Day 29

Only 1 more day to the end of this 30 day painting challenge. I returned to Animal Kingdom for my last 2 pieces. Here I wanted to paint this mini car at the Vacation Club kiosk.

8x10" Acrylic Club car

Day 28

Stopped to get a study of the signpost/lightouse thingy at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. There was nowhere to park so I had to snap a quick pic with my phone and work from that. I'd like to go back and refine this one. But this is a start...

5x7" Acrylic Typhoon Lagoon

Day 27

the final stage I added more details, laundry on the tree, signs in the background and I could keep pushing this more and more but I like where it's at now.

6x8" Acrylic final step

Day 26

Step 2 in painting the ruins near Asia in Animal Kingdom. I've finished blocking in my background areas, added highlights on the trees and ruins. Also got my ground and pathway solidified. Next step will be adding the last details.

6x8" step 2 ruins

Day 25

in Animal Kingdom again painting the ruins near Asia. This time I thought I'd do a step by step for the next few entries. Here's my under painting, I start with a gessoed canvas in either grey or warm tones (this one is yellow ochre toned, then I block in my darks and major shapes. I use a big 1" brush for most of this stage, in the next stages I'll start to refine things like the trees walkway and ruins.
I have to go out of town for the next day or so, so we'll see if I can post again Monday or Tuesday. Hope you guys like.

6x8" acrylic under painting step 1

Day 24

I love the Rain Forest Cafe, and it was here I found my next painting of the Aquarium. I love the lighting here. Even though it was indoor lighting it made for a very interesting piece.

5x7" Acrylic Rain tank

Day 23

Just 7 days left for this 30 day painting challenge. For day 23 I chose to do a study at Animal Kingdom, of a snapping turtle skull. It was behind glass but clearly visible enough to do this piece.

5x7" Acrylic Snapper Skull

Day 22

Another work in progress, I can't say no to painting vintage vehicles. While I still need to complete some areas in this one I really enjoy catching some of the vehicles personalities in these. This one resides at the entrance of Hollywood Studios.

6x8" Acrylic Tow Truck

Day 21

I thought It'd be fun to paint some of my favorite subjects for the next few days. Back to Hollywood Studios for some classic cars. This one isn't quite finished but I wanted to post it anyway for today.

6x8" Acrylic Caddy

Day 20

I almost missed my entry for today. Very difficult to stay on track these days but here's my painting for day 20. The Canadian pavilion entrance totem. I liked the silhouette effect on this one but I had to put some details on the totem.

5x7" Acrylic Totem

Day 19

Back to Hollywood Studios for this one. again tons of things to paint. But this day I wanted to get this retro-esque Popcorn stand. I didn't get to finish this one and my under drawing was weaker than I'd like. Not my best but one to learn from.

6x8" Acrylic Popcorn

Day 18

I always liked this Triceratops head at the entrance of Animal Kingdom so I got this quickie done for the challenge. I love that it looks like he's smelling the flowers or maybe eating them since he's an herbivore.

6x8" Acrylic Smelling the Flowers

Day 17

You can't leave Animal Kingdom without painting at least one animal. So I ventured to Rafiki's planet watch and did a quick study of "Willy" the goat. He had some friends hiding in the back so I added them too.

5x7" Willy

Day 16

Animal Kingdom has many interesting places to paint, this time I stopped at the Yak & Yeti restaurant couldn't afford to eat though lol.

6x8" Acrylic Yak&Yeti

Day 15

Halfway through the 30 paintings in 30 days, while still in the area I chose to paint one of the main Siamang play areas. There were a pair of young apes playing while I painted  this one. I had to leave them out as they'd only look like two little dark patches in the scene.

6x8" Acrylic Siamang  House

Day 14

So many things to paint and so little time. I won't lie, all I really want to do with my current days is paint. It's relaxing, I feel more productive and like I'm accomplishing something. I'm not thong of creating to sell or display anywhere( except here). These towers I've seen many times but I've really noticed them today. I'm back in Animal Kingdom painting the climbing towers in the Siamang area.

5x7" acrylic Climbing Tower

Day 13

I think I could do 30 days in just 1 park. There's so much it's not easy to paint just one thing. For this one however I went back to Downtown Disney. This smoothie stand just was basking in partial sunlight so I thought to myself, challenge accepted. I was very pleased with the end result.

5x7" Acrylic Slushy Stand

Day 12

Ahhhh now here's one I love!!! Let's see If you guys can guess where this one is??? I took another trip to this park to paint underground viewing of Otters. Of course I'm talking of Animal Kingdom. This little mini cavern was great due to the darks and lights warms and cools. I was in pure heaven working on this one. I of course had to work from a photo to get the little boy in there. Of course the Otters didn't want to come out but the large fish seemed to make kids happy.

5x7" Acrylic Otter Viewing

Day 11

Eleven days into the 30 day painting Challenge. This time I'm back at Downtown Disney, to paint Bongos or the back view of the Pineapple shaped building. This was a very tough piece to do. The trees the lighting, the distant Starbucks building all seemed to be just out of my grasp. The struggle can really be a struggle. Better luck next time I hope.

6x8" Acrylic Bongos

Day 10

Day 10 back in Epcot for a glimpse of the Mexican Cantina from a distant bridge. I really liked the dome against an overcast sky along with the very dark trees. I tried to stay loose and just focus on the shapes. I think my favorite part of this one is the very distant cloud wisps. 

6x8" Acrylic Epcot Mexico

Day 9

Hollywood Studios main entrance. Like Animal Kingdom I tried to do this one on more of an angle. I think this works as a quick study at best. But a very tricky subject for me.

6x8" Acrylic Hollywood Studios Entrance

Day 8

Moving on to another Downtown Disney location that will be different in the next year. Planet Hollywood, which was somewhat hidden behind a construction wall. This was another place I struggled in past painting attempts. Although I'm not thrilled with the composition this was definitely more of a success than previous attempts. I love the clouds which can be extremely challenging at times. I also struggle with trees from time to time but caught this one fairly well.
Hope you guys like this one.

6x8" Acrylic Planet Hollywood

Day 7

Well I've made it to 7 days of painting the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. This one was one of my more recent successful plein airs. I had only an hour and a half before starting my part time job. So I went behind the House of Blues and  set up to paint the balloon. Something just clicked this time around. This was my 4th or 5th attempt at painting the ballon, somehow I just knew what to do this time and ended up with one of my favorite for this series.

6x8" Acrylic Downtown Disney Balloon

Day 6

This entry for the 30 paintings challenge was actually used for another challenge . I had to paint an outdoor market for a challenge by James Gurney on his blog Gurney Journey. I chose to paint the Moroccan Market in Epcot. I was fairly pleased with this one hope you guys like it too. I welcome all comments.

6x8" Acrylic Morrocan Market

Day 5

One of my favorite places to paint is where I work part time, Downtown Disney or Disney Speings as it is now called. I want to paint much of it as I remember, before they are finished renovating. This is from the side of House of Blues looking at the Water Tower. The large blue structure is DisneyQuest soon to be made into something else. The Tower has been a struggle for me to capture on canvas. I think this is my third painting attempt. I was pleased with most of this one. 

6x8" Acrylic H.O.B. Tower

Day 4

As the 30 day painting challenge continues my next stop was Disney's Hollywood Studios. One of my favorite spots was one I attempted to paint over a year ago with friends and fellow cigar box artists Christian Slade and Mike Brady.  The Tower of Terror, this scene was different from my first attempt. The 1st time I tried this painting the umbrellas (which used to be red and white) was the best part of my study. This year Disney changed to green and yellowish umbrella which I tried to make my main focus. The tower was silhouetted against a nice somewhat overcast sky. This turned into one of my favorites. I was so into this one I even painted in people which I usually try to avoid.

6x8" Acrylic Tower of Terror 

Day 3

The entrance into Epcot is my choice subject this time. The sky was split into an ominous dark grey and lighter almost calming tones. The contrast of Spaceship Earth was too cool to pass up.

6x8" Acrylic Spaceship Earth

Day 2

While still at Animal Kingdom I went to Dinoland and had to paint this big guy. I really liked the lighting which I struggled to capture. This was one very fun subject. I spent about one and a half hours on it.

Dinoland 6x8" Acrylics

September 30/30 challenge round 3

Welcome back to another 30 days of paintings. This is my 3rd time entering this challenge by Leslie Saeta. This time I'm confident on getting through this challenge mainly because I'm loving plein air. I also love being able to paint at Disney here in Orlando Florida. So my theme is 30 Disney related attractions in and around the attractions. I'll be using my limited pallet of 4 acrylic colors: Titanium White, Cad Red, Cad Yellow, and Thalo Blue on Canvas panels. I love my tiny portable kit which consists of my shoulder bag, cigar box(literally it's an old cigar box, paints, 2-3 brushes, and a pocket squirt bottle. I usually grab a papercup from one of the many vendors in the parks and I'm off to create.

My first target was the main entrance to "Animal Kingdom". This piece is 6x8" so I had to edit the scene to fit my canvas panel. The actual entrance is quite wide to accomodate the masses of people that enter the park. I chose to go late in the day around 4pm-ish. The crowd was very minimal and I actually left people completely out of my piece. I've never been good at painting people especially on such a small scale. The emptiness of a populace gives this one a very ominous feeling like an abandoned park where maybe the animals have escaped or have total control of the park. My mind plays with all sorts of ideas while working and that makes this one pretty special for me.

6x8" Animal Kingdom

A challenge before the challenge

September is quickly approaching and that means another 30/30 challenge to prepare for. I was out practicing and did a painting that I will submit for another challenge. It was one started by Mr. James Gurney called the outdoor marketplace challenge. He explains it all on his blog just look up "Gurney Journey"  in it you use a limited pallet of 3 colors plus white and paint an out door marketplace. Well I chose the Morroco market place at Epcot. In the first pic you can see how the scene actually looked, next is my painting at the start then the final version. All done at the location on a very hot afternoon.
I used Grumbacher Academy series Acrylics, Titanium White, Thalo Blue, Cadmium Red Medium, and Cadmium Yellow Light.

Acrylic  6x8" 

30-30 challenge September 2015 coming soon.

Greetings all. I'm glad to announce another 30/30 challenge is coming for September. I plan to join this challenge for my 3rd time and I'm very excited about my theme for this one which will be Disney area attractions. September will be a very busy month as I'm also planning on attending my first art fairs if all goes well. So lots of new postings coming very soon.
I hate posting just commentary so here's a look at some of my newest coaster commissions.

Custom drawn wood coasters, Harry Potter Set

New NFL coasters in production

Trying out some NFL Coaster designs, It will be football season before you know it. If you like these place an order for the team logo and players you like. I can do NHL or NBA coasters as well. All hand drawn and clear coated ready to use or just display. Message me for prices.

Cruz

N.Y. GIANTS

Custom Coasters

Megacon has come and gone and while I was not feeling 100% I did sell many of my custom coasters. Thank you for those that came by my table bought my work and placed orders. I do hope you are enjoying and using your coasters. Here's a look at some of the coasters I created. I am still taking orders for whatever you may like, Game of Thrones, Avengers, Walking Dead, Vikings, you name it I'll create them. Message me for more info.

Walking Dead Coasters Ink on wood

Cirque Art Show thanks to all!!!

April 2015 was a very hectic month for me. I apologize for such a delayed update but I was struck with an infection, a bad cold that turned into Pneumonia, my beautiful girlfriend fell sick as well and was hospitalized for a bit. But thanks to the grace of God she recovered as did I. Megacon was a difficult show for me this past month, I was unable to produce as much art as I would've liked but I did offer  new custom wooden coasters that were a big hit. My art show with Cirque Du Soleil was a great success, I'd like to give a very special thanks to all involved in making that possible and special thanks to the patrons that bought my art. If you're in Central Florida visit Downtown Disney's La Nouba Cirque Boutique to see more art still hanging there until sold. I also would like to thank the folks that stopped by my table at Megacon and bought custom coasters and prints or original art. You guys rock and I always love the crowds that attend. Here's a look at the wonderful Cirque Original Artwork that sold from the show.

"Unrestrained Joy" 8x10 Acrylic ~SOLD~

"The DareDevil" 8x10 Acrylic ~SOLD

"Aqua Antics" 8x10" Acrylic ~SOLD~

"Smoke and Mirrors" 8x10" Acrylic ~SOLD~

"Festival on the Nose" 8x10" Acrylic ~SOLD~

Preview of upcoming events 2015

I'd like to introduce a new series of paintings I've done for a "Trunk Show" taking place around Easter weekend at Downtown Disney's Cirque Du Soleil retail boutique. I've been inspired by Cirque performers to help create a small series of mask paintings and a series of what I like to call Ribbon Folk. While I can't show you all the paintings that will be displayed for sale I can share with you my sketches and mini paintings. The following are acrylic 5x7" inches inspired by La Nouba performers.

"Soul"

"DareDevil"

"Acrobat"

"Prankster"

30/30 wrap up

Well I've dropped out of the 30/30 challenge for several reasons. I've been unable to squeeze in the time to do actual paintings. I'm very frustrated that I couldn't keep up and do a decent job with the few paintings I've done thus far. I am looking forward to trying this challenge again in the future though. I have way too much going on this month that needs my immediate attention.
Many thanks for following and checking out my work and I'll be back soon with more art.

Day22

2nd attempt at Powergirl, the first was too horrific to post. Not very happy with this one but...

4x6" watercolor "Powergirl"

Day 21

Second post for today, this time one of the Xmen lead team member, Scott Summers aka Cyclops.
Now I'm off to work may be another very late night paint job for tomorrow's entry.

4x6" watercolor "Scott Summers"

Day 20

It's actually day 21 that I'm posting this but, I'm continuing with what I have. Entry 20 I wish I put a bit more expression in this one. Xmen's Collosus

4x6" watercolor "Collosus"

Day 19

I'm seriously considering dropping out of this challenge. It's becoming too difficult to find time to paint each day. I have too many top priorities at the moment and pray for something better. I think it's May be best to call it done and prepare myself to meet the next 30/30 challenge. I'd love to hear feedback on this one. Maybe someone can talk me into completing.

4x6" watercolor  "Rogue"