Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Welcome To The Jungle

I've been painting. This 'Jungle' painting below was created with open acrylics, which allow a certain amount of blending. I wanted to create an image that you could relax with, to just let your eyes wander...which you won't experience until you click to see the full picture.


Here's a detail of the little man in the center. He's about the size of a nickel.


I also, finally, tried painting from a live model. This was a 1.5 hr pose. My goal was to get comfortable painting very fast, and to not get overly tedious with the paint or blending.

This little study isn't perfect, but there are some portions that I am really pleased with. Painting from a model was a lot of fun, so there will be much more in the future. Click the pic to look closer.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Muralizer -The Reckoning

Another season, another mural. The brewers at Lagunitas (yum,) teamed up with Big Star and Publican to brew The Zephyr, a new summer beer that launches today. The owners used The Violet Hour's ever-changing mural wall, directly across from Big Star, to celebrate the new brew with Zephyr inspired art.

The eminent tattoo artist Hannah Aitchison created a lovely black and white illustration for the project, which I was in charge of translating into a mural. I wanted to stay as faithful to her image and drawing style as possible, so I focused on designing around the central image (which didn't have the decorative border at that point,) in a way that enhances and compliments it, rather than competes for attention. A simple, graphic, summer-time interpretation of the Zephyr rail line (the beer's namesake,) was the theme.

After a lot of chalk, sweat, grid work, paint splots, and worried glances at looming storm clouds, the mural came out exactly as I'd hoped and the neighborhood seem to enjoy it.

Enjoy the images by clicking to enlarge, and take a swig of a Zephyr to toast summer's arrival.