Tysoe's Art Blog

I started this particular painting early on when I first picked up the brush again. Originally I got it into a sepia underpainting stage but once I got to painting the colour I destroyed it. In the end after a couple of days work I went back with a cloth and wiped all the new paint off.  It’s been hanging on the wall all these month and I haven’t had the confidence to touch it.

Anyway, I picked it up and started over. I don’t think it’s quite finished yet but it is a vast improvement.

16″x20″ Oil on Canvas

I have to say the camera didn’t quite capture the painting that well, the values seem bunched on either end without much transition in the middle.

My biggest problem with this painting right now is the composition. I did tweak it from the original. I changed the hand and tried to lead a few things towards Braveheart the pug. I also gave her the most detail and tried to lead the viewer in but the girls face attracts too much attention.

I really like how I painted Braveheart which is by far the part that I am most pleased with.

Here’s a new Dungeons And Dragons Painting of my wifes character in a new World of Greyhawk campaign. This is old school pen and paper gaming, not computer games.

Anyway, meet Rina the Rogue. She’s about 4′ tall, and in the painting is offering a Orc a tin tankard of Ale whilst a dagger is hidden discreetly behind her back.

18×24 Oil on Canvas

This painting had been bugging me for a while. It’s been hanging on the wall above my monitor for a couple of months now. This weekend I thought I’d take it down and touch it up in a few areas where it lacked a little something. Both the fantasy paintings I did were not really to my satisfaction so I decided to show them put them up small.

I’m quite pleased with the retouched version, Subtle changes were made that I feel made a difference. Originally Silverstein was supposed to be an Elven Cleric with proficiency with the Bow. But most of her powers in the game were from a divine power source. So I had her pointing her finger intending to add a magic effect. In the end I decided I didn’t want any fancy effects at her finger tip and wanted to show that she also used  a Bow.

In the original painting I always intended her to be drawing an arrow from her quiver behind her head but it always looked funny. This weekend I realized that the problem was the hand being superimposed in front of her hair so that it looked like she was firing an invisible arrow. I painted in some extra hair obscuring the hand a little and it made all the difference.  I definately didn’t want to add an arrow obscuring her face.

Funny how the little details can make subtle differences. I have begun to notice these things more and more lately. I suppose thats one of those things that develop as you improve as an artist.

Other little things I added were reflections of the sky in shiny areas. Unfortunately  these are quite subtle and didn’t come out well in the photo.

The last few months have been busy with contract work. Mostly video games which I don’t post on here.  Anyway, I thought I’d stick up a few of my 1 hour quick sketches done in oils.

These paintings are all 9″x14″ painted in Oils

I did another painting of Inna’s mum, similar to the previous one. This one came out with her looking a lot younger, more like the first time we met about ten years ago now.  The first painting I did for Dennis was a success and my wife loves this painting too.

16 x 20 Oil on Panel

It’s been a couple of weeks since I did the basic underpainting in the previous post. Things progressed quite well since then.

Oil on 16×20 museum series panel

Overall I think it gives a good impression of Faina’s personality and hopefully her husband will like it.
I went for a classic portrait, though it is somewhat formal I put her off center, and smaller than she might have been to make it formal. Since she was a short lady but with a strong and determined personality I put her back and tried to place the height to communicate this somewhat.

The lighting is strong, I’m hoping this will enable her to stand out in the somewhat dark living room I have been told the painting will be hung in.

I haven’t produced much the last couple of months. The family here had a bit of a crisis when my wifes mother was rushed to ER with liver failure. Needless to say we all supported her the best we could through her battle.

Unfortunately during those 6 weeks she developed a lung infection and eventually passed away. There aren’t very many photo’s of her and so I decided to pick up my paintbrushes and oils and started on a new portrait.

This is just the preliminary underpainting I use to get my self acquainted with the subject, most of which will be painted over.

I used iron oxide red and burnt umber to put in the basic forms and values. I prefer to leave the skin tones paler so that when the light shines through the layers of paint it reflects back giving you some of that living glow often found in classic oil portraits.

The finished painting will be a gift for Dennis Poirier, Faina’s husband.

Here’s first mini I sculpted last week that I like and am using in one of my games. SkilGallen, a dextrous two blade ranger and crack shot with his bow. Light armour relying on agility and reflexes when stealth is no longer an option.

I used 20 guage steel wire for the arnmature (skeleton)
ProCreate epoxy putty for sculpting.
Magnetic Button for the base
Artists quality Acrylic paints (I don’t have paints designed for miniatures yet)

Back on the Dungeons & Dragons theme. For a while we played with a GM who was starting his own miniature business and was practicing by making hundreds of miniatures that he brought to his games.

Miniatures are small figurines 28mm high for regular humans. They are used to represent the players and other characters in the story that unfolds during the game.

I thought I’d have a go since it looked like fun and despite the thousands you can buy, I can never find anything that looks like the character in my head.

Above are my first attempts  in various stages, aprox actual size on a 21″ monitor. The first one I used Super Sculpey clay which has to be baked in the oven. It proved quite tricky to work with. I do like the feel and colour but it seemed better suited for larger projects.

Some research told me that I wasn’t using the right material and should be using a 2 part epoxy putty that when mixed gives you 1-2 hours work time before it cures to a solid state. The second miniature on the left is my first almost complete miniature which I created in one 90 minute session.

The remaining three are in various stages as I decided to build them up in layers, starting with the wire armature, adding bone like skelleton, fleshing out, and then clothing. This gives you a solid base to build each layer on, instead of pushing the putty out of shape the whole time. I’m starting to get the hang of it, though I really need to figure out the best tools for smoothing. Seems to be a common problem and I expect I’ll learn that and doing 3-4mm  faces will come with more practice.

Been busy the last couple of months and haven’t had much time to do the painting I wanted. Decided to put some time aside for paintimg. Just recently my wife and I started playing Dungeons & Dragons. It’s been a good 10 – 15 years since I last played. Each weekend we spend quite a few hours with some people we met at the local meetup group.

Anyway, D&D is a great game where a bunch of you sit around the table together and create an epic story together with each player playing a charactre in the game. My character is Skillgannon a Ranger ( was in a hurry and named him after a David Gemmell character). My wife Inna is playing a half elven cleric, though she really wanted a druid character, unfortunately they aren’t available yet in the new 4E rules.

Here’s the underpainting for both characters.

Skillgannon 16″x20″ Oil on canvas

Silversteine 16″ x 20″ oil on canvas

I also put together a local community Dungeos and Dragons community site up at Sac D&D