What a lovely face

Hello everyone! Lots of work and additional internet connection issues have kept me from posting for quite a while unfortunately. But now that i've sorted out the issues as well as finished up some of those projects, I can get some more stuff up here for you to see.

When I came to Egypt about 2 months ago I came packed with all of my essential painting materials. In fact it took up more space than most of my clothes. The one issue I have always had here however is painting medium. It is illegal to bring flammable materials such as Liquin on the plane at all. Past years I have experimented with many of the materials available in Cairo art stores, but have had little to no luck of finding a suitable substance that can give me what I am so accustomed to using with Liquin. So this year after much research I decided that I would order a small bottle of Walnut Alkyd Medium from the states. Since it is a nonflammable alternative to Liquin it can be legally shipped anywhere. Though I do not recommend this since it may well have turned out to be the most expensive 8 oz. bottle of walnut alkyd on the planet! but besides the huge taxes and crazy shipping fees, this stuff is really great. I am pleased to have found a suitable medium that I can travel with finally. 

So without furthur ado here's two small studies I did as tests of the alkyd before I went on to more important paintings. They also second as gifts for my good friends Chris and Michelle here who work in the bone magazine at our site and manage the burials. They always let me know when a good skull is out for taking photos. The paintings are of actual burials we have here, and yes, the first one does have hair like that.

A Sphinx Methinks

Here's another quick study (not of a skull this time!) in watercolor. This is a ram-headed sphinx from Karnak Temple in Luxor. I thought this was a nice change from the typical lady headed sphinxes we're all used to seeing.

Far away, but still here

So life is a bit slow and repetitive here in the sandy land of Egypt. You'd think there'd be more to paint here, but actually there's not really. Our house is about 2 hours south of Cairo and half a mile away from any civilization into the desert. Sooo there's the house we live in which you can see some studies of here and here, but otherwise it's desert. Flat empty desert. And not even the romantic rolling dune kind of desert either. So i've been intrigued by this skull. I wish I could bring it home with me, but seeing as it's about 24 inches long and weighing about 15 pounds i don't think it will fit in my luggage....not to mention customs! soo I paint on. 

Here's another quick study from the other day. More interesting things to come I promise!

Skulls, skulls, a wonderful thing

Here's a couple more quick watercolor sketches of the skull. I haven't used watercolors in quite some time. It's a nice change of pace while I wait for approval on some other projects.

From far off in the land of sand

Hello everyone! it's been a long time since i've been able to post anything since I am currently in Egypt for 10 weeks with my "day" job. I just wanted to pop in and post a quick sketch I did of this Gamoosa (water buffalo) skull we have lying around behind the house. More to come soon!

One Hundred!

We're celebrating our 100th post over on the group blog Running with Paintbrushes. Go check out what we've been up to! Here's a little sketch I did to celebrate (maybe a little too much!).

Elf Hunter Drawing

Whew! it's been way too long since i've last posted! Sorry! I've been really busy toiling away on some projects that I can't show right now. 

Here's a drawing I just did for a project i'm working on that I can show. I can't wait to get painting on this one!

Brohg

Here's my third illustration done for the Dark Sun Creature Catalogue. It was a fun challenge trying to figure out how to draw this four-armed guy and still have it make sense. 

Brohg

Kestrekel

Here's Installment #2 of my Dark Sun creatures. These little beasties were lots of fun to draw.

Kestrekel

GenCon and A Dark Sun

I just got back from a great weekend at GenCon in Indianapolis! It is one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world. This year was my first time attending, and I really enjoyed it. I met so many great artists and art directors out there. I definitely plan on getting a booth next year to join in all the art show fun! 

The other exciting thing about the weekend was that The Dark Sun Creature Catalogue was revealed much to my surprise. I created some spot illustrations for the book which is my first project for Wizards ever! These illustrations were done back in February, and while I still really love them (being my first real D&D gig and all), it's funny to look back at art you've done six months ago. There are so many things I think I would have done differently(and better) on them now in retrospect....I am my own harshest critic. I still loved creating them, and had a blast working with Mari at Wizards on this project! 

So without further ado! Here is the first image from the set: I will be posting these over the next few days.

Belgoi