Art Books: New Book from Dorian Vallejo, "Drawings: Inspired By Life"

Dorian Vallejo is a wonderful artist living in New Jersey who has collected together a volume of his work, "Drawings: Inspired By Life," available at http://www.drawingsfromlife.com/Pages/Book/Book_Page.html . The book is $38.99 plus shipping (this sounds like a fantastic bargain to me).

I can't wait to get a copy of this book - I've been a fan of his for a long time. He has been a huge inspiration to me in my own work. What a treat to see all these in one volume. Bravo, Dorian!

At the Jack Richeson Co. booth last week, PSA Convention, Reston VA

I just want to say thanks again to the wonderful people at the Jack Richeson art supply company (http://www.richesonart.com/) for letting me demo at their booth at the Portrait Society of America convention last week in Reston, VA. Their products are terrific and I really enjoyed working with them. (I wish I'd taken a photo of the other side of this canvas I'm working on - aluminum stretcher bars - I'm ordering them from Richeson on my next big commission.) Richeson also has, hands down, the best brush soap I've ever used.

I also wanted to thank my friend and incredible artist Juan Martinez (http://www.juanmartinez.com/) for bravely sitting for me for the demo. He is a chief instructor at Toronto's Academy of Realist Art and has written extensively on training in the classical tradition. Juan is also a TV star - check out his site for more information about him and his work.