X-mas at the zoo

My X-mas so far:
A beautiful San Diego crisp wintery day perfect for zoo sketches. Though my sketches weren't all that great I had fun making them. For my X-mas meal I had some awesome Vietnamese spring rolls with some Pho soup and the best Thai Tea Boba in San Diego. All I need more to make it the perfect x-mas day is to 1: Make some strides in the pile of work I have to finish 2: The Chargers beat the Titans to clinch a number two seed in the play-offs and 3: Hook-up with a kind and pretty girl to spend it all of it with who isn't shallow, spoiled or crazy. Chances of 1 of these 3 things happening - slim. Chances of all 3 happening - a Christmas Miracle.

Merry Christmas everyone!

And by everyone I mean the 1 or 2 drunk lonely guys who were surfing for porn and stumbled upon my blog by accident.

Good Merlinpeen

Here is a quick painting I did last night. It might be the cold (its freezing in my apartment) but the paint was acting funny and drying up almost as soon as I was putting it on the board. It took me about two and half maybe three hours to do. I was watching Disney's Pinocchio and started feeling inspired/guilty that I should be doing some painting so did this portrait. By the way, Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty are flippin' brilliant on Bluray. Yes, more expensive birthday gifts I got myself I probably couldn't afford but Amazon has a cool trade in plan for dvds, books and games so these were actually free with my trade-ins of stuff I didn't want anymore.

Off to the zoo and probably back to work. Or at least I SHOULD be getting some work done.

I speak for all mediocrities in the world...I am their champion.

Here are some "studies" I did recently although the definition of study is a pretty loose term. Like most of my paintings if its not going my way after at least an hour or two I give up on it. That was definitely the case with the girl with the horse. I started it weeks ago and abandoned it and by the time I came back to her she was dry as a bone so I just gave up on her. I enjoyed painting the horse though and I think its not too shabby for my first horse. The girl in the red robe is still wet but I probably won't fix her.

Also posted are some zoo sketches. I did the one with the baby gorilla on my birthday. Had the little bastard stood still I might have done a better sketch. Or maybe it was the pain. For some reason I woke up that morning with a really sore neck and only now has the pain sort of gone away. God, is this what turning 32 means? When I was a kid I thought at 32 I'd be living in Hawaii surrounded by beautiful nekked women fighting crime in my red Ferrari. Or is that Magnum PI? Either way my life kinda sucks in comparison. To cope with the sadness I did what all Americans do and bought myself something WAY beyond my cost of living. But I kind of don't regret it. Blu Ray really is the shit. Amadeus the directors cut on Blu Ray is awesome.

Mediocrities everywhere.

I absolve you.

Oils from life this week.

I haven't painted from life in a long time. Here are some paintings I did at a buddies studio just yesterday and the Thursday previous. The model was Zara for both. Some zoo sketches and some more painting studies should be posted soon.

New WoW cards are seeing print

Here are few more of my Warcraft cards that are seeing print.

Real Deal

Yup, just when you think James Cameron is just some rich weirdo who likes hangin' out in submarines he shows that he is still a storyteller. Yeah the allegory is something we're all pretty familiar with and the story is a little rudimentary but Cameron has done something not too many film makers have done and that is make compelling computer generated characters. I came into the theater a total skeptic but after a few minutes of mentally calling on the unrealness of some of the CG in the film I very quickly began finding myself caring about the characters and was immersed in the film. As for aesthetics it is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. If you are a fan of film, concept art or even just beauty you should NOT miss this film in the theaters. Its totally worth the price of admission 3D or not.