The thirteenth installment in his 2019 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
A shadow cast by my notebook made me think of paintings by J.C. Leyndecker so I sketched out a profile of my own.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The twelth installment in his 2019 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins gallery project.
A plastic glove discarded a couple of months ago and the witch it inspired. As I approached the bottom of this sketch, I longed to add a different note of color and in slithered the snake.
This is a riff on what my mind was seeing and certainly not intended to be “my take” on the infamous evildoer from the Dark Tower saga—something I hope to get to eventually! Stay tuned…I will try to paint my version of the “Ultimate Rhea” in the months to come and finally get her out of my system!
The 11th installment in my 2019 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins gallery project
This one started with a shadow cast in my studio one afternoon. I kept trying to duplicate the faces that shadow put into my head, using whatever media was at hand.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The eighth installment in my 2019 Leftovers & Palette Gremlins gallery project
At the beginning of the summer I frequently walked past a tarp that had been tossed over a pile of sand. Each day it would look slightly different due to shifting by wind or weather. But it always had a rather piscine appearance owing to the grommet holes on the edges.
These observations led to sketches, usually done at the end of my workday with leftover paint. Sometimes the tarp made me think of a pike or barracuda, other times like a sunfish or some imaginary fishy shape.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The seventh installment in his 2019 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project
An accidental shape on a scrap of illustration board evoked a sort of Lovecraftian tree.
The board originally had a figure sketch on it from the work I did for Lucca Comics & Games. When I saw it turned 90 degrees sideways I was struck by the shapes and one thing lead to another…the figures turned into a “tree”.
Executed with leftover acrylics from an underpainting on a gallery piece that I’m currently working on.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The fourth installment in his 2019 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
I originally sketched this in Raw Umber while trying to come up with a Tad Williams cover design. It was never used but I liked the arrangement.
Earlier this month I completed the image using some reds. A little late for Valentine’s Day?
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The third installment in his 2019 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
I keep making pronouncements like, “I’m through doing fantasy painting” or “No more horror paintings. I’m done with that.” Then after a little while, boom! I find myself sketching some ugly little troll or painting a vampire. I guess it’s time to admit that it’s just a part of me and beyond my will to control.
This started as a 3" x 3" doodle on my drawing table left by Jordu Schell. I don’t know if it really qualifies as a Palette Gremlin, but I started out using leftover Raw Umber oil paint to sketch it. Then I got a little crazy and added some color to liven it up.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The 11th installment in his 2018 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project.
Executed with leftover Raw Umber oil paint, this is a riff on a painting from some time ago called “Cristate” (included here). Both sprang from my fascination with the shapes made by Cristate cacti. I fancy trying a third that will be more along the lines of the original, which was larger and somewhat more ambitious. Perhaps the next time I have leftover paint and a surface to put it on.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
The eighth installment in his 2018 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project
I had a quantity of the pigment left on my palette while working on an HP Lovecraft painting in Payne’s Grey and white, so I fished a canvas scrap out of the wastebasket in our print room and sketched this scene. Painted mostly this past Spring then finished off yesterday.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
Sixth in his 2018 LEFTOVERS & PALETTE GREMLINS gallery project
A small study for a larger planned painting that never happened.
I began working on this at the same time as the cover for Words of Radiance back in 2013. I felt it needed another element to seem “right” to me so I set it aside until last week when the final detail came to me. Once I added the lock on the second chain using leftover paint in a palette I needed to clean out, I finally considered the study complete.
Some paintings take a while to find their finishing flourishes.
Source: michaelwhelan.com
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