Nathan's Journal

I'm putting the final touches on three of my oval pieces. The pieces show Hector's meeting with Diana above the clouds. I wanted to show scope, but also have the characters done in miniature.


I enjoy painting small objects with a larger brush; it's always fun to let the unpredictable stray brushstrokes add their own details.

-Nathan

I'm really getting into these oval pieces. Three of them have a lot of sky, but it's supposed to covey an otherworldly element. I'm experimenting not only with mixing with gold paint but also 'slicing' the sky into sections of color:


Here are two of the pieces. Now I just need to add the 'stuff'.

-Nathan

The ovals are really starting to take shape. Here is one in progress:


-Nathan

As my show draws close to being unveiled, I work on the the final set. There are (hopefully) 7 small 5"x8" oval pieces framed in a deep floater frame:


Narratively they fill in the gaps between key larger pieces in the show, so I'm motivated to get them all done.

-Nathan

I did this painting of Hector chatting with some cows, not really considering the narrative element the cow presents. Here is a detail shot of the painting:


The cows have been a background character for this one painting, but now I'm deciding to shift it around, painting the cow into a few of my other paintings as well as loosely connect the stories of Hector and Michael. It's always a good moment when pieces click together like this.
-Nathan

For a special project I'm working on a series of portraits in ink. I'm also experiment with a new C-2 nib; I'm very please with the results:



This is of my buddy Chris form City Lights Coffee.
-Nathan

If you go into Barnes & Noble (or many other fine retail stores) and pick up this:


You'll find this on page 116! Woot!


-Nathan

I just finished my final medium-sized piece for my solo show:


What I like about this mountain scene are the little things. The piece is only 18"x14", but there are a herd of dairy cows as well as Hector, the small fleck at the highest mountain peak:


It was fun painting that tiny guy :-).

-Nathan

With my collaborations with Megan I decided to bring back an old character of mine, Michael:


There was a sense of comfort in the familiarity when I painted him, like visiting my home town.

-Nathan

This weekend I'm taking some time to work on some collaborations with fellow artist Megan Lange:


She has done a series of small house paintings and I'm addingy own spin to the piece. In this painting, a reluctant monster refuses to destroy a house.
-Nathan