This summer is going to be THE BEST

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Well, I have some exciting news that I needed to share!  I'm going to be spending the summer completely focused on my Norse Mythology series.

Normally I teach during the summer as well, working for a sort of kids art day-camp that OCSA runs that lasts 8 weeks.  I've dreamed of being able to take the summer off from teaching and just work on my art.  That dream has come true thanks to a grant I was chosen for!  The school I teach at during the normal school year, Orange Co. School of the Arts, for the first time offered two creative enrichment grants for teachers.  I was so excited to be chosen and I'm using the money to live on (since I'm technically a part-time teacher I don't get paid during the summer) so I can just be in my studio all summer.

My grant proposal outlined this Norse Mythology series that I've been working on here and there for the past year or so -- as seen in some of my previous posts.  My goal is to complete 13 finished digital paintings for this series.  This will reinvigorate my portfolio, as well as providing works for a gallery exhibit of some kind, and maybe even merchandising usage (cards, calendar, etc?)

The above photo is from my little studio set-up at my place.  I have a make-shift light table that's my drawing surface.  I start from actual drawings that will then be scanned to create digital paintings in Photoshop using my Wacom Intuos 4 tablet.

As I get rolling I am starting with honing and in some cases reworking the images I had already had going.  Then on to some of the new images.  My deadline isn't actually until January, but of course I plan to do the bulk of the work during this free & clear work time over the summer.

I'm trying to surround myself with lots of helpful inspiration related to the project and am finding Pinterest boards to be super helpful.  I plan on spending some time watching and learning from some YouTubes of digital artists that I like demo-ing paintings.  I'd love to hear any one else's suggestions too.

Another view of England

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I enjoyed revisiting my England trip with that quick painting of those sheep grazing, so I'm following it up with another.

I took a bit longer on this one since it was more complicated, picking away at it here and there when I had some time.  It's 9x12 in. and done in acrylic.

This week I'm on spring break for OCSA where I teach art.  At the beginning of the week I was able to take a little trip up north to Solvang, CA.  Very pretty wine country type of place.  Got some wonderful photos up there that could turn into some artwork too perhaps.  It was wonderfully relaxing.

I think I'll be turning my attention back to the Norse mythology series I was working on earlier now though.  Solvang helped inspire me since it was originally a Danish settlement and has many nods to Danish Viking stuff.

memories of England

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"Grazing in Stratford-Upon-Avon"

Here's something a little different for me.  This is a painting a did the other day to donate for a fundraising auction.

The scene is from a photo I snapped when I visited England in the summer of 2011.  This shot was in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's hometown.

The painting is just 8 x 10" and done in acrylic.  Tried to keep it loose and not "noodle around" with it too much, as my CSUF plein-air painting instructor, Cliff Cramp, used to say :)

Sketching at the Huntington Library

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Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays getting rolling :)  I took a break from the developing craziness by visiting Huntington Library & Gardens in Pasadena today and doing some sketching amid the gorgeous setting.

I treated myself to a membership this year and have been keeping a small sketchbook set aside for whenever I go there.  The sculptures are what seem to pull my focus whenever I'm there...  of which there are so many beautiful ones.  Had fun with these today, and found myself keeping a nice, loose line :)

Frost Giant in the works...

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Here's another one I've got going for the Norse series.  I decided to switch away from the main god characters, and work on one of the "lower" tier characters: a Frost Giant, or "Jotun."

I'm using straightforward standing type poses for the main characters, but I'm breaking away from that for characters like this and various creatures that I'll do, I think.

I do want to continue with using Norse-style decorative shapes in the background though.  Haven't figured out how I'll work that in with this one yet...

In other news, my teaching starts up again next week.  I've had the last two weeks off and have enjoyed lots of inspiration time!  Got a few preliminary meetings to get things rolling this week, and then classes start next week.  I'll be teaching my usual Animal Drawing & Figure Drawing classes.

I can get pretty stressed at the beginning of the semester with my schedule shifting up, but I'll be doing my best to keep up this stuff :)

And now... Thor!

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So here is a long-time-coming follow up to the Freya piece that I posted a while back--which I have been painting on actually.  I had a tremendously busy summer.  My summer teaching schedule is actually more rigorous than the regular school year.  But now I've been able to actually get back to this Norse stuff I'm excited about.

I have a little grouping of thumbnail sketches for the different Norse characters that I'm going to do paintings of and I hope I can start to gain some momentum in rolling the designs out.  Here's the thumbnail that developed into the above finished Thor drawing:

I really like how my very manly Thor (I mean, come on, it's THOR!) came out, but it took a while to design the background shapes.  The two animals in the background are the billy goats that pull his special chariot.

Not sure which of the drawings I should work on next.  Perhaps Odin.  Or one of the creatures like Fenris the wolf...

Vikings on my mind

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Well, yes, I have been kind of getting excited about Norse mythology & Viking stuff lately.  Though this drawing could almost have evolved off of that last Celtic dragon & warrior little piece I posted previously :)

But it does seem that Viking culture is getting some attention these days: the new VIKINGS tv show on the History Channel, the Thor movie sequel coming out...  I've centered some illustrations on Norse mythology in the past, but it's been quite a while and I would like to tackle the genre again.  It will be interesting to contrast what I did back then with what I produce now.

I do plan to paint the above drawing digitally, but I thought I would show the drawing by itself first.  The figure is meant to be the goddess Freya.  She is seen as one of the preeminent goddesses and is associated with many things including love, beauty, gold, & war.  She is linked to the valkyrie warrior maidens, of whom she leads half of their number (Odin gets the other half).  I picture her here in her warrior capacity.

Here's an illustration from that Norse mythology series I did way back when (in graduate school).  I painted in oil over inked lines.

Anybody else appreciating Norse mythology these days?

P.S. I noticed that this makes my 100th blog post!  (congratulates self--feel free to join in :) )