While every project is different, I do have a certain sequence of events I tend to go through from the start of a notion through to hanging a painting on a wall. I'm not going to go into much detail with these, that I'll do in other posts, but this will serve as an initial guide for my usual process. Brainstorm ideas -- This is rarely a single marathon session. Mostly it's just a lot of musing and very rough, doodly sketches to try to flesh out some workable concepts. References and Studies -- When I have some idea of what I want to paint, I start looking for helpful reference pictures and I start doing studies. The studies are generally to get me a stronger idea which of my brainstormed ideas will work. Most of them aren't intended to echo the final artwork, just the idea and possible execution. If painting directly from references, then securing [...]

This is an announcement/warning that I will be working on a site upgrade. It is desperately in need of a visual update, and the stuff you don't see could use an audit and streamlining. Most of the development will take place on a local computer, but every now and again I might have to try things out on the live site. Apologies in advance if the place goes a little wonky at times -- it should never be that way for more than a few minutes at a time unless I really break something. Obviously, the existing content won't change since it's, well, the content. How it's presented and how you get to it will (very probably) be different. Hopefully it won't be too different. The timetable is extremely fluid. This is one part of a major business reinvention here at CJCS. While it's an important part, it's not the highest priority so it will probably take longer than I [...]