Monday, March 26, 2007

Marsulephants


I forgot to mention in my previous elephant post that "Plein Air Pachyderm" is 8X11 inches. That's a pretty small painting for me. I plan to do more though.

This one is 11X14 inches and more properly belongs in my Gnemo's Sketchbook blog. I'm posting it here because I'm on the theme of elephant forms. The link for Gnemo's Sketchbook is to your right under the link to my website. In the next couple of days I'll post it there again with the full story of the marsulephants and a few marsulephant drawings. It's too late and I'm too tired to write about these creatures and the symbiotic relationship they have with booth trees they live in.

Why, someone might ask, do I have two blogs and who is this 'Gnemo' who signed this painting? I'm too tired to explain and just about everyone is tired of hearing it anyway.

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19 Comments:

Blogger Chris Ousley said...

This is crazy... Love it! Top knotch.

11:16 PM  
Blogger Ron Morrison said...

This is brilliant-gave it full scan, intense scrutiny, came away impressed. Another victory for the imagineers!

11:42 PM  
Blogger Ben Foster said...

I love the indications of the dappled light you've got playing over this piece. Simply gorgeous.

8:49 AM  
Blogger Mark Reep said...

Love both the miniaturist, and this painting. The little easel, and the beret... (Is that the right word?
Well, it sounds suitably dashing and artsy, anyway :) And these guys are just so endearing, and so well done. And the light is great.

12:49 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Thanks. Crazy is good; intense scrutiny also and victory is even better. Imagineers? Aren't they the guys at Disney who build the theme parks?

I wish they'd let me design an entire park. Every now and then I get asked to design a small part of one but never the whole.

I plan to explore some complicated diffused and bounced light in some future paintings -- anything to not always fall back on old tricks.

Nature hasn't used the elephant form fully. There should be a greater variety of animals with trunks and tusks. It's good to have your own world to correct Nature's shortsightedness.

4:33 PM  
Blogger Ron Morrison said...

When I covered the summer season of workshops for the Canadian Federation of artists there was a loon who had a card which said so and so "Imagineer". This would be twenty years ago. Haven't used the term since, but I dragged it out because it seemed to me that people who create from their imaginations are....but I never knew anything about Walt's World.

9:34 PM  
Blogger Marco Bucci said...

Hey, this is awesome! I love the modeling, and colour harmonies happening. Really nice play with warms and cools.

10:20 PM  
Blogger BoneDaddy said...

Wow, beautiful job on this one! It's got such a photographic quality to it! Plus I like how you ploughed through the genetic adversity & incompatibility of animals so extremely different in size to come up with these creatures. Nice work!

10:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Love this one - especially how it seems like a snapshot in a science / nature magazine documenting a new species...but prettier.

6:33 PM  
Blogger Jennifer McChristian said...

Love the striking miniature elephants precariously perched on the tree limbs!
The colors and textures are gorgeous and sumptuous.

7:43 PM  
Blogger Marianne said...

Tom,
I just love your elephant forms. And that is not a personal observation! :-D

This is gorgeous as usual. You are a superb painter and you make your viewer want to be part of the painting, let alone the world you beings inhabit. I'm rather partial to elephants. :-) I just love 'Deflated' - he looks so woebegone.

Light, colour, technique: all stunning.

Next one, please. :-D

Cheers
Marianne

9:04 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Thanks. All input is appreciated. Even though I've been at this for nearly three decades my hope is that I will learn and improve.

I'm going to put the Marsulephants back on my easel at some point. It needs a bit of this and that. I'm very finicky even though I doubt what I'll do will improve the painting that much. Sometimes at the end of a day of painting to "improve" a picture I end up wiping it all away to get back to what was underneath. Oil is forgiving like that.

I've written a little story about the inhabitants of the Booth Trees where the marsulephants live. I now have to combine it with the 11 pictures that illustrate it on the Gnemo blog. Once I get this one cover done that story goes up. Almost there.

6:32 PM  
Blogger Marumae said...

Aww they're adorable, I love the marsulephants, not trying to gush but you are my favorite artist I come here so often to see more on Gnemo I don't quite think I can wait until it's published. Awesome work.

2:26 PM  
Blogger Chris Ousley said...

Back for another visit. This piece cracks me up everytime I see it. :-)

10:58 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Marumae, I'm sure that I'm just your favorite *living* artist. Thanks though. I kid.

8:37 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

These are so much fun and well painted. Your paintings tell a story like a good illustration or movie should. You feel a little something about the little elephant characters just my looking at them. You are a truly a "character development" artist. Hope you big projects leads to a celebrated series of books and movies... They deserve to. Show about these guys swinging form branches with their trunks like monkey with there tails?

3:13 PM  
Blogger william wray said...

I'd like to see a book from you called Mixed- Up Animal tails.

3:15 PM  
Blogger Tom Kidd said...

Good ideas Bill. Thanks.

10:20 PM  
Blogger Andrew Glazebrook said...

These are amazingly brilliant !!

11:51 PM  

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