Stepping Stones underpainting

I've got it all drawn out and the underpainting in (burnt sienna and ultramarine blue). All that's left is to paint her! In case you're wondering, that large circle to the right of her is a plant I've made up that is kind of like fan coral, but I didn't bother to paint all the holes in.

Sisters of the Light

Ta da!

You may notice it looks a little different from my value study. My apologies. Over the next night, I got up, looked at the study- and hated the composition. So I redid it without informing you. But don't you like this so much better? Ok Tor, hire me!

Next up, the girl on the stepping stones that I showed some color studies of here. So you can look forward to the progress of that!

"Sisters" sneak peek

In case you can't wait until Monday...

Stepping Stones

Dear readers, never fear: Sisters of the Light is on it's way and is nearly finished for your viewing pleasure. We've had a little down time due to the holiday, but we're back in full swing now. Since we're so close to completion, it's necessary to step away and forget about it a little bit to see all of the flaws I might not have noticed with my face pressed up to it for so long. You can expect it finished next week.

In the meantime, here are two color and composition studies for a new piece, more young reader themed, still with a fantasy twist. Imagine a nature loving girl with super duper long hair, and there's this lily trotter type bird that leads her down a secret path in the woods to this more magical, phosphorescent, bio-luminescent section of the woods. But I think the lily trotter has dubious meanings behind why he's leading the girl... maybe she'll be trapped there, or there will be a lot of dangerous creatures to encounter, or maybe the bird needs her to get something it can't reach on it's own and the bird actually shouldn't have the thing.... I dunno! Those are the stories I make up in my head to stay inspired. I've decided I'm going with the top version, the bottom version I was still feeling out a lot of rough ideas in my head. So stay tuned for results on this piece too!

One last tidbit: I didn't have a reflective surface for my water when I was taking photo reference, and I thought and thought about what I could use. I finally remembered that in one of my first aid kits I had one of those silver, plastic heat blankets! So I just unfolded it and voila! Instant reflective surface that unfolds to about a 3 by 4 foot area, and folds back up into a 2" by 4" square. I have since moved the blanket from my first aid kit to the art supplies!

New Painting- Sisters of the Light

Here's a peek at a value study I've been working on.

When I was younger, I was a huge fan of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, and my favorite has always been the second book called Stone of Tears. In that particular book, our hero and newly budding wizard Richard is taken away from his love to a place called the Palace of Prophets to help him learn how to use his magic- or he will die from it. He is taken away by these women called the Sisters of the Light, and although we learn they are in fact some of the good guys, in this book they are initially presented as a powerful force with mysterious pasts and even more mysterious ways. Their judgement is sometimes clouded by a strong belief in prophecy, and there are certainly religious overtones with their belief in the Creator and the Light. Anyway. I loved those books, and I decided to get inspired by revisiting them and doing a piece related to the three sisters that travel to find Richard. Besides, it gives me an excuse to paint pretty girls and horses. What could be wrong with that?

Critique Day!

Done! Unless in a couple days I see something that I have to change. Also, as most always, I want to get a better reproduction of it. I'm telling ya, I really need to start considering a better camera/ finally get that big 'ol scanner I need.

Color in flesh tones

Another peak at the painting coming along. The blues tints were just the icing on the cake for me! I love it and it adds so much to the overall color scheme. The blue is the blue of the sky seen "off canvas". Let me just say though, one can go overboard with the blue "foreign" color. Enter Skeeter from the tv show Doug:


Trust me, it's much more subdued and attractive now. I just was painting away, "la la la, I'm so happy I thought to do this blue" and then all of the sudden I stopped and... "Honk honk! Hey Doug!" And I thought I'd share this temporary failure in my mission to make a great piece. He looks much more like the guy sleeping now. Shouldn't be long until the whole thing is done, and I've already got ideas for the next piece!