Omar and his art

'nuff said!
(thanks Paul)

Too Quiet

I must apologise for being so quiet on the blog lately-- it's been quite a busy month We've had relatives visiting, cars breaking down, computers up and dying, and just a lot of work in amongst all that. To top it all off, I was away for a week attending the Illustration Master Class in Amherst, MA. It was an amazing, intense, exhausting (physically, mentally, emotionally) and enlightening experience. And as wiped out I'm feeling right now (just got back) I want to do it again! Irene Gallo has a good amount of photos documenting it all here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25346867@N03/sets/ .
Currently we're gearing up for Gen Con, and are looking forward to that trip in August. Hope to see you there!

Store Updated

We've added new items to our Cafepress store!
New stuff including this lovely keepsake box featuring the painting "Leda and the Swan" by Omar, perfect for storing your favorite jewelry, swan feathers, toenail clippings and other mementos. We've also added to our inventory of mugs, greeting cards, and magnets. Be sure to check out our store for all the other goodies we have available! www.cafepress.com/studiorayyan

The Big Snooze

I know I've posted pictures of the ponies sleeping before, but they just crack me up at nap time. Both of them are just out cold and oblivious to the world. Spot sometimes whinnies in his sleep, with his legs twitching like he's running. Too cute!

Random Art

"The Call of Spring"
In honor of today being Earth Day and also the absolutely gorgeous weather we have forecast here for the rest of the week, today's Random Art posting is a little watercolor by Omar titled the Call of Spring.

Gen Con

Now that it has been officially announced, we can now ourselves officially announce that Omar is going to be Artist Guest of Honor at Gen Con in Indianapolis this August. Gen Con is a huge gaming convention, touted to be "The Best Four Days of Gaming". So we'll be there, all bright and shiny, with some of Omar's original paintings on display that he's done for Magic: the Gathering and other games. Maybe if you're lucky Omar will let you lick one of them.

April Fool

"Skull of Truth"
Today's bit of Random Art is in honor of April 1 and April Fool's Day. This scary jester is a piece that Omar created a few years back for the book "the Skull of Truth" by Bruce Coville.

Random Art

"Snarfle"
Many have queried about what's up with all the fish doodles I do, so I thought I'd toss a non-fish drawing at ya. Happy now? Better be, or I'll sic little Snarfle here on ya.
-Sheila

Random Art

"The March Hare"
Driving home late last night, there were rabbits, skunks, raccoons and wildlife galore out and about. The rabbits in particular caught my attention because of the sheer numbers of them that were frolicking by the roadside, plus they were being quite daring in their dashes across my path. Sad to say, I did notice a few casualties, luckily none by me, tho it was pretty close a few times. I was wondering what had gotten into these rabbits that they were crazily running in the road, and then I realized, of course! It's March. They're all mad.

Random Art

"The Tipsy Two"
Today's Random Art image is a painting Omar did for some friends of ours as a thank you gift. It could be viewed as a bit of a portrait of the friends. Omar feels it really captures their "essence" shall we say. And while these friends did acknowledge the receipt of this little thank you gift, we have not heard from them since. We can only assume they are very busy doing important things, like trying to keep warm during this long cold miserable winter, or perhaps they are just snowed in. :)

Random Art

"Bear With Me"
8x10 watercolor done by Omar last week, perhaps hinting at a self portrait? Could be. But which one is Omar?
:)

Random Art

We've got more disciplined artist friends who post "painting a day" or "art du jour" blogs. But, well, we're just not that motivated. So I present to you our new feature... Random Art. It will feature random art we've created, some new, some old, maybe even some really old, and it will be posted at... you guessed it... random times.
To kick it all off, I offer you a little oil painting Omar did last year, titled "Renard". Enjoy.

Blue Moon Caravan

Merry Christmas!

(thx 2 icanhascheezburger.com)
kthxbye!

Release the dragons!

Editions Daniel Maghen of Paris, France has just released their second edition of L'Univers des Dragons, which is, obviously, a book about dragons. Omar's painting the Apple was chosen for this book, which also includes dragon paintings by Tom Kidd, William Stout, Todd Lockwood, Tony Diterlizzi and many more. We haven't gotten our copy yet, but from what they show on their website it is a really memorable collection of art. There's some more info about it on their blog also.

Dead of Winter

This weekend we escaped to New Hampshire to attend the Foxfire Studio Gallery's opening reception of their new show, "the Dead of Winter". The show features horror and monster art by gallery owner Pat Lewis, Rick Frane, Jill Bauman, Chuck & Wendy Lang, and a few other artists including us. Omar's painting, Cercopithecus L'Hoesti, is a pretty twisted self portrait he did a few years ago for the Necon art show. My drawing of the Bighorn Badger is a piece I did ages ago when I was playing around with skull and anatomy studies. Both pieces are a bit of a departure from the norm for both of us, but sometimes it is refreshing to step outside of the box for a bit. We had a great time at the reception, with live music provided by Knucklecocks. I gotta say I was a bit dubious about what kind of music a band called the Knucklecocks would play, but they turned out to be a very fun rockabilly/country/punk band. Definitely worth checking them out!

Shop 'til you drop!

We've got a pile of new goodies in our CafePress shop, just in time for holiday shopping. We've added more images to our ever-popular coffee mug line, plus a few new t-shirts designs and also some magnets, boxes, journals and note cards. Fun stuff! On our website, we added a whole pile of fine art prints for sale. We're also working on updating our website to showcase our original art that's available for sale. Those pages should be up very soon, hopefully (fingers crossed!!) later today.
Links:
our CafePress shop: www.cafepress.com/studiorayyan
Our website "Prints for Sale" page: www.studiorayyan.com/pages/buyprint.html

Return from Illuxcon

We've just gotten back from Illuxcon in Altoona, PA. A good time was had by all. So much talent converged on tiny little Altoona it's a surprise the town didn't combust. I'm pictured here with a sculpture done by Thomas Kuebler. Yes, that's a sculpture! If you stare at his work long enough you could swear you can see it breathe... Some more photos of our weekend can be seen here.

Not quite Halloweeny, but cool anyhow

Go Ask Alice

Our work from the "Walk Through Wonderland" show. (See previous post)
Click on the image for a larger view.