BOUNDLESS BAZAAR: art while u wait!

I worked both Saturday and Sunday at the bazaar, shilling my wares but mostly enjoying the fine beach-like weather and people-watching.  At some point on Saturday I had a gentleman tell me "If this [photo mat] had a VW bus on it, it'd be sold."  Coincidentally, I just so happen to have a sketch of a VW bus. . . which (on Sunday) I added to two blank photo mats right there at the bazaar:

On the Road (Shenandoah Valley).  Sold the same day, WOOT!

A blurry On the Road (Southwest)

I'll repost with better shots later--totally running on adrenaline at this point (note the dry, rambling writing, it's a dead give-away).  I also had three requests for a beach themed version.  I smell a series . . .

AND I fielded a few other requests for/was inspired to create image themes such as apples, puppies, drive-in movie, and cupcakes.  And later: more Winchester themes, Patsy Cline, and German themed images.  It was a banner day for my right brain.

But wait, there's more!

Several weeks ago I had taken a casual request for a cartoon-style snail illustration in the same manner as my Charley and Kittens mats.  The illustration has been drafted and ready to roll for a couple of weeks, but my brain has refused to cooperate when it came to applying the image to the mat board; it just didn't want to do it, and instead kept wanting to do this over-the-top eye-popping color with flowers . . . which is how Garden Buffet came about.  Now that that image is out of my system, this morning (Sunday) I went back to the original snail cartoon and inked that tout de suite.  Sold the same day!

I'll work all these up into official templates and redo the mats, take official photos, etc., and repost each with it's own official blog thing.  Officially.  Until then, however, it's Miller Time with my jammies and sock monkey slippers. . .

ABSTRACT PAINTINGS

You know how sometimes you scribble in the margins and see pictures in the scribble?  This is sort of like that, but with paint.

Acrylic and Ink on 8x8" canvas.

SUNDOWN 2014: PEOPLE SKILLS (sketches)

You would think being an artist who can render still life images with near-photographic quality AND has a degree in biology would have absolutely, beyond any shadow of a doubt, NO problem drawing the human body.  Let me just tell you now that is totally not true.

It's like a furuncle in my gluteus maximus.  Every.  Single.  Time.

The running joke is that I "need to work on my people skills."

So, I worked on my people skills for approximately 10 hours at the first annual Sundown Festival, and here are a few of the results.

And here are two of the folks I drew that actually held still long enough for me to also snap photos:

And these are the good ones . . . so frustrating to know these were equal parts talent (natural) and skill (studied, educated).  I want to be able to nail it every time. . . which means more practice needed!  Not there yet.  Still working on it.  

Fortunately, I've got 10 hours of photos to work with now!