We've just added a few new items to our Cafepress shop. Great for gift-giving!!
We've been told coffee tastes oh so much better in our mugs. :)
We've been told coffee tastes oh so much better in our mugs. :)
New Art
Thanks to Irene Gallo, the world is beating a path to our (blog) door, so I figure it's time to spruce things up around here and post some new art. Nothing like company coming over to get your butt in gear, eh? This first image is the one Omar was hiding in our previous post "Sneek Peek? Nope." It's a lovely watercolor titled Leda and the Swan
This next one is a sequel to Omar's painting, The Turtle Race, called At Full Gallop.
Next on our tour is another addition to Omar's Alice in Wonderland set,
titled Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?
titled Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?
And to round up today's exhibit, here we have the amorous Renard pitching woo in Moonlight Serenade. I love the frogs singing in the lower right.
More News!
We were there to drop off Omar's painting "the Caterpillar" because it's going to be in the museum's show Alice in Pictureland: Illustrations of Lewis Carroll's Classic Tales. Yep, Omar's work is going to be hanging alongside works by Arthur Rackham, John Tenniel, Salvador Dali, Jesse Wilcox Smith, and a few others! That's some fancy neighbors, and we're pretty excited about it. The show opens November 27 and runs through January 10. While we were there we got to get a sneak peek at the show (not to mention a few Wyeth's in the stacks--cool!) it looks like it's going to be a really interesting and diverse show. We're definitely planning a special trip to check out the show when it's up.
Some News!
We are now freshly returned from Illuxcon, still got that glow going, but at the same time wishing we could just sleep for a few days and not go back to the studio quite yet... Alas, the muse beckons and cajoles.
I think one of the highlights to the show was having our booth next to Ian Miller and his invisible dog, Jimmy. Jimmy was the most well-behaved dog I have ever met, you'd almost never know he was even there. Ian, on the other hand, not so well-behaved. He kept trying to steal Omar away to drink beer at the bistro across the street.
Another big hit at the show was Thomas Kuebler's freakishly lifelike sculptures. I always wonder how things like this get transported, so here are some pictures of his creatures being packed away at the end of the show. Can you imagine seeing these peeking out the window at you as you're driving on the highway???
Sneak Peek? Nope.
The Big Show
Despite being extremely road-weary--we took advantage of being off the Island and ran some errands, then we hit a lot of traffic on our way to NY, so we were driving for at least 8 hours that day, and oh yeah, it was pouring rain for a lot of the drive as well (UGH)--we still managed to have a great time. It's always inspiring to see this work in person, plus get to talk to the creators as well. The Society of Illustrators has a fabulous lounge upstairs that's just packed with illustrations by artists some of which are long gone, but their art is still fresh and inspiring for us young whippersnappers. Sometimes we wish we lived in the city so we could spend more hang out time in places like this. But alas, I don't think our horses would take well to apartment living. Maybe if we traded them in for pygmy elephants...??
Painting-a-Day
For those more observant people out there, you may have noticed that a few days ago that a new item appeared in the right margin of this blog. We have jumped onto the "Painting-a-Day" bandwagon and are offering said paintings, drawings, and sketches for sale on Etsy.com. They will be in the $100 range, some a little cheaper, some maybe a little more pricey. But we are gonna try our darndest to have a fresh new vibrant wonderful fantabulous piece for sale EVERY SINGLE DAY. At least that's the plan.Today's painting is a watercolor by Omar titled "Sea Lions Don't Drink Espresso". Big flippers and dainty little cups, just not a good fit.
Award Winning!
The Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair was this past weekend, and Omar came home with the blue! He won blue ribbons for his watercolor "the Caterpillar" and oil painting "the Bullfinch". He also got a special award from the MV Art Association for "outstanding artwork." Yay Omar!
Gen Con pics 3
1) Diesel on Sunday, either totally losing his mind, or it's a last minute desperate attempt at winning a hall costume prize.
2) Winding down after Sunday tear-down at the secret(?) artists' hangout.
Gen Con pics 1
1) Omar being interviewed by Jeremy McHugh of Ninja Mountain Podcast (hear the interview here)
2) Omar working on an on-site commission
3) the final result, Warrior on Bird.
Gen Con
We are currently on the road, heading home from Gen Con. More news to come as soon as we're settled back in the studio. Just a quick thank you to all the fans, artists and Gen Con staff who made it such a memorable weekend!
Spectrum Show!
Spectrum: the Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art is holding another exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. The first show was in 2005, and it was such a rollicking good time they decided to do it again. Omar had the honor of having one of his paintings in the first show, and this year they asked him to submit another painting as well. We are really looking forward to this show, it is an amazing showcase of the genre. We are planning on attending the opening reception on Friday, Sept. 11. The show runs from Sept. 1 to Oct. 17. Hope to see you there! Click here for more info.
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!
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.
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