Filling in the Blanks

When I'm working on an oil painting, it's very much a stop and go process for me. I work as much as possible on it while it's wet and get in all the shapes and forms I like and then I wait for it to dry to start the process all over. Some people are able to sit and do it all in one sitting but that's not how I work. So I end up with a lot of space in between sittings that needs to be filled. Now some of it is filled by reading, sometimes the much less productive watching of television, and then sometimes I feel the need to keep working on something art related. I've touched on this before. Recently after I did the ink wash of the Susan B. Harris Chapel for New Year's, I have been trying to explore more of this method. First I did one of the cowboys from the Fort Worth Stockyards.



And I enjoyed it so much I followed it up with one of my parent's big bull, Woody. I really enjoyed this one as he was standing in a stomped down patch of hay.



I am really enjoying working on this. It's very different from the method I use in oils. I don't get to just slam down patches of paint and form them as I go. I actually have to think ahead on this and use a MUCH more tentative approach. I start with light grays and build up on them more and more. A lot more contemplative than the "let's work out a little aggression" methodology of oil paints. And it helps me work out the specifics of composition I want on actual larger pieces. It is definitely a better way to spend breaks than watching television.

Ringing In The New Year!

According to some old superstitions, what you do on New Year's day is what you will be doing all year long. I don't know where this idea came from (I tried to find it online but no luck) but I kind of like that thought. So I decided I was going to be finishing a piece of art on New Year's Day. And unlike so many of my brilliant ideas, this one actually worked! I got done with an ink wash of my alma mater's chapel. Okay, so it's not a 36"x48" oil painting but hey, I got it done! And it's just a quick study to prep me for a painting of the chapel to be done in the next few days.



So in the next few days keep an eye open for an oil painting of our favorite little chapel in the mountains.

Commission Work

I've done a few commissions lately and I'm feeling the need to expand that feeling of working regularly. (Okay, and getting money for my work doesn't feel too bad either.) Here is my most recent endeavor...



A friend at work wanted to give a unique gift to a friend for her birthday. He had seen my pen and ink work on facebook and asked if I could do a portrait of his friend's dog. I said sure I'll give it a try. I had never really done anything like that but I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a shot. Here's the result...



I think it worked out pretty well and it was fun to do, as well! That's always a good feeling. So, if you want to commission me for paintings or pen and inks of, well, whatever, give me a shout. It's fun trying stuff outside of the comfort zone.

One Mermaid Down...

...and NO more to go! (For now anyways.) I have finished the mermaid! Praise be to the muses who all but abandoned me for the last two months. This little underwater nymph has been KILLING me with the details. "Should I put in more fish? Should I change the color of her top? WHAT COLOR SHOULD HER HAIR BE?" That last one was KILLING me for the last month. I have changed it numerous times, the largest change being a deep dark brown to a more blondish brown (which I did to more match the birthday girl for whom this painting is intended). But none of them worked! Finally today, I got Lady Paintmonkey to put her movie on pause, and come give me her advice. She was a little hesitant to tell me what she really thought but she finally managed to get out that she liked it better darker and with red in it. Literally ten minutes later I got this:



It worked! It was perfect. Yes, it looks more like Disney's version but I don't care. That's what my niece likes anyways! I don't know why it wasn't more obvious to me. She's 4. She doesn't care what sort of artistic variation I put on the thing. Her uncle painted her a mermaid. Ta Daaaaa! Sometimes I make things much more difficult than they have to be. And I'm only a month late with it, so I've got THAT going for me...

Old West Style

As promised here is another set from Lady Paintmonkey. These were taken on a trip to Fort Worth last year. She's tinkered with them a bit, but the end result is much neater than the reality. The reality was, at the Fort Worth Stockyards they have daily "cattle drives". These are done for the tourists (re: us) and are kind of fun but judging by the looks on the cowboys and livestock alike, there are many things they would rather be doing than entertaining the likes of us. But it's interesting in that there are cowboys and big dumb cows on the streets of Fort Worth.

Lady Paintmonkey took a ton of pictures and has been fiddling with our actual perception of the reality and formed in these images what they SHOULD be. The looks of boredom and simmering resentment towards anything in shorts and sandals pointing a camera at them magically become the looks of rugged tiredness and exhaustion from being weeks on the cattle trail. Cattle who are probably just lazy show animals become range hardened beasts who only stay put because they are worn out from hundreds of miles of eating dust on their way to the market.

Without further adieu, the next series...









I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

At Long Last: Lady Paintmonkey!

As promised, I am going to put up some of the works of the talented Lady Paintmonkey. I know these are from a series she's been working on of flowers. Some of them I recognize, most of them I don't. But without further adieu, here they are:

I know I recognize this one from Texas...



From here on out though, I don't know when she took them.









Aren't they great? Remember you can order copies from us! Just send us a message here or on facebook and one of these beautiful images can be yours!

2010 Goals and More Pen & Ink Goodness

Our main goal at Paintmonkey Studios lately is trying to prepare for doing some art festivals in 2010. This takes a lot of work and preparation, both of which I am terrible at. Thankfully, the smarter half of Paintmonkey Studios is amazingly organized and really good at that sort of thing. But it is still a lot of work for both of us as we attempt to take this new step into the realm of traveling art show. A tent, display materials, and how to actually take money are just a few of the start up problems we are facing and that's not even getting into when we are to get our art done and ready to sell.

However, we have decided we are going to do it a little differently (don't we always?). We are going to do art festivals as well as some local rodeos. Our work seems to fit into that arena a little better than most art festivals and we just like going to them anyways. However, we don't feel like the average rodeo fan goes to the arena thinking they are going to purchase a higher end-costing piece of art. So we decided we will fill that gap by making prints and cards to sell as well. I have already posted on here before some of the pen and inks I am thinking of making into cards but I have been working diligently on making some more.

Here are some of the new ones:

This one came from an old picture I took at a rodeo in Athens, Ga. a long time ago. I promise you, I could not find anything that looked like a left arm in the picture. I did not realize that until I had started the drawing, but I liked the composition so much, I just left it as is.



I just felt like I needed to break up all of the bullriders I've got going in this series.



Another bullrider. I liked the dynamics of this one.



These guys were at the Fort Worth Stockyards doing demonstrations. I took artistic license and cut out any building skyline from the original.



And one more bullrider just for good measure.



So for right now that's our plan. Hopefully in the next few days I can get some samples of Lady Paintmonkey's photos up that she is planning on selling. (They're AWESOME! Don't tell her I told you.)