I got so involved in putting dots on canvas board that I nearly forgot to write this post. Glad I remembered it. I’ve been pretty busy this week. In spite of it being vacation. Or maybe because of it.
In case you missed it, I finished the Gibson Guitar Head Stock painting last week. I’m excited to have it done. And of course as soon as I had the varnish dry I had to start on not one, but two new ones. Not the same size and certainly not anything as simple looking as the Gibson. Here are the beginnings of the work. As you can see, I sort of went from sketch outline to ink dots pretty quick with one of them.
So I’m doing the tail piece to a Gretsch that belongs to a colleague of mine. It’s a nice guitar. But he says that it’s not one that you can pick up and start playing if you are a bit rusty. He says it really requires you to be in playing shape to do it any kind of justice. Fortunately that is not the case for painting/stippling it. Because I’m not quite back into playing shape. But I’m in stippling shape. As you can see from these W.I.P. (work in progress) pictures.
I am also working on the shoulders of an Ovation Celebrity. This one is mine. And as I got to sketching it out and looking at the finish on it and the detail around the sound holes I realized that I might have bitten off a bit more than I counted on. It’s certainly not going to be as basic as the Gibson either. Still, I think it will turn out pretty cool if I am able to execute my vision of it. It’s a little larger than the Gretsch piece or the Gibson piece so there is a lot more work to be done. I’m making pretty good progress I think. Here are a few of the W.I.P pictures so far.
Oh, and I even tried to paint outside one day. It turns out that 10:00 in the morning in August in the Carolinas is not really a comfortable time for that. But, hey, my coffee stayed nice and hot.
And guess what. I did indeed finish this year’s Holiday Card. Yep, the 2016 Holiday Card from SusanG Productions is complete. Here’s a preview of it, in case you miss the official notice when I post it. It will be up on the store by the time you get this.
I usually try to have W.I.P. pictures to share as I go but I got so involved in putting this together that I forgot to stop and save some of the test renders.
Now, in addition to the guitar paintings, I’m back to putting together a Halloween Card. I’ve settled on the basics of what I think I want. Now I’ve got to put it together. It does require some modeling. Though not for the pumpkin. I’ve got a Jack’o lantern I want to use, so, I need to build the scene and whatever additional staging I want. Here’s the start. I’m going to use a front porch. I am still working out all the details. In poking around, I found that 3DS Max has some pre-modeled architectural features that I can use. I’ve inserted some windows and a door here. I thought I was going to use them but I’m not very fond of the 
look so I will use them for guides and place-holders for the moment and I will model what I want.
I’m not sure I’m going to have this done for Halloween this year. I’ve started very late on it. But I will do my best to have it up by the day, even if it’s a little late to send it to someone, at least it will be there for next year.
And if that wasn’t enough to be doing I also went to check out the Blues Jam. I played with these guys for about a year when I first moved to the area then things got a little crazy and I had to take a break. It was their last Sunday jam until the end of football season and since I’m on vacation, I figured it would be my best opportunity to see what’s up. Though I was invited to, I didn’t play. I’m a bit rusty. And wow, I need to practice. There were a lot of good musicians there. I’m not sure I could have kept up with them. But who knows, maybe after football season ends. I should try to get some practice time in before then.
With all the art projects and Taekwondo and the day job, that could be a challenge. I’ll have to see how that works out. I have a few art projects that I really want to get done. The Halloween Card, and the Worm Guy and the squirrel and squid, just to list a few. As always, I hope to make even more progress on things this week, even if I decide to brave the tropical storms and make a trip over to Myrtle Beach. Ah, hurricane season.