Happy Harleyween 2011

What could be better than celebrating Halloween with the Maiden of Mirth?...I started this tradition last year and intend on keeping it going for as long as i feel like keeping it going!

I've been giving my art studio a much-needed overhaul but spent a few nights on this for the holiday. 2H and HB pencils on drawing paper. Ok everybody lets hear a Halloween Happy Harley Squeak, on three...1...2...3...squeee!

New Artwork...

An impossibly long-legged model aquaintence of mine (Man, I sound like Brando in "Streetcar"!) over at Deviant Art asked if anyone wanted to draw her as an Alien and I thought it would be fun to give it a shot! What I ended up with looks to me like a cross between an H.R. Geiger chick, a Sorayama fetish painting and an alien babe from the old Star Trek but she loves it!

Title - "OUCH!"
Graphite on approx 8" x 12" drawing paper

New Artwork...

Just finished this last night...

"Lierre de Poison"

Art Nouveau style drawing of DC comics villainess Poison Ivy. I spent the entire month of April working on this nearly everyday. 97 different pencils used from 7 different brands on 18" x 24" vellum surface bristol paper. Some details below...

That was FUN! OK next?

New Artwork...

My first new picture for 2011

Portrait of Selena Kyle a.k.a Catwoman

Title: "Cult of Purrsonality"

I thought she was a good subject to mix in with Egyptian style motifs from the Art Deco period

2H and HB pencils on 18" x 24" drawing paper

I might do a color pencil version of this as well

A Belated B-Day Tribute to Clara Bow...

My fave silent film actress, Clara Bow, first dubbed "The Brooklyn Bonfire" and then "The IT! Girl" woulda been 104 this past July 29th. I was out of town and couldnt do a b-day post until today. Instead of the usual pic assortment, I decided to post some of the graphite or Colored pencil portraits I've done of Clara over the last several years.

This last one is still my fave of them all. The most recent one is 3 years old and I know I could do a much better job of it now so I'm hoping to do a new Clara Colored pencil drawing before the year is out. I miss drawing her!

New Artwork

I've spent the last 3 weeks working on these 3 preliminary pencil pieces. It started out as just one picture, then an art friend of mine said she thought it would make a nice series, so then I thought hmmmmmm, and all these ideas popped into my head and so then i thought, how about a series of 3 that all work together as one pic? So I worked out a design to tie them all together. Doing all 3 of these in Colored Pencil is going to be a serious challenge for a lot of reasons but I've already begun working out colors and trying things for backgrounds, etc. so there wont be too much guesswork once i start on the good board. I plan on using museum board for these so i have the option of using water-soluable pencils if i feel like it. I guess there's a bit of Olivia, a bit of Sorayama, a bit of Mucha and maybe somewhere in there a bit of myself as well! Keep in mind these are not finished pencil drawings so there are smudges, erasure lines and little buggers all over the place. The working title is "Break Shot" but that will probably get changed.

This was the one I did first. At first she was leaning on top of a huge spherical shape, then a silly-looking abstract penis shaped thing, but it was a bit much, then a smaller ball and her foot on a pyramid shape but it looked too much like "trained seal" stuff going on which i didnt like at all, then it hit me, hah, billiard balls!!! The only major changes made after i decided to make the series were I added the Nouveau style shape in the b/g, and I changed the numbers on the billiard balls to go with the color scheme I have in mind. The shoes were fun!

I had a heck of a time settling on a hairstyle for this one but I like how it ended up. Her outfit may get some changes as I'm not totally happy with it yet. Please excuse the gray smudgy spots in the b/g, this was done on rather thin sketch paper and the scanner lid made it a bit wrinkly.


I just finished this one last night. Probably one of the better figures I've done, I'm pretty happy with it! I may jazz up the shoes to better match the ones on the first piece though, like the cue-stick does!

Here's how they look all together! Total measurement will be over 4 feet wide i think, i have no idea how i will mat and frame these when finished but, oh well!

Olivia and Bella - Finale

Here's the final posting of my Olivia/Bella tribute . . . 5 more gems, my favorite by far being the one titled "Postmark Bhutan", done with the splashes of gouche and water. One can only imagine how incredible that piece must look in person! I had the very good fortune of seeing an Olivia exhibit several years ago at the now defunct "Words and Pictures" museum in North Hampton Massachusetts (Owned by the "Ninja Turtle" guy, Kevin Eastman) and it was indeed a treat to see some of her best work hanging there on the walls!

Olivia and Bella - Part Three

And still a few more paintings of Bella Schol by Olivia DeBarardinis. I especially love the ones where she used that very "loose" watercolor/guache technique. Bella seemed to inspire a streak of fearlessness in Olivia when she painted her! Really amazing work!

Olivia and Bella - Part Two

A few more fantastic paintings of Bella Schol by Olivia DeBarardinis

Olivia and Bella - Part One

Pinup legend Olivia De Barardinis has used many models over the years but to me, none have inspired so many striking and interesting images in her art as Bella Schol. Bella is almost a total enigma! I can find nothing about her on the net and in fact know nothing of her other than what is written about her in Olivia's books! So here are a few edited quotes:

"Bella is a tattoo artist and cartoonist from Amsterdam. We met when she was passing through L.A. on her way to Mexico to study bullfighting. She was a terrific model and became my muse for at least a year."

"On the small of her back is emblazoned the French phrase "Nappartiens jamais...", translation: "Never belong"

"I'll always love to paint Bella. She is one of my all-time favorites. I've been painting her so long that i feel she has taken on a seperate life in my work."

Here are a few pieces Olivia has done featuring Bella. More coming soon!