Native American Cheif

I forget his name, as soon as I can track it down - I will use that for the title. Anyways, I finished this one last night for my Mom. This one was a fun challenge because I was able to use copper leaf for the first time. It's hard to tell in the photo, but every other square is copper with turquoise peaking through.

In Progress

I'm painting this guy for my Mom. It's not only mother's day, but her birthday this month. I'm excited to get to the next steps on him, which include turquoise paint & copper leaf!

Cowboy Gus

For Christmas this year, I painted Gus for my Dad. Gus was a favorite of his when I was a child. Played by Robert Duvall, he was the central(and most likable character) in the "Lonesome Dove" movie series.

Carla Number Two

Here is a second portrait I've done of my dear friend Carla. I've been using some amazing photos of her, and I have been enjoying working with some new mediums. Hopefully I'll get started on the third and final of Carla after the new year begins. I have some special projects to work on before then.

New Direction

I have taken a little bit of a new direction in my paintings as of late. I'm using charcoal and pastel rather than graphite. I'm also using less acrylic, and exploring more oil based and metallic paints. I've also decided to incorporate the dozens of line drawings I've collected, and create more organic backgrounds to the portraits.

So, here is my latest piece. The photo quality is terrible (I took it in a hurry with my phone). I'll get a better version up soon. It's titled "Departure".

Barack

Here is the finished piece. I ended up adding a little bit more a few weeks ago, so here is an updated picture.

Obama Contest (unfinished)

A good friend alerted me of this neat contest running through to the Democratic National Convention. So, over a few hours sunday night I began this. Unfortunately since I didn't read the deadline correctly, I missed the cut-off at noon yesterday. But the good news is that I'm still going to finish him this week, and if anything at least I got some new work done.

"Hold Your Hand"

I finished this guy rather quick on Sunday. It was so nice out this weekend it was hard to stay in & focus, so I brought him outdoors with me. The best part, I got on quite the kick and started two more after him!

(again sorry for the crappy quality. It's about time to get a new digicam.)

"Witness"

Number three of eight. I'm trying to complete these within small amounts of time, such as an afternoon. I see these more as practice work than anything else - especially since using charcoal on the wood was rather unfamiliar territory. I still think I need to sand the wood down more.

Just a bit More

I added some finishing touches to these two. I'm happy I did. The picture quality is rather poor though, sorry!

For Holly

Finished this one on Sunday, it was a quickie. The random title is inspired by the song I had in my head the entire time. This is #2 of 8.

Geisha Lips

When I read "Memoirs of a Geisha" many years ago I completely fell in love with the culture. I threw myself into the history of it, checking out endless books at the library, and even purchasing documentaries from A&E. I still have a deep admiration for those women, and their lifestyle. They are a beautiful art. This was done with many many layers of colored pencil.



Subject: Geisha
Medium: Colored Pencil

The Ladies II

Just a couple more from my series of women. There are more that went along with this theme, but are in color, or such a different medium that I'm going to upload them separately. The portrait of Lauryn Hill did not scan in very well. It is taken from a slide because the original was stolen from me. I just don't like how fuzzy and blotched the scan is.



Subject: Fiona
Medium: Ink



Subject: Lauryn
Medium: Pencil



Subject: Sarah
Medium: White Pencil on Black