Merry Christmas Everybody!!!

Season's greetings folks! It must be that time of year again as I have found myself doing something art related for the local infants school Christmas Fayre.

This time I was asked to do a Christmas themed cut out face board, like those you see at the seaside, where you put your face through the hole and it joins on to an amusing body.

So a 4ft by 4ft board was procured and the fruits of my festive labour were as thus, modelled by my three little urchins.

Happy Christmas!

Environmrnt No. 5: River Delta

Despite the fact my nose is streaming like a tap, I've finished the last enviro of the week. I guess all those walks in the snow lowered my resistance to the cold germs going around. Nevermind, must soldier on.
So this was another green one, I didn't want to go for a tree themed piece again, as I stared at it I could see little islands surrounded by water emerge.

I worked in some sand coloured paint for where the little rivers would flow and gave a little more definition to the islands.

Then it was just a matter of putting in the water, adding a few highlights for reflected sun and voila, a river delta. I like this one, the fact that it has a different perspective to the others is a plus as well. In review, I think it was a worthwhile exercise this week. It has given the blog a focus and made me write each day, so it is something I will keep doing. I think for the next weekly project I will come up with a creature that would live in each of the five environments presented this week.

Environment No. 4: It's bleak up north.

Just a quick one today folks. No more than a few minutes on this one. The snow has been falling steadily all day and night and we now have a lovely blanket of white.
Did I mention I like the snow? Might have something to do with the fact I don't have to travel to work and there is a sizeable shop just round the corner so I don't have to venture far for provisions.
The kids were off school today and have seized control of the computer and my attention for various projects and homework, so not much chance of any work getting done.


Anyway, this was the yellowy one and as snow was on my mind I went for a snowscape. (By the way,"Never eat the yellow snow.") A tree lined pathway to a snowbound city.

Enviornment No.3 : When all hope is lost.

Well, we did get some snow, had a good snowball fight with my son Robin after school yesterday. The kids were a bit miffed that they had to go to school this morning though.
So, on to day three of the enviros. No process shots for this one as it took shape really quickly.
Starting from the green/blue texture I could see waves, really big waves. The darker marks on the left I thought could be a ship caught in the storm.
So I just darkened the swell of the waves and highlighted their crests. The ship was laid on with the brush tool set to multiply (incidentally, all these pieces have been done in Photoshop elements two.) The little lifeboat in the centre was put in to add some pathos to the scene, the brave souls have escaped the stricken liner but have little chance in the wrath of the sea, hence the title, "When all hope is lost." As regards time spent painting for atmosphere gained, I am pretty happy with this one.

Environment No. 2: The Forest Road.

Oooh, the snow has finally made it to Essex today, so far though it is kind of wet and lame, hoping for some of the good stuff overnight. On to todays enviro. This was the purple green one and it stirred in me images of Mirkwood from the Hobbit so I started off in that vein.

I started putting in some shadows to create the forms of the trees, and lighter areas for the grassy bank over to the right.

Continued building up the forms and the contrast.
Then I added a road in to lead viewers into the picture, the sunlight streaming through the leaves was added last. I think the final result is a little more friendly than what I was originally going for. More like the Night Elf lands in World of Warcraft, but still quite pleased with its atmosphere.

Environment No.1 : Lake Castle.

So, to kick off environment week I started with this texture and it said to me trees and mist and water. I wanted to try and keep a watercolour feel to the piece and so worked on building up the trees quite subtley. I felt it needed a focal point and so put the castle in the lake.

I was pretty happy with the feel of the piece and didn't want to be to precious about it, so to finish off, I adjusted the contrast to give it a little boost and enlarged the castle, as I felt it looked a little puny before.

After I had finished, I was playing about trying to make it look more misty and after having whacked the contrast right down this night time version sort of evolved from it. Changed the season from Autumn to Winter, added a mysterious light to the top castle window and voila same piece different mood. Check back in tomorrow for the next one.

Next week is Environment week.

From Monday I am going to try and do an environment each day till Friday. I want these to be loose, quick environments, as sometimes I can get bogged down in the details and lose the feel of the piece. I have taken a basic texture and am going to see what comes out of each as the mood takes me. The textures you can see here:

So, check back in next week and see what I come up with.