Wow.

So it has been forever and a day since I've posted. Major updates, or rather a complete overhaul to come soon. See you all in a little.

– Sorrow for the Lost Lenore — iPad Painting using Procreate
Hello friends!
Let me please start by saying that I will not give you some lame excuses for why I have not been updating my blog as much as I originally intended, neither will I make promises that I will be able to do so. I will, however, share with you an illustration I submitted to be apart of UVU's Gallery of Terror! :D

It was an open submission gallery, and anyone from the Illustration Club could submit anything. Nothing would be judged, or rejected, which meant there wasn't a lot of stress, just whatever people wanted to do. Not being told what to do can be a particularly challenging assignment. These conditions can also breed a lot of creativity.

I had a lot of fun exploring this idea. The concept was to show the narrator of Edgar Allen Poe's: The Raven in the moments before the events of Poe's poetic masterpiece. I have always felt a sort of sympathy to the man in this story, and I really wanted to capture that in this piece.

Anyway I have a few more halloween time inspired doodles I want to share with you all, so, I will post them when I have a moment away from school.

As always I appreciate you taking the time to check this post out. It really means quite a bit to me. My friends I love you all, thank you for your continued interest in my pursuits.
<3 CirAD

Some Recent Studies, and One Just for Fun

Hello Internet land!

My friends I have a sour confession to make...


I failed to update my blog last week 0.0
A crime most grievous I know. However I'm going to try to make up for it by posting twice by the end of this week. So for the first post I'm going to share a few iPad sketches done in the past week or so.

The first one is a really quick creature idea.

And the second is the skull of an orangutan I found lying about in the new science building at UVU.

Finally the third is a digital Plein Air I did of the view of Utah Lake, and the west mountains from the Gunther Trades Building on UVU campus.














I find that I have some from-life-study-time most mornings at school; mostly do to the fact that I have to get there a couple hours early to make sure I have a parking spot. So I plan to use this time exploring campus looking for interesting things to study.

As always I am very grateful to you, my friends, for stopping by and checking out my progress. Your comments and opinions always well recieved. Love you all, and thanks again, and I'll see you soon. <3

Paintings From This Past Summer

Well hello there, and welcome!

Happy Labor Day to all of you, my friends! I decided to use some of my free time today to update my blog once again with works from the not so distant past. These specific paintings posted today are just a few of my favorite paintings that were done through the summer of 2012... and they could all use a little more love and attention, however with school in full swing, I am not certain when they will actually receive the attention they deserve.

I was able to get in on a plain air painting class being taught by the awesome Perry Stewart. We traveled all around Utah County, in the early hours of the morning, spending 6 or more hours outside painting. This was the first time I had experienced a class anything like this. I did more oil painting through this last summer than I had in my entire life up to this class(which is truthfully an farily small amount of time).

It was hard, it was a lot of work, it was many hours of being frustrated, and mixing the wrong colors. We battled biting flies, dehydration, the hot sun, and the eye burning ashy air that was common for Utah County this past summer.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to get up early, watch the light from the rising sun dance across the shapes and forms of nature, as varied and wild as they are beautiful. To hear song birds, and buzzing insects. To listen to the song of the streams and rivers, the whisper of the occasional and rare breeze rustle through the open fields. To truly OBSERVE the diversity of life around us. It was a great place to make some wonderful new friends too.

I learned SO much in this class. My eyes were opened, I was inspired, and I began to fall completely in love with oil paints as my understanding of them, our limited color palette, and how to use my brushes and palette knife grew. Despite all the negative things I listed earlier, THIS WAS BY FAR THE MOST FUN CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN. We had a great time.

American Fork Canyon Stream

Deer Creek Reservoir

Dry Canyon Evening Light Sketch

Dry Canyon Evening (from sketch, photo, and notes)

Provo Canyon South Fork Stream

Provo Tree

Painting in Provo with Nate Call. To check out his excellent version of the same scene check out this blog post of his.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these paintings. They are the product of many many hours of frustrated study. I still have a very long way to go in my understanding of oil paints, colors, composition, and application... but I am pretty proud of the work I was able to do this past summer. Like I said it was hard for me, but I loved every minute of it. Let me know what you think :)

Thank you so much for checking these painting out. I love you all, and I hope you have an happy labor day, and I hope you'll be back to check in on my blog again soon. I'm looking forward to it.

--CirAD
<3

Yet another iPad Sketch :D

Autumn Spell
Another iPad sketch this week for, you, my blog friends. I did the majority of this while waiting for my math class to start, and then finished it up when I got home today. I've been trying to get as much painting; drawing; and sketching in my schedule as possible these last couple days. I hope you enjoy!

Stay Classy ;D

-CirAD

Gollum Sketch

"...When he was very, very, hungry and tired of fish; then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins ..."


Hello my friends! In the interest of updating my blog this week I'm sharing with you, a sketch I did on my iPad yesterday while out and about running errands. I've been very busy this week with a private project that is requiring the majority of my attention; as well as running around doing all the busy little things that go into getting back in school. I'm going full time now after a two year hiatus, and it feels great to be getting back in to it.

I am so excited for The Hobbit to come out. Yesterday was marked as the one hundred and eleven days until it hits theaters. AH! Eleventy-one days! I will probably be doing a lot of LotR fan art until it comes out.

I also have a few oil paintings I want to post for you guys to look at too, but haven't had the time to photograph them quite yet. Please keep checking back though, I promise I'll have them up soon.

Anyway guys, I hope you're enjoying the blog. Those that are visiting, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you just checking it out, and I really hope you'll be back soon. Let me know how I can improve it, or what you think about the work I'm posting.

See ya soon!
-CirAD

Exiled

Exiled
Hello friends, and welcome guests!
I wanted to share another painting with you today. This is a painting I finished back in Connecticut. I really had a lot of fun with this one. It was a very big learning step for me. Let me know what you think :D

See you around!
--CirAD