4dogarts.com

4dogarts.com/blog is now where you'll find drawing, books, photos and all other sorts of nerdy ramblings for artists.

Also, htdhorses is up and kinda', well, running is a strong word.  Let's go for... stumbling along.  Check it out if you love to draw horses!  How to draw Horses

Professional Photography. Or not.

This photo screams professionalism.

So have been hitting the grindstone solidly since I got back.  Have some fruits for my efforts to show for it, but don't have them all photographed yet.  Here's some wip's:

  The full piece will be 18x24in.  If I don't muck it up anyway.  And lo, as the Mythbusters did fondly saith, "Failure is always an option."  I'm new to pastels, but it's a learning curve.

Commissions are also being tackled.  Here's an 8x10 in the works:

and a larger owl:

And with any luck, will actually get the website a much needed overhaul.  Finally!  Woo.  You should get some How to Draw Horses and Dinosaurs action.  Having a copy already is no excuse not to.

Now Hiding From June

Da breaking ob da fellowship awlways maeks me sad.  Yes.  In case you were wondering, I am that stupid-excited for the Hobbit release.

OK. Enough cuteness.  If I owe you something, and I likely do, I apologize for the crazy storm that June is working up to be.  You are awesome, and I am behind.  Per usual.


Here's some horn tooting, if you're interested:

• 1 June: Reception at the BAGA Gallery, Bismarck, ND, from 5-7.  Come one, come all. My art is on display through June; do be the definition of brilliant and stop by anytime.
• 5-28 June: Art Classes Begin in Mandan, ND.  Ages from 6-18.  Interested in attending this summer?  Get a hold of the office over at the VSA. (No one is more surprised than I am, that I am trusted with classrooms of children.)
• 8-9 June: Art Show in Center, ND.  You should come!  Or don't.
• Fingers Crossed: New book maybe?  Will keep you posted.

I really appreciate everyone's patience with everything, and if I take too long to get something printed or mailed to you, please know that it's not a subversive plot to overthrow the free world.   My email gets full.  I declare voice-mail bankruptcy on a regular basis.  Despite my repeated efforts, the post-office refuses to keep staff for my round the clock convenience.  The best possible efforts are made on my part to be timely and efficient, I promise.

Did I mention you were pretty?

COMING SOON How to Draw Horses Book.. (+ a dead deer.)

Please note... if you are the sort of person who is easily offended or squeamish... you should probably skip this post. (If you are any sort of person of class, you should probably skip this blog altogether.)

We are blessed with 2 dogs that are, on the whole, and bear in mind when I say this that I have so far endured 5 years in the illustration world, the most colossal freaking morons ever.

To avoid the inevitable angry letters I am going to get, please do not mistake my dogs for yours. I'm sure your dogs are the most gifted hounds ever. I'm sure they routinely perform delicate brain sugary and are capable of filing US tax forms and landing the space shuttle. I am talking about my dogs here. My dogs have a single, solitary brain cell each. Just the one - to keep the other brain cell company.

And using their impressive intellectual capacities... they routinely bring us the benefits of their mental and physical labors right into the yard. This week, it was a deer. Actually, that fact isn't really surprising. I live in rural North Dakota, so every ten feet there’s a sign warning motorists that there are deer. The signs are so prevalent that you don’t even notice them anymore, and they serve no purpose at all, unless you’re suddenly new to the existence of deer... which I am not. I am, however, new to the smell a deer carcass can make.

Me: Uuuugh! WTF is that smell?!

Rocko: Oh, the dogs drug up a deer.

Me: What?

Rocko: Yeah. Parts of him are over there, and I think his skull-bits are over by the south yard.

Me: What do you mean parts of him?

Rocko: He died about a week ago. Guess it takes a while for a dead deer to really start to smell.

Me: Rocko, when a deer is dead, it can no longer smell. Smelling is a sensory operation reserved for the living. Also. Seriously. A week? You are freakin' unbelievable right now.

Rocko said he couldn’t argue with that, but I suspect it’s less because of my sound logic and more because he’s perfectly aware of how these disagreements end. (Also... I need to google how to burn a shovel.)

In other news that is probably equally shocking, but not quite so grotesque, the How to Draw Horses book is coming out soon. Get ready to order 84 pages of awesome!