Fun, little 9"x 12" commissioned oil painting I completed last month.  The cabin is somewhere in the mountains near Mathias, WV.  I went up and photographed the cabin one evening right before the sun began to set.  There were no sheep or mountains in the background, so I added those at the request of the client.  Good to do a landscape again.  I haven't painted one in a while.  A great exercise in loosening up and letting go, letting the organic nature of the shapes take away some of the control.  Feels great using bigger brushes for a change as well.

Art Lotto Portrait

A blog post is well over due so I'll try to include some back payments in the coming weeks.  Things happen in life and suddenly you run out of time.  Also, sometimes you just can't post certain work.  

Heres a portrait of fellow artist, Kurt Rosenberger, I did for a collaborative "Art Lotto" in which 40 odd artists from the community and abroad drew names out of an old Bingo ball tumbler.  The artist drawing a name then created a portrait in his or her selected medium of the artist they randomly drew to be revealed in a joint show three months down the road.  Everyone created one portrait and had a portrait created of them.  The beautiful brain child of Brandy Somers and Denise Kanter Allen. 

I was lucky to draw my good buddy Kurt's name.  Props to his patience and shoulder endurance while photographing him for this 9"x 14" oil painting.

Brandy and Kyle's Art Show Flyer

 This is a last minute drawing I designed for my friend's camera centric art show flyer.

Killer Queen

 
Here's a sneak peak at some art I'm working on for a collaboration with an SF based design firm.  This is the partially rendered value component in graphite.  There will be additional component surprises added very soon! 

The Folklorist

 

The first version of this oil on masonite was completed at the beginning of my studies.  Those of you who've seen the original know that this is a MASSIVE REWORK without actually "starting over".  Sometimes you just have to white out 75% of your painting to get it right.  Enjoy!

Train Hopping

Sorry for the big delay in posts.  I've been trying to finesse some old works and get a web site together all while packing.  Here's the latest rework of one of my Hobo Journey series.  Oil on board.  Also, be sure to check out the new site and let me know what you think! 

ToddKentonYoder.com

Thesis Work

Here are a handful of oil paintings for the picture book I'm working on.  Most are roughly 17"x 20" ish...

 Graphite drawing on gessoed masonite.























The scene above is a good example of where these paintings reach a pivotal decision making point.  Where, and how much opaque paint to utilize on top of this more or less finished wash layer/ drawing.

Good example of illustration problem solving;  "what we have here... is a failure to communicate."  In my underdrawing, the arm on the right hand figure wasn't reading and neither was the baby grand piano in the back...which I bought in Chinatown for this very scene.  Also, the gesture of the figure on the far left was too similar to the one of the far right.   Sooo...

 


...I repainted a large portion of the piece after the first few layers were down, adding a pipe to the left figure and changing the gesture of the right foreground's hand.  The piano Christmas ornament I used for reference was a waste, but I like it better now.  And I learned from it!  Even if I did waste hours on Ebay searching for doll furniture.



Riding the rails over the great Mississippi.

Sensing a musical element yet?

The most fun I've had drawing in a while.

 Nearly at the level of some of the more refined pieces in the book.  Still, a fun two page landscape of the book.
More later!