Karen

Oil, 11 x 14 inches

Nick

 Oil, 11 x 14 inches

"Present Company Excluded" has recently been selected as one of fifty finalists in the annual America China Oil Painting Artist League (ACOPAL) competition! Take a minute to head over and take a look at all the finalists, there are some great paintings. And if you feel so inclined, please take minute to give my painting, or others, a star rating.

Also, if you are looking for a nice gift, I have a few little paintings in a holiday small works show at the Jamestown Art Center in Jamestown, Rhode Island. Each painting is 5 x7 inches, already framed and $195.

The Haunting Presence

Spectrum 18 is soon to be released and I realized I still had not posted by accepted illustration to the annual fantasy art publication. Well, my piece is more appropriate to the current season now anyway. This is The Haunting Presence, a poster image commissioned for an independent film. You might be able to guess the genre of the film from the title, if not from the image.

Oil on Board, 24 x 36 inches

(click to zoom)

You can see a preview/flip through of the book at this link. My image appears at 1:04.

Nude

 Oil, 18 x 24 inches
(click to zoom)

200th Post!

Should have happened a little earlier this month, but I just moved into a new apartment so things have been a bit busy while I've been getting settled and getting my new studio arranged! When it's set-up maybe I'll post pictures. For now, here's a portrait...

Lauren, Oil, 11 x 14 inches

SouthwestArt Magazine - 21 Under 31 Competition

My painting, "House Mouse," has been selected for SouthwestArt Magazine's annual competition, 21 Under 31. Every year the magazine selects 21 artists under the age of 31 and recommends that collectors and enthusiasts start watching them. The competition and my painting appear in the current, September issue of this year, so take a look if you find yourself near a newsstand or have a subscription!

Top Left: Magazine cover, Top Right: Article title page, Bottom: My section of the article

Click here to see a larger image of just the painting.

Steve

Oil, 20 x 16 inches

OPA Online Showcase

More good news. The Oil Painters of America recently held their first Online Showcase competition. There was a lot of great work submitted which you can see at the competition website. I was awarded an Honorable Mention for my painting, Present Company Excluded!

Present Company Excluded, Oil, 18 x 24 inches

ARC Salon

The results of the Art Renewal Center's 2010-2011 Salon are posted and my painting, Elegant Enigma, has received an Honorable Mention in the Still life Category!

Elegant Enima, Oil, 14 x 18 inches

I've also recently been notified that my painting, Drafting Pad, has been accepted to the Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Exhibition! The show will take place at Addison Art Gallery in Orleans Massachusetts, from September 17th to October 15th, 2011. The opening reception will be Saturday September 17th from 5:30-7:30pm.

 

Drafting Pad, Oil, 8.5 x 13.5 inches

Suzanna

Oil, 9 x 12 inches

Marly

 

Oil, 8 x 10 inches

I was recently notified that my painting, House Mouse (left), was awarded Finalist in the May BoldBrush Painting Competition!

Additionally, Illumintation (right), was accepted to the Providence Art Club's 2011 Open Painting show, July 5-22.

Coffee Shop Sketches

Ron

Oil, 11 x 14 inches

Nico

Oil, 8 x 10 inches

Brian

Another Monday nigh portrait.

I'm back from the Portrait Society of America Conference. I had a great time and met a lot of great people! As shown in this photo by Garth Herrick, it was an exhilarating experience to accept a Certificate of Excellence in front of 800 people and share a stage with the other certificate winners.

Left to right: certficate recipients John Michael Carter, Joshua LaRock, Holly Metzger, Me (yellow shirt), Tony Pro, Clete Shields, Alexandra Tyng, Jennifer Welty, and Chaiman of the PSA, Gordon Wetmore.

And last but not least, I have a show of 30 paintings going up in Bristol, RI this Friday, May 13th until July 6th at the Rogers Free Library and curated by the Bristol Art Museum. A selection of portraits and still lives will be on view and for sale.

Devon and Declan

A recent commission.

Oil, 14 x 11 inches

Dorrett

Oil, 9 x 12 inches

Spectrum 18 and Dragon Magazine

In yet another exciting genre shift from last week's post. I've been accepted to Spectrum 18, the annual best of science fiction and fantasy illustration. I don't yet know which of my entries was accepted (it wasn't the piece below,) but I'll let you know when I find out.

Below is an illustration for an issue of the Dungeons & Dragons magazine, "Dragon," that was recently released. It's for an article about "Athasian familiars" or magical wizard pets in the desert land of Athas.

Oil, 11 x 24 inches

Present Company Excluded

I've recently been notified that my new painting titled, "Present Company Excluded," has received a Certificate of Excellence Award in the Portrait Society of America's 2011 International Portrait Competition! I'll be traveling to Atlanta the last weekend of April to accept the award and attend the annual PSA conference, which looks like a lot of fun. The competition recognizes only 35 paintings out of over 1,750 entries this year so I feel highly honored to receive this award. You can see some of last years award winners here.

Present Company Excluded - Oil, 18 x 24 inches

Also coming up, tomorrow I will be an guest artist at Montserrat College of Art, north of Boston, to give a short talk about my work. I don't know if it is open to the public.

San Francisco Story

A little out of the ordinary for me, about a year ago I illustrated a chidrens book for the Penguin Readers series through Pearson Education and Penguin Books. It's titled San Francisco Story and it has recently been released.

The story takes place during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. My guess is that the writer/publisher thought it would be relevant after the earthquake in Haiti, but of course had no idea it would be released just before the quake in Japan.

I had less than a month to paint all the illustrations for the book. Here are a few of them...

Tasha

Oil, 9 x 12 inches

(click to zoom)

Raphael or The Goblin King

...just not as much hair spray as David Bowie

Oil, 16 x 20 inches

Sketches

From drawing time at the coffee shop...

Caroline

Another quick portrait.

Oil, 16 x 14 inches