Ok, I am on a deadline right now. Not only do I only have a couple more months of uninterrupted work left  before the baby gets here, but I also only have a couple weeks left before I need to have this painting done and ready to go to print.

What painting you ask? Well, I am doing a painting for the Never Quit Never event. Its a very good cause and the event seems to be growing by leaps and bounds every year. They have asked me to make a mermaid painting for their event this year.  I of course accepted! But like I said there is a deadline, so I am working at a fast pace in order to get this painting done. Click here  for the photo of me and the start of this painting!

As you can see in the photo of my workspace, I have completed the pencil stage of the painting. I have also laid down a layer of workable fixative so that when I lay down my paint, the pencil won’t get pulled up. I would hate for the lead to muddy my colors. Next, I am going to go on to work on the background. This is out of the ordinary for me since I don’t really paint backgrounds. But I have been wanting to start adding them and what better way then to jump in with both feet! If you can see behind me, you will see all the inspiration that I am pulling from. Mostly Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell paintings. Their color palette and striking figures provide the right inspiration for a painting like this. I photographed the very lovely Lana Kinnear for this painting and she was wonderful to work with! She was also the model for my White Rabbit Painting!

Once the background is done, then I will be moving on to the other figures in the piece and then finally will arrive at the mermaid herself. If you can see the mock up photo I put together, you will get an idea of what the overall piece will look like. I don’t want to give too much away yet…I like anticipation!

Of course, there are other commissions that I am working on at the moment as well. I am currently drawing an alternative version of Princess Leia. This piece is going to be very hot!! How could it not? I photographed Septembers Pent House Pet Emily Addison for the piece! I will post WIPs of that once they are ready. Emily was the beautiful model that posed for my Cheshire Cat painting! There are other commissions I am working on at this time as well and if you are interested in getting a commission for your holiday gift giving this year, now is the time to let me know. I offer a wide range of styles and pricing to fit almost every budget.

And yes, I plan on doing my Alice painting for my Wonderland Series.  I plan on starting her once this Mermaid painting is complete. I just hope that I am not too big to sit at my desk by that time. The model for Alice is the very beautiful Vanessa Lake.

Oh! and one more thing! I am going to be doing a collaboration with a very talented and very gifted well known comic book artist. I talked to him the other day and we came up with a really cool idea. If all goes to plan, we will have a very cool limited edition available in the new year!

So, there you have it! Lots of projects and things to work on. Some for others, some for myself! But all awesome ideas and all are a lot of fun.  

Hugs from your friendly neighborhood Pinup Artist Nicole!!