Newest book finally done

I finally finished the illustrations for my latest book, sorry for not posting for a while, I have been up to eyeballs with this project, short deadline, 15 paintings, mix in classes twice a week and you have a very busy schedule. I ended up doing two paintings a week for the book and fitting in the odd projects that came as well, I always say I do my best work when I am swamped and under tons of pressure and I am happy to say that the paintings turned out well, I still think if I had more time that I would make a few changes here and there, maybe work on the color or complete the environments a bit more, I guess that part of being an illustrator never goes away. I suppose that is a good thing to constantly want to make your work better but there comes a time when you have to say its done and send it off. Here is one of the paintings from the book, its the last scene, when the boys learn a hard lesson. I don't want to give up the story. The book comes out in the spring, its titled "One little match", I really had a great time working on it, great story, good characters…
anyway, hope you enjoy the painting.

Eagle Paintings

Quite a while ago I posted a painting of an eagle, I have committed to paint 4 paintings for nephews earning their eagle award from the BSA. Here are paintings 2 and 3, one more to go... the paintings are small, 9x12 so in this smallish format I wanted to have fun with the brushes and marks that describe the form of the bird and environments. The colors were fun to play with here and there, the more I study about color the more fun I have just trying new things and trying to make progress as a painter, still my color has much room for improvement but every once in a while I paint something that makes me smile, not because it is a great painting but because I learned something and feel myself growing. This year I am 52 years old, I have been working as an illustrator for nearly 25 years, some days I feel like I have arrived and some days I feel irrelevant. I wish this roller coaster of emotion would smooth out and not be so dramatic, I still need to feel relevant and I still need to provide for a family, so that means I need to work for many more years, maybe not as long of hours but work none the less. I guess this process is called life, we learn, grow, increase, do, rinse and repeat, everyday  until we die. Sounds good to me as long as there is fishing mixed in here and there.
Here are the paintings.

Friends of the Teton River Poster

Every year I make a poster for a local organization, Friends of the Teton River to help announce and advertise the annual river celebration, this is the 13th year of the event. I started creating the posters in 2004. I served on the board of directors for many years and care about what they do so the poster is the least I can do for them, plus it gives me an opportunity to paint something fun and use my rusty graphic design skills. Anyway here is this years poster. I had a great time painting and designing it.

New Brown trout

I can't seem to leave this stuff alone, I need to get back to work so this is the last fish for a while... anyway here is an updated version of the Brown Trout, like most artists, we are constantly trying to improve so after looking at the previous brown trout sketch I decided to redo it.

Brook Trout

Here is one more to complete the set. My Son said that the fish looked depressed so I repainted the head, this is the repainted version. I think he looks better.

Fish sketches

With spring break right around the corner and snow still falling here in Tetonia, I have an itch that must be scratched. We are planning a fishing trip on the Colorado river in the sun and warm red rock cliffs. Fish are on my mind, in between tying flies for the trip and getting gear ready, I can't help myself by not painting a few fish as well. I really like this quick sketchy process and how it looks, the spontaneity is something I crave but is hard to work into illustrations done for clients. I think I am going to print these to see how they might look on the wall of my studio.

Too much fun

Here is another sketch using same technique, this is so fun to work this way I can see doing a bunch of work for some of my clients. Just what I need, another hobby... oh yea this is my job...

Sketch of Brown Trout

For some reason today I find myself in the mood to sketch a little. I really like drawing and messing around with different techniques in photoshop, I came across some ps notes from days gone by and started fiddling with process, I made this sketch and started to paint a little, fast and furious. I like the look of this sketch, it was great fun to just do something for fun... kind of ironic. Maybe I will do a series of fish in this style, look for them soon.

How to shoot a quail flush

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to do an illustration showing how to shoot a covey of flushing  quail, having never hunted quail I was in  a bit of a quandary. The editor filled me in on all the details and what he wanted to see in the illustration. I went through the regular routine of sketching and composing what I thought would make a good painting. The result is here for you to see. I love this sort of project, It seems I don't get to paint too many hunting scenes these days and I miss them. The painting turned out, for the most part,  how I planned it,  there are always happy accidents that happen along the way that improve things, I call it "controlled spontaneity" the light is interesting, the color does its job and the characters look natural and like they belong in the painting. All in all I am pleased with the painting. I'm going to try to do more work like this, When I started out as an illustrator I did a lot of outdoor sporty sort of illustrations then sort of migrated away from them for other work. Now that I am older and a bit more selective I want to return from whence I came... at least I hope so.

Here is the painting.

Scribbles

The other day, my daughter ( who is getting married tomorrow by the way) asked if I could do some rough quick sketches of antique cars for a project she was working on, I was busy at the time but given her fragile condition ( the impending wedding) I decided I would do it for her. I don't draw cars very often but am always telling my students that subject matter doesn't matter so I dove in and drew some old cars, I had a great time, it was a nice break from the project I was working on at the time, I thought I would share them on the blog and hope to do more "scribbles" like them in the future, It is a bit liberating to just draw, no real parameters, not much expectation, just draw... very refreshing. Anyway, here are the scribbles. I think I might do this more ofter.

Eagle painting

Another eagle painting #2 in my series of 4. I started this painting a while ago and decided I really needed to finish it while I had the time. It's more of a study in color than a rendering of a bird, its always a challenge to try to keep the color interesting and relevant. I like how it turned out.

Another Raven painting

Here is another raven painting for a (hopefully) upcoming book, I haven't painted animals for a while and had forgotten how much I enjoyed it, I used to do a lot of wildlife art. This painting is based on a poem by David L. Harrison poet extraordinare... He is the author of Pirates and Cowboys the two books we worked on together. Hopefully Ravens/Crows or something of the like, will be our next book.

The Raven

This is a painting I did as a sample for a new project, I wasn't thrilled at first with the idea of doing a book about Crows/Ravens but after this painting I can't wait to draw and paint more of them. I wanted to do a creepy Raven ( because I think they are creepy) and I wanted the bird in a creepy place, It was great fun to work out the drawing of the bird adjusting it's gesture to capture the attitude and beak position that  I wanted. I like the colors and purposely kept them dark and monochromatic, I really like the touches of red here and there. It not often I get to do samples and so I tried to have fun with this one. Anyway, hope you like it and I get to do a whole book of Ravens...
here's hoping,

Dan

Happy New Year

I just wanted to say Happy New Year to all that follow me, It's been a tough year but we are still kicking and have survived for the time being, I have my health and my family and the good thinks I enjoy, can't complain. I am really looking forward to some incredible projects this year and hopefully I will make some significant paintings. I will you all the same.
Happy 2013, may you recieve all you deserve.