Ok So I finished painting the hummingbirds and unicorn in this piece and am wondering if the background is too empty? Should I add something. I have been toying with addign Wisteria but I don't know if it is too much or not. I thought I would show you all a progress shot with the flowers loosely blocked in and you guys can let me know. Maybe I should leave it alone..





Anyway if I put the flowers in it should be done by Monday, if I take them out it is done now. I got my Mac up temporarily but still will have it in the shop this weekend.

**Edit**

Talked to Bri and after some discussion I am revisiting the flowers. NO Wisteria but cherry blossoms. It should be done by Monday IF I don't have to turn in my Mac tomorrow.

I have been working on and off on my digital piece Hummingbird waltz. My goal is to have it finished by the end of the weekend. I thought I should post a progress shot for you all. Johnnie pointed out the small file makes it hard to actually see what I have done. It is a bummer but I don't want to stop and crop stuff every time. Two of the three hummingbirds are complete as is the background. I have a bird and the unicorn to do. Today I started in on the unicorn. He couldn't decide if he wanted to be black or white! I went with black but I think the mane may be silver white. We will see how it goes.

I have plans for new sculptures and things and as usual stuff in the works. My focus this week is getting ready for Balticon and NJ Fantasy Faire. Johnnie is going to be working on INATS stuff. We need to get ready. After I wrap up this piece I am going to maybe do one more and then focus on Anthrocon art. I want to do a few special pieces for that. We don't have much time but I will make it work.

In my free time I am working out and reading. Nothing exciting or special. I have been doing a lot of research on horses and things because the next time we move it will be onto some farm land and I do want a horse of my own. I will minimally get some mini ponies which you can't ride but GOD are they so adorable!! I would also like a quarter horse or Gypsy vanner horse that I can ride daily. I miss riding and horses so much. I think hanging with Sweetie the unicorn this weekend really made me miss it more. All this is still a few years off yet but I want to start saving soon.

Heads up incase you missed it in my Vlog. If you are planning on purchasing my soy or palm wax candles I highly suggest doing it before we go to NJ fantasy faire. We are running low and people seem to be really snatching them up this year. I am NOT reordering them until Faeriecon

I am also doing some other project things for stuff I have been working off and on for a while. Its crazy busy here. We should be hearing from our broker any day about figurine delivery also and we need to add inspection to all the figurines to our already full to do list. It isn't too late to get your pre orders in if you want to have some of the first ones shipped.

Have a great day everyone

Boy this week flew! Tomorrow we are going to be at the MD Fairy Festival, and I will be one of the featured artists! Please be sure to stop by if you can. Today I am painting away on my new digital piece Hummingbird Waltz. I am working hard on it and I am going to try and have it ready by next week. I don't think I am going to have it in time for Fairy Festival because I just don't want to rush it or kill my wrist.

Tonight I am going to go out, like on a date and everything! Johnnie and I are going to see Angels and Demons which I have been anticipating ever since I read the book years ago!! We are also going to the Apple store to check out the Macbooks so I have a Mac compatible laptop on the road. I can paint on it too!! We will see what I want and how much, there are other business things I am going to need to get first like Propanels and a few extra expenses we have that we weren't counting on. It will be nice to get out and do something I have been so show focused lately and my buddy who usually drags me out is doing law school finals. I can't have TOO much fun as we are up ungodly early to go set up and then vend at MD Fairy Fest.

And now my progress shot for now:





**Update**





**Update**

New digital WIP working title Hummingbird Waltz

Sketched it this evening and plan on working on it the rest of this week. I *may* have it ready for Fairy Festival I may not. I won't rush it just to have something new though.
( Updates under cut )

So here is how far I got from when I posted yesterday to the end of the day with Peacock Fantasy. I like how it is coming along. I should be painting live on USTREAM again soon. If you aren't on my Facebook (search Ash Evans) or my twitter (Thephoenixx) I would suggest you sign up for either so you can get the random hey I am painting status update. I do try to remember to do it here but I may forget from time to time. So I have an hour to paint before I force myself back on my elliptical machine for 30 min I am trying to get into shape for my shows this year and so far it is working. I haven't gone up a size or anything though I am creeping toward an 8 slowly..I refuse to give in I have been this size since high school. So stubbornness will prevail I assure you.

I hopefully will have a new piece for you for the weekend. I at least have my winter dragon you haven't seen yet but maybe something else in addition to. I am about 60% on my spring dragon. I want to get that series out of the way. I hate series, even if there are only 4. I don't like the expectation..

Anywhoo off to the digital salt mine...

I have so many paintings in progress and nothing is done! When I get bored with a piece I make something else and work on it so I feel more productive. I am wondering how productive it is really making me. Last night at like midnight I sketched out and started working on a painting I have wanted to do for a while.


Working title Peacock fantasy, it will have little fairies hovering around it.


I have this guy just sitting around


My furry valentine waiting




Then I have a white rabbit piece that was started so long ago I got better at digital painting and have to start the darn thing all over...I have a half finished spring dragon..sigh

I need to finish something! 7 more paintings and my book is going to press so I better get a move on. The book is looking good! This is going to be the only book for a very long while though, my body of work isn't large enough. Well I better get to work.

I haven't gotten much done today. I have felt really really tired all day. I can however show you the progress I have made on my digital painting. I was painting live for a bit yesterday, I may do so a little later this evening as well. I have already realized that printing these once complete is going to kill my magenta cartridges. Oh well.




Tonight we are going to lay out my art bay space for Imagicon and see what things I am going to take and put in there so I can fill out the dreaded bid sheets. I am not a fan of bid sheets. I also need to update the website and a few other things. The day has already escaped me, where does all the time go?

She allowed me to make a Valentines Day painting AFTER Valentines day....Yeah insert irony here.



This is of course a sketch for my next digital piece, working title My Furry Valentine. Sorry for the sketchiness, I never really clean up sketches I paint over them. It is part of my cats with hats series. I have two others, I am hoping one day for a 12 month calendar but don't hold your breath. This of course is February's. If the mood strikes me I may be painting live later on today. I hope to have this piece finished by the end of the week. 9 more paintings after this and I can publish my book! Yay.

Today I am just running off prints, catching up on emails and painting. I may do a wip post later, we will see how it goes.

Have a great day everyone


EDIT

Hi Everyone!

Steven's flight was SO LATE yesterday it was so annoying!!! They didn't even bother to tell us all who where waiting that it had landed. Anyway he is here safe and sound and while he was relaxing yesterday I got some painting done. I had my helper Rio with me. He loves painting! I want to let him try his hand (paw) at it but we need to wait till I have a studio with NO carpet. So here we are:








Yeah you got a sneak peek at what I am working on. I wasn't going to but Rio was being cute!

Today we are going to do some shopping and stuff. Nothing major as Steven is still adjusting to the time difference. We are going to NYC on Thursday!

Still working away on my new digital painting. The working title is Fall Feline. I finished the hat yesterday and I hope to finish the kitty today. Yeah I do the fun stuff first and then complain about grass...oh well. This is looking like it is going to be done by the end of the week so I am on track. I am trying to get back into my painting a week grove. I have a lot of half finished stuff I want to hammer out too.I am getting ready to go vote!! I am expecting delays so I should be back in a few hours. Don't forget to vote everyone!!!

Hi Everyone,

I started a new painting yesterday. Another digital one, I have had this line art for some time now but I am just now getting around to it. It is currently untitled. Everyone seems to really like my cats with hats paintings so there *may* be more of them.





I hope to have it done by the end of the week. I am going to try to get back into my painting a week schedule. At this point I can't afford to do any less then that or I am going to run out of time. Looking at my obligations and personal things I want to paint in the upcoming year I am NOT taking commissions of ANY kind in 2009. I simply can't. I want to make a few more sculptures too but I don't know how much time I will be afforded for that either. I have a lot of things planned for the upcoming months in BOTH traditional and digital mediums. A lot of people have been concerned that I am becoming a strictly digital artist. I am not and even if I where that isn't the end of the world now is it? I am doing a lot of digital stuff lately because it is a great way to experiment. I can undo anything, no drying time and NO original taking up space. I think it is a terrible waste to have originals sitting around, I have a closet full of them already. I am also saving up for Pro acrylics and a few other things that I want.


Anyway I better get back to it.

Have a great day everyone.

I am steadily working on my Halloween piece called the Witching Hour. I am hoping to have it finished by this evening so that I can have prints ready to take to Harvest Festival tomorrow!!

I will be in Greenbelt Maryland Tomorrow for the Harvest Festival

Harvest Festival, October 5th from 10 am to 5 pm on the Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Johnnie, Cezar and I will be there with my latest fantasy paintings, new products AND you get first crack at everything I am taking to Faeriecon, including our Framed Prints AND Matted Archival prints a lot of which we only have ONE of each type. I have some beautiful new matted archival prints of my Striped Socks painting as well as Sea Spray, Phoenix Moon and a ton of others. I have very limited quantities of my retiring figurines which will be there too. Whisper and Mephe are GONE!! We only have a few left of Jay the Vulture, and Dante and Fluffy the dragons. Hope to see you there!!!

I am sure tomorrow evening I will tell you guys all about the show and hopefully have enough energy for a video blog!

Now to work, Have a great day everyone

Hi Everyone,

Only two days till harvest festival!!! 1 week till Faeriecon!! I have a LOT of works in progress in various stages of the process. I have in the works:

5 Traditional paintings

Enchanted moon about 80% done
Candy corn Wyrm 30% done
Sugar Skull Wyrm 30% done
2 Candycorns hardly started

And onto the Digital art:



Fallen Knight




White Rabbit



Thistle, yes this is a digital revisiting of a watercolor I did, I redrew the whole thing from scratch. I am also going to rework a LOT Of this piece.


Witching Hour
I just started sketching this little guy yesterday and yeah I am going to try and get him done for the shows.

I also have some sketches for another unicorn piece.

Lots to do!!!

***EDIT** UPDATE

I am feeling pretty confident that I can get this ready before Harvest Fest on Sunday. I am also pretty pleased at how it is coming out. I really wanted to have another piece after this ready for Faeriecon but I don't think it is going to happen. Still since my last show in August I have painted 5 new pieces, 6 if I count this one. I also spent a week painting Ness so I could have something new from Connecticon to Otakon so that was something I guess. Can I crank out lucky number 7?? Who knows. 1 week till I get to pick Steven up at the airport so in between painting I will be straightening up around here and getting ready for Harvest Festival on Sunday. There is SO MUCH I want to do!! Anyway I better get back to it, it seems the glare from the sun on my tablet has subsided.

Have a great day everyone and to a lot of you See you soon!!!!

***EDIT UPDATE**

Hi Everyone,

I have been struggling with an acrylic piece for days before I said oh hang it and drew it out on my tablet. So I have been working away on it since yesterday when I started it. I have a LONG way to go if I want it done for Sunday. We will see what happens. I don't know why I have been having problems but for right now traditional mediums aren't agreeing with me. Oh well.

So here is a work in progress I am hoping to finish and have available for Sunday's harvest festival
Its called Striped socks for lack of a better title.




So far the only thing done on it is the moon and clouds.

**EDIT** Another update




**EDIT*** UPDATE



**EDIT done for the day***

Hi Everyone,
I've been busy busy busy! I have prints available up on the site of Sea Spray. I have even made a matted archival one which is hand accented. I really like how it turned out. I have been sketching out some new pieces. I have a new digital piece called Fallen Knight. The horse you see here has seen some battle and is returning home without the hero who once rode him. This will most likely be a very somber looking piece. Lots of detail, metal, leather, fabric and rocks and trees. I don't know how quickly I am going to be able to finish this one. I do think I will finish Enchanted moon this week so I will still have something new for you all by Sunday. I want to get as many pieces as I can finished for the con and really after try to keep this pace so I have some nice things for the holidays as well. I had a lot of fun making this armored horse so I would say it is safe to say that if this one goes well there will be more where that came from. I heart draft horses SO MUCH. I could paint them and nothing else forever but that would be boring for you so I promise I won't. If anyone is wondering why I have gone unicorn crazy lately it is because I am getting psyched up for a calendar I am working on for next year! With a real publisher even..I will have do make some more critters for you guys so you don't get bored but I want this calendar to be PERFECT. So bear with me.

Anyway I hope you like it and I will be posting again soon.

18 days to Faeriecon!!

Hi Everyone,

I know I have been sort of quiet on the art front lately. I have been bouncing between a few projects which means I will have a lot of art at once instead of it being released once a week or something like that. I have been working on Enchanted Moon. I have also been working on two digital pieces.


Working title for this one is Sea Spray

This is actually character development for the Purrsnicketys graphic novel. This is Harlow the dust bunny. He lives under Jitters bed. I am pleased at how he turned out.

White Rabbit from my digital wonderland series. I want to do the caterpillar as well but we will see.

This weekend I want to finish Enchanted moon OR Sea Spray OR both. I also have to do some house cleaning and studio organizing. I have a boatload of supplies coming soon!

I am thinking of having all my original paintings up for negotiation. I have a LOT of canvas and things coming. So if there is something you have had your eye on just email me ashevans@phoenixxfirestudios.com and we can talk about it. Ignore the prices on the site, just let me know what you are willing to pay for it. I don't get huffy or insulted or anything like that.

I also have two one of a kind licensed statuary pieces, one Peepers and one Thunderclap that will NEVER be made, they where not the right size. So I am thinking about auctioning them off too.

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! If the weather is nice I may take my grandpa (Pop) to the Renn Faire. His relatives owned the land and he used to play there when it was a chicken farm. He hasn't ever seen it in its changed state..He has always wanted to go. We where waiting for a nice cool day.

Still working like mad trying to finish Like clockwork! I REALLY want to finish it today so I can stay on schedule. I have a sketch for my next painting, an acrylic on oval canvas called Enchanted moon. This will be another of my unicorn moon series. I want to plot out tomorrow what I will be painting up until and maybe even at Faeriecon. Not much time left at all. I will be painting live on USTREAM again today. I will do a quickie post to let you know when. Feel free to come watch and ask me questions, you don't need to be a member or USTREAM to watch.

Phoenix Moon got moderators choice on Elfwood on Friday which was cool. I have had a few of them before but not many that is for sure! I made some Phoenix Moon prints and they turned out really lovely. I even have a Phoenix Moon matted archival print in the works.

Today I may run out to Michaels and see if there is anything good on sale for Labor Day. I am really wanting some things from my Dick Blick wish list but alas it will have to wait!

I hope everyone is having a fun weekend!!

Still painting! I feel like even after all the work I put into this piece I am still not any closer to it being finished. Luckily I have a long weekend to get it all finished up. Johnnie and I will also be doing some things with the house. It isn't much longer until we have guests. I can't believe how fast time is flying.

Here is a white rabbit piece I have been working on off and on forever:


I am not sure how I feel about it anymore, I may scrap it all together so don't get attached.

I have another unicorn piece half painted. Sheesh! Finish something Ash!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

I am still painting away on my new painting, Like Clockwork. No I haven't even started in on the horse yet. I wanted to get the hard metal bits out of the way in case I couldn't pull it off. I want to finish the three gears on his back today. I still have a long way to go but if I stay motivated I think I will have it done by this weekend. I want to try and release a piece a week from now until Faeriecon but I am not sure if the rest of my life is going to cooperate with this notion. We will see, at least I have a goal. I am mad I haven't even touched Painter X!!! I fiddled with it went crap this is too hard to figure out and went back to Photoshop.

Well I need to get back to it.

Have a great day!