"Delicate Diffusion" in progress 13" X 19"

Another late night spending several hours working out this new piece on watercolor paper. I'll be working on this while taking breaks from my oil piece. Acrylic will be involved. Instead of painting scales on the dragon I'm aiming to achieve a skin that is more fabric like in appearance with a subtle pattern.

Background Development

This is an unfinished portion and yes, my forearm is in the FOREground for a reason :) I planned on having a more calm, neutral background but things changed. The beauty of art, it's flexible. Several days ago I was sad to know that Frank Frazetta passed on. I really wanted to meet him. After looking at some of his work again I thought an orange background could be nice so I followed my instincts. The flames developed out of spontaneity, inspiration and just plain anger. Loads of fun in painting fire. Try it! This is for you Frank!

The Mermaid Sale & Illuxcon 2010

I'm very happy to announce that I recently sold "The Mermaid" to Pat Wilshire, one of the founders of Illuxcon. http://www.illuxcon.com/frontpage Pat and his wife, Jeannie, are internationally recognized collectors. They began Illuxcon a couple years back in their hometown of Altoona, PA and it is a success. Donato Giancola, Boris Vallejo, Michael Whelan, John Jude Palencar and my good friend Eric Fortune are just a few of the extremely talented artists that are planning to attend this years event. I was overwhelmed with excitement when I received an email from Pat inquiring about the mermaid and encouraging me to display my work with a showcase table at Illuxcon in November. I'm currently in the process of creating several pieces for the show which I hear is a great experience. I'm looking forward to meeting Pat, Jeannie and everyone! Pat, I can't thank you enough for the purchase and for leading me into such an amazing opportunity! Pat also runs a cool website called The Illustration Exchange. http://www.munchkinpress.com/IndexOLD.html I suggest you check it out along with the Illuxcon website!

I made a box for the mermaid before shipping it out to PA. Packed it pretty tight between layers of cardboard, shredded paper and foam. Luckily, it arrived unharmed and Pat and Jeannie were pleased with the piece. Thanks again to the both of you!