Owen William Weber Illustration

A Winter's Dream , 17" x 11", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2015. Back in August, the 6th to be exact, Sarah and I welcomed our baby girl, Dagmar, into the world.  She is now turning 6 months old and I am just now getting around to posting the first blog post since the summer.  She's a lot of work, but not enough to excuse my laziness about this blog.  Anyways, for the past three years I have done a Nisse painting as my Winter card, but for some reason I just wasn't in the mood to come up with a new Nisse painting, and I just didn't feel like I had a great composition in mind this winter.  So I looked to my new muse.  I took a picture one morning of her sleeping, and worked in some creatures, new and old, real and surreal into the winter landscape around her.  I've always wondered what she dreams, I can't imagine her dreams look like this, but I thought it was a cool idea. Also, I have been doing a One Sketch A Day sketchbook since New Year's, so ...

Finally, wrapping this series up is, personally, my favorite direwolf, Ghost.  Ghost is the runt, sort of.  He's the odd man out.  He's albino, and a perfect companion to Jon Snow.  He makes Jon more terrifying to his opponents, and he makes Jon look like a leader to his brothers in Black.  Ghost is one of the only animals in "A Song of Ice and Fire," that moves the story along.  He finds dead bodies in the snow, he brings Jon to save Commander Mormont, and much more. Here I have tried to show Ghost at his most ghostly.  In a snowstorm north of the wall, his body blending in with the landscape, and all you can see is his deep red eyes. So here concludes this series, hope you have all enjoyed it.  I will put these images on my website soon and then put prints and originals on etsy .  

This year I am fully immersed in Danish culture. Sarah and I are talking a Danish language course at NYU, we are reading all about Danes in the Xenophobes guide to Denmark, and we are planning our trip to Denmark next year. So, it only naturally feels like our Yule holiday card should be based on a Danish Christmas folklore. The Nisse is a very small gnome-like character who tends to the farm when the farmers are asleep. But he is also very mischievous if you are not kind to him and he will upset your favorite animal or play tricks on you in the night. He is also know to bring the presents on Christmas Eve. In Denmark, this is a very lovable character and most people decorate their trees or houses with his likeness. The Nisse, 17" x 12", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2012.

Soon after I finished the Warhammer: Invasion pieces, I was asked to contribute to the Valar Dohaeris deck in the Game of Thrones LCG.  The AD asked me to do a character card of Shireen Baratheon.  She is the daughter of Stannis Baratheon and she has Greyscale on her cheek and neck.  The AD wanted an image of her looking up at a giant at The Wall, and he wanted it from the perspective of the giant. Final Sketch ©Fantasy Flight Games Final Painting ©Fantasy Flight Games I am pretty obsessed with the Song of Fire and Ice series, so this was a true honor for me.  This might be a fairly minor character, but just the idea that George R.R. Martin had to give the final OK on the image just makes me so happy.

FINALLY!  I know it took me a super long time to show a new piece.  That will change soon, I'm pretty sure the pieces I have been doing for Fantasy Flight Games will be released in the upcoming weeks and months.  But as for this piece, I started this piece as a Viking project for Running with Paintbrushes .  As I got going I was delightfully interrupted many times with new commissions and a need for designing my wedding invitations.  This is a small event that happens during Ragnarok, the Norse Armageddon, where Fenrir, a giant wolf, swallows Odin, the Norse Zeus, whole.  Don't worry, because later one of Odin's sons,   Víðarr, cuts Fenrir's belly open, freeing Odin. So this is my depiction of that event.  I am Danish, so I take my viking heritage very seriously.  I have 2 viking themed tattoos, and collect as much Scandinavian things as possible.  Next year my future wife and I are planning a trip to Denmark.  Can't wait.  ...