Some new covers and recent artwork

Though I've been busy with the holidays, writing, and other projects, over the last month or so I have managed to get some painting done. I'm gradually going through and adding some new covers to some of my longer works, as well as having the occasional fun with more abstract works.

At the left is my new cover for my novel Dark King of the North. It's not the greatest cover, probably not even my final one, but it is better than the cover I've had for the last few years. If you click on the small images, a larger image will appear, allowing you to glory in all my imperfections.

Also, there at the left is a cover for an upcoming shorter work, Shieldbreaker: An End to Rage, which focuses upon my Lerebus Shieldbreaker character, who before now has played mostly minor roles in a couple of my novels. I'm doing a series of five short stories about Lerebus, tying up some loose ends (at least in my own head), before Lerebus eventually plays a larger role in some of my future novels, eventually probably to have a trilogy of his own (there's a desert, a city under siege, lots of undead things walking around ... oh, but it's probably years from now before I get around to writing it ... tease, tease).

Below are a couple of my abstract works, the top one titled "Ice I" and the second "Ice II." Here, as I often do, I was playing around with some colors and a few different brushes, my focus more on the texture of the paints than actually creating visual images with them. Though quite plain, I think these two pieces work. If you you look closely to the right side of "Ice II," you will see a little strip of the actual canvas; this is because I wanted it there, because for some reason I like the look of it, the look of paint at the edges of canvas.

'Ice I'

'Ice II'

One thing I've had brought home to me of late is that when it comes to brushes and paints, quality does matter. It had been a long time until recently that I had bought any new acrylic paints, and I found the prices have skyrocketed. So, trying to save a few bucks, I opted for some cheaper paints. I paid the price, and find such paints difficult to work with. As for brushes, it had also been a long time since I had bought new brushes, and my favorites are worn out to the point of being mostly unusable. I didn't want to go cheap on my brushes, but I found the sizes and shapes of certain brushes were no longer being made by the companies of my choice, so I opted for similar brushes made by companies with less than stellar reputations for quality. Again, I paid the price. For now, I'm making use of these cheaper paints, but eventually they will be gone, and as for the brushes, I'll keep my eyes open for other possibilities. I've even contacted a few companies which make brushes, hoping they'll bring back some of my favorites or perhaps have some old ones in stock in a warehouse somewhere, but so far I've not heard back.

As for my painting skills, I think they've taken a hit of late, for a variety of reasons. The crappy paints and brushes didn't help, and then I've not had a lot of time to paint of late, rushing through want painting I've done. My skills are not all that great, but I hope to keep improving, and at least I'm enjoying it.