Cherry Tomatoes and Miniature Bottle

Oil on board, 20 x 15 cm (= about 8 x 6 inches):

My cherry tomato bush is beginning to bear more fruit than I know what to do with. Still life is one possible function of cherry tomatoes, but they're so small it is usually preferable to combine them with other small items. Luckily I have a small collection of such trinkets...

Ceramic, tomato, egg

Oil on board, 15 x 20 cm (= about 6 x 8 inches):

Tomato and Egg

Oil on board, 10 x 15 cm (= about 4 x 6 inches):

Haven't done an oil painting in a while, so I'm a bit rusty!

Draft completed

I finally managed to complete the first draft of my new children's book; now for the big editing. And it will need a great deal of editing too - in its present form it's rather a mess of typos, bad writing, plot holes and unwieldy pacing.

I will use this, or something like it, as cover picture:

Enticing, isn't it? Watch this space for updates. In the meantime, I will finally have some time and energy again for a bit of painting, something I hope to get back to soon.

Cherry tomatoes

HB mechanical pencil:

Juicy Delights

HB mechanical pencil:

And another pencil drawing. Still busy with the draft of my new children's book, and thus I convince myself that I don't have enough energy left for painting. It's probably just an excuse. Anyway, the book's first draft is almost done. Watch this space for details...

Sundae

Pencil on cartridge paper, about 25 x 20 cm:

I should do one of these in color some time. Not immediately though - I am still working on my latest children's book; I hope to have a draft ready by the end of the month...

And another wrapped candy

Similar to the previous one. I suppose I should stop now, lest I add to the world's obesity problem:

Wrapped candy

HB mechanical pencil on A4 paper. The drawing is rather smaller than the paper. I can't be bothered to go measure its exact dimensions now...

Cupcake

HB mechanical pencil on cartridge paper, about 15 x 16 cm:

A W.I.P. video

I put up a short video on YouTube of a work in progress, showing my steps in the form of a time lapse photo series. Would have preferred video, but alas, I don't have a video camera.

Here and there the pictures are a bit out of focus, and my humble camera tends not to reproduce color quite accurately or consistently. Apologies for that - I am still learning how to go about this.

Unable to get hold of suitable soothing plinking and plonking background music without running into endless copyright issues, I simply wrote my own. Feel free to download and use it for something else if you like.

Or here is the link, should you want to go see it on YouTube.

Peppers

I managed to complete the drawing I mentioned in the previous post. HB mechanical pencil on cartridge paper, 14 x 15 cm; here are WIP stages and the final drawing:

With HB pencil one can never get really deep darks, at least not over extended areas, so there is always a bit of an issue with lack of tonal contrast. But I have come to like the soft effect it gives. I am revisiting a theme to which I have long been attracted, namely quite humble subject matter seen fairly close up, giving rise to semi-abstract patterns. Next up: perhaps a cupcake. I haven't drawn or painted one in ages.

In the meantime my NaNoWriMo project is still on track. I have no the vaguest clue how the story is going to end, but I know enough to keep me writing for a few more days, and hopefully by then I'll know enough to take me some days further, and so on and so forth, until I have a complete draft to work with by the end of the month.

If all goes well, the book will be available by the end of the year, or early next year. Not sure yet - I think this one is going to need a lot of rewriting. But watch this space for updates!

NaNoWriMo, and other weird things

I have gotten it in my crazy head to join NaNoWriMo this year. Even though I'm going to cheat  - the story I have in mind is another tween novel that will probably not take more than 30 000 words or so to tell - things will be hectic for a month, so I will probably not get any painting done. Instead, I'll focus on making some small drawings. Here's the first, WIP, and I'll post updates as I work on it:

Pencil, 14 x 15 cm.

Sunflower field

An informal little picture to brighten up a friend's hospital room. Acrylic on board, 10 x 15 cm (= about 4 x 6 inches):

Halloween pumpkin and cat

Coloring picture; feel free to print a copy!

The Garden Gnome's Journey

After much delay and administrative horrors, my new children's book is finally available. Here are the front and back covers:

Buy on Amazon page!

Lily

Another coloring picture; feel free to print out a copy:

Narcissus visits the interwebs

I'm branching out a bit into non-fiction writing. Here is an article I wrote for Medium, about the pitfalls of using social media as marketing tool:

Narcissus visits the interwebs

Vase of Sunflowers

Coloring picture; feel free to print out a copy. And perhaps color it in the style of Van Gogh?

Berries

Something of a companion piece to the Three Strawberries one. Acrylic on board, 10 x 15 cm:

Toucan

And another free coloring picture; feel free to download and print:

Free coloring picture!

One of my weird hobbies: coloring pictures for kids. Feel free to print out, give to your kid and enjoy five minutes of peace and quiet!

Three Strawberries

A quick, small one to brighten up my Friday. Acrylic on board, 10 x 15 cm:

Pumpkin and Chianti Bottle

Acrylic on board, 25 x 20 cm:

Something slightly Halloweenish, to fit the season, even though Halloween isn't really a thing here in South Africa. I have taken a liking to this sort of informal still life, suitable more for a kitchen, roofed porch or other such space than for a more sophisticated environment. 

Recent photos

Recent adventures in point-and-shoot photography...

I tend to forget to put up photos here. But they are all available in my DeviantArt galleries here:

https://brianvds.deviantart.com/gallery/

Fell free to use them for whatever purpose, no strings attached. Crediting me would of course be the polite thing to do.

Two pumpkins on a shelf

Acrylic on board, 15 x 20 cm:

Tulip Garden with Windmill

Acrylic on board, 20 x 15 cm:

Another on the Dutch theme. I notice once again a problem I have had with acrylics in the past: it is somehow extremely difficult to get the colors to reproduce properly in a digital photo. I have no idea why this should be so, or why the problem is worse with some mediums than with others.

Tulip Field with Windmill

I have been busy with all manner of administrative details, and battling it out with properly formatting my latest book for print (and no end in sight yet, due to incomprehensible technical issues). But I made time for  quick painting, this one in acrylics for a change. It's a medium I have something of a love-hate relationship with, so I return to it every now and then, we're blissfully happy for  a while, then we start fighting again and I walk out, swearing never to return.

Acrylic on board, 20 x 15 cm:

Gnome Alert (3)

And yet another batch of illustrations for my upcoming children's story The Garden Gnome's Journey. This is the lot, I think; still have to do a cover picture in color. Barring any unexpected troubles, the book aught to be available soon.

My other book, a youth adventure novella titled The Ten Horns, is available here:

The Ten Horns

Gnome Alert (2)

Another batch of illustrations for my soon-to-be-available children's book The Garden Gnome's Journey. Watch this space for updates!

My other book, a youth adventure novella titled The Ten Horns, is available here:

The Ten Horns

Gnome alert

Some illustration concepts for my upcoming children's book "The Garden Gnome's Journey." Watch this space for updates...

A new book

After endless delays and editing and proofing, copies of my youth adventure novella The Ten Horns are finally available. Here are the front and back covers:

Copies can be ordered here:

The Ten Horns

The book is also available on Amazon, but the page there apparently takes a few weeks to build to completion, so at present, the synopsis and "look inside" features are not functional yet.

As I note above, it is youth fiction and suitable for readers at around grade 7 level, though I have known an adult or two who also told me they enjoyed it. Perhaps they were just being polite!

The first few chapters are available for free here.

Edit: The Amazon page is functional now:

The Ten Horns

Four Capsicums

Oil on board, 20 x 15 cm:

Been enjoying playing around with the rich colours and textures of wood. I have long enjoyed this sort of "kitchen still life;" perhaps time to do a series...

Teapot on a shelf

Oil on board, 15 x 20 cm:

Waiting for the guests to arrive

Oil on board, 20 x 15 cm:

Blue, green and red

A dilapidated old table and chair, repurposed for outdoor duty. Such things are full of character and irresistibly paintable. Oil on board, 25 x 20 cm: