B2 — Progress

I've been feeling full of energy lately. This is one of several value studies I worked out last evening for B2. Hope to get this ready to paint this weekend. Let the paint flow!

Stay tuned, folks.

B2 — Obama Portrait #2

I mentioned two posts ago that I'd be creating a number of Obama portraits since he's a subject I've been wanting to work on for years... and I'm happy to say that Portrait #2 is progressing smoothly! Above is my final sketch for this one.

I'm hoping to get this done soon, I'm putting off making wedding invitations to crank this out. Here's a photo of my wonderful fiancé just for fun.

B1

Happy Friday. As promised, I've got the first finished presidential portrait I mentioned a few weeks ago. As of now I'm planning on making a few more of these, so stay tuned.

-S.

Portrait Series: B-rock

I've been wanting to paint a tribute to our 44th president for quite awhile now, basically since he was elected the first time, but have been tied up with other projects. Hopefully those other projects will see the light of day soon, but in the mean time I've been doing some research and sketching. 

More to come soon.

Jerry Kalback

I found out this week that my illustration professor at Kent State is retiring after 30+ years of teaching. Jerry had an enormous influence on my painting style and inspired me to look beyond the contemporary crop of illustrators and artists into some of the great painters from the 70's and 80's (Bart Forbes, Bernie Fuchs, David Grove, Marshall Arisman, Alan Cober, etc.), and also to love the art that I make. A tip of the hat to one of the greatest teachers on earth, and I wish him a paint-filled and relaxing retirement. You can see some of Jerry's work here.

Shop smart, shop S.Mart

I'm pleased to announce that there are some new prints/paintings for sale in my shop, including giclée prints of this guy. As you can see above, each print is signed, numbered, and printed on high-quality watercolor paper.

Mobius Trio— Last Light

Mobius Trio is a group of contemporary classical guitar performers from San Francisco, who I had the pleasure of making a website for last year. This year they've been busy recording their first album (sounds awesome, btw) and I've been busy designing their first album.

Also on the chopping block was their old logo, which admittedly, I threw together in about 30 minutes in late 2010. The new one is a bit (read, A LOT) more refined both conceptually and visually and also plays into the visual direction of the album artwork.

Good news is, all of these projects are finally wrapped up!