Rendezvous

This is almost six feet wide. Painted in acrylic and just the top of the canvas. The images are all invented but owe quite a bit to things I collect off the web. My interest shades to retro science fiction or steampunk. I guess you could argue it's actually dieselpunk—if there were anyone to argue with. I do have fun doing these images but they take me quite a while. I'll try to post the whole thing soon along with some of the preliminary art.

The Amphibian

It's big— it really didn't need a tail because those float struts would give it some stability, and what-the-heck it's all made up anyway. At first I was thinking six engines, but painting four that look all the same was hard enough. Inspired by Russian goliath bombers of the 30s. One thing that I avoid is guns. These paintings are more about the wonder of flight and the joy of machinery, the violence of guns would just get in the way.

The Gondola

This is how I'd like to see the world. Hanging from a zeppelin is this boot shaped gondola with twin diesel belt feeding huge slow revolving props. It's part battleship with armor plates and a figurehead. That sectioned bar along the bottom is for the landing crew to grab on to when she gets low enough.

The Zeppelin crew

Steampunk fashion, one of the things I'm not overly fond of. But these guys are cool, one's got his sweater pulled down below his coat and his hat raked at an angle. They are Zeppelin crew not aviators— Naval officers and dressed like it. One thing I do like is the double breasted coats—not enough double breasted coats around now days. This is the left panel from Rendezvous above the clouds.

Flight Deck

A vehicle to play with the effects of light in phthalo blue and orange. This is the flight deck of the mighty flying wing amphibian. The co-pilot is missing— where did he go? Just got out of the way so we could show you all those cool dials and the steering yoke. Borrowed all the details from the inside of a B-29 bomber.

Take to the air

Working on some ideas for a blog devoted to this material. The only problem is keeping up with it. This is the middle panel of the Rendezvous painting. I used an old GI Joe for the figure. Now that you know that you can tell —looks a little plastic. He's jumping out and starting his rocket pack. Those things always burn your legs. The rope is just for fun. Seriously, I wanted to get the 2D/3D thing going on here by flattening the sides but in the end I couldn't resist putting some curve to the gondola, or whatever he's jumping out of.

Back at it

Hey, what the heck.
Let's face it the dream house is just that and may stay that way for quite a while.
Life goes on, and I might as well expand this blog to other interests.
My painting has been going it's own jekyll and hyde ways of late. When I get a warm free day I try to get out and do some plein-air painting — when it's dark and cold and I have time I work on some of my other ideas. Lately they have taken me to steampunk/dieselpunk concepts. Since a boy I was always interested in WWI flying machines and equipment. Over the last few years I've used this as a starting point for ideas for drawings, paintings and digital art. All of the sudden there is a great interest in this genre too so I'm trying to get some stuff out there and see what happens.Lets get it started with

Start Your Engines
48"x36" acrylic on canvas