Journey of an artist (traditional and digital stuff)

[Amarok]

I love the colours in your paintings! Beautiful stuff.

[merl1n]

Forrest_I: thank you very much!
Amarok: Glad to hear that. Thanks.

Don't forget to check out huge collection of paintings of J.S.Sargent I gathered for you. Download it and get inspired!

Here is a digital painting I made for a cleint a month ago.

[takashmen]

holy shiiiit
the amount of details sweet
also the story behind

love it!

[merl1n]

takashmen: thank you bro!

And another bunch of plein air stuff:

[owlies]

I admire your paintings so much, I think you truly capture the essence and feeling of things! I also really like how you simplify form, wow, they are really lovely.

[rupuni]

Your stuff is so cool, it motivates me really! I Love your last digital work at #212, its just amazing

[Kambei Shimada]

Fuuuck yeah, great enviros!

post 212 is EPIC.

[Revidescent]

Wow, that city scene is amazing. I actually like the looseness of some of the earlier iterations almost better than the final, but I can understand why you'd need to take it to that level. Love the plein air stuff too, that same looseness.

[greymatter]

Inspiring environment work.

[kevin_]

these environments are too much! great stuff!

[Candra H]

Hey Merlin, good to see you back and still producing beautiful work. I love the architecture in that digital painting and also the light in the first plein air painting with the buses. Amazing effect, and not easy to capture.

And yeah, that oil painting book was really inspirational. It's given me lots of useful information and tips and ideas so thanks for inadvertantly putting me onto it.

[merl1n]

owlies: I'm so glad to hear that. Because that is my goal. Thanks!
yphiel: that is rewarding for me. Thanks and keep being inspired!
Kambei Shimada: Ha, thanks bro!
Revidescent: I'm glad to hear that. I always prefered loose style!
Inspiring environment work. : Thank you. Again, hearing this really makes me happy.
kevin_: thank you very much!
Candra H: I'm glad it helped you too. I don't think I would be doing what I do if it wasn't for it. Thanks again Candra.

And some new paintings>

[luthertaylor]

Hey dude I wanted to say thank you for posting the sargent collection! he is a true inspiration, especially in my current slump! I feel jaded about my growth!
Your sketchbook is astounding man, Ton of work you have up! I want to ask, what is your oil painting setup? I opted for acrylics in the end (recently) as it was more easy for me to store away my studies in them (they dry quickly) allowing me to spam studies in a sketchbook designed for acrylics. flick the page and on to the next one without a worry about the paint getting smudged or rubbing up against walls and stuff.
I don't know if I'm making sense, but basically I see you do a lot of studies in oils, where do you store your studies? isn't the canvas panels expensive? I'd really prefer oils as I'm using a acrylic retarder and my method of palette is pre mixing which is a oil method i believe, try that with acrylics and they will dry on you before you even get around to using that colour lol. there are work abouts as in using a stay wet palette but then you have to constantly refill on these sheets that can be expensive.
Grrr im retiring for the day, im not being coherent and still in my tiff with myself!
anyway will keep an eye out for your sketchbook!

[merl1n]

luthertaylor: Ha! Thanks for such comment. I paint all my studies on either panels or canvas papers. Of course I have always problems with storing but I learnt to live with it. I just carry them carefuly in hands or I use wet panel carriers (I have one built in my plein air easel). I like working wet to wet, so acrylics are obviously not my choice.
I used hardboards with canvas glued onto them. I actually find them very cheap, if I make them myself. I hope this answers your questions! Thank you again.

And here are some new paintings from plein air:

[merl1n]

two studio circuses

[BlackDelphin]

Your traditional art is lovely, makes me want to go at a workshop and interact with artists while i progress.
Very fun, positive mood i'm getting from this sketchbook, great!

[merl1n]

BlackDelphin: thank you very much. You won't believe how much I like to hear that my pictures make someone feel something. Cheers.

Here are few commercial sketches:

[GEB]

EPIC!

[merl1n]

GEB> thanks

[luthertaylor]

Hey merlin! Thanks for the reply and sorry for getting back to you so late, I'm beginning to have severe computer issues. Anyway I've now given up acrylics and opted for..wait for it..ALKYD OILS!!!!! loving them to death. stays open way longer than acrylics but dries way faster than traditional oils. A day to be precise. exactly what I needed! now I just gotta get a plein air easel and Ill be set to really leave digital painting alone for a good good while. something about the traditional process just really helps with me learning.
plein air easels don't come cheap though lol

anywho fantastic updates!! I'm not keeping my fingers crossed but if my PC holds up, I'll be able to stay more in touch and also update my sketchbook here. ciao ciao!
and thanks once again.

[merl1n]

Hey Taylor,
Thanks for reply!
And apart from shorter drying time, do you find them the same as classic oils? They seem great for traveling.
Yeah, when (or if) you get back to digital painting, you will see that whole your perception of the world has changed. Good luck out there!
Plein air easels are expensive, yeah. But buy a good one, because cheaper ones fall apart quite easily. I recomended one of these: www.artworkessentials.com.
Anyway thanks for supprotive comment.
I'll make sure to check out your SB too!

Cheers

And don't forget to join my facebook page for special content!
Maybe even Christmas competition with one of my paintings as price!

[merl1n]

My EOW entry:

[n1frit]

Always like your traditional style. Some digital looks like oil, very awesome) Thank for sharing!

[Velocity Kendall]

damn every single one is beautiful!

[Vulgar`]

Brilliant work merl1n, you are really coming into your own. I also think you might have EOW 200 in the bag, but we will see!

[RustyPulley]

These are some really awesome works! I think its kinda rare to find a digital painter who's also doing so much on mediums like oil/watercolour etc. Isn't it quite a hassle for oils? I mean, the drying time, the canvas's undercoat, brushes and turpentine etc.

I've not done oils before, always have been kinda put off by all the extra stuff and cleaning up...

[merl1n]

n1frit: thanks!
Velocity Kendall: thank you very much, like always.
Vulgar: thanks for nice comment. It appears that I do not now
RustyPulley: Thanks man. It is not. In fact, I love all the things connected with oils. You know, to get your hands dirty, to actually feel the brush and smell the paint.

After quite a while:

proces>http://tomashonz.com/2012/12/17/wait...ess-explained/
[img]http://tomhonz.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/tomashonz13pf.jpg[img/]

[Vulgar`]

Yum @ all of these delectable landscapes. It's kinda hard to keep the same desktop these days...

[Candra H]

Hey Merlin, good to see you back and still posting your inspirational work. I love that last batch, especially the one of shadows on snow. Really lovely colours and light there.

And thanks for posting your process on the top landscape - that was really helpful. I also wanted to pick your brain about a couple of things re oil painting. Hope you don't mind...

1) What kind of surface do you use - rough canvas, linen etc - and do you prime it first?

2) How do you make your mixes? They look quite liquid and creamy so I was wondering if you use turps or oil to thin them and how much?

[Velocity Kendall]

your oils are so beuatiful. you are definitely one of my favourite living artists.