From the Prayer Room Week 2: Update

Made it!  Here's a scan of the page.  

So, I was debating between this idea and another for this week. The other could have been really beautiful or really creepy, but in the end it was a little too direct, in a "in your face", "here's the message" kinda way. Haven't tossed the idea out completely - maybe something for another week?  We'll see.

I felt like there was more narrative, more of a question about what was going on with this idea.  And it was underwater.  I have always wanted to do an underwater painting.  

From the Prayer Room Week 2

I'm running behind today, limited access to a scanner and photoshop due to house/dog sitting! But here's a photo of the page. Check back to see a scan later tonight or tomorrow!

From the Prayer Room: Burn Like the Stars

"Burn Like the Stars"
Watercolor,  8.75x9.5"

So here's the final.  I've got to figure out a way to photograph artwork instead of scanning it; all those shadows from the paper that are emphasized by the scanner are driving me nuts.

New Side Project: From the Prayer Room

So, I know I've been a little . . . absent . . . over the past four months.  Sorry.  I've been busy. Busy in ways that I don't have time or energy to go into detail about right now.  Soon, I promise.

Until then, I thought I'd talk a little about a new personal project I'm going to be working on.  Starting in January I've been a part of the prayer room my church started here in Houston.  Through this whole experience I've been learning more and more about prayer and worship and art . . .

Anyway,  all that's the subject of a later post.  Suffice to say, I'm wanting to find out what my role in this whole experience can look like and what art in worship looks like.  I'm working behind the scenes, and there's not much opportunity for me to enter into worship, but there's nothing that prevents me from taking the thoughts I have during the set and doing something with them later.  So, I've proposed this personal project to take those ideas and words and thoughts and turn them into a painting.  I'll start with phrases, verses, words and pictures that come to me during the set, I write them down in my sketchbook - what you see up there on the left hand page.  Those get turned into thumbnails and I take the one I like the best and do a 5x8 sketch on the righthand page.  I'll work on the sketch till I feel like it's done, post the final here on Tuesday.  Wednesday through Friday, I'll take the sketch edit it a bit in photoshop and print it out on watercolor paper.  Painting will be small, no bigger than 9x12, which I'll post (hopefully) by EOD Friday.   So yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just throwing things out there and seeing what happens!

Here's the first piece!

Also, I'll be at Spectrum Live in Kansas City this year . . . at a booth.  Yeah, so that happened.  More on that next time . . .

Sophiloupe

A distant cousin of the jackaloupe, the sophiloupe is an even more rare specimen of American mythological creatures. However, they are carnivorous and should not be approached without extreme caution. They can be won over with offerings of pencils - any kind will do, though they prefer 2B - and the occasional  kneaded eraser.  If caught they will grant three wishes, though the usual caveats apply. 

Ari's War: The Coming Storm

I've reached one of my deadlines for the first piece in Ari's War and I guess it's time to tell you more of what I am planning for this project.

I posted a rough outline of the story behind this project a while back.  The plan is to refine the story outline a bit and paint four illustrations from the story.  During the whole process of developing the illustrations (which I've already started), I hope to have a bunch of sketches and miscellaneous development work to collect into a sketchbook that I can sell on Etsy.  I'll also sell several different sized prints of the final artwork in the Etsy shop.

Meanwhile, I'll post every week here on the blog, as well as Facebook, Google+, and Tumblr.  I'll be share progress on the work as well as talk a little of  the inspiration behind everything. There may or may not be snapshots of progress on Instagram as well.  

I'll also be using the series as promo material to send to publishers (postcards, brochures, booklets, etc.).

The goal's to have all of the art and the sketchbook layer out by the beginning of April.  I want to take some of the promo pieces to Kansas City with me for Spectrum Live.

Some Truth for Today

A self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood.

Tchaikovsky