Maurice Sendak passed away today…

My earliest memories of art come from the “Pierre: A Cautionary Tale” story by Maurice Sendak.  After that, his wonderful book, “Where the Wild Things Are”.  I recall, even has a child, the texture and lines of his pen.  I was thrilled and terrified to see Pierre stick his head into the mouth of a lion.  I remember feeling anxiety at Pierre’s “I don’t care” response to his parents and the lion, but also being excited at the same time.  Did he really not care!?  How could that be?  I also remember being terrified of the Wild Things, but being jealous of Max at the same time.

I almost named my youngest son Max, after Sendak’s Max.  It would have suited him too.  His mind is often tearing through the wild on his own adventures on some “wild rumpus”.  You can see it in his eyes!

The very first art book that my parents bought for me was “The Art of Maurice Sendak”.  If there is a spark that lit my imagination on fire and then fanned the flame, it was his masterwork, “Where the Wild Things Are.”  Mr. Sendak tapped into a deep and common desire of all kids to have adventure.  To swing in the trees and be a wild thing.  As an adult, I still feel that call when I read his books and I live much of that out through my drawings.

Here is a sketch I started, but never finished.  It is a detail of a larger drawing.  Maybe I will finish it now that Sendak’s work is done.

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Thank you Maurice for scaring me, inspiring me and leaving the door open to the cage of my wild things.

“Let the wild rumpus begin!”

Magic the Gathering – Make a Wish

Make a Wish card for Magic the Gathering – Innistrad.  My favorite part is the bear.

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Magic the Gathering – Silverchase Fox

A new card from the Innistrad set of Magic the Gathering.

Magic the Gathering – Ghostly Possession

A new card for Magic the Gathering titled Ghostly possession.  Probably one of the creepier paintings I have done.  Very fun to do.

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Thank you Caravaggio

I don’t always have the time to do the kind of art study that I would like.  So sometimes I have to incorporate that study into my work.  Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists, so for this painting of The Fell Court I decided to base my composition on Caravaggio’s painting of Supper at Emmaus.

Why you ask?  I wanted to spend some real time looking at what makes this composition work.  The powerful lights and darks along with the limited palette.  The masterful foreshortening of the character on the right and look at how the character on the left looks like he is just about to move, to breath and speak.  Wonderful.  I have only done this a few times over the years, but I always find it to be a very useful experience.

So thank you Caravaggio for helping lift at least this image for Dungeons and Dragons a little higher.

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