Teacher let the monkeys out...almost

Just 2 exams to go, and I will have another semester under my belt. I opened a new gallery with a few digital paintings on my website. This gallery uses flash instead of HTML. It's a rough sketch gallery, but I like the possibilities. Maybe this education hasn't been a waste after all.

here's a direct link to the gallery

have a great week
peace
ken

friday the thirteenth

Friday the Thirteenth

What a weird day.
My ipod broke.
Work was stranger than usual.
A black cat crossed my path on the way home from school
(i think there was white on it's paws so it shouldn't count...right?)
and when I got home, the heater for my room was fried.

I'm not really superstitious, but...

hope everybody had good luck!!!

peace
ken

windy house on hill

digital painting.

you like???

peace
ken

photo of the artist

I was trying to describe a painting's size to a potential customer over email, and included a photograph. To illustrate the work's size in proximity to a human.

I usually like to be on the other side of the camera, but since it's not my worst photo, I thought I'd share with you all.

Sorry, guys, the painting sold. I do have prints if anyone needs one.

peace
ken

barns in snow

I know most people here in kentucky are sick of looking at snow, but here's one last picture before the spring season gets going.

Can you tell what medium I used?

peace
ken

boy with rooster updated

I am really starting to have fun with this new medium.

So if you decide halfway through your painting that you'd like to try a different color scheme...instead of starting the painting from scratch, you can do a little photoshop wizardry and go from there.

I'm not decided if I like the boy better in blue or not. I think he is really asleep, dreaming that he has a rooster for a friend. I don't know if the rooster is one legged or two yet either....

I'll keep you updated!

peace
ken

boy with rooster

Something I've been working on for a while now. A portrait with a farm animal.

This work was started from a rough pencil sketch. The rest was done in Photoshop. My goal is to make work with the latest technology, while maintaining the look, feel, style I have developed with traditional media.

I think the hands need some work.

Also, there is a halo between the body and background. This is a result of working the two parts of the painting separately. This painting is going to receive more colors. First, I will make it my screen saver and study it for a while.

new media??

I have been experimenting with a new way to draw/paint. The artwork is created through a touch sensitive screen on a computer with photoshop.

The three crocks in a corner window are a current work in process. The sketch was created on location. There are no photo references.

I started drawing using 3 tones:

• dark brown (shadows)
• sepia (midtones)
• light yellow (highlights)

Then I drew the aqua color with a semi-opaque brush, allowing the light/dark contrast of the underpainting come through.

I have been using the rub tool to smear the brush strokes.

It's a challenge whenever an artist starts a new medium, and this one is no different. I am somewhat familiar with photoshop as a photo editing program. However, I am interested in using it in a similar way to how an artist would use traditional media.

Right now, I want to learn to:

• create custom brushes that respond to a surface texture
• create brushes that respond to the color they are applied to (similar to Painter's smeary brushes)
• apply textures that look natural

This is new material, so comments/suggestions are greatly apprecaited