When the Cows Come Home, Daniel D Brown, 2017 – Mixed Media

This is a sculpture/painting of migrating cownose rays. I made it over the course of a year,  making the actual work a year ago and the frame/base recently. I first laid down a layer of paint on a piece of 4″ x 4″ wood, followed by sequential layers of rays painted on Envirotex Lite resin with acrylic paint (six layers). The final ray was sculpted with apoxie sculpt and the water ripples were made with ModPodge. Finally, I made a base/frame from a chunk of walnut wood, which I sculpted with a dremel.

“When the Cows Come Home” – Daniel D Brown, 2017, Mixed Media

Here is a quick video showinf what the resin part actually looks like in 3D (with light refractions)

 

The light refractions are beautiful when the sun hits it right.
ModPodge ripples

      

Oil Sketches #1-3

My amazing wife bought me a new oil painting kit for my birthday. It’s officially time for me to learn how to actually use them! I did a few tiny sketches (like 4×4″) just to practice this relatively new medium (I’ve only used once before on this 3D octopus).

Oil Sketch #3: Laguna Waves” (based on a photo from a vacation in Laguna Beach)
Oil Sketch #2: Double-Collared Sunbird” (based on my photograph in Cape Town, South Africa)
Oil Sketch #1: Shorebird (based on a photo from our wedding in Mauritius)

 

  

Ocean Invasion #12: We’ve Got Crabs

Ocean Invasion #12: We’ve Got Crabs

“Ocean Invasion #12: We’ve Got Crabs”

Ocean Invasion #12: We’ve Got Crabs

 

Blue crabs invade my friends’ apartment building. Note: In the original photo there is a street where there is now water.

This is the 12th in a series of pieces, “Ocean Invasion,” which finds ocean creatures living in absurd land habitats.

Photo taken with iPhone cam. Crabs modeled in Blender (with reference photo help from Dr. Tom Shultz, molecular biologist at the Duke Marine Conservation Molecular Facility and Amy Frietag of the “Southern Fried Science” blog and Duke Marine Lab). Textured and post-processing in GIMP.

Detail
Detail 2

 

Ocean Invasion #10: The Loggerheads Got In!

Ocean Invasion #10: The Loggerheads Got In!

Loggerhead sea turtles invade a kitchen like a a colony of ants.

This is the tenth in a series of pieces, “Ocean Invasion,” which finds ocean creatures living in absurd land habitats.

This work was modeled using Blender software. Texturing and post-processing was done using GIMP. Completion took approximately one month on and off.

Ocean Invasion #10 - Detail 1
Detail

 

Ocean Invasion #10 - Detail 2

 

Ocean Invasion #11: Cappy’s Octopus Invasion

“Ocean Invasion #11: Cappy’s Octopus Invasion” – This also happens to be my favorite cafe/bar/karaoke/trivia joint in Pittsburgh: Cappy’s Cafe (@CappysCafePGH).


This is the tenth in a series of pieces, “Ocean Invasion,” which finds ocean creatures living in absurd land habitats.

This was an exercise in integrating a 3D computer model into a real world photo with at least somewhat realistic lighting and shadows. I shot the photo with my phone cam, and modeled, textured, and rendered the octopus in Blender. A little bit of post-processing was done in GIMP. Began and completed in one afternoon.

Detail: