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This form will send an email directly to Craig Elliott.
16429 Lost Canyon Road
Santa Clarita, CA, 91387
United States
(661)299-9478
Drawing from the visual worlds of science and nature, the human figure, the grand tradition of American illustration, Japanese scroll paintings and woodblock prints, fantasy illustration, and great artists of Europe, Elliott’s work strikes the viewer at first with a powerful tableau and draws them in to experience the subtlety and beauty within. Beyond the pictorial impact of his work, themes personal to him such as body image, environmental preservation, and social and psychological repression weave themselves throughout his work.
Come by and visit me this year at booth #723! I'll have many new items, prints jewelry, cards and books- I will be taking commissions again this year- come by early to get on the list - it filled up in the first hour last year!
If you are an art student in San Francisco, I will also be with John Fleskes at the Flesk Publishing table Thursday night before the con in the Academy of Art at their Comics Symposium night.
I hope to see you there!
La Gallery in Montreal has put on a show with my Music pinup painting! The show will be a travellingone moving from Montreal the La Gallery Paris, La Gallery New York, and then Tokyo. I may visit the show at some of the other locations, stay tuned for that! Meanwhile have a look at the great art in the show- My favorites are Cassgrain, Vatine, Maly Siri and Carlos Nine!
Show Blog:
http://pinup-lagallery.blogspot.com/
Gallery Website:
http://www.lagmontreal.com/
John Fleskes of Flesk Publications came to visit me last weekend and has posted a little treatment of some of our recent adventures at the Gallery Nucleus show and elsewhere. Check out the post and his wonderful art books!
JOHN FLESKES BLOG
Here is the final painting that will be in the Gallery Nucleus "Poster Peepshow" group exhibition. Come by Feb 5th at 7pm and see this and all the other work, and pick up some free cheesecake or do some life drawing with the Sucide Girls!
See you there!
Here, the first shot shows the dark and light sides of the figure blocked in, as well as starting to add flat areas of color in the hair and stockings. The background color and pattern is also finished here, and the drawing corrected a bit with the cream color as I filled it in.
The second image shows an adjusted and darkened skin tone as well as all of the basic colors in the center of the picture blocked in. next I'll move to block in the border colors and then go back into the center panel and make all the finishing touches.
In the first image is a color sketch I have done on top of the drawing from the last post- I just scan the drawing and paint over in photoshop until I get the colors I am looking for. You need a good printer to use this technique for traditional painting. This is because the printout has to be exactly the same as the sketch on the monitor, or it is of no use.
Here I have transferred the drawing to my painting surface. I am painting on Rives BFK paper that has been gessoed white, and then a wash of brown oil has been applied and allowed to dry. I do the drawing in hard colored pencil, and then start to block in the shadows with oil.
I'll be in this show along with many other amazing artists! Olivia, Dean Yeagle, Bill Presing and Robh Ruppel to name a few. I would go even if I wasn't in the show.
I'll be posting some stages of the creation the painting for this show. keep your eyes peeled. Here is a sketch to start you off:
Gallery Nucleus Presents:
Poster Peepshow: The Art of the Pin up
February 05, 2011 – February 28, 2011
Opening Reception: February 05, 2011(7 pm - 11 pm)
Alhambra, CA – The pin up girl is sweet, yet equally a seductress, flirty as well as sexy, naïve but secretly naughty.
She embodies sensuality, youth, fun, and pleasure. Men and women alike have admired her for nearly 100 years. The
pin up girl could be found on the covers and centerfolds of thousands of magazines, calendars, ad campaigns,
and even decorated WWII war crafts; thereby, pin up art has become an integral part of Americana.
“Poster Peepshow” celebrates the pin up girl by featuring original artwork by contemporary artists and
pays homage to pin up masters such as George Petty, Gil Elvgren, and Alberto Vargas. Over the past decade it has
become impossible to ignore the growing popularity to recapture the nostalgia of pin up glamour. We are pleased to
contribute to the culture’s growing appreciation through this exhibition.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Nathan Cabrera
Marcelo Dadolce
Olivia De Berardinis
Craig Elliott
Jenny Gase-Baker
Keron Grant
Shane Glines
Oren Haskins
Lawrence Noble
Ryuichi Ogino
Bill Pressing
Rockin’ Jelly Bean
Robh Ruppel
Marguerite Sauvage
Jim Silke
Stuntkid
Francis Vallejo
Barnaby Ward
Dean Yeagle
CLASSIC PIN UP ARTISTS
Rolf Armstrong
Al Buell
Art Frahm
Al Moore
K.O. Munson
HIGHLIGHTS
Olivia De Berardinis Book Signing: 6pm- 7pm
Free Live Figure Drawing featuring the Suicide Girls
SPECIAL GUESTS
Lenora Claire
Julie Newmar
SPONSORED BY
Grapefruit Moon Gallery
Suicide Girls
Sort This Out Cellars
For more information, please see:
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/gallery/exhibition/263
Contact: info@gallerynucleus.com and jasmine@gallerynucleus.com
This drawing was probably the most fun- after hoofing it around the Louvre for the second day, I walked through the Tuileries gardens that are at one end of the Louvre complex. There amongst mazes of foliage and trees are some amazing sculptures. These are by Aristide Maillol one of my favorite sculptors. there is a beautiful Gaston Lachaise and many more. there are something like 10 - 13 Maillol bronzes around the Tuileries. The day I was there it was raining, so I sat on a ripped out page of my sketchbook, under my umbrella and sketched the bronze you see. There were kids playing on her and tourist posing with her the whole time too! The rain got on the paper from time to time but didn't seem to affect the dried watercolor washes I had on the paper!
The photo was actually taken by turning 90 degrees to the right of where I was drawing. It is of another Maillol and the Eiffel tower! Gotta love Paris.
Here are a few more drawings from the Musee D'Orsay and the Gerome show that was there. The left piece is of course Manet's "Olympia". It was such an honor to draw from the REAL painting after having seen it so many times in books and on posters.
The on the right drawing the female figure was drawn from a sculpture in the restaurant at the museum, which has AMAZING food! The museum curator was there having lunch or something and watched me without me knowing it. he leaned over at one point and said that he has seen thousands of people drawing at the museum, but he'd never seen someone who drew so fast and so well! What a great complement, I just about floated home after that!
The right drawing on the same page is a sketch of one of Gerome's beautiful marble sculptures, many of which were actually a combination of gold marble, ivory bronze and other precious materials. who knew!?
The left drawing is from a sculpture of Degas, one of my very favorite artists. It was so good. All of Degas' self portraits, and photos of him come to life in this slightly larger than life bronze at the Orsay. It was like standing in front of Degas himself. He posed for this when he was 50. I never even knew it existed!
The other sketch is from a bronze in the Gerome show that was also at the Orsay. The show had just been in LA and I had missed it. Oh well, I'll just go to France and see it... By accident! The Bronze is not by Gerome but rather of a slave girl in a Gerome painting. Gerome was a great sculptor himself, and I did some drawing of his work too. soon to come!
Here are a few more pieces from the Orsay Museum of those wonderful earth clay caricatures by Honore' Daumier. These little sculptures are really one of the highlights of the whole museum. They are only about 3 -5 inches tall and roughly, but beautifully painted. I wanted to draw them all! but only got to 3 of them. Enjoy!
These were both done in colored pencil on stonehenge rag paper with washes of watercolor....
Here are some drawings I did in Paris last month when I was there for my Gallery show at Galerie Maghen. Most of these are from the Musee D'Orsay, as I spent 2 days there drawing, viewing art and having some wonderful meals at their restaurant.
These are both done in colored pencil, the grey paper drawing was done on Rives bfk and the orange one is on stonehenge watercolor paper with a orange green wash of watercolor.
Here are a few more photos of the things I'm seeing/ doing in Paris!
The Window of the Gallery with the show poster in the window!
A beautiful monument to St. Michel near the hotel, and across from Notre Dame
"Album", one of the grand Temples of French comics
Hello all, I wanted to share some wonderful visuals of my Paris trip so far with you, as well as some shots of the gallery show that I am here for! There are not too many to bore you, but some real beautiful scenes here...
Daniel Maghen the gallery owner and the show before the opening!
Anabelle, an employee of the gallery in the doorway! 
A mile long line of the Paris Guard walked by me as I arrived at the gallery for the first time! YES, that's Notre Dame in the Background! 
Beautiful evening on the Pont Alexander III Bridge looking at the Eiffel Tower..
Amazing shot of the Grand Palais in the rainy night
Eiffel Tower light show! 
Aman Jean Painting
Beautiful Bronze in the Petit Palais
Detail of a beautiful Jan van Beers Painting
Here's a few more images before I leave tomorrow for Paris. It should be fun, this is the first vacation I have ever taken!
Here is the official announcement for the Gallery show in Paris! And below are a few more images form the show itself. almost there!
Here's more images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris! The first is pencil and enamel, and the second is oil on Rives BFK.
The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th. -More to come!
Here's some more images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris coming soon. Sort of a watery theme this time!
The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th. -More to come!
I thought I would start posting some images of the artwork that will be available at the show in Paris coming soon. The work will be available from Galerie Daniel Maghen at: www.danielmaghen.com sometime around November 5th.
more to come!
I thought I'd share some photos of a palette I just finished designing/ building over the weekend. I wanted to build something that would take up the absolute minimum amount of space, yet be able to hold all of the things I need to do a little painting in any medium.
I wanted all this because I am going to France, and really wanted something light that I could carry with me in a backpack or small bag. The palette is made of brass sheet and square tubing to make it incredibly strong and light. All of the parts are soldered together with a small torch and silver solder. I lightly sanded all the parts, but still need to clean up some solder and need to buff everything to a shine.
Palette open for use with large Moleskine
Palette open with small Moleskine
Palette closed
Palette open with removable tray
slide-out lid-prop mechanism
Slide-out table top stabilizer
