Lost in trees... mostly..

Loose idea that stared as a Tree coming out of some rocks,

but instead, sorta became a woman at the last minute ..

it's layered, the creaminess of oily pastels.  some wet in wet..

..a little acrylic, some gouache, which i usually don't use much of for some reason.  You'd think i'd use gouache more... being so partial to watercolors as i am. 

kinda quiet last week..

i mean, i'm working like a maniac as usual. i just mean not much editor or freelancer contact, as lots of people flying back from NY comic con on Monday and probably fried on Tues. which is fine, can be left to myself.

not sure where this is going..  ( i know, what's up with the spots? no idea. )

this one has a sorta melancholily to it, but maybe that's just me.

 ..not sure this is coming out how i envisioned, but that's a losing battle. Trying to control what happens on a blank page.

i mean, how can now can we take credit it for what is often 90 percent accidental? Including spots?

...so that's about it for this one.. leave well enough alone.

Yes, i admit, i AM always trying to aim for  *something* when i paint something,

but it's too.... harsh to hate what comes out... just because it's not what i envisioned. not anymore.

sorta like hating your children, isn't it?

every piece we do it somewhat our 'kids' aren't they?

Some a little wonky, and other's surprise us.

doesn't mean we have to love everything we do, does it?

sometimes it sings, sometimes it sobs.

sorry Chick.

...a couple more...

Just for fun..

this green tree was done on the back of a comic book board with waxed surface.

almost threw it out... but seemed a waste.

i was able to scratch some leaves into the wax with an exacto knife.

also across the tree trunk too.

you can see i 'slimmed' the trunk down too..

decided not to hide the blend, since i wanted a soft edge to the trunk..

this one's a little different..

i cut out another tall skinny strip of bristol.. 

this pics a little burry, but i left it in because the focus is the center. I wanted to blur the branches so i used a pen with non-waterproof  ink... 

i think i got lost in some detail along the way though.  

I was trying to avoid too much rendering..  

but the temptation to blue the top and olivia the bottom was too great. 

as we all know, with watercolor, you just close take a breath, tilt paper, and see what happy ( or unhappy) accidents happen... 

anyone else notice how a different proportion causes you to think, and draw different specially? Not just drawing a vertical tree...

...  but being hemmed in with a certain proportion? 

almost like how a photographer crops and composes an image, isn't it? 

well at least this Tall Tree... feels slightly different than the Green Tree, (which is the usual cliche Tree usually fall into painting.)  This tree fells like a lush soggy Autumn to me, which i can feel and smell in the air right now. 

Plus if any of you got sick of looking a side-ways Judge Dredd, now at least...you have something *else* to stare at when you check this page, eh? 

: ) 

Until the next one... 

Last of the Four...

Okay, here we go..

Jumping from Dredd back to a few smaller watercolors...

this orange splotch... i've just decided...

will be a tree.

but i'll set aside the watercolor to dry... meanwhile start inking this Dredd commission. It actually went pretty slowly..

i had fun trying something i haven't drawn in ages though.

any guy with a big jaw seems up my alley.

Jumping to another watercolor, these are tiny ones, 3 by 4 paper.

this one came out so fast

i forgot to take photos the process..

back to a little more on the Judge again... I wanna stay loser on the lower body, but keep his head and shoulder and upper body in focus with some detail. 

is shoulder will look a tighter than this. 

by blur... i mean more like... abstract vertical lines. 

meanwhile here's how the tree turned out.. 

always one for something child-like 

or silly. 

perfect balance to those dark angst-ridden super heros, eh? 

here's a taller piece of bristol i did one of my 1900s gibson portraits on

just a breath of fresh air.. 

you know, i used to think i prefer paintings of pastoral subject matter to darker things, but that's not true. I seem to enjoy both sides.. 

so it's obvious i skipped lunch and succumbed to junk to finish Dredd. : ) 

  

here's another shot of it.. yellower lighting makes him look transparent. 

bigger still. 

And here's it is. Hopefully the guy who bought it won't feel cheated i got a little abstract on the feet. It actually took just as log to paint it this way rather than a fully realistic version. 

You never know how it will turn out when you sit down to paint something, do you? 

So there it is folks. Four in a row. 

Now this time i PROMISE i won't wait two weeks before another post.. 

- Sam