The Moon King.

Here is the finished painting for the Feldmans made as a companion to the one I made them 3 years ago. (see it here). This is nearly identical to the original but with a few small changes. I tried to make the characters look a bit more mischievous. I also choose to not have the man-fairy bringing them to life but instead here the moon is showering them with magic dust. More realistic, right....(?)

I feel I need another story for this so here goes...

The Lovies had been brought to life many years ago by the dust of a magic man-fairy. However the magic dust only lasts for three years. While they had had a great run it seemed to be coming to the end. They were beginning to slow down, feel stiff. Their grumbley friend the badger suggested that they take his homemade birch-bark and pine sap rocket to visit the moon to see if the Moon King could spare some magic moon dust which would allow them many more years. The Lovies agreed that anything was worth a try and took off in the rattling wooden rocket. Holes in the rocket walls let in space air and making them feel light headed but full of life.

After a few hours, they landed softly in the Sea of Tranquility but were immediately found and roughly escorted to the Moon King by his ape-like guards. They walked like apes but grunted like pigs. The Lovies, moving as fast as they could, were brought into a golden chamber where they waited a long time to talk to the King. When the Moon King Finally arrived they pleaded their case and begged for moon dust but the King was very dismissive. He just sat in his throne painting his fingernails gold and eating moon plums. With a quick command, the Lovies were led back to their leaky rocket.

However, a Moon Gopher just happened to sneak into the Kings chamber and hear the Lovies story of being made real and then loosing the magic. The gopher shed a tear. As they were being pushed from the room, the Lovies saw the gopher wink with 3 of it's 5 eyes. They were pushed back to their rocket and the ape guards light the rocket's fuse,sending them into space.

The Lovies stiffly traveled back home with a heavy feeling in their hearts. Strangely, and by complete coincidence, their rocket landed on Earth in the exact spot that they were made real by the man-fairy. Feeling it was their end, the Lovies hugged each other, shook hands and said goodbye. Just then golden moon dust began to rain from the sky. "The Moon Gopher" they whispered together... but how?  They felt life slowly creep back into their fur...

Thank you again Feldmans....

This Seems Familiar...

So, I'm technically not taking new commissions for the Panda +BUT+ ...sometimes I will. At the starting of the summer Randy Feldman asked me to recreate one of the earlier paintings I had made for of his sons about 3 years ago. The painting was of Ethan and Toby's "lovies", the toys they cuddled with when they were very young. The problem is two boys but one painting. This did not sound like something I should turn down. Plus I thought it would be interesting to repaint the same subject 3 years later. "It doesn't have to be identical", Randy told me. So it's not completely identical. But it is no longer yellow as you see above.

See the original painting here

I just finished the  new "lovies" painting. Above is an image of the preliminary lines made for it with black ink.

.... at least I think I'm finished with the painting. I often will fuss with a painting until the point which I hand it over. Their can be different levels of finished. At some point I reach a time where I call a painting "passable". Not excited about it but someone else may be. I never leave it there, drives me nuts. Then it becomes what I think of as "good". At that point I try to push it to "magical" or "special". I know these are corny words but I don't want to make something that is just okay. I think this new painting is there... but I might still lighten or darken areas or make some minor changes. But I need to hand it over to Randy so I can stop acting like an old lady who collects porcelain cats. Just so. I nned to put my doilie back on the table and get on with things... I don't want to overpaint and ruin.
*

Shortly receiving this request I had surgery on my right hand. I decided to have a cyst removed which had been bothering me for years. I thought I would be back to normal over the course of a weekend but instead it took about 6 weeks for me to get full movement back. Now my hand is better than ever and I no longer have the grip problems I've put up with for the last 5+ years.



I'll scan and post the finished painting when I'm sure I'm finished.