Chaos Monster

One of the interesting things about Chaos creatures is that they don't have to follow evolutionary or even practical rules. They do not have to have body symmetry nor do they need to adapt to any specific ecosystem, since every one of them is different and has no kinship or population or species to uphold. They appear, they reproduce somehow, and then continue on in their solitary ways, living out another kind of evolution as the playthings of Chaotic entities. 

Black ink and white-out on sketchbook page, 4" x 2 1/2", August 31, 2013.

Enchanted City

"Enchanted City" was one of a series I created for conventions. In those pre-millennial years I could make a modest amount of money doing small sketchy pictures on colored paper, such as "Galaxy Goddess" a couple of posts ago, and selling them at conventions. I don't know whether this is still possible, and I haven't tried it in a long while.

This architectural fantasy was borrowed from a Northern European street scene, probably in Germany. There is an enchanted pink Volkswagen in the foreground. I may have been inspired by the newly published "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" but maybe not as I might not have read it yet when I did the picture. Can't remember back that far sometime.

"Enchanted City" is mixed media (ink, pencil, paint) on blue paper, 7" x 10", April 1997.

Maryland Late Summer

I was making sketching journeys well before I started going to wineries. This sketch was done (as my caption says) from photo and from memory, during a trip through Pennsylvania and Maryland in the summer of 2006. I can attest that the landscape in Maryland at this time of late summer has not changed and looks just like this picture. I would spend a lot more time on sketching journeys if I could. But I was better off financially in 2006 and my job allowed more leave time, and my family situation was more stable. Nowadays I'm glad to have Saturdays at the vineyards. 

Colored pencil on sketchbook page, 7" x 4", August 19, 2006. This drawing is in the same sketchbook as my winery drawings.

The Chasm of Nihrain

Here's some very vintage art of mine that is not a wine vintage but fantasy art. It's based on a scene from Michael Moorcock's "Elric" series in which the albino exiled sorceror king rides with stone Titans down a mountain chasm into their rock-cut city. The warlike Titans drive yellow chariots and live by firelight. I became a fan of the Elric stories when I was in Europe in 1976. 

This picture was done while I was a graduate student, just back from Europe. I did the art on a little table in a dorm room instead of my studies. I am amazed at how much good art I did back then with so little space and time to do it. Or perhaps I did have more time as I didn't have a day job the way I do now. Graduate school was wasted on me anyway. 

"The Chasm of Nihrain" is ink and watercolor on sketchbook paper, 10" x 14", September 1976. Click on the image for a larger view.

Galaxy Goddess

I did a series of fantasy female nudes for conventions. Fantasy female nudes, if they are done well, always sell. The series was done on colored paper with opaque media, a technique which goes well with many artists, including some of my friends. The colored paper also makes it easier to model a figure with highlights and shadows, rather than having to paint the whole figure up from an empty white space. 

This one is kind of a cosmic water nymph transported into the starry sky, where she caresses galactic arms and drifts in a sea of nebulae. 

"Galaxy Goddess" is acrylic gouache and colored pencil on blue paper, 10" x 7", winter 1994. Some touch-up on the face in Photoshop to make it clearer.

Cave Ridge Vines

Here's another image from Cave Ridge Vineyard. The brown line drawing was done by hand, and scanned in. Then I added the color "painting" with Photoshop. The colors which seem so bright are as true to life as my memory can make them. I had a photograph of the scene but I didn't use it much as a reference because it was taken when the scene was in the shadow of a passing cloud. Memory will bring me sunlit summer and fruitful vines. The image is authentic enough because I was there on site during at least part of the production. Some artists actually bring their laptops and Photoshop to the scene they want to depict, but it's a cumbersome process. Even the iPad has a major "drawback" in that its screen is highly reflective and on a bright day you can't see what you are drawing on it. So since I have a good memory for colors and forms and scenes, I'm working with this hybrid technique, as long as it has grapevines in it.

Pitt brown technical pen and Photoshop, about 7 1/2" x 5", August 24-26, 2013.

Cave Ridge

After a very nice couple of days with friends in central-western Virginia, I returned home while including a visit to a winery, of course. Cave Ridge Vineyard is hidden away on Shenandoah Valley slopes, in a rural area of extreme beauty. The grapes are almost ready to pick now. I sampled a good number of wines and especially liked their reds. Cave Ridge is too far away for me to make a day trip visit as I do with the Northern Virginia wineries, so I will have to go there on my longer excursions. This drawing depicts one of their wine patios. 

Pitt brown technical pen on sketchbook page, 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", August 24, 2013.