Gen Con

Omar and I got back from Gen Con earlier this week, and the dust is still settling from our travels. Whoof! that was a wild ride. I'm not sure if it was the art show's location smack dab in the middle of the exhibition hall (rather than tucked off to the side in previous years) or it was the record number of people in attendance, but boy was the art show rockin'! We and the other artists were kept pretty busy through the whole show, Omar even lost his voice for a bit from all the chatting. We went there thinking we probably weren't going to be back for 2012 (it just such a looooooong 2-day drive in the heat of summer) but now, well, we might just change our minds.
For this year's show, I decided to go all crafty. I've been mucking about with ceramics lately, and I've discovered the wonders that are underglaze pencils. I can do drawings right on the ceramic items and once they're fired in the kiln, they are permanent and smudge-proof. A pencil artist's dream! So I made some cups and pendants and drew some crazy critters on them, and had a lot of fun showing them at Gen Con. I sold a bunch at the show, and the leftovers I've just posted in my Etsy shop.

I was given a dice bag to decorate for the charity auction. Last year I did one and was very happy that they asked me to do another one this year as well.  I drew some designs and yes more silly critters on it with sharpies and then embellished it with wiggle eyes. Gotta love those wiggle eyes! Too much fun. Omar did a dice bag as well, but we didn't manage to photograph it before it went to auction. :( Hopefully they'll post pictures of it on their website: http://gencondicebags.tumblr.com/.

Like I said, I went all crafty this year, so I brought my henna as well. I did lots and lots of henna designs on people, so much so that I had to shut down the henna factory for a little while to give my hand a rest. I of course, as usual, am very bad about taking photos of my henna. But Omar was there to remind me and I did get a few photos. I had some steampunk henna designs in my book this year which were very popular.

 

Anyhoo, enough of my rambling on, we had a great time at Gen Con this year, and we may be back for more next year, we'll see!

In Progress

"The Frog and the Princess" 18x24 oil

"Mother and Child" (AKA "Octomom") 18x24 oil

Here are two paintings that Omar is putting the finishing touches on. We'll be bringing them to show at Gen Con, which is only a week away!
update Aug 11, 2011: Now that the paintings are finished, Omar has finalized their titles as well.
They are now titled "the Courtship" and "Contessa with Squid" 

Free Art!?

"Ladybug" watercolor 9"x11"

Now is your chance to WIN this original Omar Rayyan painting!
If you buy something from either of our Etsy shops (www.studiorayyan.etsy.com or www.motherspoon.etsy.com) your name will be entered for a chance to win.
Contest starts today and runs until August 31. So what are you waiting for, get shopping!

Another Progression

Aha! I found it! I knew Omar had scanned one of his paintings in progress... So here I present to you "Cucumber Sandwich" from sketch to final...

Progression

I was mucking about in some file archives the other day and came across this sequence of scans I did while I was working on my "Cheshire Cat" drawing a few years back. I remember scanning this at specific timed intervals, but now I can't remember what that interval was. Maybe every 3 hours? Maybe every hour? Gnurgh. Should've taken notes. Oh well. I also intended at the time to post this on our website, but never got around to it. So, lucky you, you get to see it now! :) Hmmmm... I seem to remember Omar doing the same to one of his paintings as it progressed, I'll see if I can find those files, too!

Doodlin'

I thought I'd share this little "project" I've been working on...
I started carrying around a little pocket sized Moleskine sketchbook last year. After years of not having a sketchbook, I'm really enjoying having this one. It is a Japanese fold book, so it is a long, continuous page that folds up neatly into the sketchbook. I work on this in ballpoint pen and it's a lot of fun to do such a long free-for-all doodle. I'm about halfway through this book so far and I never know where it's gonna go on the next fold. I work on this whenever I've got a few minutes to kill: in restaurants, on the ferry, in waiting rooms, etc.
-Sheila

Eye of the Beholder

details - click image for larger view

So... all you Dungeons & Dragons fans out there are probably familiar with this creature, the Beholder. Jon Schindehette (Senior Creative Director for D&D) commissioned a number of artists to do their interpretation of the Beholder. Everyone had to do the same relative composition, just do it in their own "style". Omar was lucky enough to be included in this project, and posted here is his version. Only Omar would sneak in a lap dog with a pretty blue bow in it's hair, and a mouse reenacting Hamlet into a D&D battle scene. But I suppose that's why Jon picked him for this project. :)
You can see other artist's versions by clicking this link.

New Website!

WOOT!
My website is now up and running: www.motherspoon.com. Thanks to Heather at Goffgrafix for all the behind-the-scenes coding wizardry, I love my new site. It'll be so much easier to keep it updated now.
Don't forget to visit Omar's site: www.studiorayyan.com. Wait, Omar who? I dunno, he's just some guy I know... :)

-Sheila

So Phoney

Check out our new iPhone cases for sale in our CafePress store. We've chosen some of Omar's most popular images to grace these lovely cases. We got lots of other goodies for sale there as well: t-shirts, coffee mugs, magnets, etc. Check it out at www.cafepress.com/studiorayyan

My Word!

A few years back, author Shelley Jackson decided to have one of her short stories "published" by having it tattooed one word at a time on 2000+ people. I am "Even", one of the words in the story. Shelley recently did a video story featuring a number of her "words" each saying their word. She assembled the short clips into a new story. The Berkeley Art Museum is also featuring the video on their website, you can see it here: http://netart.bampfa.berkeley.edu/skin

(I am at 1:00 in the video)
You can read more about the original Skin project here.

-Sheila

Etsy Sale!

Another SALE!?! Yep, Omar had his sale, now it's time for mine.
I'm having a sale in my Etsy shop on my regular sized prints - all are now 50% off. Sale ends March 20th so don't dilly-dally. Check it out here.

-Sheila

Fan "art"

Omar just got this photo in his email. A fan had one of his ink drawings made into a tattoo. The drawing is an interior illustration Omar did for the book "Nightshade City" by Hilary Wagner. Pretty cool! (tattoo done by Zoe Thorne)

Random Art

 

It's been a while since we've posted a bit of "random art" so I thought I'd share this oil painting with you. Still in progress, but very very very close to being done, it's tentatively titled "the Dragon Hamam." You can almost hear him purring, that's one happy looking dragon. Omar should have it done in time for it to be in the art show at Boskone this upcoming weekend (Feb 18-20.

Sale!

Now that we're in the doldrums of winter, we thought we'd help you brighten up your surroundings a bit... Omar is having a sale in his Etsy shop!

50% off regular prices on selected items, sale will run until Feb 28.

Click here to see what's on sale...

Such a deal, such a steal!

Facebooked

Become a fan of "the Art of Omar Rayyan"

www.facebook.com/orayyan is Omar's official page on Facebook

A New Look

We've given the ol' website a makeover and a good thorough reorganizing. Studiorayyan.com is now solely the home of Omar's work. We felt the old site was a bit cluttered by featuring both our work, so we opted to part ways (but only on the website)! We're hoping with this new design it will be easier to keep it updated with fresh content, plus be able to let our viewing public know which pieces are available for sale. MY site, which is still under construction, is www.motherspoon.com.

Thanks for viewing!

-Sheila

Full Speed Ahead!

WOOT!

Omar's "Full Gallop" watercolor has been accepted into the Society of Illustrators "Annual Exhibition: Illustrators 53,  Uncommissioned Exhibit", and will be subsequently published in the Illustrators 53 Annual book.
From the more than 1,400 entries in this category, only 70 were chosen! So it's quite an honor to have a piece accepted for this.

The show will be held in New York at the Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators from January 5 to January 22, 2011. An opening reception for the show will be held Fri, Jan 7th.  More info here.

Mail Royale

We got this unusual sack in the mail today. At first, I thought we were getting some mail from Hogwarts! But once we opened it we found out it was Omar's copies of the Brown Fairy Book. Guess we're done with our Christmas shopping early this year!

My Brother

My brother Pete had an accident at home on Monday, and passed away last night. He has left a giant rift in the universe of our family and friends. He leaves behind a wife and two children, whom he adored to no end. His fellow firefighters have set up a fund to help them. 

Peter S. Regan Family Support Fund 

C/O Wayland Local 1978

P.O. Box 5009

Wayland, MA 01778

 Or direct deposits can be made at the Middlesex Savings Bank in the funds name

Any contributions would be greatly appreciated.

-Sheila

Brown Fairy Book

Omar did interior and cover illustrations for the Brown Fairy Book, which is a collection of fairy tales by Andrew Lang. This edition was just released by the Folio Society of London. They are known for their high quality collectible editions, so if any of you out there are book fanatics, this is a great book to add your library!