Jamie of the Jungle and Big Cat Rescue

Jamie of the Jungle

This was a private commission I finished in July. I was contacted by the owner of Big Cat Rescue to illustrate a fantasy portrait of her daughter. It was a dream job involving a beautiful young woman, wild cats and a whole lot of creative freedom. The client gave me a lot of information and photos to use as inspiration and reference. The main goal was to create a fantasy portrait of Jamie accompanied by icons of her life. She is surrounded by wild cats that she has rescued, nursed and raised, orchids which she grows in her backyard and a swan staff which is her totem animal.

If you like wild cats, rescue stories and wine visit their site.....they now have bottles of wine for sale!

Commission WIP

This is for a private commission. I'm still working some things out. Long story short. Strong, independent woman. One with the wild cats. Savior of stranded young cats. Swan is her totem animal.

Loomis Study #2

Copy of Andrew Loomis Portrait Study

Here's another Loomis study. The original painting that he did has a completely different color palette. I wanted to play around with greens and reds so I decided to use his as a guide to lighting and temperature changes.

Andrew Loomis Portrait Studies

Copy of Andrew Loomis Portrait Study

4" x 2"

I have some more small paintings to post but I first would like to spend some time on portrait studies. It is important to constantly study how different painters handle color, value and shape handling. James Gurney mentions in his amazingly informative blog the necessity to copy other artists to truly understand the way that artist's method. The study above is from Andrew Loomis's "Creative Illustration". He has a page of four portraits with different tones, colors, hues and the skin's effect with each palette.

I made a black and white photo copy of Loomis's four small portraits on one letter size sheet. I matt mediumed it. Then tried to copy the colors and tones he was using. This is the second one I did. I found the reflective light to be the most exciting part of the painting. Afterwards I found another image of the portraits online (the link above) and see a different color combo that has much more depth. That's what I get for using a bad color photo copy for my reference!

Distelfink Girl

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As you will see from my previous sketch I made a few changes such as the main circle. I already focused on double distelfinks in the hair I though it was a bit redundant to feature another one. I decided to use the Rosette hex which symbolizes good luck for each month which is represented on the outer ring of the circle. The inner rosette is an added good luck for difficult times of the year. Every symbol represents something positive...from the tulips to the oak leaves.

Distelfink Girl

This is a sketch for a current project involving personalities from Lancaster county. It will be featured in a local magazine and gallery show at PCAD along with several other artists interpretations. I've had the itch to create something with hex sign elements and snagged the opportunity to incorporate these symbols into a profile portrait. Distelfink is Pennsylvania Dutch (German) for Golden Finch. Depending on the number of them and how they are interacting the meaning behind them can vary. The basic idea is good luck and harmony. I'll be sure to post the final when finished.

Graphite on Vellum