Portrait of my Nephew (1732 x 1962 pixels)

This portrait of my nephew on Christmas day was a 9 hour pose (laptop, photoshop, wacom tablet) of which he posed maybe 1 of those hours.  He was a great sport considering he's a kid and it was Christmas! but luckily I had my camera to take some pictures and work from those.  My lap top is a 17" so it's actually possible to have the photograph up on the screen next to the photoshop window.  I can paint one while looking at the other.  Never as good as working straight from life the whole time, but with a child - that's nearly impossible.  (and again, no copying and pasting, or painting over the photographs.)

Merry Christmas 07 (1251 x 900 pixels)

This still life painting was painted from life (laptop, photoshop, wacom tablet) directly from my Christmas tree.  No photo reference, or photo manipulation was used.  Just 9 long, uncomfortable hours sitting on the edge of an old wooden high-chair in the dark.  Studying the different  sheen, texture, and reflectivity was really fun though.  If you look closely, you can see half of my face reflected in the shiny red strip of the red and white ornament. 

Watching TV in upstairs hallway (684 x 696 pixels)

Again, painted on laptop (Photoshop, wacom tablet) from life, this was a nearly 4 hour pose.

Eating in the dining room (684 x 696 pixels)

Trying to capture the color as quickly as possible, this pose (not a professional model) was roughly 90 min.  and constantly in motion.  Definitely good practice.  (laptop, photoshop, wacom tablet)

Joe at BBAC (photoshop 836 x 1078)

This is the finished painting of Joe.  After the fist 2 sessions of painting directly from life, I worked an additional 5 hours using close-up photos as that I had taken as reference for details.  Whenever possible I prefer to paint only from life, but photos are convenient when a pose runs out of time.  (no part of the photograph was copied and pasted in photoshop, I strictly just painted while looking at them).

Joe at BBAC (photoshop)

 This is a progression of the first digital portrait that I ever attempted.  It was done on my laptop using photoshop and a wacom tablet.  The subject is a model posing professionally.  These 2 images are the first 4 hours spread over 2 separate sittings.

Studying @ cafe (512x384 pixels

This young woman was an amazing sport. Not only did she not mind if a perfect stranger painted her, she actually stayed roughly  in that position  for around 3 hours!  She was cool enough to switch books instead of switching to a lap top which would have killed the lighting.

DSO live (512x384 pixels)

This was painted at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (No I didn't bring a laptop and wacom tablet to the orchestra.  I'm painting on a Nintendo DS which is amazingly compact and discrete)  I thought I'd experience a double-wammy of artistic bliss: painting while listening to incredible music.  Yeah, not so much.  Unfortunately I discovered that you pretty much have to choose your focus.  Either concentrate on the music or on painting.  So I took in only a fraction of the concert - bummer, because it was a really good one. 

Glow from laptop in cafe (512x384 pixels - orig.)

I'm entirely new at this (blogging) and trying desperately to figure out the technicalities, but anyway, this was a portrait of a friend on her boyfriend's lap top (casting an amazing blue glow onto her face - contrasting nicely against the blood red wall behind her)

Debut Images (512x384 pixels orig.)

Hi everyone,  just thought I'd share some work.  

These are mini paintings (512 x 384 pixels, so they are tiny!) drawn digitally from life.  The size of the paintings are intended to keep me from overworking them too much.

I hope you like them.  (by the way the one at the bottom is a view of the snow covered street with that shadows from trees draping across it and the neighbors yard)