Art update (or almost art)

Finishing up projects for clients lately. The artwork is unpublished so far so I can’t present it here yet. I’ve worked with different techniques in artifact drawing and reconstructions and I’m pleased with the results. It’s good to stretch yourself even if you’ve been using the same technique for over 30 years.  Other projects I’m currently working on are the master bedroom of my craptastic old house (sanding the 130 year old floors took two full days) and starting on ”Foxy” the carousel Fox (pretty original name there). Working in 3 dimensions is quite different but a nice challenge. I have more of an appreciation for sculpture now, and for the strength it takes to swing a mallet for hours.

Downtime

Having trouble with a PC that holds many of my images.  Hope to have some new work up soon. Too busy to keep the web site up-to-date is a good thing I guess.  Clients come first. More later.

Town Hall Meeting

Another quick study of Abraham Lincoln in acrylics.  This piece was an effort in color mixing and was used in the Albany Lincoln Town Hall Meeting in mid March 09.  The pose came from a B&W photo so I experimented with color and highlights. It’s rough but looked great on stage with the presenter standing below.  I have more work to do to tighten up the next image. I’ve added some other views in the Portrait Gallery.

Munchie Gets Cleaned Up

Munchie Feb 25

Just about ready to finish Munchie. The overall image is in place with only a few tweaks left to do. Cleaning up the edges and doing some sanding has started to give him a finished look. Ove the next few sessions I’ll  wrap it up and have the painters do a primer coat for touch-up review.  A full image has been added to the Brass Ring Gallery.

Return of the Blue Figure

The Blue Figure is an acrylic now in a private collection.  This is one of the first figure studies I did learning to use color after 25 odd years of B&W and graphite.  What struck me about the model was the way the light emphasized the bone structure of the back. It looked abnormal.

The photo I took of the original had some defects so I removed it from the gallery and photoshopped it clean. Amazing! She is back in the Portrait and Figure Gallery.

Happy Birthday Abram

©rustyvanrossmann 2009

Portrait of Abraham Lincoln for his 200th Birthday after G.H. Storey. I wanted an image to punch up a patriotic shield used on the Monteith House Museum for a celebration of Oregon’s 150th birthday.  This is a first attempt at a serious portrait study in color. I didn’t have alot of time to put it together so it’s in acrylic.  I like Storey’s style and his unification of color and I learned quite a bit doing it. There are some things I could improve here but the overall look came out well. Looked good on display.  I’ve included  this image and another in the portrait gallery.

Almost done?

Munchie 2_08_09

I was told I can start finishing Munchie as he’s getting close to being done. I’ve started taking the face down for final detailing and adding detail in the saddle blanket so the painters have more guides. I’m finding that just like in 2d, overemphasizing the body mass helps with overall visual acceptance of the image. I’ve gotten a lot better at trusting my senses and whacking away at the wood rather than being too timid and not taking enough wood off. The Carousel “pole” will be hinted at and emphasized by the painters. Even though it’s getting close. I can still see a ton of places I’d like to tune. Knowing when to stop seems to be the same in 3d as it is in 2. 

Powell Cottage

©Rusty van Rossmann 2008

This piece started out as a background for the family tree project.  Subject is the old family homestead in England. A larger version can be seen in the watercolor gallery.

Nice Negative Space Man!

A little more  work  on Munchie this week. Another photo has been added to the Brass Ring Gallery.  Always  good to learn something new (even at my age) . Had an Aha moment when the master carver was helping me with relief depth.  Realized the background was a negative space I could adjust to bring 3D definition to specific points on the figure. Too used to thinking like a 2D artist but the same principle of weighted line applies. It was nice to know my brain wasn’t totally full.

Coyote Returns

© Rusty van Rossmann "Coyote" 1979

 

I’m starting to  add older work to my Artifact Drawing Gallery.  This was a piece done back in 1979 as an excercise in pointillism. The original model was a photograph of a wooden head in a National Geographic Book.  This piece became my logo  early on in my illustration business. What can I say. I was young and thought it was cool. I think it scared clients away.

Regarding Pointillism. I distinctly remember an early job interview where my work was laughed at for its high amount of detail and time involved.  I got the distinct impression they didn’t like pointillism because they couldn’t do it.  I didn’t get the job.