Stivers Art

Alice in Wonderland (progression)

2011-07-15T23:55:00.009-04:00

It's time for Homearama, again, the annual home show put on by the Home Builder's Association of Louisville. This will be the tenth year I've painted murals for Homearama and the fifteenth different Homearama house. For this year I did an Alice in Wonderland themed playroom for Mastercraft Homes, Interior Design by Liz at Home. You can see the progression of the mural below. You can find more info about Homearama here. Thanks!

What I've been up to lately...

2011-07-03T22:35:00.003-04:00

I've been busy with several projects lately, I've been painting for Homearama (I'm doing a Alice in Wonderland playroom, more on that later), I've been working a lot for Shiraz Mediterranean Grill (that's not ready to show yet), and I've done some other freelance work that I probably shouldn't show yet either but I have done some other very neat smaller murals that I can show you and here they are. Thanks. See more work at Stivers Art.

This boy was crazy about castles.

This little girl wanted a peaceful beach view she could wake up to every morning.

A fun nursery mural that picks up imagery from the bedding.

A foyer faux-finish.

A very cool way to personalize a child's room.

Daycare Mural

2011-03-09T10:57:00.005-05:00

I had the opportunity to do some work for a local daycare recently. It was a fun job and the kids really enjoyed seeing the new mural.

The Progress of this Mural

2011-02-25T17:00:00.006-05:00

This is a mural I did for an elementary school auditorium. It measures approximately 60' x 6' 6". The principal wanted an Arts theme centered around those arts found in the city of Louisville, since that is where the school is located, so I looked to the Louisville Ballet, the Kentucky Opera, Actor's Theatre, and the Louisville Orchestra for inspiration. Most of the figures you see are composites. I would look at between 2-4 photographs, for reference, to draw and paint each figure. The school colors are a deep green so I used a lot of that in the background.

Before I get started, my adjustable Bil-Jax scaffolding, awaiting.

Applying a tinted, high adhesive primer. I like to start from a middle tone, this time grey.

Starting to draw out the figures, I use a grid method and prismacolor pencils. They don't tend to mix with the paint, however, some colors I've used have bled through after I've applied a sealer.

With the style of painting I was doing here, I went ahead and outlined my figures in black and started to paint them in. The kids really enjoyed seeing them come to life.

More and more of the figures coming out of the wall. I was struggling to find the right skin tone on the female cello player.

Moving right along, you'll notice I hadn't yet drawn in the far left of the mural. My original sketch didn't quite work once I got on the wall and I was still trying to figure out what to fit into that area.

Well, I still hadn't figured out what to do with that far left part of the mural and all of my other figures were painted so it was time to start painting in the background.

You get a general sense of the Louisville skyline just in shapes and colors but now I really need to figure out what I am doing to the left.

So I add some actors and the conductor. They aren't looking right quite yet.

But finally after about 5 weeks the mural is complete. The kids really enjoyed getting to watch me paint and I so enjoyed being able to bring this to their school. Now here are some detail shots.

It was fun, but I was happy to be finished.

2011-02-23T11:36:00.002-05:00

I just finished applying some plaster to a series of six columns throughout this home to give them more of an old world look. I applied thin layers of 4 different tinted plasters in three coats and then put a ceramic matte sealer over the plaster to get the look.

Some More Murals

2011-02-10T20:16:00.005-05:00

My most recent work. A lot of cracks and crumbles. A slight under-estimation of time on my part.
The hometown team logo in a basement exercise room.

I had done a smiling sun for a couple several years ago for their boy. They wanted a girl version for their new daughter.
This was part of the same room I showed earlier.

For a boy who loves Hot Wheels!

New Murals

2011-02-01T21:31:00.004-05:00

Finally, posting some more of the work that has been keeping me busy the past few months. This first one is for a girl's bedroom.

A very tricky space to paint in. This is a deeply curved niche that got a custom non-figurative painting with lots of metallic paint and a plaster base coat.

A giant teddy bear eating some ice cream.
A map for a nursery.

A ceiling inspired by the ceilings at the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Long Time, No Post

2011-01-21T15:56:00.005-05:00

It has been a really, really long time since I have posted anything but I have not been idle. I thought I would share some of the projects I have been busy with instead of blogging.

The first is a metallic silver faux finish for a master bedroom I did several months ago. It has a layer of plaster and then various paints and metallic glazes over that.
This is a popular theme. I did this for a couple of boys as part of a larger remodel. I'll have more from this project later.

An Arts themed mural in an elementary school auditorium. It measures about 60' by 6' 6". I have a lot of progress and detail pics I will try to post soon.

A happy tree with a happy little squirrel eating ice cream in a nursery.
A mural for a home theater. The figures aren't quite caricatures but close. The client wanted it a little more fun than a straight up representation.
That's it for now. I have a few more things that I've done to show. I will try to be more regular about posting. Thanks!

2 weeks, 3 murals and a faux finish

2010-07-12T11:10:00.007-04:00

So it's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've been incredibly busy getting ready for Homearama, a home show put on by the Louisville Home Builder's Association. There are ten homes in the show this year and I painted murals in two of them. Due to the circumstances of working in the show I had two weeks to complete three murals and to faux finish a dining room ceiling. It took 170 hours to complete all of the projects. It was a long two weeks. The sports mural is about 28' by 9'. The graffiti wall is 14' by 8' and the Navy SEAL is about 10' x 6'. The show started this weekend so its been nice to hear everyone's comments. I still need to get some better photos but here is what I have so far. Enjoy. As always you can see more of my work at stiversart. Below you can see progress of the murals.

Sketckbook

2010-06-07T11:28:00.003-04:00

Here are some sketches for a possible mural for a boy's room. It is a very big room and the plan is to paint some trees, bugs, lizards, and other assorted boyish things around the room with these boys being the focus.

Check out other children's artists sketchbooks at http://etsychildrensartstreetteam.blogspot.com/2010/06/sketchbook-sunday.html

Etsy Children's Art Street Team

2010-06-06T16:27:00.002-04:00

A couple of months ago another Etsy seller, Lisa from Bumblejack, and I started discussing the idea of forming a group of Etsy artists making children's or storybook art. We've finally got the team rolling with a great group of artists and are really excited about what we have planned. We are still waiting on confirmation from Etsy to be an official "team" but we are moving ahead with our plans anyway. It's taken up a lot of time lately so I haven't been posting much here. Make sure you check out our team blog at http://etsychildrensartstreetteam.blogspot.com/

Check often we have a lot of fun things planned as well as some great promotions you won't want to miss.

Thanks!

The pirate raid continues....

2010-05-24T16:00:00.003-04:00

One more pirate complete. My original plan was to only paint the four but there are two more drawn out and they sit there, staring at me, looking all sad without paint on their face. So, maybe one more.

The Pirates keep coming...

2010-05-21T14:31:00.004-04:00

One more Pirate finished. I have one more that is nearly complete and two others that I have drawn but I'm not sure if I'll paint them or not. I may go back to the Astronaut paintings for a bit to keep from being bored. I have many sketches and faux-finishing samples I'm preparing for prospective clients so things are fairly busy at the moment. I would like to be able to wrap up the astronaut series before I get into my busy period but knowing me that's probably not going to happen.

Another Pirate...

2010-05-20T13:02:00.002-04:00

It's so nice working small. I've been doing this long enough to realize that it's more about the process than the product but it feels good to just get something done every now and then. I finished this guy up last night. Captain Droopystache.

Pirates!

2010-05-19T14:41:00.005-04:00

In an attempt to feel productive I went back to working on the 5" x 7" pieces of wood I have laying around. I had some sketches of some pirates I had done while prepping for a mural a while back that I wanted to work with so I did a few more sketches and then got to painting. Here is the first. A salty first mate who I haven't named yet. You can see the mural I did that inspired this little series below and more of it here.

Painting, not Posting

2010-05-13T23:58:00.006-04:00

So it's been a little bit since I've posted anything. I've been trying to finish up a couple different projects that I finally wrapped up today. First up is a window mural I did for Shiraz Mediterranean Grill. I actually finished the painting a couple of weeks ago but just got back there tonight to photograph and seal it. It covers the backside of a menu that they have facing the street so they aren't losing any view by having me paint over their window. They wanted to continue the view of the street but in a more stylized painterly fashion which I think I was able to do. It is a small mural but it has a big impact. If you are ever in Louisville, check out the Frankfort Ave. location, to see the mural in person.

Next we have a painting of My Old Kentucky Home, which has taken a very long time to get around to finishing. This was actually supposed to be a Christmas present to my parents and then I was hoping to have it finished by Mother's Day. Well, I almost made Mother's Day. Better late than never. They loved it, or at least they acted like they did.

I also got around to painting over the astronaut's rocket. I think it helps the boy pop from the composition more and the subdued tones work better with the other "nighttime" works that I've done. I also think I've figured out how to do the other two pieces in this series and am well into the second piece.

As always you can see more of my murals at www.stiversart.com

and you can purchase prints at Moany and Lalla's.

Nighttime for the Astronaut

2010-04-27T15:14:00.004-04:00

I finally got around to painting one of the "Nighttime for Astronaut"series. I have had these sketches laying around for 4 or 5 months. I am not completely satisfied with the compositions I sketched out for the other two so no telling when the series will be complete. I am trying to get at least three vertical compositions out of the series with the action all occurring on the same plane and in the same scale. I like setting limitations on my compositions, but in this case, it is causing me headaches. I may have to break some rules.

As always you can see more of my work here.

Adding Dimension

2010-04-23T18:05:00.003-04:00

After painting the movie marquee mural the clients felt it needed an added element of dimension. Due to the limited space I was working in, it was challenging but I think I was able to use some of the existing painting to create a new and more dimensional marquee. Here are some pics with some of how it looked before.

Cabin's New Video

2010-04-22T23:07:00.003-04:00

Check out this new music video by Cabin. It was directed by a friend of mine, Brent Dedas, who teaches art at the University of Toledo. Find more of Cabin here.

Original Video

The CD release party will be at Headliners in Louisville on June 18th. The album will soon be available at Itunes & Amazon. Directed by Brent Dedas

While you're poking around, take a look at Brent's site as well, you won't be disappointed.

The coolest thing I've seen in awhile.

2010-04-16T18:43:00.008-04:00

I am fascinated by big complicated "simple" things like this, but I am incredibly irritated that the left part of it is cut off by blogger.

Treasury East

2010-04-16T17:49:00.005-04:00

So Etsy has rolled out this new treasury feature to make it possible for everyone to put together collections of their favorite items for the world to see. If you are not familiar with Etsy, before you had to wait by your computer for hours for the instant a new treasury would open just for the opportunity to put a thematic list of items together. No more! I had never had the chance to participate in that facet of Etsy culture but I have now, you can check out my first treasury here. It features lunar inspired art for kids. Please comment over on the treasury if you would be so kind. Thanks!

And the winner is....

2010-04-11T21:22:00.004-04:00

And the winner is......

Bethany Dirksen! I would like to thank everyone for entering my print giveaway and remember if you didn't win you can always head over to my Etsy shop, Moany and Lalla's, and purchase a fabulous fine art print for your nursery, child's room, playroom, or whatever room you fancy, they can really go anywhere! Thanks!

Also, check out Bethany's shop, dirksen dabbles, she has some great originals for sale for very reasonable prices.

Movie Marquee Mural and other stuff...

2010-04-08T21:09:00.003-04:00

I finished painting the movie marquee mural today. I think it turned out great. Not much else to say about that. I then moved on to the other project I've been working on.
One more step to go. You can start to get an idea of how the finished wall is going to look which should be cool. Hopefully a short day tomorrow.

I also notified the winner of the print giveaway but they haven't gotten back to me yet so I will post when they do. It was someone with an Etsy shop and I sent them a convo, so check your e-mail. Thanks!

Long Day

2010-04-07T20:29:00.000-04:00

I got the first coat of paint up on the movie marquee. I'll sharpen everything up, make the neon look all glowy and hopefully have that finished up tomorrow. Things are progressing on schedule which means I probably won't finish tomorrow because "on schedule" rarely ,if ever, happens.

I then moved on to work on another project I had started last week. It's a powder room that Is getting several different layers of glaze in what, eventually, will be a really nice geometric design. This was the third step in a five step process. Each step doesn't take long but I'm having to wait quite a bit in between each step.

Finally, today is the last day to enter the print giveaway. You have until midnight E.S.T. to enter. Find details here. Good Luck!

Starting a Movie Marquee Mural

2010-04-06T20:58:00.000-04:00

I started to draw out a movie marquee mural today for a client. It will cover a soffit over an entry to a home theater. I always feel like I'm getting ready to build something at this stage rather than getting ready to paint as I spend most of my time with a level and tape measure. I'll start slapping some paint up there tomorrow.

Also, tomorrow is the last day to enter my print giveaway check out this post for details.

Counting Sheep

2010-04-01T21:56:00.000-04:00

The sheep paintings are finally complete. As you can see from the pics I painted the two to work as one continuous scene, however, they are going to be hung on opposite sides of an entryway so I focused the composition more on the individual pieces instead of the whole. I normally wouldn't have had a big tree right smack dab in the center of the painting but I wanted to close in both sides of both paintings so, there you go. I really enjoyed working on these but I was starting to see sheep everywhere. baa!

Print Giveaway

2010-03-29T00:05:00.000-04:00

I'm starting my first giveaway today. It is coinciding with a little Q & A that PoppyPlace did with me over on her blog. The prize is a single print of your choice from my Etsy shop, Moany and Lalla's, no sets or cards but any size, and the rules are as follows: you must be a follower of my blog, and you have to leave a comment either on this post or on the Q & A post over at PoppyPlace to enter. You have until midnight, April 7th, eastern standard time to enter. Please leave some method of getting in touch with you, blog, website, e-mail, etc. Good Luck everyone!

From the Sketchbook

2010-03-28T22:53:00.000-04:00

Some random sketches of fish while watching T.V.

Out to Pasture

2010-03-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

I am just about finished with one of two paintings I've been working on for a client. Of course, as soon as I post this I'll see something that bothers me and have to go back and rework substantial portions of the painting. For now, though, I am trying to leave it alone. My mom was by yesterday, saw it and said it was her favorite thing I've painted and I said what about the mural I painted in your dining room? There was a little backtracking on her part but I was just messing with her.

Frontpage of Handmade Registry

2010-03-23T20:17:00.000-04:00

A couple of my prints from my Etsy shop were featured on the front page of Handmade Registry.com courtesy of a wishlist made by Alison Whittington. Check it out here! You should also check out Alison's work at her Etsy shop, she makes imaginary maps that are really lovely.

The Spring Play!

2010-03-22T12:08:00.000-04:00

The Spring Play series is complete and is available on etsy. I enjoyed working on a small scale for a change, especially since I am working on some larger canvases during the day. You can see more of them here: www.MoanyandLallas.etsy.com
Thanks for following along! I'm torn about what to tackle next. I'm hobbled by a rare surplus of ideas. It's certainly a better problem to have than the alternative.

The Daisy Blooms

2010-03-20T12:41:00.000-04:00

Yet another painting complete. At least until I decide it's not and decide to re-work it. It's really nice working so small I actually feel like I am getting something accomplished. Here is a pic of the most recent and the first four in the series. I have two more planned. I hope to have these up on Etsy by Monday.

Louisville got crushed last night which is disappointing but not entirely unexpected at least my wife won't have to deal with me being consumed by a basketball game for awhile.

New Spring Play Painting.

2010-03-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

I finished up another of the spring play paintings despite spending most of my time working on some other canvases for a client and being incredibly distracted by college basketball. A great start to the tournament yesterday though not a good showing for the Big East. I don't know how much I'll get accomplished today, at least Louisville doesn't play until tonight, so maybe a little.

Flight of the Bumblebee

2010-03-16T21:25:00.000-04:00

I painted another of the "spring production" pieces today. I haven't settled on a title yet, either Flight of the Bumblebee or The Bumblebee Runs Rampant. I spent most of the day working on the large sheep paintings which are still in the drawing stage so it was nice to get on something small for a break.

The Spring Production

2010-03-15T21:17:00.000-04:00

With spring nearly upon us and green stuff starting to peek through the ground I felt the need to go back to my sketch book and revisit an earlier idea I had for a series of children's paintings of a school play about spring. I had abandoned the idea because of time but after going though all of that old artwork and remembering how small I was working because of time constraints I decided to try the same thing with these. So instead of working on 12" x 16" canvases these will be on 5" x 7" birch plywood. I think the format is perfect for the concept and I am really excited to get work this way for a little bit especially because I have some fairly large canvases I have been working on for a client lately. Anyway here is the first one, " The Bluebird Forgets His Line."

Faux Finish for Ceilings

2010-03-15T13:01:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in about a week. I've been fairly busy with these ceilings I've been working on. The finish was a textured metallic gold but the overall look kept coming out too brown so it took it awhile to get to a point where I was happy with it. I think the finished product turned out great. Here are some pics of the progress. The barrel has a different look than the tray.

The coolest thing I've seen in awhile.

2010-03-07T17:32:00.000-05:00

Faux Finish Samples

2010-03-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

I did some samples for faux finishes to go on a few ceilings. We are going to make some some adjustments, texture from one, lighter base and so on. I will probably start on these the middle of next week so look for some pics. I will also be starting on the sheep paintings soon. I need to build the stretcher frames and stretch the canvas this weekend so I can get started.

I erased this post!

2010-03-03T08:38:00.000-05:00

Mural Madness!!

2010-03-02T08:01:00.000-05:00

I have decided to offer a 20% discount to anyone who books a mural, faux finish, or commissioned painting in the month of March. This could be completely mad. It is only good for Louisville and the surrounding areas. Make sure you take advantage of this limited time offer now!

Ghosts of Artworks Past

2010-03-01T02:29:00.000-05:00

I have spent the majority of the day and now well into the next photographing and editing old artwork on the computer. It's been awhile since I have seen some of these. I am debating opening a second etsy shop to sell prints of some of my other art but I'm not sure. I guess if I didn't then today then would seem would like a waste of time. Anyway, here is a taste of some of the random stuff I dug up.

Progress....

2010-02-27T22:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I made some progress today, but not much. With my wife at work and my 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter running rampant throughout the home like wild beasts as I try to paint, I'll take what I can get. I had to paint in bursts. During one of my breaks chasing the kids down I got sidetracked by some older work I came across. I shot some pics and will post some later. Very different than the murals and kids art that I've been painting but I am interested in discovering how that older work informs the stuff I'm doing now. Anyway, here is a pic of what little progress was made on "The Ice Skater and the Ermine."

Moany and Lalla's

2010-02-27T01:16:00.000-05:00

I've been at the computer the past two days getting the new paintings ready for Moany and Lalla's over at Etsy. The prints look great and I think they show really well on etsy. I was hoping to have this series "Daydreams for the Ice Skater" done before the Olympics were over but I only have half of them complete and two more partially started so that's probably not going to happen. Where does the time go?

You can buy prints here.

Will the arctic paintings ever be finished?

2010-02-22T17:19:00.000-05:00

Probably not before winter is over. Thought I would post a progress pic of the next one. I have painted over this one several times. I don't think my initial plan is going to work. It is an ermine leading our girl out of some underbrush. There is a lot of work left to be done on this one.

Sheep Sketches

2010-02-19T19:37:00.000-05:00

I did these sketches for a client interested in a couple of paintings for their home. Should be some fun paintings if they go ahead with it.

Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

Roses on a budget! My wife loves white roses so I took some tissue paper we had in the basement and spent a ridiculous amount of time making 2 dozen paper roses. No water required.

T-shirt designs

2010-02-12T16:10:00.000-05:00

I am doing some design work for some t-shirts. This design was rejected but I thought it was pretty cool.

The first three

2010-02-04T21:08:00.000-05:00

Here are the first three arctic paintings.

Another Arctic Painting

2010-02-03T18:03:00.000-05:00

The third painting. Our ice skater makes her way slowly across a creek in pursuit of an arctic fox who may or may not know the way to a nice frozen pond to skate on.

Ready for Spring

2010-01-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

With spending all the time on the arctic paintings lately and the dreariness outside, my mind has turned to spring. I started doing some sketches for a new series of paintings about a first grade play about spring.

More Arctic Art!

2010-01-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

Our little heroine meets a friendly polar bear who helps her on her way.

I have been doing a lot of house painting to pay the bills so I haven't had as much time on these as I had hoped. Slowly but surely.

Arctic Painting

2010-01-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

The first in a new series of paintings. These are following a little girl through the arctic as she looks for a place to ice skate. There are six planned pieces. Since mural work is pretty slow hopefully I can get these finished up fairly quickly. My basement studio is freezing so I'm working on the dining room table which thrills my wife and kids.

Holiday Slowdown

2009-12-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

The holidays have pretty much brought my painting to a standstill. Hopefully, once the new year rolls around things will get moving get moving again.

2009-12-17T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here is one half of the flowers I painted for a lucky girl. It will continue over the window and onto the other wall. The paint was very thin and took about 4 coats of paint. Needless to say, a little more time-consuming than I thought.

2009-12-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

I did some stripes for a jack and jill bathroom between two very pink girl's rooms. I'm going to be painting silhouettes of flowers in one girl's room and polka dots in the other. Not quite murals but still fun.

2009-12-13T12:19:00.000-05:00

I had a pretty good day at the J-Town Holiday Bazaar despite the low attendance. That's the last one for a while. Time to get back to painting.

J-Town Holiday Bazaar

2009-12-10T22:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a late cancellation, I'll be participating in the J-Town Holiday Bazaar at J-Town High School. It is from 9 to 3 on Saturday. Sorry I don't have much more info but they just called to let me know. I do know that there are over 120 booths. Should be a good show. I have plenty of holiday art, prints and cards left from Winterfair! so hopefully I can unload some of it. If you are in Louisville come by.

Winterfair!

2009-12-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

I had a great show at Winterfair! I decided to be Bold and Cold and it was really freaking cold but I will definitely be back next year. I will have to bring a lot more christmas cards though as I sold out early on.

Faux Finish in Shiraz Bathrooms

2009-12-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

After the menu and logo I started on the bathrooms. I did a really cool textured finish in some very bright colors.

Shiraz Logo Painting

2009-12-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

I got the logo put up at Shiraz. After I finished their menu at their Frankfort Ave. location I took down their old one and painted their logo on the back. Here it is.

WinterFair!

2009-11-30T10:09:00.001-05:00

This Friday and Saturday I will be at WinterFair selling some original paintings and prints for kids as well as some holiday stuff I've done. If you are in Louisville swing by and say hello. More info can be found here.

Nighttime for the Astronaut (sketches)

2009-11-29T00:58:00.000-05:00

or maybe I will do another nighttime set. "Nighttime for the Astronaut. " Probably won't be as time-consuming but I am pretty heavy on paintings for boys and have nothing painted for girls. Again, these are pretty rough sketches but hopefully you get the idea. I am probably going to regret putting these out there one day. Maybe it pulls back the curtain too much?

Winter Daydream Sketches.

2009-11-29T00:52:00.001-05:00

Trying to decide what to paint next. I will probably start on some winter ones that follow a little girl through the snow as she looks for a place to ice skate. Here are some very rough sketches of what I am thinking.

Pirate Mural

2009-11-25T22:18:00.001-05:00

Here is the pirate mural complete with furnishings.

Treasure Map Bathroom

2009-11-25T22:15:00.001-05:00

The treasure map bathroom connects the Jungle mural room with the Pirate mural room.

More Jungle Mural

2009-11-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

here are some close-ups of the jungle mural.

Jungle Mural

2009-11-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

I did this jungle themed mural last year but lost the pics when my computer crashed. It was part of a 3 room project, with the pirate room first, the treasure map in the jack and jill bathroom, and the jungle room. I finally got back there to get some new pictures and since it is one of my favorite murals I thought I would post them now instead of waiting to update my main website. see more here.

Shiraz Logo Painting

2009-11-25T12:52:00.000-05:00

More work for Shiraz. Seriously, if you live in Louisville you have to eat there. It's fantastic and they keep me in business. Help them grow, the more stores they open the more work I'll have. Thanks!

2009-11-24T19:55:00.001-05:00

No pics. Just wanted to say that progress on some planned paintings has pretty much come to a stand still. There really needs to more hours in the day or I need to find a way to eliminate sleep.

New Greeting Cards!

2009-11-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

I just added greeting cards to my etsy shop. You can purchase them here.

Nighttime for the Woodsman (complete)

2009-11-17T12:30:00.000-05:00

I was able to finally finish the woodsman series. The more I look at them the more pleased I am with how they turned out. Here are some pics. You can purchase prints at my etsy store, Moany and Lalla's.

More Christmas Art!

2009-11-15T11:48:00.000-05:00

Christmas paintings are complete! Finally. I am waiting on a couple of things so that I can start printing them out as Christmas Card sets. I'll post when they are available, either through etsy or if you are local, at the St. Gabriel craft fair on Nov 21 or at WinterFair! at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian on Dec. 4 and 5. It's great to be making so much progress on stuff but it also means that now I've got to go back and finish painting that bear in the winter woodsman painting.

Santa Claus Painting

2009-11-05T22:32:00.000-05:00

I worked on another Christmas painting today. It seems awfully early to be thinking of the holidays but I have a feeling they are going to be over before I know it. I think I will do a couple more of these and then try to to finish that last woodsman painting. I think it will then be time to tackle a series of paintings for girls.

New Holiday Paintings

2009-11-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

I got a little frustrated with the winter woodsman painting so I decided to move on to something else. With the holidays coming up and a couple of craft fairs on my horizon I decided to try and and do a few quick Christmas/holiday themed paintings to make prints and cards from. Here is the first, with the sketch and then the painting, The Snowman.

As always you can see more of my work here.

2009-11-04T13:46:00.000-05:00

I started another Shiraz this morning. They are pretty much keeping me in business these days. It will be another chalkboard menu. It also means a lot of very early mornings and a couple of late nights as I work around the restaurant's hours but they are great to work for so I don't mind.

Nighttime for the Woodsman: Winter (in progress)

2009-11-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

I'm working on the last season. I haven't taken many pictures. I really just thought about it and took this one. I'm well into the painting though and will hopefully finish it up soon.

Nighttime for the Woodsman: Autumn (in progress)

2009-10-26T18:53:00.000-04:00

The third season. A good year to paint this one as the leaves were particularly vibrant around town. If you didn't notice I got kind of lazy about taking pictures.

Nighttime for the Woodsman: Summer (in progress)

2009-10-24T21:28:00.000-04:00

The next painting in the series. Trying to get enough contrast between spring and summer has been giving me difficulty, but I'm liking the way it's looking.

Faux Finishing for Foyer

2009-10-22T17:21:00.000-04:00

Another faux-finishing job. It's fun throwing plaster around but I can't wait to start another big mural.

Nighttime for the Woodsman: Spring (in progress)

2009-10-21T01:36:00.000-04:00

more pics of the of the process. I made a lot of minor changes mainly to do with color in order to get enough contrast between this painting "spring" and the next one, obviously, "summer".

Start of a new Painting

2009-10-18T23:16:00.000-04:00

Back in August I posted some sketches for my new "Moany and Lalla's" series "Nighttime for the Woodsman" I finally got around to starting on painting and took a bunch of pics of the process. Here are the first few.

copper Faux Finish for Master Bath Ceiling

2009-10-14T01:18:00.000-04:00

I finished up the ceiling. It was a pretty quick job. It turned out great.

2009-10-12T13:13:00.000-04:00

I started a faux for a master bath ceiling. It is going to have a copper finish. Here are some pics of the first couple of passes.

2009-10-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

I finished up the underwater mural a few days back. I'm just getting around to putting up the pics. I think it turned out great. I love the killer whale.

Painting the Sea Turtles

2009-10-02T19:06:00.001-04:00

A difficult day of painting sea turtles but I think I'm getting there. See more at stiversart.com.

Progress on the underwater mural

2009-10-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

A couple days worth of painting fish. I'm slow.

Another Underwater Mural

2009-09-29T16:06:00.000-04:00

I started another mural of underwater life today. I drew it out and got started on the killer whale.

Shiraz Menus

2009-09-28T10:41:00.000-04:00

Did some more work for the Shiraz on Hurstbourne. I did two menu boards. The large one is done in pastels, the smaller one towards the back is painted.

Underwater Mural for Boy's Bathroom

2009-09-22T10:35:00.000-04:00

I finished a boy's bathroom recently. It has an underwater theme as you can see.

Sketches for "The Mariner and the Squid"

2009-09-07T13:33:00.000-04:00

After posting some of those sketches I thought I would post some others and the finished painting. Here is the "The Mariner and the Squid" from my nighttime series.

Faux Finishing Samples

2009-09-05T13:25:00.000-04:00

Another Faux finishing sample. This time it is red leather. Sorry the samples aren't photographing that well.

2009-09-04T13:22:00.000-04:00

I've been working on faux finishing samples lately. I did a few variations for a barrel ceiling with a metallic copper look.

Dogs Playing Poker Mural

2009-09-02T13:20:00.000-04:00

I finally got some decent pictures of the completed mural. I was very pleased with the finished product and the clients loved it. You can see more of my murals here.

Sketches for "Nighttime for the Woodsman" series of paintings

2009-08-31T13:27:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to put together some new work for my print shop Moany and Lalla's. This is a new "nighttime"series, "Nighttime for the Woodsman". Here are the sketches and a pic of the first drawing on canvas.

Dog Mural almost finished

2009-08-26T22:13:00.000-04:00

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel on this mural. I just have to finish up the black trim. Hopefully I will be able to get some decent pictures once it is finished.

2009-08-25T22:08:00.000-04:00

I'm getting close on the dog mural. I haven't been able to get as many hours in as I would like. Slowly but surely.

2009-08-22T12:33:00.000-04:00

I just added some new sizes to some of my prints in the shop you can see here!

2009-08-18T19:22:00.000-04:00

I am a little behind in my updates. Here are some from the past few days. I have most everything blocked in and have started to refine some areas. The mural is going well and on schedule for the time being.

2009-08-12T18:26:00.001-04:00

Just about have the drawing finished on the dogs playing poker mural. I'll start slapping some paint on the walls tomorrow.

2009-08-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

I also started a new mural today. I am going to try to post some pics of the progress every day. It is going to be dogs playing poker. The homeowners put up some wainscoting to add to the feel of walking into a new room. Can't really see much but I started to lay out the perspective of the room.