G'morning.
My wife's water broke when I was making the first sketches shown in this post. I got the phone call while sitting in the sunshine on our deck in September 2013, researching and drawing insects. (Sunshine...we lived in Palo Alto, CA at the time)
I was creating what would eventually become my Flrrblz. My desire was to infuse my still life paintings with a purely imaginative "object". I've always been a fan of illustration. I decided to create my own bug. It began with some sketching of various critters from reference:
Now that I had some loose introduction to various critter anatomies, I began creating my own bug-thing (orthogonal views....ex-architect here):
Our daughter was born, and with her came all the ensuing joys, discoveries, worries, and groggy days of first-time parents. With the help of a handy little table-top easel, I was able to start mocking up the bug in paint while tending to paternal duties:
Nana, a peer from my time at the Schuler School, gave me this little homemade cigar-box painting box, which I used as my palette below. Normally you can put a tiny panel or paper on that tilted surface. Very handy.
This one is good-natured and smiley.
This one is extra glowy.
Things become more refined against a light background:
All this led to a first painting in the series, "Flrrbl With Red Apples" (8x10 oil on panel, 2013):
Many more Flrrbl paintings came after, and I'll gradually be posting them here. Thanks for reading! -David