(Under the sea) Illustration Friday submission

I found a great little websight called Illustration Friday:

(Click here to go to Illustration Friday)

Every Friday a new random topic is posted and artist, illustrators and anyone who wishes can submit there own artistic interpretation. You have seven days to submit your art then a new topic is posted. It's very cool to scroll through the submissions that people have posted and see the countless unique interpretations of the weeks topic. There are as many aproaches to a given idea as there are people.

This weeks topic is "Under the Sea". Here is my illustration submission, it's a scanned pencil drawing painted in a program called Painter. This is Neptune in his underwater sea throne.

Perkins Cove Dingy 2 (Monochromatic underpainting)

I am doing a series of these small dingy paintings, here is the monochromatic raw umber underpainting of Pekins Cove dingy 2. Oil on board.

Perkins Cove Dingy

It's good to be back on the sea coast. One of the first things I did when I got home was take a drive up north to Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, Maine. I did some plein air studies and took a ton of photos. Here is an oil study of a "Perkins Cove Dingy". (8x6")oil on wood panel

Tae Kwon Do (page 9)

Tae Kwon Do (Page 18)

Tae Kwon Do (In stores today)

I'm back from Chicago and I'm going to jump right into some shameless self promotion. "Tae Kwon DO" was finally released today. It's a 32 page early reader picture book I illustrated last year for Random House and is now available in book stores and on line. I have conveniently provided a link to Barnes and Nobles web sight for you (I'm laughing right now)

(Click here to buy "Tae Kwon Do"

So please buy a few dozen for the wife and kids...(I'm laughing a little harder...)

They can also be found at some Supermarket chains and most children's Libraries. (I'm all done).

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago is at the top of my Art museum favorites list for sure. I went on Saturday and again on Sunday. It houses American Gothic by Grant Wood and Hoppers Nighthawks, not-to-mention an amazing French Impressionist collection including Seurats enormous pointilist piece, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. The

Girodet exhibit

is currently showing and will be up until April 30. Girodet was a student of David in the 18th century. This is the same lineage that traces it's roots to the Ingbretson Studio Atelier in Manchester, New hampshire. It was cool to see Girodet's charcoal figure studies and see that they were executed in the same aproach that Alistar showed me in Manchester.

I got to the museum an hour before it opened and did a quick study with my paintbox on my lap of one of the Lions at the entrance to the Art Institute. I photoshoped a few of the images here to make a vertical panorama of the experience.

Wrigley Building, Chicago (Plein air study)

I Love Chicago, what a town! Ali and i had a blast, It was much needed and Chi-town delivered. I brought my gorilla paintbox with me and found a spot by Michigan avenue to plop down and do a quick little study of the Wrigley building in the early evening sun. Saturday night we took a cab to Bucktown, just outside of the city and met up with an amazing abstract artist, Christine Olson.

(Click here to go to Christine Olson's web sight)

I'LL BE IN CHICAGO UNTIL MONDAY, APRIL 24

Alison and I are leaving for Chicago for a long weekend. We will be back Monday, April 24. I am bringing my sketchbook and my paintbox and plan on doing some studies in the Windy city. I'll post the weekend studies when I get back. (If there is internet access in the hotel I may post some stuff over the weekend, check in if you'de like). I'll talk to you soon.

All my best,

Bonita

Updated Children's Book content

My Children's Book rep, Maggie Byer-Sprinzeles has updated the image content on her web sight, including a bunch of illustrations that I have not posted on this blog. Please check out Maggies web sight:

(CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAGGIES SIGHT

I Like Birds cover (Color finish)

Just finished coloring the cover to the math reader children's book I was working on. This one is all done. Think I'm going to jump into some oils.

"Flurries in April"

The first week of April we got a small dusting of snow one morning. The temps were supposed to be in the 60's by mid afternoon so I went out early to scout out some snowy landscapes, it was likely that it would be the last snow until late fall.

Alison called me on her way to work and told me there were miles of snow covered landscape on her route through small New Hampshire town of Newington.

This farm is about three miles from our home and made me stop as soon as I came upon it. That's the kind of subject matter that I think makes the best paintings...things that make you stop and wow. Landscape and nature seem to do that for me, I hope to get out more this spring and summer and be wowed.

"Flurries in April" (8x10) Oil on Masonite.

Happy Easter!!!

Todays post is one of the Foreside Companies Easter/Spring 2006 catalogue glamour shots taken by my friend, photographer Mike Bowker of Bowker Imaging in Portland, Maine. The mac-daddy of light and lense.

The image is of a few of the Bunny boxes that were manufactured from my designs of the Bunny family that I posted in January (See archives). These are available at the Foreside Company retail stores in New England and New York. They are also availabale at several boutiques and giftshops accross the country.

I am also posting the Bunny boy and Bunny gal candy boxes that accompanied the figures in this glamour shot.

Happy Easter!!!

Easter Figures, plates and platter

Being Easter weekend, this will likely be amongst the last of the Easter projects I'll be posting. I am working on a lot of exciting things and can't wait to completely immerse myself into more oil painting, stay tuned for postings.

Today I am posting some small Bunny figurines that were manufactured into porcelain collectibles, dessert plates and a platter. They are currently available at the Foreside company retail stores in new England and New York. They can also be found in several boutiques and giftshops across the country (Which ones specifically I just don't know, sorry.)

A special thanks to my friend, photographer Mike Bowker of Bowker imaging for his catalogue vignette and amazing glamour photos, (see tomorrows post of a very cool Bowker glamour shot).

Wentworth Coolodge Mansion (Plein Air study)

I returned to the Wentworth Coolidge Mansion in Portsmouth this morning, (after my April fools day rained-out attempt). It was a beautiful morning, the only people around were a small group of Plein air watercolorist quietly painting on the hill.

During the two hour study, a bird swoopt in front of me and captured a smaller bird in mid-flight. they landed violently on the ground about fifteen feet away from me. There was lots of loud chirping and feathers flying and it was soon over. The larger bird flew off with his prey.

Goat (Finished Sculpture)

Here are the last of the sculpted Folk art farm animals I designed. (The original sketch can be seen in a January post).

Here Piggy, Piggy...

I really like the way these folk art farm animals have come out. Yes! That is bunny ears on his head and an Easter basket in his mouth. You can see my original design sketch of this Pig (posted on January 10) if you go to the archives on the left side of this page.

Oranges

"Oranges" (6X8) Oil on wood panel

Sheep (Finished sculpture)

Today I am posting the finished sculpture of the sheep (from the drawing that I posted in January).

Pear (finished)

I finally stole a moment to sneak down to the basement and finish painting the Pear still life that I started a couple of days ago. When I opened the door to my tiny studio under the stairs I found the pear had turned yellow. Thankfully, I kept my pallet dirty and it still had some of the green I had mixed days earlier. Viola!

Cow (Finished sculpture)

Tomorrow will be three months I've been posting daily and my first post on January 09 was a drawing of this Cow with bunny ears. He has since been sculpted and painted.

Sadie

This is Sadie the heffer. She lives a mile down the road on Bayview farm, every now and then I'll stroll down and pay her a visit.

"Sadie" 6x8 oil on wood panel

Portrait Study (Amy)

I went to Sanctuary Arts in Eliot, Maine tonight to paint from the live model. I painted a monochrome portrait study of "Amy"on a middle value, nuetral grey wood panel. We will have this model for the next two weeks as well, it will be cool to see how this painting progresses.

East Coast Hogs logo (color finish)

"Pear" in progress

I started an oil painting of a Pear still life today, almost complete, I should finish up tommorow if I have time.

Flower #1

I've been playing around with thick gesso applications to experiment with texture. This is something I've been noodling with recently and put a few hours into this afternoon. It's a flower still life set up on a heavily gessoed masonite board. I really like the meatiness of the surface, I'll definitely try this again, perhaps on a smaller panel.

"Flower #1" 24x16 Oil on masonite.

Bunnies with carriages (Sculptures)

These Bunnies that I posted in February have since been sculpted and produced. These are the catalog photos. I am very pleased with how they came out, they are about a foot high and are sold as decorative Easter candy containers. They are available at gift shops and boutiques nationwide now through Easter.

Mother Natures "April Fools" gag (..and "Apple")

We have a saying in New England, "If ya don't like the Weathah', juss waitaminnit, it'll change".

I tried to do some Plein air painting late this afternoon, there were slight overcast but it was comfortably cool. I went down to the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion in Portsmouth, which overlooks little harbor. It's a very impressive, stately 17th century colonial, the former residents of Governor Coolidge (The first Guvna' of New Hampshire). Get ready, here comes a cool fact...John Singer Sargent, Edmund Tarbell, Isabella Stewart Gardner and Emile Durand were all guests and painted here...I'm not worthy.

Just as I started my raw umber sketch the sky opened and it started pouring. I pulled my gear beneath a pine tree but the rain got heavier and started coming in sideways, I was all done. It was Mother Natures "April Fools" gag on me.

..so I went home and painted an apple.

I am posting the plein air attempt and my apple. (Apple 6x8 Oil on gessoed panel)