Solo Art Exhibit at iYo Cafe in Somerville, MA

For the entire month of June I will be exhibiting some of my brightest watercolor paintings in a  Solo show at the iYo Cafe in Davis Square, Somerville, Ma! Though the subject of the work varies, the collection was assembled primarily for its warm-weather feel. I would describe the bunch as a simple, whimsical celebration of the summer months and the beautiful world around us.

The work is on display towards the back of the cafe on a brick and mortar wall across from a seating area known as “the drawing room” for the large chalk board on one of its walls. On June 12th from 6-8pm there will be a reception for the show, where patrons of the cafe or any fans of my work can come hang out with me. The cafe serves coffee and typical cafe snacks, but the highlight of the menu in my opinion is the frozen yogurt. All of the work on display is for sale, and while you can purchase in person at the reception, anyone is welcome to see the work at anytime during the month of June, and may send purchase inquiries to my email. Address and hours posted below….I hope to see you at the reception!

iYO Cafe

234 Elm Street
Somerville, MA 02144
(Davis Square T Stop)
(617) 764-5295

Monday — Friday:
8:00AM – 11:00PM

Saturday:
8:00AM – 11:30PM

Sunday:
8:00 AM – 10:00PM

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Provincetown On The Water

Finally I’ve finished another painting! This winter has been brutal in every way imaginable. Because of this I’ve taken to painting dreamy summer scenes all season to console my shivering skins.

Last summer I took a trip to P-Town Mass, early in the season before the crowds arrived.  The town was just waking up from its long winter slumber; the people and their possessions were slowly and lazily stirring with anticipation for the coming tourist season. Things weren’t ready yet–boats had to be hosed off, patios needed to be set-up. Everything was being taken outside and given a good shake. Provincetown is a very beautiful place, but it’s a tourist town and beautiful places are hard to appreciate when you can’t see the scenery through masses of human bodies in colorful hats and cheap backpacks. It was nice to get a glimpse of the famous local when it’s most mundane, where the most exciting thing happening is that the library is being dusted and the sidewalks refinished. It really is a cute little town.

This painting was done in watercolors and pen on cold-press watercolor paper. I’m most proud of how that tree turned out.

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Post-Granite State Comicon

This past weekend Kelley and I attended Granite State Comicon as vending artists in their Artist’s Alley and Dealer’s room. I had a wonderful time and met some really cool people! With Halloween coming up, many of you asked if I had a store online or made custom masks. Yes, and yes! I sell my masks and other costume wear through etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/shaunart. I was waiting to list a lot of masks until after the convention was over, but now that I’m done with Granite State, I will be listing the bulk of what didn’t sell on my Etsy within the next few days. Be sure to check back!

If you need something very specific for Halloween, feel free to send me an email or message me through Etsy to start a commission. Get you commissions in soon, though! There’s only a month left before Halloween and I already have a few commissions in the works. The sooner you can place your mask orders, the better your chances of me accepting it for a Halloween delivery.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to Granite State Comicon, and to all the artist’s in our vending row who made the convention so much fun! Hope to see you all again next year.

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Beach Beauty – Just for Fun Painting of the Summer

I’ve finished a new painting! in an effort to hold onto the summer sun for as long as possible, I decided to paint, just for fun, a picture of this beach beauty. It’s not often that I paint a picture for no reason other than my own entertainment, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to paint a pretty lady in bright colors.

This is a mixed-media piece of watercolors and colored pencil. It was not easy to mix that perfectly tanned skin tone without making her look sunburned or too toasty brown. Tanned skin is a very complicated mix of reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and blues–kind of like normal skin I suppose but with a lot more saturation! I tackled the skin by laying yellow washes first. Then I marked my shadows with some light blue and purple washes, and then really built up the color with thick layers of reds and orange. In some places I’m really laying the red on much thicker than you would expect, and even then I still needed the colored pencil to give it that extra blast of color. The skin was easily the most difficult part.

The easiest part of the painting? The Hair. I love to paint masses of linear things and there are few organic structures more linear than hair. Hair is easy not to overwork, and easy to stylize while still meshing with other very detailed and realistic elements of the painting.

One of my personal goals with this painting was not to overwork the surface. It’s easy to belabor a work, scouring every inch to make sure every single little detail is flushed out. Sure, that creates a really crisp image, but it takes an absurd amount of time and is not always necessary.  This painting was an exorcise in simplifying my process without sacrificing detail.

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Spring Leather

Remember all of those fairs I have been vending at? Well, I have accumulated a bit of new work that I haven’t had a chance to photograph and share with everyone due to the chaos of fair preparation. I still have lots on my plate, but now that two back-to-back events are done with, I have a moment to share with you some of my recent leather creations.

The leaf barrettes above have already sold out, but I do plan on making more. They are a fun new addition to my leather collections, perfect for summer and fall. By the time Connecticon rolls around, I should have several more back in stock.

A series of green masks with an iridescent shine. Another summery accessory.

This set is for the fairy princesses out there. Specifically sized to fit a young girl’s face, these brightly colored, ultra feminine masks also have an iridescent finish.

Here’s a bold statement. Metallic green, scalloped edges, and big gold studs draw attention to the eyes.

Last bunch for today, a series of blue iridescent masks in a variety of shapes and sizes. Everyone likes blue, so why not make a size to for everyone?

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Paint-Your-Own-Masks on Etsy

For those of you who like to do things yourself, I’ve got some new paint-you-own-leather-mask listings up on Etsy. Leather masks are surprisingly simple to make from vegetable tanned leather. However, if you only need one mask, its hardly worth the large investment of your time and money to track down a good piece of leather, draft a pattern, cut it out, punch holes, and wet form it, just so you can have a custom mask that may or may not turn out the way you like.

Instead, I’ve done the hard part for you with these masks by purchasing the leather in bulk, and completing all of the special tooling and prep-work which requires specialty equipment. All that’s left for you to do is design and decorate the mask of your dreams!

I have two styles of do-it-yourself masks available right now; the ever popular Super Villain Mask, and the stunning Sprite Mask. Both patterns were hand-drafted myself and are not available elsewhere. These masks are ready to paint! They readily accept acrylics, oil-paints, glue, glitter, varnishes, matte and gloss mediums, and just about anything else you can think of thanks to their smooth yet porous surface.

So what are you waiting for? Any design you can imagine is possible!

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The Pirate Rendezvous

On Saturday, June 22nd, Faire Trimmings (a collarborative brand between Kelley and I) will be vending at the Pirate Rendezvous in Damariscotta, ME. Activities begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 4 p.m. The pirates invade at high noon, which is essentially a large parade and general storming of the fair grounds by costumed reenactors. All attendees are encouraged to come in costume, but there is no requirement to do so. The fair and parking is free, but you may choose to make a donation to the Lincoln County Family Holiday Wishes, a Christmas season food and gift drive.

This is a family friendly event and there will be tons of activities and merchandise geared towards children. However, because no one is ever too old to be a pirate, this event draws fair-goers and reenactors of all ages from across New England.

The Faire Trimmings booth, where I will be stationed, will be offering one-of-a-kind leather costume wear and accessories. You can find eye-patches, masks, armor, and jewelry to complete you pirate costume all in one place. We will also be offering prints of original artwork, and for the children we have facepainting and temporary tattoos. We even do caricatures!

For more information on the fair, you can check out their website at: http://piraterendezvous.com/

I am very busy preparing for the fair, but if I get a bit of extra time this week, I will try to post some process shots of my work and wares.

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Masks on Etsy

I also want to let everyone know about the new masks that I have listed on Etsy. All handmade and one-of-a-kind. Click on an image to be taken to the listing.

Also available in the Etsy store is the option to add ribbon or a suede cord to any of these masks to make them ready to wear!

You can always add you own cord or ties to any of these masks, but the ribbon and suede that I offer is guaranteed to fit through the holes on the masks, as well as provide just a tiny bit of stretch so that the mask stays snug on your head without pinching.

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Bracers on Etsy

This week I have added several new items to the Etsy shop, including three new, and very different bracers!

All hand-made and one-of-a-kind, these bracers are cut from the highest quality vegetable tanned leather. This study yet flexible material insures that these bracers will fit any arm (of the intended gender for which they were designed). Simply tighten the suede laces to fit.

Each bracer also features brass grommets and has been sealed with a waterproof acrylic varnish to improve its durability. Simply click on any of the images to be taken to the listing!

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An Exorcise in Digital Painting

Last week with the snow storm of the decade looming, bundled up in front of my computer, I decided to pick up my Wacom tablet and paint a picture digitally. I am not a very experienced digital painter. I’ve only completed a small handful of pieces on the computer before, and none of them have made it into my portfolio. Sure, I use photoshop all the time to color correct, crop, and touch up photos and paintings all the time, but it is very rarely that I do the bulk of the painting on the computer screen.

I had the urge to go back to the computer screen primarily because of time. It takes me a very very long time to create a full scale, fully rendered painting by hand, and sometimes I lose interest in what I am painting or I have another great idea to work on before my first idea is fully realized. Especially for beauty shots like this, the idea and the passion to draw it only sticks around until the next pretty face comes along and I imagine something new; so there was a sense of urgency to get this face and this stunning collar down on paper before it was replaced by another figure in my mind.

The piece was inspired by a costume I saw at Templecon 2013. I used photo reference to sketch out the face and collar by hand, and then I also inked that preliminary sketch before scanning it into the computer. Once uploaded to photoshop, I started rendering by laying down basic blocky colors. Using photoshop is one of the only times that I render with an opaque medium, making it extra challenging to maintain my style. I blended the colors together using primarily the eye dropper and a soft, low opacity brush. I choose to render over some of my inking to turn the figure more in important or especially modeled places like the nose and lips. I left the collar and hair more linear and stylized because that is how I would have dealt with them were this painting done by hand. However by hand, I would have added the lines last, wherein photoshop, I started with all lines and selectively removed or covered them.

I textured the piece with pattern fills and spotty brushes. Adding texture in highly modeled digital pieces is very important in order to avoid a plastic looking finish. The skin has pores and fabrics have a coarseness to them that is easily neglected in digital pieces. Over all I like how this painting came out, and I think that I will be experimenting with digital painting more in the future.

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