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The World is Old

The World is Old , 40"x 20", oil on paper on masonite, 2015. This is a new painting in my "Creationist Series".  Back in October, I had started painting this piece; it was almost finished but then I had to paint Winter cards and another playing card.  I finally picked this piece back up at the end of December in order to finish it by the deadline of the Spectrum and Art Renewal Center annual submissions. This piece is depicting a Bible study group, blindfolded, as a group of Dreadnoughtus "shadows" pass by.  The Dreadnoughtus was recently discovered down in southern Argentina, and was declared the largest sauropod ever discovered.  This immediately ignited my imagination.  I had wanted to do a large piece for my series, and showing a herd of these creatures and showing the scale of them in relation to the creationist group seemed like a perfect opportunity.  I wanted to show the group of Dreadnoughtus passing by the people in varying degrees of op...

Greenseer's Raven and IBA Vol.3

Greenseer's Raven , 12"x 10", oil on paper on masonite, 2014. ©Fantasy Flight Games When it rains, it pours.  I have always found this statement to be strangely true.  I may go a long time between jobs, but once I get a new commission a couple others will follow.  And like yesterday, when I have news to tell (like a blog post that was well overdue) a couple other tidbits came to my knowledge within an hour or so. Firstly, a card commission I have been waiting patiently to show for the past year, has finally been released!  It's called "Greenseer's Raven", and it is part of the "Secrets and Schemes" deck of the A Game of Thrones LCG from Fantasy Flight Games.  I was very excited to get this commission last year; firelight and animals are always fun to paint.  There isn't much of a story behind this one though, I found reference of a raven, and just improvised from there.  I tried to work in as many diagonals with the tree branches a...

The Nisse's Gift

The Nisse's Gift , 17"x11", oil on paper on masonite, 2014. Hello Again, I should have posted this a while ago, seeing as it was my Holiday card this year, and I've had the digital file for some time now.  Sarah and I do a Non-Denominational Winter card every year, and for the past couple years a Nisse has been part of the image.  A Nisse is a little gnome-like creature that is prominent in all Scandinavian cultures in one form or another.  They can also be called Tomte or Tomtenisse.  My family was from Denmark, so to us they are Nisse.  Every household has their own unique Nisse.  They are known to care for the animals of the house and fix various things the family may have overlooked (very courteous these creatures are, right?).  But if they are not given a hot bowl of porridge every year on Christmas Eve (when they are setting the presents under the tree) they will play tricks on the family for the next year.  And even if the famil...

Leaf-Wrapped Lembas

Hello Again, So this time I will be showing the process of painting the latest card of mine that has been released.  The new Lord of the Rings LCG expansion pack from Fantasy Flight Games, "The Road Darkens", has become available, which has my "Leaf-Wrapped Lembas" card. When I received the assignment, around this time last year, I was immediately excited.  I had been wanting a good excuse to do a highly detailed bread still-life, in the tradition of 18th c. Spanish painters like Luis Meléndez.  I then researched what Tolkien was intending his Lembas bread to be similar to; it turns out he was thinking of Bannock bread.  Luckily enough, I told my wife about this, and she instantly whips out her obsession: Yvette van Boven 's Cookbook, Homemade Winter .  She has a great recipe for Bannock bread.  So we quickly fried the bread that night; fried, because it is cooked on a pan over the burners.  It looked great, I was quite happy with the outcome o...

The Magic Trick

I painted this piece for Levi Stack back in December.  It's the cover for Mr. Stack's newest young adult novel, the second book in the Card Game series, The Magic Trick.  The novel has just become available digitally.  I'm not sure whether it will be released on paperback like the first book.  I hope it is, because as much as the image looks great on a screen, I love seeing my work printed.  Here is the original painting, and also the version with the type laid over it.  I'm very happy with the outcome and think this cover is better than the first. The Magic Trick , 13.25"x20", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2013. Buy the Book on Kindle Here

Ashemark Councilor

Ashemark Councilor , 13"x10", Oil on Paper on Masonite, 2013. ©Fantasy Flight Games. Last year, I painted this piece for the A Game of Thrones LCG from Fantasy Flight Games.  It was released within one of the newer decks, "Prize of the North."  This guy is a character completely made up for the game, Ashemark gets barely a mention in the novel.  This character is supposed to be a lordling with allegiance towards the Lannisters, hence the lion banners on either side of the archway.  I'm happy with how the piece came out, but I have no real personal story to tell along with it, so I thought I'd just show a couple process images along with this painting.  This was my main reference picture.  No too much to say, I did many poses with this "staff", and this one seem to have a good diagonal positioning.  The art director also put in the description that it should look as if the character is hindering someone from entering the archway, this seem...

Gen Con Indy 2014 and Margaretville, NY

Magaretville, NY , Oil, 7.75"x12", 2014. Back in June, we were upstate, in the Catskills for a long weekend.  While I was busy relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery, I took some time out to paint this landscape.  It took about 3 hours.  In my opinion, there is nothing as pure as painting en plein air.  One becomes completely zen with the surroundings and painting becomes less about depicting a particular scene or composition and becomes more about the feeling or nature of the scene.  It's hard to explain, and can sound extremely corny, when describing the feeling that comes with painting en plein air.  I am constantly moving the brush, painting things that happened 30-45 minutes ago, changing things on the fly, building up paint as it dries.  It's totally different from how I normally paint.  Very freeing, very rejuvenating. Also I will, again, have a booth in the Art Show area at Gen Con Indianapolis this year.  It's a wond...