The Nepalese Bride

Some of my co-workers at Trader Joe's are from Nepal. One of them is getting married soon and he asked me to do a portrait of his fiancee. All he could provide for me was a small blurry image on his mobile phone. He sent me the image and I recreated it here with, uh, imagination and improvements. I tried to render the details of her splendid sari without getting too literal. I don't think that's her wedding garb though. The pair will get married in a civil ceremony in the USA and then later, travel to Nepal for a traditional big Hindu family wedding.

I used to do a lot of these colored pencil portraits, often from life quickly as the subject was sitting at a convention. I now use lightfast non-fading colored pencils which are good for quick portraits. Original image is 9" x 12", March 29-30, 2013.

Amber characters

Amber again...This is an illustration of an event in Zelazny's SIGN OF THE UNICORN, the second book in the original Amber series. In this scene, Corwin, in the center wearing black, convenes a meeting of his royal brothers and sisters to find out whether one of them might have committed a murder. There are nine characters in the illustration and each one has a Tarot trump portrait which I had already depicted some years before this piece. I think someone suggested to me that this scene would make a good illustration, though it was not  a commission. It's got a lot of details so I have posted it here larger than I usually do with pictures. Click on the picture to see the different princes and princesses. From left to right, Gerard, Benedict, Random, Llewella (sitting with a book in the back), Corwin, Deirdre, Fiona (red-haired gal in green) Julian, and Flora. The hanging flags and tapestries reflect the heraldic symbols and colors of some of the characters. The portrait above the fireplace is that of the King of Amber, the characters' father.

Amber library scene is ink and acrylic watercolor on illustration board, 15" x 11",  summer 1982. Clikonthepic to see it larger.

City of Amber study

In the Zelazny series, the royal city of Amber was located on a mountain inside of which was the "Pattern," the magical blueprint of the original reality universe. The princes and princesses had to walk this pattern like a labyrinth to gain their universe-shifting powers. My original concept for the City of Amber was a European hill town with the castle and the cathedral at its summit. This was one of the studies I made of the city. After I did this one I decided that my concepts of the City were too "village-y" and not magnificent enough. Many years later I did my definitive concept of the City of  Amber on commission from some of my best patrons.

"Amber City" is ink and watercolor on illustration board, about 6" x 11", April 1981.

Abstract Sketch K11

I haven't done one of these in quite a while. This is in my "K" series of abstract digital studies. "K" is for Kandinsky, whose geometric and whimsical art inspired the series. Kandinsky combined High Modernism with playful color. I give it an alphanumeric title, the 11th "K" work, though if I were truly Modernist I'd just go with "Untitled," for all of them. The "K" series is meant to be experimental and not near any sort of finality. I can generate more Artist Statement blather for it if necessary.

I did this at the coffeehouse on the iPad, using the resources of ArtStudio. The designers give you "imprints" of pixels that you can decorate with. They also have "blender" tools and simulated "impasto" and 3-D effects. The app invites you to play with these things, without having to call the results "art." Yes, some of my artist friends would not call this "art" because it was made digitally. 

Let me say something here. This piece took 20 minutes to do on the iPad. If I were to duplicate it with acrylic, it would take 20 hours. Airbrush backgrounds, filling in shapes, adding more shapes and blurs with airbrush, and adding more accent colors in. Plus waiting for each layer to dry before I can go on to the next. How much time do I want to spend to bring this image and its series into existence? Do I want it to exist? 20 minutes or 20 hours; do the math.

ArtStudio app on iPad, March 27, 2013.

Brother Enemies of Amber

At one point in Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series, the hero, Corwin, has to fight his brothers for power in their royal family. In this scene, he's fighting Eric, one of his full brothers (same father and mother). Each sibling adopted an individual color scheme for their garb which makes it easy for the illustrator and viewer to identify them. Corwin's colors were black and silver, hence he is the one facing us. Eric's were red and black and you see him from the back. I don't remember whether anyone got killed in this swashbuckling saber match. I borrowed the scene and the character images from a still picture from a German horror movie of the time, "Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter." 

Ink and acrylic watercolor on illustration board, 8" x  10",  April 1981. 

Tysonia

"Tyson's Corner" sounds like a quaint little country crossroads, and once upon a time it was just that. But now in the 21st century Tyson's Corner has become an intensely built-up urban area of offices, residences, shopping centers, and two huge malls. It is also a showplace for bad architecture. This portrait of "Tysons Now" will be going up on the walls of my Trader Joe's, to contrast with the bucolic little crossroads of "Tysons Then." I have "collaged" and condensed the architecture so that all the memorably ugly buildings can be seen in one view. Many of these buildings have nicknames. Under the elevated roadway is the "Flashcube," a dark blue-glass cube. (Only people of a Certain Age can remember what "flashcubes" were.) To the left is the "Toilet Bowl" or "Toilet Head," with its big white "O" shape bordering a scooped-out area in the building's facade. And the brownish building to the right with the archways on top is the "Shopping Bag." I have also depicted the water tower and the communications tower which are at the top of the Tysons Corner hill. The "Shopping Bag" will have a round Trader Joe's logo superimposed on it, so that it looks like a TJ paper shopping bag. 

Acrylic and acrylic markers on Masonite board, 4 ft. x 3 ft., March 2013.

Dragon Bird

I drew this on the iPad during my work break. The coffeehouse was crowded and I felt pressured to draw in about 20 minutes or so. I didn't have any ideas so I just put a background down and started making shapes with my pixel pen tool. The feathery shapes resolved into a flying creature who is a cross between a predatory dragon and a Pileated woodpecker. Yes, "Art Studio" is in my opinion the best iPad art app I have ever used.

"Dragon Bird," done in "Art Studio" app on iPad, March 24, 2013.