Dinosaur National Monument

This is a 20" x 30" oil painting of a scene in Dinosaur National Monument, located in eastern Utah and western Colorado. Painted from reference photos. This exact scene doesn't exist, as it was cobbled together from two or three different photographs I shot while visiting.

Hamster Original Art Drawing ACEO

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2.5" x 3.5" on bristol board

New Blog

I've started up a new, separate blog for my fantasy art and illustration projects. This will function as the news section of my website. I'll be posting new paintings and finished illustrations there, along with various sketches, drawings, and concepts.

So on this blog I will continue to post still life paintings, landscapes, animal sketches, and other related pieces. The Stungeon Studios blog will be where you can see new paintings and illustrations from the fantastical realm.

Groundhog Original Art Drawing ACEO

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2.5" x 3.5" on bristol board

Red Panda Original Art Drawing ACEO

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2.5" x 3.5" on bristol board

Panda Original Art Drawing ACEO

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2.5" x 3.5" on bristol board

Samhain Raven Sketch ACEO

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Samhain Bat Drawing ACEO

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2.5" x 3.5" on bristol board

Happy Halloween! Here is a Samhain bat in charcoal pencil. No, Samhain isn't a species of bat, but it is the name for the Celtic festival that celebrates the end of summer, the harvest season, and marks the start of the new year. It's the time of year when the boundary between the living and spiritual worlds are at their thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through to this world.

Halloween Sale

All artwork- paintings and limited edition prints- are 30% off through October 31st at my ebay store.

Sanctuary

This is an acrylic painting I did in 2005, and is part of a series of small paintings focusing on trees.

This was back when I was still painting with acrylics. I've pretty much gone back to oils now, but I will probably go back to acrylics every now and then. They do have a few advantages, the main one being they dry so quickly so that if needed, the turnaround time between starting the painting and shipping it off can be next to nothing.

Bald Eagle Sketch ACEO

2 1/2" x 3 1/2" (6.4cm x 8.9cm)
pencil on bristol board
$15 plus $2.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Brand new sketch hot off the drawing board. I'm offering this for sale as an ACEO (Art Cards, Editions and Originals), which is a small piece of art sized 2.5" x 3.5", the standard trading card size. On acid free bristol board.

Woods Sketch

I sketched this one out in Painter. I've only worked with that software occasionally, but should probably do some more with it. I've mainly done the digital art in Photoshop.

Ruins Round Two

4 7/8" x 7 1/4" (12.4cm x 18.5cm)
Oil on panel
$100 plus $7.50 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This is the second in the ruins series, with more to be painted soon.

Abstract Concept in Grey

I was playing around with some photoshop texture brushes and came up with this. I'm not sure if it will ever become the basis for a painting or not, but I find it interesting to look at.

Standing Stones Sketch

Painted in Photoshop. This was a sketch for an acrylic painting from a couple of years ago.

Castle Keep

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And here is the final painting that I did from yesterday's posted sketch.

Castle Keep Sketch

This is a sketch I did the other day for the next castle painting that I'll be posting soon. I sketched it out actual size to the painting (roughly 4" x 7"), using a new pad of Utrecht drawing paper. I opted for the 14" x 17" spiral bound pad and am really pleased with the quality of the paper-- good stuff and it handles charcoal pencil wonderfully.

Ruins

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This painting is loosely based on the Mow Cop castle ruins in England. The design varies from it somewhat, but was my main point of reference for this.

Cherry Tomato

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This will probably be the last of the still life paintings for a bit. I'm planning on continuing a series of paintings focusing on standing stones that I started in 2005, and so will be posting some of those most likely. I also have a series of castle ruins in the works, so that is next up.

Kiwi Slices

Oil on panel
4"x4"

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Painting slices of citrus fruit of any kind is good practice, but kiwi slices seem to be especially good to paint. There is quite a difference in textures between the skin and the inside of the fruit, plus the variation in translucent green color and value to capture as well.

Orange Slice

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This was nice to paint in that it allowed for focusing on the translucent quality of the orange. Plus there is a different light source direction with this one as well.

Avocado

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Oil on panel
$225 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Grapefruit Daily Oil Painting

6" x 6" (10.2cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel

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Another food piece. Painting still lifes is much fun, but an extra little perk is when you paint food, there's a bit of tasty reward at the end. :)

For this piece, I used a combination of brush strokes and palette knife-work, which lent a great feel to the painting. Worked on this painting a tad longer than I'd planned, but in the end the extra effort was well worth it.

Enjoy!

Purple Grapes Daily Oil Painting

4" x 6" (10.2cm x 15.3cm)
Oil on panel
$200 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I set a time limit for this one and more or less stuck to it. Also, before beginning the painting, I decided what I wanted to accomplish with it within that time frame... probably something I should do more often.

I'm trying to get more of these paintings finished and posted on a regular basis, so more soon.

Kiwi Daily Oil Painting

4" x 6" (10.2cm x 10.2cm)

Oil on panel

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I painted quite a lot of this with a palette knife, although it may not be very obvious. I thought using a certain knife technique for the left kiwi half could work out well, and then I thought why not continue on with that in other areas of the painting (mainly in the other kiwi half and foreground). The main knife techniques were patting the paint on in a quick stacatto motion, incising with the sharp edge of the knife, and sort of troweling the paint on parallel to the painting surface.

Yellow Onion Daily Oil Painting

4" x 4" (10.2cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel
 

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This is the second onion I've painted, with this one being sort of a companion piece to the red onion painting of last year.

Watermelon Daily Oil Painting

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Oil on panel
$225 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This was a tasty one and very refreshing. You can't beat a good slice of watermelon during these hot dog days of summer.

Pepper and Tomato Daily Oil Painting

4" x 4" (10.2cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel

Finally, a new painting. There is another waiting in the wings as well, so more soon!

Mountain Lion and Bear Sketches

(click for the full size image)
Pencil on paper

I've been busy with commissions, but will hopefully have a new painting posted soon. Until then, here are a couple of new sketches.

Pecan Still Life Daily Oil Painting by Jeff Ward

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel
$100 plus $7.50 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This was a very quickly painted study-- the goal being a sort of short hand notation in paint of the pecan. I wanted to get the thing down quickly with minimal blending or any extra "fiddling".

Green Grapes Daily Oil Painting

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I knew I would get around to painting more grapes eventually (although this time, obviously ones of the green variety). Grapes are fun-- one of my favorite types of fruit to paint.

Eggplant Daily Oil Painting

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5" x 7" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel

I can't remember ever eating eggplant, but I picked this one up while hunting for things to paint in the produce section. I thought it would be interesting to paint, and it was. By placing it in a cool grey environment, I wanted to contrast the dark violet undertones of the eggplant with the blue greys of its surroundings.

Rose Daily Oil Painting by Jeff Ward

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The rose is an interesting thing to paint, even from a distance like in this case. I think I'll be painting one every now and then... maybe a closeup next time.

Peeps Daily Oil Painting

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel
 

I had never heard of Peeps until my wife brought some home. I have to say, they are pretty tasty (this from someone who likes twinkies, of course). Also, it's fun to pretend you're Ozzy Osbourne and bite their heads off... perverse maybe, but it somehow enhances the dining experience.

Lilypads Daily Oil Painting

6" x 6" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel
$225 plus $8.00 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This one is a little different-- more saturation in the colors and loose brushwork. A lot of times with the canvas panels, the textured weave of the canvas mucks up the scan... it just doesn't scan well at all. With this one I put more coats of gesso on the canvas to subdue the texture, and so was able to scan it instead of shoot it with the digital camera.

Landscape Painting... Digital Style

(click image for the full size view)

This is not a new piece by any means, but it is a favorite. I painted this in Photoshop back in 2004 as just a practice piece to try to better my digital painting skills. I was pretty happy with how this turned out and I remember really getting into the zone while painting it.

Painting digitally is different than painting in oils, but there are also lots of similarities. For instance, when painting digitally I use a wacom tablet and (as in oils) start off with large brushes, then work my way down in size as needed. And there is a flow to both that seems to escape acrylics. It seems the digital painting has helped the oil painting and vice versa, of course.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

4" x 4" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on canvas panel 
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My favorite type of cookie. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat this after finishing the painting, since it was painted from a photograph (just another reason why painting from life is better :)

Grape Study

This is something else that I did last year. This little grape was painted as a study for my grapes daily painting. I had never painted a grape, so thought it best to paint a study beforehand. Studies are good because when you paint the final piece, you can do so with more confidence, since you have already worked out some of the problems ahead of time.

Lion Sketch

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Here is a sketch I did last year of a lion. Big cats are interesting to draw and their power, mane and other features seem to lend themselves well to sketching, so this one was fun to do.

Hell's Pitcher

5" x 7" (15.3cm x 10.2cm)
Oil on panel
$175 plus $7.50 shipping and handling in the US
email me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I really meant to post before now, but I've been busy with various projects the past couple of months, and so decided it might be best to postpone getting back to the daily paintings. Regardless, it's good to be back and hopefully I will be posting much more regularly from now on.

This painting started out as a Christmas still life with poinsettias included. Needless to say, the holidays past by and I thought it best to change the scene, rather than painting the original holiday version and then waiting a year to post it!

So here you go...