Well, yet another HurleyCon has come and gone here in Joplin.  This year felt like a real step up for us in several respects.  It was the first time we were all four there all day (promoting books that we all four did big chunks of).  We needed two tables to contain it all. We had 18 different prints for sale this time (as opposed to 4 last year) and sold quite a few more.  We were approached by a promoter to be special guests at another con (more details on that soon!), and did about double the business of the year before!

We got to hang out with the usual great local artists (Jeremy Haun, Amber Stone, and Randy Rustin), swap books with the super-talented Kyle Strahm, and get to know Brian Koschak, a Springfield artist who has worked with Jeremy and currently draws the Star Wars: Clone Wars comic.  All good people.

As always, getting to meet current readers (and make new ones) is the best part of the show.  Several of you commented that you read this blog or recognized Evil Ain’t Easy, which was pretty dang cool to hear.  These shows are pretty much the highlight of our year, and we’re glad that turnout was once again good!

Tigers have got to be my favorite animal to paint/draw. Those angular stripes and the simple colors are just so graphically pleasing. This is an attempt to watercolor really loosely and then go in with a brush pen fairly tight over that. The other day I just got the urge to paint something and had tremendous fun with this piece!

If you really enjoy this painting, there are prints available in a variety of sizes in the deviantArt store.  We also should have a few prints for sale at the upcoming conventions.

Well, after over three months of work, I’ve finally finished the mural I was commissioned to create for the new East Middle School here in Joplin! “Legends of Missouri” was officially unveiled on October 22. I’d like to thank Ron Mitchell, Bonnie Turner, and Karen Sue Hensley for giving me this great opportunity. It was a huge challenge, but very rewarding in the end. I also owe my wife Laura a huge thanks for all of her encouragement and help (especially during the final days).

Below you can see some more photos of the last sections to be painted and the finished painting…

Halfway done!  The second canvas is complete, which means all four portraits are now finished.  I’m working on the last two canvases now, and they should go quicker (since there are no giant likenesses to paint).  I’m pretty happy with how this is shaping up.  Langston Hughes was the quickest of the four portraits to paint.  I think Twain might still be my favorite, though.

Stay tuned for more!

Here is the second portrait of that huge painting I am working on… Mark Twain.  His hair was definitely the most fun to paint, although the moustache took much longer than I thought it would.  I need to read (and reread) more of his work.

Next up… Langston Hughes.

This is my summer job this year. The school district I teach for has hired me to complete a mural for the library in the brand new East Middle School (thanks to former co-workers Bonnie, KarenSue, and Ron for helping me get the job). They wanted it to show famous people and places from the state of Missouri. Above you can see the sketch for the overall design. It’s not your typical mural, because I’m not painting it directly on the wall but on four 5 ft. x 4 ft. canvases (for a total length of 20 ft.) that they will hang together. Obviously, it’s the biggest painting I’ve ever attempted, and it’s been an interesting challenge. I converted the bar between our kitchen and dining room into a huge easel to hold two of the canvases at a time. That way I can draw and paint across the seams when I need to.

I drew all of the different parts of the design and then put them on transparencies, which I then projected (see below) onto the canvasses to get everything accurate. This really helped me make sure the composition was good by adjusting the size and placement of each person or object.

Then it was time to bust out the acrylic paints! I started with the background, blending from white to black. Next I started filling in George Washington Carver. Of the four men in the painting, three of them are from this area (Carver from Diamond, Hughes from Joplin, and Truman from Lamar). Working on him made me think back to all the trips I took as a kid to the Carver National Monument nearby. I was a little tentative when I first started working on the face, just because it’s been awhile since I did much with acrylics. But I soon remembered to just go with it. It seems the looser I paint, the better…

Below you can see the finished Mr. Carver. I’m really happy with how he turned out! I usually don’t make the areas the dark enough in my work, but I think I did this time.

Anyway, I’ve got a long way to go yet on this painting. I will post more photos of my progress as I go along.

Next up: Mark Twain!

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing some of my three-dimensional stuff. Sculpture is so much fun, but I never used to find time to make it. Now that I mainly teach 3-D classes at the high school, I’ve had to make time for it this year.

I decided this guy’s name is Alphonso. He’s a mafia chauffeur who’s overheard a bit too much, which explains why he looks so nervous:

These next three are chess pieces, made from polymer clay. They are made small enough that you can use them for an actual game. Now I just need to construct the other twenty-nine…

This is just a cartoony head made from plasticine. I used to make a ton of these when I was a kid:

A chameleon gargoyle made of clay. It was supposed to double as an incense burner, but I made the mouth opening too small:

A cubist face sculpture with different moods on either side. This is made from a wood block, a coat hanger, acrylic paint… and panty hose: