Mermaid: Blue Eyes #MerMay

Mermaid: Blue Eyes

Step by Step

To celebrate MerMay I'm putting up my step by step of my oil painting "Mermaid: Blue Eyes."

I'd done several small thumbnails of my idea of doing a portrait of a mermaid, using just her face, hands and hair in a square canvas, before doing the pencil directly onto the canvas board.

I first went over the pencil with a green line in oils

Did the face and skin tones, with greenish shadows

Starting the background

Putting the greens in the kelp

Giving more detail to the kelp fronds and her hair

Finishing the shell and sea life decorating her hair and a pet fish

Framed and sold! at IlluXcon 2014

Jody

Primavera

Primavera

I started this painting last year for IlluXcon 7 but wasn't able to finish it in time.  I started with a graphite drawing on watercolor paper and then sealed it with shellac.  I decided I would try to be fresh and experimental by doing the background first and loosely putting in leaves and greenery.  I added in flowers, birds and butterflies freely, without getting too tied down to realism or design.  It was interesting, a departure from my very planned out cover illustration work.

Jody

Small Paintings from Illuxcon Part 3

 Mermaid: Peridot

I decided to do another mermaid before I realized how popular mermaids had become with other fantasy artists.  They're everywhere now, and a frequent subject at IlluXcon.  I wondered what color of skin a mermaid would have before I started on the finish.  Would she have a color that camouflaged her from predators in the sea?  Or would Mer-people be the top fish in the ocean?  Maybe her skin is green simply because of the filtered light from above.   The original is 7.5" by 5.25", oils and graphite on shellacked acid free bristol board, mounted with archival boards and materials, and matted to size 11" x 14."

Happy Holidays,

Jody

Small Paintings from IlluXcon Part 2

The Stars in Her Hair

This small painting for IlluXcon was made from the fuzziest photo I may have ever used for reference.  I was at a convention in Iowa many, many years ago when I took several pictures of a very lovely young girl whose mother was shepherding me, as artist guest, about the con.  I saved those pictures for years and years and only in the last decade did I bring them out and make some drawings and paintings from them.  She had a clear, victorian kind of beauty and so inspired this tiny homage to Dante Gabriel Rosetti's "The Blessed Damozel."

• The blessed damozel leaned out
• From the gold bar of Heaven;
• Her eyes were deeper than the depth
• Of waters stilled at even;
• She had three lilies in her hand,
• And the stars in her hair were seven.

Needless to say she has more stars in her hair than seven, because that amount just didn't look right. The whole effect makes me think of the spirit of sleep and nighttime. Below are the other small paintings I did from this same model.  All 3 little paintings are sold now.

The Pearl Circlet

The Pearl Earring

Jody

Don't let the bedbugs bite

Small Paintings from IlluXcon Part 1

Cavalier Cat

Available as a print at my etsy shop

This started as a small drawing I did while waiting for my child to finish a sports practice.  It was just from a picture on my iPhone of our siberian cat Rumble Roar, nothing very deliberate or with much planning.   After 30+ years doing very meticulous art for book covers, its rather a relief to do little works that will be finished in days instead of weeks.  I expanded it to put him in a cavalier costume, for he is a very even tempered gentlemanly cat, and I have a nice large book of Van Dyck paintings for reference.   I then put a layer of shellac over the graphite to seal the paper and painted the finish in oils.  It's mounted and matted with acid-free papers.

Rumble Roar with his portrait, pre-paint

Matted and mounted for IlluXcon

I'm hoping to do more animals in costume.  That was a lot of fun, especially learning how to make that silk effect on his doublet.

Jody

Me, feeling a bit poked at this season.

Illuxcon 7

Illuxcon 7

Jeff Jones

Imaginative Realism is the new name for fantasy art.  That covers all the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror and gaming art that took realistic painting or sculpture in the direction of things only seen in the imagination.  In September I was lucky to attend Illuxcon7, the premier convention for Imaginative Realism, created by Patrick and Jeannie Wilshire.  The Allentown Museum of Art is inundated every September with artists, collectors, and students of the fantastic from all over the world.  Only non-digital work is allowed, so the galleries are filled with the most amazing work in traditional methods - oils, acrylics, watercolors, graphite, and the three dimensional work is beyond description, especially because I haven't the faintest idea what they are using to create their strange and lifelike beings.  There are also wonderful classes and discussions going on in the nearby Baum Education Center, and a stream of students getting their portfolios reviewed by professionals.

Allentown Museum of Art

Here are some of the artists I met and the work that I saw at Illuxcon7.

Stephen Hickman

John Jude Palencar

Bob Eggleton

Marianne Plumridge

Bob Eggleton & Marianne Plumridge

Richard Hescox

Ruth Sanderson

Annie Stegg

Travis Lewis

Justin Gerard

Rebecca Guay

My art display

Mermaid: Blue Eyes

I only have photos of a small part of the show, but more and larger views of the artists' work can be seen at:

http://www.illuxcon.com/#

Illuxcon is thoroughly inspiring for me.  I love seeing work this good, and find it gets the creative juices flowing in ways that just working alone does not.  It's a pleasure to meet the artists, the collectors, and the fans in an intimate and low key setting.  We all wander around talking and chatting and having a great time.  We also sell some art, which is always good too.

A close up of a painting by Jeff Jones, one of my favorite artists.  Very Whistler like treatment.  There was a special exhibition of Jones' work owned by Robert K. Weiner at Illuxcon.

My room mates Kat and Ingrid

Jody

a Studio by the Sea