ReWorks and New Work

So in between my regular job, moving half of my family to Florida, and building a new house where I’ll join them in Florida, I managed to rework some old character pieces that are no longer available into the goddesses that originally inspired my old versions. I had fun tweaking the Melinoe piece to shift it from torture to nightmares, and a new border incorporating the name of the goddess was added to each. I’m also about to debut a brand new work at JordanCon this weekend… no preview here, as I want it to be a surprise… a beautifully sinister surprise. It definitely reflects my inner Wednesday Addams. Until this weekend, enjoy these little visual treats:

MELINOE - GREEK GODDESS OF NIGHTMARES & MADNESS

LUNA - ROMAN GODDESS AND PERSONIFICATION OF THE MOON

AURORA - ROMAN GODDESS OF DAWN

JordanCon 10

So it's April, and that means JordanCon and Wheel of Time Mania!  This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the Con, so the Ravinia Hotel is in for a real treat from April 20-22... that's tomorrow folks!!  As usual, you can find me with art in the Art Show/ Dealer Hall area, located in Ravinia ABCD.  Although the beginning of 2018 threw me some twists and turns, I still plan to be there with plenty of WoT art... including many old friends and one new piece, teased after Mat! 

To help you find me, I'm including a map of the Art Show and Dealer Hall.  It's a new space for the Art Show, and Paul Bielaczyc and April Moore are scrambling to get everything set up... so there could be changes from this map, but as of now it looks like you'll find me to your immediate right as you enter the space.  I've also included the location of my friends at Taveren Tees, where you just might still be able to find the Queen's Blessing tee shirt I designed...fingers crossed!  Also a shout out to Aradani's location, because I know Paul is probably too busy loading to post!!

When I'm not at my table, you'll find me at the panel entitled There Will be Faeries... where I'll provide some male perspective on the subject of faerie art.  We have many great artists exhibiting and selling their art, including many friends of mine, so do treat yourself to a walk through and plan on being inspired and enthralled!!

JORDANCON 2017 TEASER

2017 is starting off to be a wild ride of a year, and my best laid plans for my paintings for the JordanCon 2017 ArtShow seem to have been constantly waylaid!  Like any family with a high school senior, we are trying to help Cole in his decision on where to attend College.  But for us, this is coming at a time when we are finally at a point of feeling the loss of Julie's income. It's the first time the family is solely reliant on my income, which makes me jittery.  And then on top of that,  probably ten people from my office have either left or been let go since the end of December, several being some of my best friends for the past 17 or more years.  The staff upheaval created an extremely stressful work environment, and many evenings when I should have gone home to paint, I just went straight to bed emotionally exhausted.  Work is only just beginning to get back to any sense of normalcy.  But our biggest scare came two weeks ago, when Julie went into the hospital for a freakish inflammation of her right ear that almost resulted in the lost of vision on that side.  She came home Monday, and amazingly the eye has gone down from the size of a half orange to normal.  And her double vision is almost entirely gone!  Thank you, God above!!  

Anyway, I'm finally getting back into a regular painting schedule, and I can say that all this has taught me that painting is truly therapeutic for me, and I could never completely give it up!  I'm never happiest than when I'm planning a new concept for a painting and trying to lay it out.  And I'm so glad that I'll still be able to offer at least one new large painting in the Art Show in April.

 I love the element of surprise, so I won't completely give away the whole painting.  However,  I Also don't want to leave my fans hanging, so here is a progress teaser in the form of before and after snippets!  

The painting was planned as part of a larger grouping, which I had hoped to complete by April.  However, it still stands on it's own, and it actually may be more fun for the grouping to unveil over time.  Some people may or may not want the whole grouping in any case, so I had always planned for each image to be complete in itself.   Personally, I'm really excited about this whole group, and really pleased with the progress of the first piece.  

Of course none of my pieces would be complete without one of my signature Edselonian borders combining Art Nouveau and Deco elements.  In this corner of the border I've included one of my favorite cultures in the entire Wheel of Time series.  The reference should be pretty clear to even the most casual Jordan fan, although this form is my own personal interpretation of his descriptions.  

The first image shows the original line work and some flat colors, and the second image shows the same area after painting in the three dimensional aspects.  Hopefully it gives an idea of how detailed the final piece will be, and evokes curiosity over the subject and it's final form!  Enjoy and speculate!!

I had also started a smaller character piece as a repaint idea.  If everything goes well with this primary piece, there is a small chance that I will still complete that piece as well.

See you all in April!!

Edsel

Note:  JordanCon is a fantasy literature convention focused on  series The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan.  The annual convention is held in Atlanta, Georgia and the JordanCon 9 convention is being held at the Atlanta Marriott at Perimeter Center April 21-23, 2017.  http://www.jordancon.org

This year's special guests are author Charles E. Gannon and fantasy illustrator Stephen Hickman.

Winding Down DragonCon, Cranking Up JordanCon

So September was the month I allowed myself to wind down from the DragonCon Art Show, reflect, and ponder ideas for JordanCon and other new art.  

Since I work a full time job as an Architectural Designer, the summer becomes a three month Charrette to complete whatever latest painting I've planned for the show.  This year, that meant three months of working on Cendrillon at least a little every evening.  Plus quickly throwing together more elegant business cards (which you can see above as the red square with my logo), printing/framing the art show pieces, purchasing grid wall this year.  As if that weren't enough, I had to load my exhibit in and out by myself since the kids were in school those days. Yeeesh!!

Talking to attendees and fraternizing with the other artists was energizing and enlightening... I learned a lot.  There were several big take aways in regards to what people respond to in my work.  I also got a great critique from guest artist Justin Gerard, which was very encouraging and motivating.  When I added Justin's thoughts to the attendees' comments,  I began reconsidering which subjects to move to the top of my to do list.  I'm realizing that color, design, pattern, architecture, and even symmetry are personal interests that others also tend to notice and enjoy in my work.  And I'm more than happy to throw myself into exploring those themes.

For a week after DragonCon, I would come home from work, eat, and fall asleep. But now I'm finally rested and all I can think about are the new painting ideas that I have to get out of my system.  I have three paintings planned for JordanCon... involving the three Taveren boys...which will take a lot of time this winter.  Then there are several literary and mythological ideas I feel compelled to create.  So it will be interesting to see how this constant barrage of images of wolves and hammers, ravens and spears, crowns and keys, queens and polar bears, goddesses and crescent moons, dragons and gothic towers, and damsels and executioners spin themselves from my brain and to paper... or Wacom board... through the winter and into next spring.  I'm gonna need a lot of coffee!