Shakopee in fog-2011

There was a heavy fog in Shakopee last Saturday morning. Visibility was about an 8th of a mile and it was half an hour after sun rise. Perfect time to take pictures. I grabbed the only functioning camera I own (a reconditioned Kodak point and shoot) and ran down to Huber Park that's next to the Minnesota River and a 3 minute walk from my house. The annual spring flood was underway so, there was plenty of water to help my compositions. In my younger days, I spent most of my time taking shots from behind a manual Minolta SLR but, as money grew tight, I had to cut back on my photography. Processing rolls of film was lower on the list that included rent, gas and food... Still have that Minolta and I still take it out and work it once in a while. I look at all the dents and scratches on it's body and remember the great times I had with it. Alaska, Duluth, Split Rock, Florida and Death Valley where I lost a lens cap. I started to back track hoping to find it but, my buddy said, "Ya' know Franklin, this place is called DEATH Valley for a reason. If you're going to keep looking, give me the keys to the car". That camera took a beating but it never let me down. It's one of my most prized processions.

An example of a the old quick-drawing-with-as-few-colors-as-possible trick. Took about 15 minutes not including research on what bunnys looked like. That, took an hour.

Steven Colbert

I'm a big fan of Steven Colbert and he had an art contest to see who could take his portrait and use it as a base for a new piece. I never heard back but, I think it rocks. Again in Painter.

A Painter note: I bought Painter 11 recently for $139 and it's not worth it. At least with Adobe products, you normally get something in return. Corel Painter actually came with LESS functionality. It did improve/add a couple of pencil tools but, where's the rotate art on a layer that Photoshop has? I could go on but, I won't. next time I update, it'll be for Painter 13, then only after I read more reviews.

Taggy Ann

Another Painter piece. It's an illustration of the B-24 'Taggy Anne' on the raid on the Ploiesti Romania oil fields in 1943. The raid was a mess from the start and it went down hill from there. Here's the Wiki page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tidal_Wave

I enjoyed this because I was able to have fun with the shadows and reflections. There's been many works of art based on the raid but, none from this angle and it has a very personal feel to it.

Turtle

This is a portfolio filler created in Painter and Photoshop. I wanted to play around with water and reflections. The pebbles were created in Painter by making a new brush for the Image Hole which with randomly distribute shapes made in painter. I made a bunch of gray, brown and black 'pebbles' and went to town.

Greenroom

Here's something I've been working on and off for years. It's one of many pieces that I have that I use to test out ideas and techniques at my own pace and in the dead of night. As I worked on this in Painter, it became more and more exciting and worthy of a life other then being simply a test piece.
My main influence in art when I was growing up was Mad Magazine and I think it shows here. The more jokes and odd creatures I can fit in a funny piece, the better.
This was a blast to work on!

Well, here he is. Not real happy with the face but, I have to move on. Perhaps it's the eyes. I think I need to take out the shine and let the color show though. The colors are nice and the textures worked. People are finding it more creepy then thoughtful. That sorta' surprised me.