Painting of Fear

7" x 11", Acrylic on watercolor paper

White Pencil/Black Paper Drawing

Sketch, sketch, sketch...Sketch......and sketch, ske....

Here ya go Patch,

How did I create my Halloween painting? Well, this painting wasn't easy. I mean as far as drawing and painting goes, it wasn't any harder than usual. It was the idea, the concept and the design that was difficult. When I began to come up with ideas, they were either just horror themed ideas that did not pertain to the holiday or they were cliche concepts I had seen numerous times before. I did not want to repeat image history.

So, I researched my reference files (as well as Google) to look for inspiration. After collecting over 20 or so images, I began to doodle a variety of different ideas. Ultimately, I thought it would be unique to take the photo of a sculpted boy and draw him on orange paper with green chalk. While it sounded like a good, creepy idea to put a clown costume on the boy and use the color palate of Halloween, it just lacked something...The Wow! factor.

So, back to sketching. Sometimes, illustrations only require one or two drawings. Not this illustration. The collection of drawings below is about half of what I did trying to work out this Halloween concept.

I love using tracing paper for these type of drawings. I am not ashamed to trace at all!

When I realized I was going to draw the entire body of the Trick r Treating boy. I purchased a pumpkin bucket ($1) at Goodwill, put on my puffy shirt, and my partner, Valerie, shot some photos of me --that's right! I own a puffy shirt. And so should you! Need reference of pirates, a prince, or halloween costume, well you need a puffy shirt.

Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to distort my sketch to achieve a more dramatic view of the Trick r Treating boy.

The final sketch, above, done on tracing paper with pencil.

Unfortunately, I have only one photo of the oil painting in progress. In my typical process, I began to paint the objects in the back ground first. I gave extra efforts to paint the heads in the back ground as well as I could in one sitting (8hrs) knowing I was probably not going to have time to go over them with a second, more refined coat of paint. To accelerated the drying process of the wet oil paint, I placed the painting inside of my car for a couple of hours during a hot, sunny day.

A friend of mine used to place her paintings in the oven on low. She once forgot about her painting in the oven and returned it, to discover a burned painting. Needless to say, she did not use her oven for drying paintings anymore.

HALLOWED HALLOWEEN SHOW

Mary's Nightmare Before Halloween

Oil on Board, 12" x 10"

Show Info:
This October 1st - 31st

Autumn Society of Illustration, Philadelphia Cartoonist Society and Proximity Gallery present:

HALLOWED HALLOWEEN

Opening Reception - October 1st, 2010
October 1st - October 31st

PROXIMITY Gallery
2434 East Dauphin Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
267.825.2949

Abstract Art

Two abstract artworks of mine just recently displayed in the

Philadelphia Sketch Club's Abstract Show.

Color pencils (Shades of Grays) on black paper

Oil on Board

I will draw for food

It's not unusual for me to vacation alone. It doesn't bother me one bit. In fact, I commonly become more social and speak with complete strangers. I will also find myself happy to be dining alone with a sketch book and pen and draw my surroundings as I wait for my meal. Don't misinterpret what I write, I love people and hanging out with friends and my loved one, but I am just as content being alone with my thoughts and some art supplies.Left: A local restaurant in West Chester, PA called Penn's Table. A stack of highchairs and a view outside.

Center: Drawn during my first visit to Madrid, Spain. I enjoyed my meal so much that I returned to eat for three more consecutive days. The food and service was so good that I didn't understand why I was the only customer there. I eventually found out they had only been open for three months.

Right: Drawn during a visit to Kansas City, MO. Wherever I visit I always try to find a good place for breakfast. I knew I couldn't go wrong with a restaurant named "Simply Breakfast."

Left: During a visit to Chicago, I fortunately discovered this great genuine diner that probably hasn't changed in decades. I got up so early that I had a lot of time to kill before the Art Museum opened. Therefore, I invested more time to create this drawing.

Right: Drawn on Madrid, Spain during my recent visit. I love the broken bread I had been snacking on as well as the salt and pepper tray drawn on the page. The taller bottles are for Olive Oil and Vinegar. The only salad dressing available in the majority of Spain.

Sketch Book Page