has a week or two to go before it's in solicitation. But I thought it would be fun to show and document the process Joe, Marc, Ben and Myself undertake with getting something like this out. Well, my process, anyway. I'd want to ask the abovementioned gentleman before I spill any of their proverbial beans.

Way back before there was even a plot for issue #1, I would amass piles of drawings, sketches and full-on marker renderings of our hero Chuck, his rabbit Caesar, their antagonist Demon Empty--and ideas for whatever other types of characters and creatures the colorful world we were creating could contain. Below was one such idea. I suppose in my own inner mind's dialogue I had cast Demon Empty introducing Chuck to various body-less convicts incarcerated and cemented into a Kirby-esque wall(s), complete with spit valves and drains for their drool (my touch).


Okay, so now that issue #2 has not only been plotted, but completed and scanned, it was time for its cover. The heads in the walls(s) had now officially taken on a different type of narrative purpose--in the type of mind-spinning way only JOE CASEY can deliver (you'll have to wait until the book comes out!). I did this sketch over Christmas, actually.


Having to explain the logistical perspectives of these massive heads-coming out of walls-creatures to my father in law, then further criticisms added from Joe, showed me the better way to showcase these gaping mouthed decaps. In fact, Joe has been the king of pushing me further and further out of my comfort zone. To think outside the box, truly--"hey, instead of making that guys cape on fire, you should make it MADE out of fire!", that sort of thing.


More encouraging from Joe to push the perspective further (see wall on left side)...



That being said, I'll be the first to point out my short-comings in the fine-art of perspective. What possessed me to use circle template guides with complete disregard for any vanishing point could be attributed possibly to the tantrum I throw any time I try and impose said vanishing point on my image.


After my buddy Ben Kalina scans my ink drawing, he adjusts the levels to find the right B+W values--then sends it to Marc Letzmann, who then does a beautiful job coloring--and after he delivers that splendid piece of finely honed hues and harmonious palette, Joe and I insist he CRANKS UP the saturation to the point it screams off the screen--and then, after he asks "why is the cover yelling at me?!" our cover is completed!


Extra credit for those of you that can spot the Don Rickles and Rick Ocasek in drag heads.

"...AND THIS TIME WITH FEELING, ER, UM--TITLE!"

For the whole, partial story, check out THIS Newsarama site
More bits, bites, tidbits and pieces as they start rolling out.

"NO ONE HAS A CRUSH ON PETER"

Amazing.