Guess who's back....

After a long summer filled with getting my daughters ready for college, lots and lots of live events, various computer problems and a major family issue I'm hopefully back to posting more regularly. Hopefully. Here are a few examples of this I did in between all the craziness.Let me know what you think.

When an original dies

  I'm taking a break from my artwork this time to talk about a true masterpiece. My wife's grandmother passed away on Feb.14th only months form her 100th birthday. I know that the standard response when hearing of someone living that long is "they lived a good long life". Well she lived a life few will ever duplicate. Unfortunately for me I only got to know her after my marriage, her family had the privilege of having a one-of-a-kind original to inspire them their entire life.She did more after turning 60 then most of us will do in a lifetime. She founded a group called Haven after her husband's death to help others deal with grief, today that group helps thousands in their time of need. At 65 she received her degree in fine arts, she became  master weaver and showcased her work all over the world.. For her 80th birthday she decided she had to see the world from a hot air balloon, she went on an archaeological dig, and only her doctors request stopped her from white water rafting. As a child she was called a prodigy and traveled by train to NYC to play piano on the radio. She raised three amazing children, looked after seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. And had more zest for life than any person I've ever met.
  I have had the amazing good fortune to meet Presidential candidates, Academy Award winners, Hall of Famers, Heavyweight Champions, and Grammy award winners. They all pale in comparison to her.
  Today the world is just a little less illuminated because one of it's brightest lights is missing.I will miss her smile, her laugh, her ability to make me feel like anything I said was interesting and important. I am better because I met her, I only hope I can continue on with the same love of life...and chocolate she had.

Happy New Year and new start

Ok, new year, new start. One of my new resolutions is to post more, here, on the ISCA, Deviant Art, where ever I can get my work out there. For far too long I've kept so much of my stuff to myself. Call it fear of failure, fear of success whatever. This year I'm going to get off my butt and put myself out there. So here's a bunch of my latest stuff. I went back to Jason Seiler's book and studied his painting technique. It was very helpful. I will admit I through in some of my stuff as well and it seemed to work ok.

I just finished up the project for Malaria No More. I have to admit there were several times when I really thought I wasn't going to be able to complete it. I compare this project to running a marathon, and I definitely hit "the wall" at about number 18. There were ones that I loved , others I "completed" and a few that drove me crazy (er),but all in all I'm happy with the overall work I did for this one. 25 digital paintings in 16 days, not a pace I want to duplicate very often, but it tells me that I can if called upon I can do it. I'm including photos from the evnt in Hollywood where some of the celebs received their pictures.

Oh, What A Month !!!

I have one of those months that artists dream of. It started with a request to do paintings of Adrian Grenier 0f "Entourage" and Vincent D'Onofrio from "Law and Order" I didthe film festival that they attended, got to meet them (both really nice guys) and got autographed copies of my pieces. The highlight of my night was meeting Bill Plympton, one of the greatest cartoonists/animators/caricature artists and one of my heroes . He was AMAZING !!
Fast forward 1 week, I am contacted by a group called Malaria No More. They want me to do 25 paintings that will be given to various celebrities as thank-you gifts. The list includes John Mayer, Orlando Bloom, Ed Helms, Jeff Probst, Josh Groban, Elizabeth Banks and on and on.
Well I got the first 17 done in 5 days, 5 loooooooonnnnnggggg days. I have 8 more to go but I'm getting closer to the finish line. They had their dinner leat night in Hollywood and they presented some of the stars their pics and I now have the photos to prove it.
Like I said, what a month. I wonder if this is what Jason Seiler's life is like every month ??
Below are some of the pics including Adrian's and Vincents.
To check out the event photos go to :http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx?ipp=120&igi=459554&nbc1=17

Yes. I'm still alive

I know, I know, where have I been ? Well I'd love to come up with just one reason, but Life has been crazy. Between a series of delays with the book I illustrated to lots of various projects for clients, and more live events than I care to count , I have been more than little bit busy. But here are a few pieces I've been able to fit in between projects. I'm hoping to be much more active now that I have a little more time.

Ughhhhh. and all that good stuff

I know, I know, where the hell have I been ? I have spent the better part of the last few months working on artwork for a family style cookbook. The project is really fun and the artwork is great, but the lay-out end of it is really time consuming and took much longer then I expected But here are some of the other things I was able sneak in as well. I hope people haven't given up on me, I've been trying to follow other forums, a HUGE source of inspiration as well as motivation. Hopefully the cookbook will be out for Dec. and I can let you all get a peek.