New Watercolour - Air Cottage

A cloud gazing gnome atop his air cottage drifts over the fields of Gwelf.  The sail is used primarily for navigation as speed is not a factor with this mode of transportation.  There is no destination, only the journey.  On winter nights when witch activity picks up he tends to settle into thickets and hide on the land. In the spring and summer it is an endless floating daydream - so envious.

Thanks again for stopping by.

More soon.

New Watercolour - The Exorcist

A favourite topic of conversation in the pubs around Gwelf is the legendary and elusive exorcist, Nanny Furlong.  Here we see here on Cabbage Street in the suburb of Inverary standing in front of the site of a recent cleansing.  The offending poltergeist captured and trapped within her traveling case.  Her recent notoriety has caused her to use evasion spells and even those that know where she lives get lost and confused.

Just a quick reminder -  I will be heading to Burbank California in a few days for the CTNX animation convention, so if you are in the area please stop by and say hello.  November 20 - 22.

More soon.

Gwelf Travel Update - The Teasel Leaf Tavern

It has been a while since I have had a chance to visit Gwelf, distracted as I was by lesser responsibilities, but I have been able to find a bit of time on this blustery autumn weekend and so we shall proceed.

This time we are going to take a look at The Teasel Leaf Tavern.  It is a little off the beaten path, situated as it is out near the wild and woolly northern boundary.  However it has become a favourite destination for a small but loyal band of adventuring pear brandy enthusiasts.  A hearty group of characters undeterred by fear or distance.

As we all know October is the end of walking season in Gwelf due to the increased witch activity that comes with the colder weather. And yet every year, at about this time, there are those willing to take this risky excursion from the more civilized areas of Gwelf and arrive at the Teasel just as a new keg of brandy is tapped for the season.  For the true aficionados, a little danger only increases the pleasure of a new vintage.  What could be more thrilling than to sit snug and warm inside the tavern, sipping pear brandy as the sun goes down with the potential threat of a witch incursion at any moment?  This is what these sturdy yet discerning adventurers live for.

The nocturnal divide between October and November is widely considered to be the unofficial start of the witching season in Gwelf. And yet there are always a few over zealous covens wanting to get a head start on the proceedings and may begin their felonious activities even sooner.  This makes travel to the outer boundaries treacherous and inadvisable after the 15th.  One would hate to be kidnapped or vandalized just before Christmas.

As the year advances and autumn dissolves into winter, witch activity increases and becomes more dangerous. By February the residents of Gwelf will be hibernating in their little homes, candles lit, shutters closed, patiently waiting for spring.

One ray of sunlight in this dim story is the emergence of a new coven in the area seeking to balance the dark with the light.  The String Weavers are a small local coven of benevolent yet secretive witches who cast a healing influence over the neighbourhood of the Teasel and attempt to mitigate the shadow of the infernal winter covens.  This is not easy of course but they are committed and determined, thus making your chances of achieving a snifter of pear brandy on the outer reaches of Gwelf just a little bit better before the cold winds of November make it impossible.

As usual this travel update is simply a reminder to take care and be safe when trekking in Gwelf. Take nothing for granted and watch for the signs.  Good luck.

More soon.

Reading The Dead

New watercolour and gouache painting - Reading the Dead.  A woodland nymph meditates in the presence of a troll skull.

More soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Wise Raven

New Watercolour.

The Wise Raven or Raven Witch is seen here in her natural habitat, the woods and fields around her home.

Pixie

A new watercolour in my ongoing series of woodland nudes and the pencil rough from which it sprang.

More soon.

Northern Wood Sprite

New painting.  This is mostly watercolour with some gouache to finish it off.

It looks like I will be going to CTN this year, so if you are in the LA area in November, please stop by.

New Watercolour - Sprite in the Open

Another one from the Nymphs and Pixies series that I have been working on lately.

Thanks again for stopping by.   More soon.

New Watercolour - Chai Pixie

I'm on a bit of a painting binge right now and while I have the time I am going to continue to make pictures.  This is Chai Pixie.  Still busy - more soon and thanks again for stopping by.

Two New Watercolours

Two new watercolours - Dancing Nymph and The Last Days of Autumn.  I have also included a couple of preliminary pencil drawings.

In the first one a Woodland Nymph has climbed up onto a root tendril. She is dancing to celebrate the late but welcome arrival of spring.  I see her dance as being slow like Tai Chi or Yoga, but when you look away she will be gone.

This next one I am calling The Last Days of Autumn.  Once you get into October any warm day could be the last one, so I try to enjoy each and every one, not knowing when the last warm day will actually be.  Here a couple of Meadow Sprites are sunning themselves on a petrified troll skull.  Lazy Sprites.

Thanks again for stopping by.  More soon.

Garden Faerie

Fresh spring rains are falling and washing away the last of the persistent winter snow.  These feral little creatures can now be observed in your garden if you are sneaky and patient.  I should probably remind you that these little beings can be aggressive and if you try to catch one you may get scratched.  Be careful and be quiet.

More soon and thanks for stopping by.

Recent Sketchbook - Pencil and Watercolour

This is a bit of the doodling and designing I have been doing lately.  Netsuke Nymphs, Fauns, Pixies and Sprites.  I use the word Netsuke because it refers to miniature Japanese sculptures and that is essentially what I have in mind when I'm doodling out these little characters.  The next step of course is to get some modeling clay and sculpt one.

Thanks for stopping by.  More soon.

Garden Pixie

A little watercolour from last month.  The drawings you have seen before and the changes were made in order to improve the design.

I had originally drawn her with a flower but I felt a lot better about the drawing when I changed the flower to a sumac twig.  I like the long thin leaves of the sumac tree because I can put them where I need them to be to complete the design that feels right to me.

Thanks again for stopping by.  More soon.

Running Faun

A wee watercolour just for fun.

Airborne - Step by Step

Okay.

It all starts with a drawing.  When I begin I have only a vague idea of what I want and do my best to find it and get it down.  I am improvising as I go and curious to see where it will end up.  I am not thinking in colour when I am drawing but rather in misty monochromatic tones such as Arthur Rackham might have used - nondescript sepia and paynes grey.  The colour choices come later.

I now take this drawing and with the aid of a light box trace it onto, in this case, a sheet of 140lb cold pressed watercolour paper which I have taped to a piece of Masonite - watercolour palette close to hand and ready to go.  I have already begun to lay in a few tentative washes as a way of tip toeing into the picture.  Blue for sky and shadows and yellow for trees.

At this stage I am working in watercolour and just laying in the broad washes in order to get a general feel for the picture I want to make.  I am thinking the light will be coming from the right in a late afternoon warm sunset kind of atmosphere.  I am still being very careful - no bold or gutsy displays of artistic gusto.  Often when I get to this point in a picture I rather like it and think it looks fine just as it is and I should stop.  However I know I must soldier on.

I now have the picture more or less established in watercolour and it is time to switch to gouache which is a much more robust water media.  Both watercolour and gouache are from the Winsor Newton brand and are colour matched perfectly.  Now that I have a reasonably good idea of where I want to go, gouache is going to get me there faster.  I am not yet utilizing the opaque potential of the gouache, that will come later, at the end of the process.  For now I am just putting unmixed colour on the board.

This is where I commit to the painting and continue to add gouache and really get the picture established.  The colour scheme is presenting itself.  The feeling now is that the train has left the station and it is up to me to not run it into the ditch.

Here is where I start to use the gouache in it's opaque form and begin over painting the way you might if you were using oil or acrylic - light colour over dark.  We do this by mixing white into whichever colour you want to make opaque and lay one over another.  In this way I can bring things forward and have them stand out or push them back and let them recede into the background.

The final stage is one I really enjoy.  The painting is mostly finished and I now can go in and refine details and clean up edges.  This is where gouache really shines because I can make all the little corrections and adjustments that finish off an image.  I also like to get in there with colour pencils and make little scratch marks and blur any areas that seem to tight or dark.  I may yet go back in and fiddle with it some more, but for now I think this one is finished.

While I was working on this picture I had the "My Neighbour Totoro"  art book out and occasionally leafed through it for inspiration.  I did not want my picture to look like that movie but I was hoping to tap into a bit of that spirit.

I will be more than happy to field any questions you might have.

Thanks for stopping by.  More soon.

The Owl Hotel

This is an old watercolour from my ill fated first attempt at mailing art out to kid's book publishers. I just found it in a drawer of old art and decided to re-scan it. I still like it - my first tree house.

More soon.

Nana and Goliath

He came down out of the hills in full armour. He stomped through her garden, wrecked her front door, ruined her table cloth and even broke her favourite window. When he finally woke up he wandered off and never came back.

Thanks for stopping by.

More soon.