pie

I first bought some cheap soft pastels back in 2018 and did a couple of sketches. I bought a nice set of Rembrandt pastels a few months later — didn't use them. I bought some pastel pads, none if which seemed right. September 2020, I bought a couple more sets of bargain pastels and tried a couple of pieces — no good, still couldn't bring myself to use them. Jess bought me pastel pencils for Christmas — I was too scared to use them. I even bought a pad of Pastelmat which is supposed to be THE paper to use for pastel paintings in January. I was too scared to use that as well! FINALLY, after a few unsuccessful attempts at working with watercolour (brush issues), I cast aside my fear and thought I'd mess around with pastels. Some time later, and this was the result. I've finally broken through my pastel fear-barrier. I've got to say, I love soft pastels and I'm excited about doing more pieces in this medium.

This was meant to be a quick 4”x 5” piece but somehow sucked up way more time than I’d planned. From my own photo for reference.

Inspired by “The Birthday” by Marc Chagall, the mess of my physical workspace… and the chaos in my mental and emotional space as well

A "longer" colored pencil drawing, took about 4 days, 6.25" x 6.25". What originated from a moment of frustration turned into me staring at some flowers in our house, and then into the drawing I now present. The piece's original purpose has shifted, and hey, that happens. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now, but I'll figure something out...

This is a pumpkin carving of the infamous Nautilus submarine, owned by the pirate captain Nemo . Who sunk ship that supported war, ramming them with his submarine. In this tale Nemo's ship gets attacked by a monstrous giant squid. I caved this design at the Chadds Ford Historical Society's Great Pumpkin Carve contest and event. This is a live carve event. Artist have no idea what kind of pumpkin they will be given to carve. No knowledge of shape, color, size, or condition. Competitors must create their design with manual hand tools. Cavers have 6 hours to create their master pieces, to be considered to qualify to be judged, to compete for the prize. The size of the average pumpkin is from 200 to 400 pounds, and their wall are about 5 inched thick. It took me 6 hours to carve my pumpkin design. Stephen J. Vattimo 10/18/2021

Mixed media artworks. Created in conjunction with each other, on a single piece of paper. As the colors of marker or watercolor bled through, so I worked with the motifs on both sides. It is no secret that i absolutely love birds and they feature so heavily in my drawing/illustrative work.

Ink and markers in my sketchbook for The Sketchbookproject.

The story behind this is that when my little sister and I were kids, we invented a game called Blammer. You duct tape small trashcans to your back and try to slam a sock ball into your opponents basket. We used tennis rackets for defense. We used to terrorize our parents with all the running and yelling in the house. We're in our 30's now and try and play when we see each other. I call her Chicken and she calls me Ducky. Which is why we're are riding birds. One of my favorite pieces I've ever done. A birthday present for her.

These are seashells that I copied out from Dana Fox’s (In the Ocean) book. They were fun but it was also challenging trying to capture the likeness and texture of seashells.

This piece is from my online comic @ doodletowncomic.com and was inspired by Free Comic Book Day in Philly!

Commission piece: Belle from Beauty and the Beast

"This time, there was no other reality." ~ A blackout poem from a recycled page of Dealing with Blue, a young adult romance.

These are the results from a request to create a piece based on a fathers son's nicknames. The older brother is the moon, second the bear, third the bird. Added the stars as the parents. His first request was of a tattoo of sorts ...but I struggled and my drawings kept turning into children illustrations. I so enjoyed the challenge and it gave me an opportunity to honor the love of family. At the same time, it was hard to associate them into a tattoo:) .

Where do I begin with this one? This is a drawing of my dad and I; the picture was taken back in 2006, a happier time, I suppose. I don't commonly think about my dad, I don't necessarily think about how much I miss him or how I wish I could see him again, so it was odd for me to sit and look through old photos. I don't really know my dad; I do, but I don't. My dad was physically part of my life for 10 years, the second half of those were not the best. Mental illness, self medicating for years, debt, heroin, arguments, threats, uncertainty. I feel like I remember the negative more because I was older, my parents couldn't hide it from me like they used to. At the same time, when he was sober and stable, life was good. Life was great, things felt complete. So here I am, 6 years since he died. I don't want to say his image is fading, but I know less of who he was than I did before. I see the good from some (the ones who praise him, who act like he was a saint), and I see the bad from others (the one who felt the pain). I suppose I no longer see my view, my memories aren't there anymore. I don't necessarily feel sad, the anger has faded, and I can't say I'm happy. Maybe I'll figure it out one day, but, for now, it is what it is.

Umberto Eco (b. 1932) Eco says that he is able to be productive during the brief “interstices” in the day. He told The Paris Review’s interviewer: “This morning you rang, but then you had to wait for the elevator, and several seconds elapsed before you showed up at the door. During those seconds, waiting for you, I was thinking of this new piece I’m writing. I can work in the water closet, in the train. While swimming I produce a lot of things, especially in the sea. Less so in the bathtub, but there too.” - From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey “When men stop believing in God, it isn’t that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything.” ― Umberto Eco #dailyrituals #inktober #UmbertoEco @masoncurrey

I laid down the initial layer of this large piece in pencil about a year ago and finally returned to it this weekend to add accents in ink.

This piece consist of 2 sheets, the bottom sheet is painted by my four year old daughter, on top of that is a orange paper which I cut the kitchenware out of.

A little piece i did for ForArtSake gallery in Newport for their Itty Bitty show.

Something simple, yet magical...definitely need to draw more kelpies here!

2 pieces collage

The finished piece is 24 x 32 inches on 300lb. hot-pressed watercolor paper ~painted with watercolor and ink. There were a lot of components I wanted to incorporate in this piece. Then, the painting kept "going". It moved of its own accord in places I did not anticipate, and I kept going with it....people that I know/have known intertwined in my mind as I painted the tree branches. Overall, the painting took on so many meanings to me as it matured

Watercolour on a 4x4 cm piece of watercolour paper.

An illustration copied from Dana Fox’s Watercolor with me book. I will probably be posting more of these in the future as I purchased a few of her books and they have nice sketches to copy from for practice. Done in pencil and watercolor.

"He'd forgotten how to keep his head from popping off in outer space. Why was he here again?" ~ A blackout poem from a recycled page of Dealing with Blue, a young adult romance.

A colour sketch in preparation for a larger piece. The scene is from woodland very close to my home on a spring morning during last year's lockdown.

Sharpie pattern doodle in a Moleskine sketchbook.

Black poppies on a purple ground.

Inktober Day 4: Radio. A quick paint/doodle while talking with a good friend. Today was decent. Hoping for a better week this time around. "From the end of the world to your town."

I know there’s probably a few decent folks worth voting for come the general election here in Scotland I’ll settle on, though for the most part the loudest mouthpieces seem to just scream ‘bell-end’ to me... I was playing around with Google Translate and various sentences I’d jotted down, and opted to go with the closest approximation from English into German for ‘I’m voting for Muppets’, which is 'Ich stimme fur Muppets'. ‘Ich stimme’ read to me as ‘itch stim’ for whatever reason (anglophone and neurodivergent here), which seems rather fitting as the thought of the worst candidates getting in is liable to have us all come out in stress rashes, am I right?