Sundance, and Halloween creations

September and October kept me busy on the portrait of Sundance. Here you can see the painting's actual size as I work on it. My easel now sits on the other side of the drawing table, and the wall behind now boasts a signed print of Aly Fell's Medusa. (I've so got to get that framed...).

For those of you interested in such things, my pallet in the foreground is actually a photograph frame that I purchased because of the glass, which makes clean up so much easier.

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October also saw the inception of my "Mask" series, which was born out of a doodle at work. Thus far all of the images are digital, but I have plans on doing oil on paper versions of all of them, and I am seriously considering ways to go about make a real mask from the first painting. Mask II did not progress to my satisfaction and awaits a revisit before it's completed.

Mask I

Mask III

Mask IV

That's all for now. Looking forward to November!

Joan of Arc

Blogger seems to be having challenges at the moment, so forgive the larger than usual image post.


I was browsing Pixdaus the other day and stumbled across this stunning photo of a statue of Joan of Arc and I immediately fell in love with it, so I did a study. Now I want to see the real statue, which I understand resides at Notre Dame. 


Pencil on paper.


~S

Dragon Teapot work in progress.

While I'm waiting for another canvas to dry for an upcoming commission piece, I decided to start work on a still life to keep me occupied.

I took some shots the other day out on my deck, and after going through them, I've decided on this one. I use photos a lot because with my schedule, I don't often have time to work from life - especially since I prefer natural lighting over artificial for my work.

So, here I've begun sketching the painting out on a gessoed sheet of Strathmore Windpower Vellum - a paper that I've found to work very well with oils.

Bad shot of the final drawing.

Here, I've put down the base coat.

And here it is after a couple of hours.
Still have a long way to go yet, but I'm happy with the start.

Back!

Somehow, almost a year has gone by since my last posting. Just a little scary how life can sweep you along like that!

Well, with a redesigned site, a more focused selection of artwork, and with a couple of commissions on the calendar, I'm back. Check out the "Available Works" Section and the "Illustration" section as I think you'll find some fun stuff there you may enjoy.

More to come.
I won't take a year this time :P

All the best,
~Shane

Well, it was a Herculean effort, but I finally updated the illustration section. With everything in there (33 pieces as of this posting(!)), that's still not everything I have done. At present, it is the single largest section of my site.
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Other news - those of you who have responded to my request for a model - thank you! Your willingness to volunteer is appreciated beyond words. The photos I now have to work are fantastic!
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Also, for those of you who enjoy the sci-fi fantasy/horror stuff (Halloween *is* coming!), here's an illustration that I did for Conceptart.org's Character of the Week activity: