ALL HALLOW’S HERALD (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 43 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
This started as a smear of paint on a sheet of palette paper.
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THE LION DRINKS TONIGHT (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 42 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project—painted live this week!
While sitting in front of our table and painting sketches at IX9 (IlluXCon), I looked down and saw something on the palette. I took the pic included below on my phone and then painted the final image there in front of everybody.
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ASTRAL MUSE (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 41 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project
This piece of mat board was used as a palette while working on the cover for Brandon Sanderson’s Words of Radiance. Half of the scrap was turquoise while the rest was reds and oranges. Random brushstrokes suggested the figure that I painted in.
I still had paints left over from the Sanderson cover session—everything except earth tones which had spoiled with mold—so I used the remaining pigments to render this little image.
TRINITY RISING by Michael Whelan, week 40 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
I’ve been painting a LOT of weird trees lately for the new Osten Ard Trilogy, trying to come up with a design idea that Tad Williams, Betsy Wollheim, and I like. The trees figure importantly in the new books so I’ve been working on them for weeks! It’s been a long slog, but I edge a little closer each day and I know it will all be worth it in the end.
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AMETHYST FANTASY (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 39 of his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
When I’m painting a tight area with my nose to the canvas, a larger palette becomes something of a nuisance. So whenever I trim down a larger Gessobord, I keep the remaining scrap for use as a mini palette. I’ve been working on a couple of projects in acrylics, and this was one of the smaller palette pieces I had been using.
Unlike other instances when a palette gave rise to a finished image, I didn’t see a shape that called for me to develop. Rather, it was the colors that interested me: the lilac hues made me think of amethyst crystals, and one thought led to another…
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SPLASHY CENTAUR (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 38 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
The photo included below was sent to me by my Facebook friend Justin David Russell during a discussion about seeing images in accidental shapes. As soon as I saw it I was taken by the image it sparked in my mind. Last week, having found some leftover Raw Umber on my palette I decided to go ahead have a whack at sketching it out in paint.
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CANYON OF DEATH (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 37 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
This one was created with leftover paint, Raw Umber and white on a palette I was using while trying to cover up spots on an oil painting. Wiggly lines made on a scrap of canvas suggested a figure and scene to me.
Often when I’m painting off-the-cuff like this I can’t say why I felt attracted to the particular subject. It kind of just happens.
Admittedly here, I had been looking at some slides of my old paintings from college, many of which betray my Frazetta influences, so perhaps I was channeling that when I got into this little piece.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
YOUNG CASSANDRA (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 36 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
Acrylic on Mat Board - 13" x 13"
As you can see in the photo I took of my drawing table, the source of this one came from a piece of mat board I was using as a palette. I cut off part of it to square it off and made it into a small painting.
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UNTITLED (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 35 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
I grabbed a piece of scrap board I was using as a coaster under my morning coffee mug and challenged myself to whip up something from whatever I found there.
My first thought was to make the circle into a porthole on either a spaceship or a pirate ship or something, but that seemed too obvious. Plus I had Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” playing on my stereo when I started…
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ACCIDENTAL ALIEN LANDSCAPE (2016) by Michael Whelan, week 34 in his LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
Included is a photo I took of my tabletop while painting DREAMSEEKER, the last piece finished for my show at Tree’s Place. I ended up fiddling for hours with the suggestive shapes in the spilled acrylics. I was too curious to see where it was going to stop myself.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
