How to skin a Dragon

  So here we are so far after quite a few hours of work.  Old cut up bed sheets soaked in glue and applied to the body and wings, and our dragon is starting to take shape.  Super Sculpty was used to make the eyeballs.  One dragon head is wrapped.. Tomorrow I will post the dragon complete with cloth mache wrap.  (this part can really get tedious)

  Things are going to speed up a bit now, as I have just found out I am bound for the mainland next week, and this guy needs to be done......he's got a party to go to.

The Ringmaster

This is "Kirby" 16 x 20. He is kind of the ringmaster clown. I really liked the way that my previous clown Checkers (see previous post) turned out, using the same yellows for the clown and the background, so my goal was to achieve the same harmony with reds. This piece is also painted exclusively with a large synthetic bright for a brush (I call it my shovel) which I used to scoop up BIG brush loads of paint. I wanted to keep this clown a bit looser and spontaneous......just work fast with lots of paint.....and POW! ......there it is.

What I am not

I have discovered that I really don't care to paint outside(so much for plein air). Here in Hawaii, it is always windy and the vog covers the sun by noon for the rest of the day. No shadows, no highlights, just monotone. So I tried a floral........and another, and another. Some 80 or so florals later, I actually feel I have something a little new and different to offer, instead of the multitude of tourist Hawaiianna that perpetuates Hawaii art. We shall see. j

Closer to Home

We have these really nice Dipladenias growing up the side of our fence. They were illuminated in the morning sun, so I thought they might make a nice subject. Pink is a really hard color to get right!! So after about 40 minutes of work, I let the piece dry and brought it inside to adjust the pinks.........now thery're better. Nothing spectacular, but this is kind of a cheerful piece.

Can I do it?

I wanted to try one more piece at the harbor before I left. I had a limited time to work, as I had to pick up my wife in approximatley 1 hour. I knew this was a complicated subject to try in such a short period of time, but I wanted to push myself into harder things to see what I can do and to help me advance as a painter. Here is the results..............I liked it better the next day after my frustration wore off. :)