Current works

Hiding out and trying to focus on art as much as possible.  Working on a mixed animal design for a commission, and also on this little painting here, on a 6×6 canvas.

First in a series of "golem" paintings.

It’s the first in a series of paintings that will focus on creatures, but with only a basic outline shape, and with the bulk of the detail focusing on design and color rather than the creature’s physical features.  I think of them as ornamented golems, hence I’m calling this the “golem” series.   The above painting, is, by the way, not nearly finished.  I’ve quite a bit more to do with it.  Hopefully, I’ll know where to stop.

The Koalabat cometh

What can I say?  The wings are an example of the dangers of crosshatch addiction.  Yes, they are crosshatched in.  I do, in fact, understand that there are mediums which can fill in dark spaces much more efficiently, but I prefer doing things the painful way.

All images © Eric Battaglia 2009

Some animals appearing on Etsy

About half of the Creatures of the Arboretarium weren’t available on my Etsy site, and were unique to Renegade.  Now I’m adding them day by day, so they should all be up by the end of the week.  So far, here’s the Octophant:

“The Octophant is the most intelligent creature on Earth.  It is the only Arboretarium dweller that has ever plotted to escape and take over the world.”

Octophant

I should mention that all of these animals are hand drawn with archival Micron pens, and some watercolor.  I had a few people ask if they were wood-burned images.  While the plaques are for wood-burning, I chose to stick with drawing, since that’s what I know.

Post-Renegade

Renegade was a lot of fun, and very inspirational.  Thanks to everyone who visited my tent, grabbed a card, and checked out this blog and my Etsy store.

The hybrid animals I’ve been drawing on wood plaques turned out to be a huge hit.  Not necessarily in immediate sales, but they were a draw nonetheless.  It was enough to convince me that I might want to go beyond the original limit of 11 or 12 creatures I was going to draw (I’m at 9 right now).  I was also pretty happy with my display, if I can say so myself.

I was also happy with the sign I made.  Originally, the devil face was a block print design meant for coasters, but as it turns out, the process of making a coaster that won’t smear with use is beyond my ken, so I stuck with what I knew and turned it into my new logo.

All in all, it was definitely worth everything that went into preparing for that weekend.  Seeing other vendors, I learned a lot about presentation and setup.

I split a tent with MoxieDoll, which was cool, sort of a yin/yang, good/evil, light and dark thing.  People were attracted to both our displays equally, although I heard at least twice that my Creatures of the Arboretarium display was creepy.   Is it bad that those comments filled my heart with joy?  But mostly, everyone seemed supportive of the concept, maybe because deep down inside, we’re all devils.

Nite.

See you at Renegade!

For anyone in Chicagoland, I’ll be at the Renegade Craft Fair on Division Street, by Damen Ave. this weekend.  Stop by, I’m sharing a tent with Moxiedoll.  The animals of the arboretarium will be there, along with some other stuff.

Mini Paintings

I’ve added a few miniature paintings to my Renegade stock.  Three of them look to be the kickoffs to a new series: paintings based on metal song titles.  Here they are, each 3×3″.

"Replicas of Life"

"Rainbow in the Dark"

Devilish Buddha

"Under a Serpent Sun"

Renegade Preparation

Working on some 3×3″ paintings for the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this upcoming weekend.  I’ll post them as I’ve completed them, but nothing’s going to be for sale until the fair.  I can say though, that the theme is going to be metal song titles, and the evil they inspire.