Portrait of Gwenn...

 "Red Gloves"

(8x10", Oils on Linen)  Price: $ 1000.00 

It's been ten years since the last Costume Salon & Sketch Lab we held at Illuxcon in Reading, PA. The photoshoot that the reference picture that served as the basis for this painting was a long time ago, but feels as fresh as yesterday. I'd come up from our art booth downstairs, camera in hand, ready to see what was going on. Young Gwenn was already on the stage with a fellow artist, both dressed in kinda sorta vintage costume from around the early 20th century. I asked who the brunette was, and did a double take to find out it was Gwenn in a black bobbed wig. She looked like a completely different person. When the tableau on stage concluded, I chose some new 1920s flapper vibed costume elements and an atypical black fringed dress. Seated in the sunshine beside the full Fall sun beaming through the huge windows, Gwenn looked like she stepped out of an entirely different time. I think there were at least five other photographers besides myself who snapped away, calling for different poses and expressions. It was a lot of fun. I finally got around to painting this idea eight years later. I initially wanted the portrait to be small and intimate, but got caught up in the injunction from 'someone', I don't remember who, to 'paint bigger'. So I compromised and drew the sketch down onto a 9x12" linen canvas and started laying paint the way I envisioned. For some reason, it just wasn't working for me. I put the canvas aside for many months before I found it again whilst rummaging around for something else. Struck with the idea again, I put it back on my easel to contemplate it again. I thought, "what if it were smaller, the composition more constrained?" I played around with bits of paper, working at framing it in smaller dimensions. Halfway through, I got up and went digging in my frame stash. Sitting in the pile was an ornate, vintage gold frame that suggested 'age' and 'appropriateness' to what I was wanting to achieve. It was sized for an 8x10" painting and it was perfect for the one I was wanting to complete. Strangely enough, it was that particular frame that inspired my initial painting before I took a different track. I took a full hour to size up the new composition position,  perfectly line up what area of the existing 9x12" canvas I wanted to cut off, and then actually do it. The newly cropped painting fit perfectly in the new/old frame and was instantly 'brought to life' again. I started painting again that afternoon. The finished result is what you see above. Exactly how I'd envisioned it in my mind when I originally set out to capture Gwenn's 'glam'. I don't care if it is considered "small". Some of the most famous and precious 'gems' of the art world are considered "small". That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. And I have recently stopped apologizing for painting small epics, etc. I'm just sorry that the photo of this painting doesn't capture the full glow and nuance of 'RED GLOVES'. Meanwhile, below are some progress pics, etc...

Original sketch...

 

 

Easel shots...

Reference photo and sketch. 

 

This was when the painting still measured 9x12".

The painting after it was cropped, and almost finished.

The finished painting in its natural habitat: the vintage gold frame.

Sorry it took so long to post this painting to my blog. It's one of my faves so far. Life is getting in the way of solid painting these days, but I'm trying to balance that better. I've got another big figurative painting to come and a bunch of new, but dramatic 'rocket doodles', too, and a surprise.
Cheers,

Marianne 

 

 

More Mothra doodles...

 "Rainbow Mothra - Rebirth"

(Size: 8x10", Oils on Linen Panel)   Price: $ 450.00  SOLD

I'm a bit behind in posting the more recent art I've done, which includes a pseudo Celtic queen, a 1920s siren, and a couple of rocket doodles. However, I decided to post the most recent 'Mothra Doodles' that I painted for G-Fest this month. Still using the 'rocket doodle method' of wet in wet paint and brushiness that are typical of my painted 'doodles', I had a bit of fun with them. Suprisingly, they both turned out rather 3D looking. And as from the easel shot photos I took of the in progress works during the tiny time frame I had to create them, you'll see that I worked up the backgrounds at the same time. Had to use up the blue paint that somehow ended up being more on the palette than I truly needed. Still, it was fun to just play. This painting was meant to be a 6x8" piece, but after drawing it in the same sized sketchbook (see below), I thought it needed more room to 'breathe'. Hence, the upgrade in size. I have been wanting to paint larval Mothra again for awhile now, and the teeeeeeny reference photo snagged my interest, but I had to go look for a more defined delineation of larval Mothra's body in that particular scene just to make sure all of the nebulous shadows were shaping something negligible. Fortunately, the art of/making of books the Japanese lovingly put out contain construction drawings for the final designs...and it's been quite a while since I sat and watched the Rebirth of Mothra movies. Thinking I should correct that sometime soon, though. Anyway, these are the two completed pieces and their creation. Hope you like them. 

"Mothra Reborn"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen Panel)  Price: $ 350.00 

 

Painting the backgrounds together on two of my tiny 12" easels...

You can just see larval Mothra painting peeking out from behind Rainbow Mothra. One thing can be said about working so small, is that you can move the easels around quite easily. 

And there was STILL a fair amount of blue paint left on the palette... 

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers, 

Marianne 

Kaiju Doodles...

 "Fire Rodan"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price:  $300.00 SOLD

Tried something new a few weeks ago. I was contemplating that I hadn't painted any new Mothra art in several years, and probably needed to create something original for G-FEST, the annual kaiju/Godzilla mecca in Chicago this month. I had maybe 12 days to come up with something and tried not to get overwhelmed with 'running and screaming in the opposite direction' panic. So, having give it a bit of thought, I figured if I could just throw some of my Rocket Doodles together on short notice, maybe it could work with what I call 'kaiju closeups'...ie. really brushy, impressionistic kaiju portraits on a small scale. Hubby had taken down a calendar recently that had my most favourite shot of Japanese monster, Rodan. Specifically, Fire Rodan, designed by our dear friend and famed monster suit maker, Shinichi Wakasa. He has personally designed and physically created all of my favourite versions of Mothra, Godzilla, and yes, Fire Rodan, among others with his SPFX team at Monsters Inc. in Japan for Toho Studios. SO, back on topic: I decided that I'd start easy with a little painting of that hero pose Fire Rodan, since I hadn't painted in some months. It was like my ad hoc painting of all of those space scenes and rockets and noodling space stations kept my hand in practice because it worked! I raided hubby's acrylic paint and borrowed his Quinacridone Gold and tinted four small linen canvases because I wanted to see some of that colour bleed through my oil paint. Have not done that in a few years, but I was treating this like it was fun, so experimental was the theme of the day. I used a small Flat brush to sketch in lines and planes in colour and just had fun. Got a base layer filled in during the first pass. The next day, I went back in and refined a bit more, got some proportions fixed, and just noodled. The painting is not super detailed, but just dabbed brush strokes full of 'inference'. Like a painting is supposed to be. The original also glows so much better than this photo. 

 

 

 "Broody Mothra"

 (Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price: $300.00  SOLD

  So this is what eventuated when my Hubby handed me a bunch of large ellipse gauges to find a home for. I wondered if one of them would approximate the shape of Mothra's egg from the Rebirth of Mothra movies. Bingo! I used a 2B pencil to draw this one up since the composition is kind of precise. I love the cropped look and it stays within the random 'closeup' scenes I was interested in painting. And may I say that I absolutely LOVED painting this little one. I used my trusty little circle gauge to shape her head, but the eyes, I kind of 'eyeballed'...no pun intended. Nothing was overly detailed in the drawing because I like to smoosh paint around and layer it to create depth and 'pseudo detail'...right in line with my Rocket Doodles. The wings are very impressionistic and painterly, as is most of the noodled 'detail'. In reality, the final product just GLOWS. The photo I took sadly does not reflect the nuanced subtlety of some of the paint, nor the highlights. On another note, she's super cute and I'm rather proud of it. Wish I'd had the forethought to take a photo of the pencil layout first before laying paint. Sigh. Gonna have to get better at doing that...

"Rainbow Mothra Closeup"

(Size: 5x5", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price: $160.00  SOLD

I wish I had a better photo of this little gem. She GLOWS in real life. And there is a lot more nuance and subtle feathering that has been lost in the photo process. I fully winged this one and smooshed in the design with broad strokes of paint and brush. I LOVED the backdrop of the hot volcano colours making the cooler tones and whites of flying Rainbow Mothra POP. I guess this one is fully a real doodle because I eyeballed the small reference photo and just 'went for it'. Surprisingly, I didn't have a problem reaching my painting 'zone' while painting these little Kaiju Doodles. A few years back, I'd have to overcome performance panic for something more detailed than my pointy rocket ships, noodled space stations, free-form nebulae in wondrous colours, and other space oddities. I'm kind of feeling more confident in my painting lately, which has been very low for a number of years, and has taken that long to rebuild. There are more portraits and a few larger Rocket Doodles (by request) in my future, but in the meantime, please enjoy my little sidestep into little Kaiju Doodles...

Scenes from my tiny easels...

Thanks for stopping by...
Cheers,

Marianne 

Illuxcon Demo Paintings...

 "Far Sun"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen)  Price: $300.00 SOLD

 

One of the problems with exhibiting art at show is that you have to be attentive to the people strolling past looking at your artwork with the potential to purchase it. And there is a fine line between being attentive and being obnoxiously pushy (I hate the latter, myself). I tend to let things roll along and talk to people and take an interest, however there are long periods that can seem boring so this year, I chose to do something I haven't done in quite a while... I decided to paint at the table I shared with my hubby. So, I packed my three tiniest easels, paints, brushes, medium, a few inspirational references, my itty bitty sketchbook, and a bunch of different sizes of my linen panels. I figured if I could paint rocket doodles at home fairly easily, then painting them in public shouldn't induce any panic attacks. So, on Thursday, the first full day of the show, I started with FAR SUN, noodling a classic pointy rocket ship settling into orbit with side retro thrusters lit. As with the majority of my rocket doodles, I painted wet in wet and managed to get it 99 percent completed. The next day, I finished a few highlights and details, signed it and called it done. People had stopped to watch me paint and talk to me while I dabbled, so all in all, it was off to roaring start. One of the observers actually bought this one...

Friday, after finishing up FAR SUN, I set up another little easel with a 6x8" panel, ready to start the next effort. Looking around at my references and then up at my paintings on display, wondering what to paint next, I squinted at SCARLET BASE, noting that I had LOVED what I did on the foreground gaseous clouds. Deciding to see if I could recreate a version of that, I drew up a ball space station, some floating rocks, and set to work. As always, I ever seem to have an excess of Cadmium Red Light paint on my working palette so I revisited the 'red sun' as well. I had a lot of fun dropping in paint and blending, rinse and repeat, and then a couple hours noodling the space station detail.

"Mini Scarlet Base"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen)  Price: $300.00 SOLD

By the Saturday, I was definitely flagging a bit in the energy and ideas department, but I had a bunch of nice lairy colours on my palette and I really didn't want to give up too early. Additionally, Saturday was a big attendance day. So, I finished the highlights on MINI SCARLET BASE that I couldn't complete the previous day because the paint was so heavily wet and signed it. Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice at all. I has the same luminosity of the original painting. Anyway, I gave the idea of 'thinking outside of the box' some thought and created something completely out of left field: EMERALD CITY. No, it wasn't an intentional riff on the new movie WICKED and wasn't planned that way. I just had some gorgeously lush greens and turquoises left over from the gaseous clouds in MINI SCARLET CITY to use up. I drew up a loose asteroid city that was inspired by an old John Harris painting that always leaves me in awe, and off I went. I added the teeny rocket to create an illusion of 'size'. Because of the art deco lines of the space city and the colours swirling around it, I was left no other real option than to call it EMERALD CITY. When you look at it below, you'll see why. Unfortunately, the photo of this painting isn't great, either. Sigh.

"Emerald City"

(Size: 6x8", Oils on Linen)  Price: $300.00 SOLD

Here are a few easel shots of the paintings sitting on their tiny easels at my table in various stages of completion...

My Painting Display at Illuxcon in October...

 

Time got away on me this year because we added so many odd shows and appearances that there appeared to be no long relief for painting downtime. Several of the bigger paintings I had planned just didn't make it into paint. We've cut out a lot of the extra shows, now and getting back to basics, so more time for painting and writing in the new year.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
Cheers,

Marianne

 

 

Four more for Illuxcon...

 "Gold Ring Interchange"

(8x10", Oils on Linen, Framed)  Price: $420.00  SOLD

Not the greatest photos of these latest four rocket doodles, so sorry about that. I wanted to revisit the 'space station beneath the rings' theme from a couple of previous paintings, in particular, 'Gossmere - Gossamer - Base'. Different concept idea with a more glowing colour and light. Originally called 'Shimmer Rings' as a working title during the design phase, I decided to change it after I'd finished the painting. It was way more golden orange than anticipated and I liked it a lot more. Below, is the design drawing from my teeny sketchbook.

 

"Fire Moon City"

(6x8", Oils on Linen, Framed)  Price: $300.00 SOLD

I had fun with this painting. I drew it up directly onto the canvas using an atmospheric sun as a reference while the space station is an extrapolation of a design from a painting from some years back. Whenever I went to look at the painting or hang it up, I kind of have to stop myself from hanging it the wrong way up. The station is SUPPOSED to look like that, but my brain wants it the other way. LOL The photo does not do the original justice in any way shape or form. It glows in the right light. 

"Black Opal Fire Base"

(5x7", Oils on Linen, Framed)  Price: $ 270.00 SOLD

Another 'real' rocket doodle. I drew this idea directly onto canvas as well. I always like the contrariness of red against blue or black for 'pop' effects. And yes, this one reminds me of opals from where I was born. 

"Edge of Elysium"

(5x7", Oils on Linen, Framed)  Price: $280.00  SOLD

With this rocket doodle, I just wanted to play around with colour, a distant sun viewed through a glorious nebula...and a rocket off to look at what's on the other side. I had a lot of fun with this one. And it is also a true rocket doodle in the respect that I drew the ship and the sun placement directly onto canvas and then went to town.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I'll post more soon.
Cheers,

Marianne

 

 

Coloring outside the usual cosmos...

 "Arch City"

(Size: 8.5x11", Oils on Linen, Framed)  PRICE: $ 480.00 SOLD

The inspiration for this painting came from image research for something completely different. I was flipping through thumbnails of some of Frank Frazetta's barbarian images for color palette ideas for one of my figurative pieces that I had drawn up. The idea hadn't fully jelled, yet, though, so I just mindlessly looked at gorgeous art. I thought I saw one of Frank's space pieces with a giant blue planet in it...and his are very distinctive planets in ANY painting. I didn't save it off, thinking I could come back to it when I'd finished looking at something else. Three days later and I failed to ever find the image of that painting ever again. And still no luck to this date. I'm not sure that it wasn't a figment of my imagination. After awhile, I said bugger it and just started painting my own versions of a retro blue planet and the now requisite pointy rocket ship and space city. I did two nearly identical thumbnail drawings in my teeny, tiny sketchbook and in the end combined the two to make a whole. I wanted the planet off-center as it felt a better composition. These are the two tiny sketches, below.

 

 

 

"Last Rocket Out"

 (Size: 8.5x11", Oils on Linen, Framed)  PRICE: $ 480.00 SOLD

Not sure what inspired me to think about painting a black hole, or black sun as they are also referred to as. But the shape and pure array of light was extremely appealing, especially since I've watched my hubby paint them so extraordinarily well over the last 25 years in his signature blazing array of spectacular colors. I thought I'd give it a go. I doodled a design in my miniature sketchbook and off I went. I even added the blues and purples of other spectrum light being draw in along with the space station which has gotten to close to danger and is breaking up. The rocket is speeding away while it still can. Well, I finished the painting and posted the results on Facebook and up popped author, Patrick Chiles with a question. "Is that my next book cover from BAEN? It's absolutely perfect...and rather eerie that you captured the opening of it so well." I answered hesitantly, "Er, no. But I'll send it along to the publisher if you like in case they need something." So, I did so and then promptly forgot about it. While I was at Illuxcon for the week, I didn't get around to looking at my emails, and painted my days away at the show, instead (more on that in a later post) so when I got home and downloaded them, a message from Toni at BAEN was there along with an offer to license the image for Patrick's new book. I was both elated and gobsmacked as it had been a lean year. So, 'Last Rocket Out' is set to be the cover of Patrick's next book, THE LONG WAY HOME. Not sure of the release date, yet. Sometimes, the inspiration and timing are everything. Meanwhile, here is the tiny design sketch for it...

 

 

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I'll be posting more rockets soon, including the three very different paintings I created as demo pieces at Illuxcon.
Cheers,

Marianne

 

Our Other Sarah...

 "Selene Unbound"

(Size: 9x12", Oils on Linen, Framed)   Price: $ 1100.00  SOLD

Well, I hadn't planned on not posting for this long, but time kind of sped past while life got in the way. This small portrait is of our other Sarah, Sarah Perez, fellow artist and willing model back when Illuxcon hosted the Costume Salon and Sketch Lab. I wanted a finite chroma while trying to find my way back into portraiture...my way. I had this idea of painting Sarah in a simple, unfussy array to concentrate on her features and demeanor. This pose came along at the end of the session and was by far the most striking. Taking photographs of models is like making drawing after drawing of a subject until you get in a groove and connect. So, while my initial idea was good, this got better along the way. I call this painting 'Selene Unbound' because it spoke to the cosmos I've continued to paint in my little rocket doodles. Her hands are pulling apart the vibrant hood and stars are releasing like fireflies from it, and questing tendrils gently wrap her forearms. The necklace and bodice of the dress bear moon symbols and the neckband itself, the colours of the Earth, the Moon's companion. Sarah, as my Selene, expresses challenge, expectancy, and promise within her gaze which is more than I could have hoped to create when I first started painting this. Some of the turquoise green has washed out of the vibrant blues in this photo and some of the luminosity out of the skin tones, but it still looks good and I'm rather proud of it. When I was choosing the clothing for Sarah to model for this photoshoot, someone asked me why I added a floor length evening dress to the mix when all I really needed was the featured cape. My answer was: "If Sarah feels beautiful and powerful in these clothes, then that will shine out of her in the photos, and hopefully the subsequent paintings of her."  Personally, I think it has.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Cheers,

Marianne