Zombie Christmas Ornaments Part II

Zombies in the Snow (Zombies in Winter). Acrylic on glass.

This is the second of the zombie Christmas ornaments I made this month, for a friend who loves winter, snow, and zombies. The sun rises in the background and snow drifts against a lone church graveyard as zombies trudge toward a sleepy, unsuspecting town in the distance. The ornament is already on my friend's tree and looks great with her blue and silver decorations. :-)

Zombie Christmas Ornaments Part I

Zombies in a Storm (Florida Storm). Acrylic on glass. 

I started a series of Christmas ornaments featuring zombies lumbering on the horizon. I've made four so far, all as gifts, and I'll be making more. This is the third ornament in the series, painted for my brother who loves Florida. Palm trees and a Florida pine stand watch as a horde of zombies crawls from a church graveyard and makes its way toward a town in the rainy distance. It took about a week to complete.

Crossing the Alps - Finished

24"x18"

Finished this commission last Sunday and it's definitely one of my favorites. Several things differ from the original Jacques-Louis David: the subject (the client replaces Napoleon), the size (of canvas and also the ratio of length to width), the stones (Napoleon's name is replaced with the Latinate form of the client's name; Bonaparte replaces Karolus Magnus [Charlemagne] so that there aren't two Karoluses right next to each other), and the flag (colonial American flag replaces the French flag in keeping with the client's nationality). So altogether, we have a modern Karolus leading the colonial American army across the Alps. :-)

Crossing the Alps

Slowly but surely.

Got the mane done, as well as the horse's head. Only thing left to do on the horse is the lower legs, reins, and the tail; then I just have to fill in a few thin spots in the cloak behind the horse's head and finish the background.

Who's That Crossing the Alps?

Not Napoleon.*







Here's an 18"x24" commission I've been working on. It's after Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon Crossing the Alps, but with a slight change.*



It's all acrylic, so it's a change from what I'm used to, but a whole lot of fun. I'm really enjoying the concept (other details will be tweaked from the original JLD, including the names carved in the foreground and the flag) and I'm having a lot of fun with the challenge of the different medium. It's really a different way of thinking; in watercolor, I paint light to dark, in acrylic... well, I'm pretty much painting whatever I want, in whatever order I feel like. But I'm doing a lot more broad areas of color and building up the shadows as I go, rather than leaving the darks for last. I've also been dividing my time between this and a watercolor painting, and whenever I switch between the two, it kind of gives me pause, and I have to take a few moments get back into the right mode.

Anyway, I'm almost done with this one. The background is almost done (just need to finish the soldiers and flag, and touch-up the sky and mountains with another layer or so). Most of the horse is done, and so is the face.

I love this painting so much, I've been thinking I ought to do more copies like it...


*(It's the client crossing the Alps.) :-)