Tuesday, December 7, 2010

California



And now for distractions! Both from the present season and from all of the projects I've put on hold. Those who know me well know that one of my absolute favorite artists is the woefully deceased Eyvind Earle; former background painter for Disney. He is known most commonly for his brilliant work in the classic Sleeping Beauty. But he left behind a prolific library of personal masterpieces that I drool over on a regular basis. Eyvind was frequently inspired by the grand, sweeping blankets of grasslands of California: rolling seas of gold wreathed in the wild, billowing masses of dark, gnarled trees. I'm as inspired by these surroundings as I am by his paintings. and I've wanted to paint the subject matter for some time now. I also owe a lot of inspiration to Michael Humphries, an artist whose work on the film "Open Season" (also heavily inspired by Earle) is filled with wonderful style all its own.
Since starting my job at Crowdstar I haven't had much time to work on personal pieces. but I'm tired of not doing my own work, I've been forcing myself lately to pick up the stylus again as often as possible. So here is the latest result of that effort. I hope I can keep it up, lord knows I owe a friend or two some promised pieces. sometimes you have to get things out of your head first. I hope you guys like this one, it's a bit different from my normal work. But I'm happy with how it turned out. And as always, thank you for checking out my blog.