Dripping Rubies part 2

I decided to rework a few areas on Ruby. I think she looks a little nicer now... Her teeth are a little straiter, Her shoulder now seems more in prortion and I put in a background while I was in there messin around. I even threw in a little tribute to the town I live in... Las Cruces. (The Crosses)

Dripping Rubies- Vampire artwork

This is done on Illustration board with watercolor and acrylic. It has hand laid gold leafing on the sword and the dress detail work. You can find products featuring her and others in my store below!


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Lilith - Womb of Darkness 22x30 - Gold Leafing

Now here is the censored version with a little design work for T-shirts and crap....

Lilith Sneak Peek - Gold leafing

I went and picked up all the supplies I needed to do the gold leafing. I wasnt happy with their "green" so I decided to *sigh* do it by hand. This creates more steps to the final process but I think it will be worth it.





Also I have added a Skull Pile style border to the picture. I think it does a good job of unifying the piece.

Lilith Sneak Peek

Here is some of the WIP photos. Its still being worked and the wings arent even on yet but at least you will get to see where she is.

I think I am going to do the wings in 24k greentint gold leaf but I havent decided what to do with the floor/foreground.

Oh and yeah this painting is XXX and this doesnt show the whole painting. The only reason I decided to bump this painting from R to X is the subject matter. Lilith as described in the previos post would 100% be X-rated.

Lilith - Womb of Darkness

I have been doing so many ACEO cards lately that I got the bug for some large artwork so Im doing a 22x30 of Lilith. Im not sure why it went this way, but it did. The work itself is done in watercolor as a base then highlighted and worked with acrylic on 300lb cold press paper.

Let me give you a little background on Lilith....

Semitic legend describes Lilith as having a "base" nature and a taste for biting Adam and drinking his blood. She had refused to submit to Adam's authority (and a preference for being "on top"), and in a fit of pique, she uttered the ineffable name of God and flew up into the air, only to be cast down by God into the desert wastes where she took up residence. (The only mention of Lilith by name in the standard Christian Bible is in Isaiah, where a passing reference is made about her living in the desert.) Lilith is described as either a winged serpent or a screech owl (or a anthropomorphic combination thereof) who murders infants (it would appear from the perspective of modern medicine that infants who succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome would have been thought to have been victims of Lilith), and who torments men at night who sleep alone -- the original succubus.

- Lilith is called the Isheth Zenunim (Woman of Harlotry) in Jewish folk literature, and lives inside mirrors to seduce the vanity of young girls.

- Some Biblical scholars relate her to the female form of the arch-demon Leviathan, and the "Great Whore of Babylon" in Revelation.

- In the Qabalah, Lilith is associated with the Qlippothic Shell of Nehemoth, the antithesis of the Sphere of Malkuth on the Tree of Life. Malkuth/Nehemoth is the "Kingdom" of the Earth in Assiah, or the Material Plane. This is co-incides with the legends of the Zohar, where Lilith is bound to the Earth eternally, free of the curse of Death but unable to transcend to the higher realms.

- The Hebrew prophet Nahum describes the armies of Assyria as being led by Lilith: "The horsemen lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is no end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot [i.e. "lilitu" or Lilith], the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts". [Nahum 3:1-4]

- She returned to Eden in the guise of the Serpent, who tempted Eve with the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. This was a recurring image in Christian art of the Middle Ages, where the serpent is depicted with the head of a woman.

- Lilith was once the consort of Sameal (Lucifer) in Hell, but she proved to be too much even for the Prince of Darkness to handle, who eventually banished her back to the desert.

- As the first vampire, who came to Cain after he was banished by God for the murder of Abel and together they begot the curse of vampirism on the world.

- She coupled with the Djinns (Jinn or genies) in the desert, and so was the breeder of the "Lilum", or the earth-bound demons -- hundreds(!) every day, according to legend.

- In Teutonic legends, Lilith is often associated to the fire, as she has been described as a beautiful creature from head to navel, but as a 'burning fire' from naval to toe.

- Lilith was the war goddess who destroyed Job's sons in the desert, and freed the animals they had captured. (Lilith loves all animals, as she has since she ruled in Eden, for their feral wildness and their pure innocence.)

- Some say that Lilith ruled as Queen of Sheba, and again in Zmargad; and appeared before Solomon's throne disguised as a harlot from Jerusalem. Suspecting who she was, Solomon tricked her into exposing her owl's-feet -- he had the floor of his throne room covered with clear glass, giving it the appearence of water, so Lilith had to lift her skirts when she entered.

All this is possible because though Lilith was human, she escaped the curse of death which overtook Adam, since they had parted long before the Fall.

And Last but not least is the actual 16th century text --- The invocation spoken by the M.O. is the text of a message delivered by an unidentified spirit entity to Sir Edward Kelly in 1592 during a scrying ritual. Kelly, along with Dr. John Dee (Queen Elizabeth's Royal Astrologer), originated the Enochian system of magic. The vision of this entity so frightened Kelly that he abandoned the working of magic from that day forward. Though Kelly never identified the entity, in our opinion it represented the Lilith egregore.


"I am the daughter of Fortitude and ravished every hour from my youth. For behold, I am Understanding, and science dwelleth in me; and the heavens oppress me. They covet and desire me with infinite appetite; for none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stars, and covered with the morning clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beasts of the field understand me. I am deflowered, yet a virgin; I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many symbols, and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not. Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make yourselves holy, and put on righteousness. Cast out your old strumpets, and burn their clothes and then I will bring forth children unto you and they shall be the Sons of Comfort in the Age that is to come."

I believe this section of text will be included in the artwork itself in some way.

Starwars! Master Yoda

OK OK... so I like Starwars. And What??

I was having so much fun with my ACEO's that I got all tied up in some starwars art. I pulled an all-nighter for these two.

I made this ACEO of Master Yoda cause , well, he's MASTER YODA! When he battled the emperor in Revenge of the Sith, we all know we got excited when Yoda started Kicking imperial ass!

Here is my little Homage' to the Master - Size matters Not!

This one took a long time in comparison to others. Its one of my Favorites.

Starwars! The Battle for Hoth

OK OK... so I like Starwars. And What??

I was having so much fun with my ACEO's that I got all tied up in some starwars art. I pulled an all-nighter for these two.

The Battle for Hoth - I made this painting because it reminded me of a model I built with my Dad about when I was 9 or 10. It was 3 AT-AT's in an entire diorama scene that took up half the kitchen table. It was soooo Cool.

The Ghost with the Most

Here is another ACEO " The Ghost with the Most" guess who? If you are a child of the eighties like myself, you know who it is! I got demon runnin alllll through me!

Anyway - check it out! Hes waiting in the Graveyard...

Barbarella - Queen of the Galaxy

So here is an ACEO ( Art Card Edition or Original) which is OOAK (One of a Kind).ACEO's are standard size of 2.5 x 3.5 in. I learned these terms on EBAY where they sell these cards. I wanted to do something new and cool so I thought - Space Babe! and who better than the Queen herself.

I like Space Chicks and I hope you do too!

Serenity - A new painting

Serenity is the title of my newest painting. It was just a gesture or feeling the paining seemed to capture. I had the image in my head and all I could think about was how " in the zone" she seemed to be- lost in the ecstasy of dance and light.

This will be #2 in my portfolio. Even if I cant get my show at the end of the summer, I would like to have a portfolio to show for.

Buick Eight

So Yeah you Fiends, I do Hotrod art too!

As you may know I love old cars. I photograph the interesting ones and sometimes make them paintings. I think my next painting will be my 62 Mercury's 292 V8. Ill post it up after I get it started and photographed. Any how - here is a sample of my Hotrod artwork. I call this one "Buick Eight"...


Basically this is a watercolor on illustration board, so its more or less a rough draft I could use to make a painting more finished and color rich. Dont forget, I do commissions! If you have a hotrod you wanted a painting of...well, you know.

Building up to the show !

Hi friends and fiends!

Well, I just sent a photo of my first "show piece" to my art dealer in Dallas, TX. Its a funny thing about how I met my art dealer , Susan. I was at the 2007 SAA ( Society of American Archeology) convention in Austin and after a long day of discussing native peoples, Aztec astronomy and other cool stuff, we decided to continue our discussions over drinks at the hotel. A friend of ours ran into a former colleague who was there with Susan. Susan and I talked Art while they talked about rocks and archeology stuff. I exchanged emails with her and after I returned home to Las Cruces, NM. I sent her an email. That fall I painted her 8 abstracts for a show that she had only 3 weeks to put together.Of course they all sold since they were commissioned for a fancy dining room opening. I literally had to paint , stretch canvas and gesso non stop for about 4 or 5 days. My house was like a painting factory. It was like Captain Insano took the helm for a bit there but it was so much fun. I would do it all over again , no problem.

By the way- if anyone out there in the land of interwebs wants to book me for a show or commission - contact me and if its a large assignment, dont be surprised if I defer you to Susan for the arrangements and details. I am an artist not a schedule/detail/price negotiator- just an artist.

Oh so anyhow- once I get my pieces finished this summer, I hope to have a show in the late summer early fall. It would be at a venue set up in Dallas with Susan.

Burlesque 18x24 Acrylic

Here is my first portfolio piece. I decided that as much as I enjoy the visual elements of Watercolor, Acrylic is much more appropriate for my style and for building my portfolio. Watercolor definitely teaches your brain to see the blocks of color and shapes as a sectional piece. It isn't the style that allows you to basically draw with paint. Its the most common mistake for a painter. Now dont get me wrong , precision has its place but I think that is a place living next to graphic arts.

But Painting...painting makes strokes, fields of color and and tricks the eye if done properly. When it comes to looking at something, your brain wants to pick up on familiar patters and shapes. As a painter you want to take advantage of that habit by allowing a bit of non-precision to to show the viewer a picture that he/she can fill in the detail in their minds eye. This is the difference to me between a painting and a drawing(with paint). Interesting?

With a loose painterly style you can capture movement and perspective without the the viewer attempting to mentally critique your technical skills in the details. Painting creates a FEELING of the image, at least I try.

Comin up for air!

Wood Nymph 24x36 WC







I finally came up for AIR !!!!!! As you may have read, I painted this butterflady for a friend. I am not 100% with watercolor yet but this was a fun piece. I unintentionally made her very INTENSE . I may change the name to " Angry wood nymph " . In case you dont know...there is no making mistakes in watercolor. If you mispaint a line, you better figure out how to make it part of the plan. Ha ha ha. Sometimes this leads to artistic serendipity but not always. In this case, the paint said she was not a happy forest denizen, but rather a bothered one. Such is life...

Warning: Attack Rabbit

I went into my studio today to take some pics of my "sexy lady with buttrfly wings" watercolor, and this is what I find, lol.



Maybe because of this fearsome guy!


" WHAT!?"

62' Mercury

The Mercury needed a once over before its completely ready for summer duty so I spent most of yesterday on her. I cleaned up all the dust and cobwebs from the sleeping giant.



There were a lot of very unhappy bugs living in the nooks of the engine compartment.




She is much happier now ! Every girl likes to look pretty!

This summer I may take the time to finish the interior, such as, painting the trim and redo-ing the door panels... still deciding on whether to paint some ghost flames into the interior trim there or maybe the steel dash?



Youll probably be seeing more of the 62 Merc.

Poor little Bun...

Well, sorry for the delay in posts but poor little Bun has a sinus infection and has to take really icky medicine. Bun was X-rayed and tested and all that stuff so it turns out he will be fine once he gets this infection worked through. I hope to get back into the swing of things this week. The day before yesterday the house wiring went bad and I had to call the land lord- thankfully we werent without power for too long. Me and the bunnies need the POWER!!!!!

On a nifty note- Our neighbor got a bunny and he is a distant brother/cousin to Marley, they came from the same breeder! The neighbors picked him up this spring and didnt even know they had house bunnies living next door! It was pretty exciting for us to have family so near! Yay!

A sexy lady with butterfly wings...

So I was sitting around with Jennifer and I was wondering what I should work on next. She says, "How about a sexy lady with Butterfly wings"?

I thought about it for a moment because I normally dont do things like that. Not the sexy lady part but the butterfly part. I am USUALLY against things like fairies and sprites in art unless it is something really different or original. Fairies and such have been done soooooo many times. But Im doing it anyway, haha.

Normally Jen doesnt make suggestions so I was already considering it but then she told my why she suggested it and I had to agree.

This will be a good tester for me- lets see if I can deliver on a request. If this was a commissioned piece, would I pull it off?

Yesterday i went through my studies to see if I could find an inspiring pose. I found a pretty good one I can work from. I need to find some butterfly wing pics so I can get the shapes and colors in the correct proportion. I hope to get some drawing done today but I have a sick bunny rabbit to take care of.

My littlest forest friend, Bun, has a head cold or something so he is going to the Vet today to get some medicine for his little bunny noggin. Here is a picture of "Bun".



Bun is the little brown guy in the front of the picture, The little white guy with the basket in his mouth is "Marley" and the big white girl is "Eve". These are my little forest children.

After the Vet, maybe I can get some work done. Today is my last day before they turn off the cable TV. I had to cancel it until I have more $$. Oh well - less commercial advertising cant hurt, right?

Behrens Angels turn to mud....

Well, I said this was an experiment, lol...I believe I need to retire this painting. One of my struggles is to stop myself from making mud- both in paint and in image flow. You see, This painting , although it had promise, has gotten too convoluted to be good. My colors are getting muddy, m having to blend in so much color to achieve the saturation of color I want. Also the Image itself is getting confusing with all the swirling colors and pushing/pulling of background depth.

So the next experiment will be to see if I can clean this problem up in a new painting.

Building the Portfoliio part 2

It's Sunny and 80F outside today in Las Cruces on this wonderful 4-20! Happy April 20th ! Well I worked pretty late last night. I have a lot to show you.



This is the central image inspired by the lamp shown in part 1. The lamp itself was designed by Peter Behrens in 1902. Originally made from bronze and colored glass.


This next image is also inspired by Peter Behrens from the large Turin exhibition of "Hamberg Hall".
I decided to mirror them on either side of the central figure.











OK- And more painting painting painting ...

Building the Portfolio

All right, Now that I have my studio set up to work - I need to build a professional portfolio. I went to the paper store last night and picked up 10 sheets of 22x30 140lb(300g/square meter) cold press. Very nice paper, I actually got home filled with excitement about my paper, haha. I guess you develop an appreciation for quality paper over time.

I have this picture I am working on for my first portfolio piece. I am really influenced by Art nouveau style works and architecture. The organic lines and shapes stir up the thoughts. It makes me feel the same way as art from the Hellenistic period. They both capture the motion and emotion of living forms.

The Studio - Where I work!

This post will be about my studio. No artist can really work freely without a dedicated studio. It is essential. I mean, If every time you need or want to work, you had to set up and tear down a "mobile studio" you wouldn't be very motivated. I know motivation is my problem sometimes.


Unfortunately my studio is also the only place for storage, ack! so today I plan on rearranging my studio and cleaning it up a bit so I can work more. here is a list of things I cant live without in my studio.
Paint
Canvas
Illustration board
a drawing board
an easel

A computer(painter IX,adobe creative suite,imageready,premier pro,macromedia web developers suite,flash professional and last but not least MUSIC!)
18x12 Intuos 3 graphics tablet
Pencils/pens
Quills
A tall cushioned swivel rolling low-back chair
Lights!
still and video camera
large work table

These things are the weapons of my trade.

So what should I do with this blog?

Ya know, I used to have a few websites and I really wanted to go somewhere with them but they weren't catching on. One of them was a site called Hellcat Pinups. I really want to continue the name and idea here. The one thing I don't want to do is make my situation so that I am depending on the work of others. That is the primary speed bump last go around. Also - I was way too far out there to do it by myself...I mean all of it. Running print contracts, shipping, sales , recruiting models..arrrrgh it just never ended and by the time I got everything set up I was months and months behind in getting it to come together into something successful. I really needed about 2-3 others who shared my drive. Personally I wanted to just be super-artist and do it all myself.

So why was I doing all this other stuff that was not painting??

Good Question!

A while back I started having cramping problems.Long story short, I was diagnosed with severe Iron overload which messed up my muscles pretty bad. I had to go into infusion therapy, I had to quit taking art school classes to further my skills, I had to shut down the brand new studio I just had built and remodeled and I had to quit my job as a paper importer of fine art paper. Shortly after that, my condition was so bad, I couldn't paint anymore, it just hurt too bad in my hands. For the first time in my life I was on the right road to be an ARTIST but that dream was fading fast...

I would like to say really quick that you shouldn't wait to engage your dreams and begin your life. You tell yourself that time is unlimited or "someday I want to.." and I know I always told myself I would be ok as long as my hands still worked. Let me tell you that when your passion is painting and you watch and feel your hands deteriorate into paintbrush jackhammers on the canvas ... it hurts more than in your hands. Don't wait - it could all just go away.

So thats where I'm at. Online pinup biz.... cant do it alone the way I wanted to. Especially on no budget. But hey, heres the good news- I can paint again.

I am trying to re-invent my technique to accommodate my loss of motor control and I am practicing all the time. I set up my art studio in my house. I started this blog so I can get my art out in front of eyeballs. I plan on seeing if I can do it again.. see if any of you begin to appreciate my work. I want to try and take pictures of my work in progress so you can watch over my shoulder as I make stuff. Here I am at square one...its been a long ride from square negative 9.

My name is Carson , hear me ...paint?

So you are wondering... who the hell are you? What do you do and is it any good? I can talk about what I do but you know, I hear that a picture paints a thousand words or something. The painting above is a digital artwork using Pinter IX and an Intuos 12x18 tablet. The name of the painting is called "Candyland".

The "Candyland" painting was meant to convey a sense of fun but also mystery and movement with a dash of sexy.



This is also a digital airbrush painting using painter IX and my Intuos tablet. I call it "SpaceVegas" . I like this painting because not only does it feature my lovely lovely fiance' , it also has our 1962 Mercury Monterey.

Dont you wanna just go along for the ride? I know I do!

How about a little non-digital art? I know some people think digital stuff probably paints itself( hint: It doesn't ) so Ill show you what comes off the end of my paintbrush or pencils...





This painting is from a show in the Christel DeHaan gallery in Indianpolis, In. It is titled " The shores of Agartha " It is 24x36 acrylic on canvas. In an effort to convey the mystery of Agarthan legend, I painted it in a way which masks the details in "normal" light. But - in sunlight, it comes alive with color and images of the souls and spirits of another world. Just in case you wondered, here is a clip from wikipedia about the mythology of Agartha.

"Agartha is one of the most common names cited for the society of underground dwellers. Shamballa (also known as Shambalah or Shangri-La) is sometimes said to be its capital city [1]. The mythical paradise of Shamballa is known under many different names: It has been called the Forbidden Land, the Land of White Waters, the Land of Radiant Spirits, the Land of Living Fire, the Land of the Living Gods and the Land of Wonders. Hindus have known it as Aryavartha ( literally : The Land or Realm of The Aryans ; the Land of the Noble/Worthy Ones " ) - the land from which the Vedas come; the Chinese as Hsi Tien, the Western Paradise of Hsi Wang Mu, the Royal Mother of the West; the Russian Old Believers, a nineteenth-century Christian sect, knew it as Belovodye and the Kirghiz people as Janaidar. But throughout Asia it is best known by its Sanskrit name, Shambhala, meaning 'the place of peace, of tranquillity.'"

Crazy , Huh?

Come back soon when I have some of my pinup paintings photographed, you wont be sorry!

For now- Its back to the drawing board- Literally.

To whom it may concern...beware of Artist

To whom it may concern -
Today I start this blog which is an experiment of sorts. I was trying to make a website and a store and all of that e-commerce stuff but you know-it cost money to do all that stuff. Also, you need to know many different coding skills(which I do)which can take forever to work out the bugs. After that you need to keep updating and testing, fulfilling orders, packing, shipping,defending the planet vs. the amazon women from the avocado jungle of death, preparing for skynet to kill us all...its just too much for this tired old man.

Here is the challenge - NO BUDGET! So here I am on Blogger.com
You may notice that there are ads on the left side. I am hoping that people will get bored with my drivel and click one in search for greener pastures. Don't feel bad if you do- maybe someday adsense will pay for my art supplies(crosses fingers)

After I get the hang of blogger I will be searching for places to sell t-shirts,coffee mugs,prints and all that stuff free and automatic also. Cafepress,qoop,etsy,lulu and others are on the investigation list.

If you are interested in finding out where I go and how the pay is there...follow along. I plan on trying to use all the modern inter-webs to further my art career and profits. Oh and of course if you see something you like that doesnt yet have purchase method, shoot me an email and I can sell it through paypal.

If any of you in the blogoworld knows any good sites to try out, let me know.

I guess now I need to put on my mad scientist hat and let the experiment begin...now where was my flux-capacitor?

Your friendly neighborhood Artist, Carson McGuire