KEEPING IT IN MIND.........

I posted this image over on my Facebook page, but as I did it, it made me stop and think a bit about the image, how it came to be, AND the fact that this is a memory picture.

I was driving home one day when I passed this old guy on a scooter and the image stuck in my head, his positioning, the body posture clothing, and so on. The cigars in his pocket, the beer in the milk crate on the back all of this came into mind when I sat down to do this drawing this morning ( 9-5-2009 ).

There is something to be learned here...................drawing from memory. Pulling things from your head and lifes experience is a valuable thing. We cannot always find an exact reference photo of something, cannot always take the photo ourselves, and on occaision we have to make stuff up, and having a visual memory of things is a valuable asset.

Next time your sitting around wondering what you should draw or looking for something to do............think about it and then draw something you remember. See what comes out.

A BIT OF WORK IN PRGRESS......

Just for fun I thought I would post a little bit of progressions on a piece I am working for a private commission, the shots take you fromthe intial rough, to a more "completed" rough to an in progress shot of the painting.

The concept was to do a painting based on St. George and the Dragon and use a portrait of a real person as St. George with a few symbolic things thrown in to personalize the image and

The sketch above is the original doodle based on the concept given to me by the clent, very rough indeed......

....here we have a tighter sketch with a few minor changes to the design ...............

..........and here is a small taste of how the image is coming along. The face s blacked out just because of the most remote possibility of the St. George individual some how finding this blog and seeing his portrait in the painting...............would not be cool since this is a surprise gift for them.

If I can ever remember to take the time to take the photos, I will eventually show my whole process on a painting from beginning to end.

FOOTLOOSE the musical

Rush County Players Presents: FOOTLOOSE tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Rushville Consolidated High School's Laughlin Center for Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for studetns K-12.

I have only seen parts of this one in rehearsal stages, but what I have seen tells me this is going to be a GOOD one. So, if you are in town or near the town or passing through the town or Rushville this weekend................go see the show!!

The logo is one of my little inks as well.................

THE BELL RINGERS DANCE

This started out as a doodle, and then became a rough for a painting I still intend to do, but in the process somewhere along the way I felt like doing it in pencil as well. Althought the painting will be similar............it will be done slightly different and more like the original doodle. Once the painting is done I will post the doodle as well.

14 X 17 on Bristol

$120.00

Drow VS Mindflayer

Done for the Art Order cover challenge.

14 X 18 oils on Tracy-nite, if you are interested in purchasing this image please feel free to contact me. Would love to see it get a nice home.

R.I.P Ellie Frazetta

25 years ago I was a young college student who was slightly bored, and sort of depressed with certain situations, so on a whim I called information and got a phone number. After dialing I got to speak with Ellie Frazetta, of course I asked for Frank but that didn't happen. It was much to my fortune tho, that I did speak with her. It changed some of my views and kept me persuing my dream of drawing and painting.

In speaking with her I felt connected and over the past 25 years I have called and spoken with her, been to the museum, even got to meet Frank a couple of times and spend some time in his studio with him. As much of a thrill as the experiences with Frank were, I think the quiet times that I did get to spend talking with Ellie are my favourite memories.

I remember one trip to the musuem where while my wife Dana wandered about looking at the paintings, I sat on the patio overlooking the lake with Ellie just talking, we covered a lot of topics in that conversation, love, life, happiness, even talked a bit of art and Frank, but just sat a talked like 2 friends. Now I cannot claim that she and I were friends, since we had only met a few times, breifly spoken on the phone on occaision quite infrequently, but that is what it felt like to me, and that is what I will always remember and cherrish about the memories of a dream come true, the unexpected connection I felt with her the first time I spoke with her as a young kid from Georgia who made a phone call hoping to speak with his idol, and got something more. Meeting Frank was a dream come true, feeling close and sharing personal and intimate moments of conversation with Ellie was beyond a dream come true.

All our thoughts and prayers are with the Frazettas at this time of sorrow and loss. I know where I will meet her again and look forward to the day that I do. God bless you Ellie and see you again.

Tracy

Thunderfoot Part II

Ok, just for fun here are some of the thoughts I went thru in creating the Thunderfoot dragon.


The first sketch is the basic idea and position I had for the image, a note to myself on his feet to help add to the concept. As I was sketching and coming up with all of this, I was making some mental notes as well, those didn't make it to the sketchbook, but were used in the image none the less.

After the initial concept, I continued to dwell on the subject and honestly to some degree obsessed over it, making notes and refining sketches and the concept..........

At one point I took the time to work out the bone structure for his wing and shoulder mechanics...........I am actually still playing with this structure, just because I am not satisfied with the anatomy and I feel I can do better..........

.....the image as I posted it .....................

...............and the whole thing put together with text and completed.