My Technique and Materials

All my life I have been a self-taught artist with no formal or classical art training.  In high-school I took 3 years of Photography and 1 year of Commericial Art.  I went to college briefly in 1997 at the University of Houston and briefly again in 2004 at Cyfair Community College to work on my Core Curriculum that I would need to get a BFA in Fine Art, but life has a funny way of changing your plans. 

Years later, here I am taking Art classes occasionally at Austin Community College as my schedule allows. One day, once I'm done with raising my kids, I hope to go to the University of Texas to get my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting. 

What follows is both my technique, approach, and list of materials and mediums that I use to create the art you see on my blog. My preferences came from both trial and error and by referral from other working professionals that I know. 

Every painting or illustration that I create starts with an Idea and Research.

An Idea: I get much of my inspiration and creativity from reading mythology, classic literature, or ancient history, listening to instrumental music, watching films, or admiring classical art.

Research: Every illustration or painting that I create is based on research. Over the years I have collected a large reference library that I use and add to every time I create a painting or illustration. I frequent my local Half Priced Books for a variety of book types: National Geographic, children's educational books, general reference, photography, ect. I also have my iPhone camera with me to capture references as I am driving around. I use models as often as possible for all my art. 

Materials: This is list of my preferences to work with by medium.

Oil Painting:

Crescent™ No. 110 & 300 Cold Press Board 

Masonite panel

Grumbacher™ Bristlette and Golden Edge series brushes

Winsor & Newton™ University Series 233 detail brushes

Winsor & Newton™ Winton Oils

Liquitex™ Matte Medium

Winsor & Newton™ Refined Linseed Oil

Mona Lisa™ Odorless Paint Thinner

Grumbacher™ Alkyd

Grumbacher™ Cobalt Drier

Grumbacher™ Damar Varnish

Grumbacher™ Brush Cleaner

Watercolor Painting:

Crescent™ No. 110 Cold Press Board 

Crescent™ No. 300 Cold Press Board

Canson™ Watercolor Cold Press Paper

Grumbacher™ Goldenedge series brushes

Grumbacher™ Finest Artists' Watercolours
Winsor & Newton™ Art Masking Fluid
Winsor & Newton™ Gum Arabic
table salt & rubbing alcohol

Other Media:

Sanford™ 0.5 & 0.7 mm mechanical pencil

Pentel™ B (Soft) Black Lead 

Design™ Ebony Jet Black Extra Smooth

Derwent ™ Graphic series pencils

Bienfang™ Parchment 100 Tracing Paper

Canson™ Vellum Paper 

Strathmore™ 400 Series Drawing Paper 

Strathmore™ Artagain™ Drawing Paper

Strathmore™ Bristol Smooth Paper

Berol Prismacolor™ Colored Pencils

Derwent™ Pastel Pencils

Pigma™ Micron Archival Inks

My Technique:  Here are a few of my works in progress which show some step by step shots as I worked.

Ab Luci

Love Worth Dying For

The Goddess Demeter 

Tony Stark in Avengers: Infinity War

Elsa, The Queen of Ice and Snow