SIOBHAN MAGNUS

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MY LITTLE GIRL

My little girl turns 2 today!!

THREE PANELS WITH NO HOME

These were done sometime ago and for no particular reason. Just doodling around for the fun of it. Shots to a nameless movie perhaps.

KERN RIVER part II

Some more paintings from the Kern trip. The image on the top was a favorite of mine. Water is really tricky. There's the reflections in water, the water surface itself and the surface on the bottom. I thought I was successful capturing the surface on the bottom in particular with this one (at the bottom of the image).

KERN RIVER

I take an annual trip (or semi-annual recently) to the Kern River with some friends. It's one of my favorite places in California and I look forward to it every year. This time I did something different. I usually take the trip and leave any sketching/drawing tools at home. Get away from it all and just get out and enjoy nature. But this time I decided to bring along my pastels. Which was a blast. I found it very relaxing and calming to stop for an hour or so and just take in the view. The spot we camp at has this incredible view of a mountain range known as "The Needles". I tried to do a couple studies at different times of the day.

LAKE ANZA

Bill took us out a couple times to study water and reflections. We met at Lake Anza in the Tilden Regional Park in the east bay. Quite a drive from Petaluma at 6 in the morning, I might add. But I believe these were done after work around sunset.

I had a lot of fun with these and even donated the top one to an auction at Lucasfilm. Bosco Ng is the proud owner of that piece! Thanks buddy! It was a lot of fun and they raised a ton of money. I hope it continues and I get asked again to donate.

PS-That's the beautiful and talented Vaughn Ross showcasing my piece.

BACK ON THE WAGON

Alright. I'm gunna brush off the dust that's been collecting on this blog of mine here and get it up and running. I've got a ton of stuff to post and it's just sitting in a pile of papers and sketchbooks. It's about time to get them scanned in and posted up! I'll pick up where I left off...

BILL CONE'S PASTEL CLASS

Pixar offers all kinds of amazing classes. One of which was a Pastel Painting class taught by the talented Bill Cone. If you don't know his work, go out and buy an "Art of" Pixar book. He's the best. Check out his blog when you get a chance too. The above painting is one I did on my own while taking his class. It wasn't until then did I really find any comfort with the medium. Here are my embarrassing first attempts...

The first painting I ever did. Just outside Pixar around noontime.

This was done in the hills above the East Bay. Just around sunset.

Also in the same area, only looking up the hill and was done in the morning.

"UP" BEST PICTURE NOMINATION!

Not only is it the second Animated Feature to get nominated, but the first since the "Best Animated Feature" category was added in 2001. It's a great day for Pixar and for animation! Congrats to the crew and everyone who worked on it!