Gearing up for Gen Con

We're heading off for Gen Con next week so I thought I'd share some of the new works Omar has been working on.

First up: a new oil painting, currently untitled (Any ideas out there? Anyone? Bueller?  *update* - we figured out a title, it is now called "The Favorite"), freshly framed with an antique frame we got from Wendy and Chuck Lang at their fabulous Art Corner frame shop in Salem, MA. They have an amazing selection of frames old and new, you should check them out if you are ever in the Salem area. If you look really close in the background of the photo you can see Omar's pyramid-like Spectrum Awards lined up on the shelf. :)

 Continuing our tour, we've got "Cavalier with an Acorn", painted in watercolor.

 And finishing up, here is what Omar was working on the morning, a scene from Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Bottom and Titania and lots of little fairy friends.

Another Award (possibly)!!

We just found out that Omar has been nominated for an Illie Award. The "Illies" are chosen by the members of the Illustration Exchange and will be presented in November at Illuxcon. This is the first year for this award, and they've really gone all out in the making of the actual award, which is pictured above. It's a bronze piece created and cast by Vincent Villafranca, an amazing sculptor and really nice guy to boot. Omar's nominated painting is "The Caterpillar" shown below...

Chesley Nods!

Omar and I have BOTH been nominated for ASFA's Chesley Awards this year, albeit in different categories (Thankfully! We wouldn't want to have to compete against each other!). Omar is nominated in the Hardback Book Cover category, and I'm in the Unpublished Monochrome category. The awards will be presented at NASFiC in Raleigh, NC in August. So those of you eligible, get out there and vote for us! We want to be the first husband/wife dual Chesley winners!!! How cool would that be?

Out in the real world...

We'll be stepping out of our studio and off our little island to head to our old stomping grounds for a day in Providence, RI. We'll have a booth at the Providence Art Festival this Saturday June 12, so if you're in the area be sure to drop by to say hi and see what sort of goodies we have for sale. For more information, click here. To see a list of fellow artisans who will also be there, click here. Looks to be a great festival. See you there!

Random Art

Here's a little piece I just finished that I've titled "Queen of Hearts".

I was working on this while I was playing catch-up watching past episodes of "Lost" before the grand finale. Anyone notice the influence of the Smoke Monster?

-Sheila

Up For Auction

The MicroVisions auction is now live on eBay!

This is your chance to bid on (and possibly win!)

some amazing art by some of the best illustrators out there.

For more information, click here.

Click here for the auction on eBay.
Opening bids start at $50.00

Auction ends Wednesday, May 26th.

Omar's MicroVision

"Hop-along Galahad" is Omar's contribution to the MicroVisions exhibit put on by the Society of Illustrators. The show opens April 26 and all pieces will be up for auction to benefit the Society's student scholarship fund. Irene Gallo is one of the organizers and you can read her "review" of Omar's painting here.

More info about the exhibit can be found here.

New Book

Available now! Joha Makes a Wish, written by Eric Kimmel and illustrated by Omar, has hit the bookstands! You can purchase a copy online by clicking here.

ALSO: A few of the illustrations from the book will be featured in the Los Angleles, CA Skirball Museum's exhibit Monsters and Miracles:A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books. The show will open April 8 and run through August 1.

There's Gold in Our Spectrum

The Spectrum Annual recently finished the judging for this year's book, and we found out that Omar won a Gold Award in the Book category. His winning painting is for the cover of the upcoming Mistmantle: Urchin and the Rage Tide. You can see a list of all the winners here.

...Where the Sun Don't Shine

We just got back from Boskone, and we're very proud to announce that Omar won NESFA's prestigious and possibly dangerous Skylark Award. As you can see from the photo above, the award features a large and very high quality magnifying glass. And we all know how fun magnifying glasses can be when you play with them in the sunshine. In the second photo, you'll see author Jane Yolen recounting her experience soon after winning the award a few years back. She was thrilled to have won it, so she had put it on her kitchen table where she could show it off and admire it. One morning, as the sun came through the window and illuminated the award, it proceeded to burn a hole in her favorite wool coat draped on a nearby chair. So every year, Jane tells this story to the latest winner, with the advice to "put it where the sun don't shine!"

Thanks NESFA. :)

The Escape

"The Escape", a new watercolor by Omar. Feels appropriate for today, since tomorrow we are making our "escape" to the mainland.

Random Art

 

A new drawing, finished in time for the Boskone art show this upcoming weekend. I've titled this one "the Mermaid's Masque" and it is 11"x14", done entirely in pencil.

-Sheila

Anyone in the mood to shop?

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. :)

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?

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.

Now we're really famous!

Our blog has been featured on Irene Gallo's blog.

Helloooooooo Irene (waving)!!!!!!!!

More News!

On our way back home from Altoona, we made a detour to Chadds Ford, PA and the Brandywine River Museum. Why? Well, I'll tell ya.
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.

We've been busy getting ready for Illuxcon, so I thought I'd give everyone a sneak peek of what Omar has been working on lately. But alas, I was not quick enough with the camera. So I guess you all will just have to be patient. Lots of new stuff coming soon! Hope to see you at Illuxcon next weekend.

Spot is so helpful

The Big Show

Last Friday we drove to NYC to attend the reception for the Spectrum show at the Society of Illustrators. (photo is of Omar posing next to his painting in the show). More pics taken by Irene Gallo +click here+.
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...??