Painting the Secret World of Nature

Every now and again, I come across a book that I know will become an often used resource in helping to develop my artistic "chops." "Painting the Secret World of Nature" by John Agnew is just such a book.

Some of the painting subjects that are covered: Scales, Translucent Flesh, Bark, Stone, Fur, Feathers, Moss and Mold.

Agnew's explanations and examples hit upon some painting problems that I hadn't been able to solve to my satisfaction. Paint mixtures are even included in the descriptions. I see this book as a roadmap to helping me move forward on a number of subjects. Agnew's works are created using traditional mediums, but I can see the digital applications.

The book is only 125 pages, but it contains better information than some books twice the size. I'm looking forward to incorporating some of the techniques from this book into my own paintings.

These are some quick water droplets that I painted after a browsing a section of the book.

Hovering in the Clouds

Still struggling to find time for art. I did manage to take advantage of Circuit City's going out of business sale to buy a decent monitor. I did this painting to help calibrate it. I'll check it on some other computers to see how well the custom calibration went.

The length of the wings is a little off. This was supposed to be a quickie, so I wasn't checking as closely as I should have been. Instead of a quickie, I noodled it for way longer than I meant to.

Texture-y Sketch

Its been a while since my last post. As I mentioned before, things got really hectic all of a sudden. Then, I caught some kinda bug, which slowed me down even more. I'm feeling better and my schedule is settling down again, so I've been able to get back to my art.

Which brings me to the posted image. It was completed in one sitting. The textures were all created with custom brushes. It was good to get something started and finished.

Vote!

I've been insanely busy over the last week or so and didn't have much opportunity to paint or post.

I don't get too political with my art, but I thought that I'd put this reminder for those who are eligible to participate in the US presidential election on November 4th.