My Beloved. Completed.

This is my beloved dog, Dixie.  This took about 2 months to complete working intermittently.  It's painted completely in Adobe Photoshop.  You can see where I started at the bottom drawing with my mouse and then I got a graphics tablet for a Christmas present and you can see the difference in the rest of the painting. At the end, I also added a warming filter since I thought her coloring was just too bright.

I plan on getting this printed poster size and having it framed for my home.  She was such a beautiful and loving dog.  She was my companion for 12 wonderful years.

Golden Earrings Version 3

Newest version of Golden Earrings! CLICK on image to enlarge.

Hi Dad,
Did more work on mom today.  Fixed her lips, got rid of some more noise and scratches and tried to soften the shadows on her neck and face so she didn't look like she was smeared in mud. (grin) I hope I understood you right yesterday when you told me that the right side of the background was orange-ish.   I tried to mail it to you, but it bounced back.  I guess the file was too big.  So, I uploaded it to my art blog for you to look at.
Love you so very much!

Photo Restoration Project - Golden Earrings

CLICK on photo to enlarge. Working on a photo restoration for my dad. This is a picture of my mom taken in 1948 entitled "Golden Earrings." Any comments, critiques, suggestions welcome. I'm just trying to restore it, I don't want to repaint it if possible. Mostly using layer masks and when I first started, I used the color balance tool to take out all the sepia and get down to the remaining color that was left. I redrew her eyes from scratch and I also drew in the earrings and used a layer opacity on them. I've also been using the spot healing tool to remove all the scratches and marks. The right side of her face looks like she's smeared with dirt though. I need to clean that up somehow. The shadow just isn't quite right. Comments? Suggestions? Critiques?

This Year's Christmas Card Completed

The female cardinal took a lot longer than the male one originally did.  I can't tell you how many hours I worked on getting her coloring blended and shaded correctly!  I'm going to VistaPrint and having some cards made with this image so I can send my family and maybe a few friends a copy of this beautiful cardinal pair.

My Beloved.

The beginning of "My Beloved." Finished the first layer. This is another Adobe Photoshop project. Do you know who this is? The second picture is progress from the second week of working on it a little at a time. Doing other projects as well.

Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather

DEDICATED TO: My two best friends - Steve Jordan and Chuck Pekala, may they continue to live a long and happy life together.
Completely hand-drawn in Adobe Photoshop.  It took about 2 days and a total of about 13 hours to complete. I'm really proud of this one.  It's one of the best computer-drawn pieces of art I've ever created.  When you create something out of love, it really shows.

Experiment... Sunset

This was a quick Photoshop sketch I just did for the heck of it today.  Since doing many cartoon portraits in that medium, this is an attempt to get used to the medium going freehand.  Not bad for a first try.  Took me about 20 minutes to complete.

I've seen such magnificent artwork come out of Photoshop and I've always had a hand in computer graphics.  Seems much more gratifying than the pencil.  Quicker results, and easy corrections.  But, would computer-based artwork be considered fine art?  Post here and let me know.

Found some old comments:

I was just going through some stuff I had in my storage unit and I came across some thank-you cards from people I'd done drawings of.  I thought it would be nice to post their comments here.

Mickey,
Thank you so much for thinking of us on our wedding day! We truely appreciate the unique picture that you made for us! - signed - The Ralstons 06-03-06

Mickey,
Thank you for the portrait.  You have an impressive ability.  It's an honor to have a Mickey original! - Love, Eric Madday

Pink Gardenias

This is a re-draw of Marian's Gardenias.  This time I used Koh-I-Noor colored pencils.  This is my first colored pencil drawing and I used a burnishing technique.  I spent about 8 hours total on this one.  Original size is 7"x9" on 9"x12" Bristol Vellum paper.  Prints available for purchase at DeviantART.  Here's the link: http://weblaedyone.deviantart.com/

My Art is Now Available on Etsy!

Here's my first listing on Etsy.  Please take a look! GARDINIAS

Pagan Drummer Dude Final Touch-ups

Pagan Drummer Dude Final Version

This is the final completed version of Pagan Drummer Dude. I added more wave to his hair, darkened some shadows and pulled out some more highlights.

Pagan Drummer Dude

Pagan Drummer Dude

This is the first completely freehand drawing I've ever done.  Total working time approx. 4 hours over 2 days.  Graphite pencil on plain drawing paper.  It's not an exact likeness, but I kinda wanted him to look more "pirate-y."  All-in-all, I'm fairly satisfied with this piece.  I may go back and darken some shadows and lighten some highlights still, then repost the final version at a later time.

Guinea Pig

Piglet!

A quick sketch of a guinea pig I drew in August.  Graphite pencil on drawing paper. He turned out so cute!

Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore

Graphite and charcoal drawing of Julianne Moore.  8"x10" on bristol vellum paper. Completed in June, 2010. This was my second portrait and took me a lot longer to complete.  I spent months picking it up and then putting it back away before I finally settled down and really made an effort to finish it.

Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan

A drawing of Steve Jordan.  Graphite pencil on bristol vellum paper.  This was my first portrait completed one year ago in September 2009.

Mundo in Africa

Frank Mundo in Africa. Soft pastels on bristol vellum paper.  Image size is 8"x10" on 9"x12" paper.  Completed in 12 hours on August 8, 2010

Mom's Gardenias

Soft pastels on canvas image size is 8"x10" on 9"x12" canvas. Completed in 10 hours on July 23, 2010.