What we live for.

Art is what we live for, it is life. Creative self exploration is our sustenance.

Moments of doubts and clarity

I believe in some way we all strive to reach a certain picture of normality. Sooner or later we come to the realization that all we have is our individual distinguishable talents and our temperaments to them. We are inflicted with our own moments of doubts and clarity. We are punished by time pulled away from our creativity and cherish our moments of uninterrupted creation.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone is well. Things have been crazy with the holidays the last few weeks. We're entertaining family and jingling Christmas bells around the old 'new' plastic tree, (manufactured in China).
This time of the year, among a few others always gets me a bit rattled. So if I don't get back on until next year, have a Merry, Creative, and highly Productive Christmas and Happy New Year to Everyone!!!!
May your walls shine with Art, your palette never run dry and all your imagined creations come to life on your working surface of your desired medium!!!!

Looking forward to being inspired by everyones continued creative masterpieces and trudging forward to reach new heights of production!

WIP for Christmas gift

Here is a portrait I'm currently working as a gift for Christmas.

Hard at work 12/03/2011

I'm at work on a few new pieces. This one is top priority it's also secret, for now.

http://fav.me/d4i19l6

 

I recently got ..... so looking forward to playing with it!!

I recently got a free sample of a blue ink stick from Derwent! I am so looking forward to playing with it!!

? from @metmuseum I found of interest

http://twitter.com/#!/metmuseum Had an interesting question. Of the bedrooms depicted in works of art—as well as period rooms—in which would you love to curl up? Some examples: http://met.org/verGc2

Open Requests

If anyone wants to be featured on my DRC Gallery Blog, let me know. I'm up for requests. I will select from time to time pieces that inspire me.

 

Or if you have a request in something you would like to challenge me to put in my own art, let me know.

Phenomenal Artist Alert

Dirk Dzimirsky is a well established, phenomenal Artist. I found his work on deviantart.com, you can check out his link at http://fav.me/d1cmrjb and see more of his drawings. He is one of many I look to for inspiration and technical development. His work is full of powerful exquisite detail, and he captures the mood and essences of his models like very few can. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do.

On edge today

I've been on edge today. It's a day where everything feels a bit off. I will break through this, today! Ever have days like this? If you have, please share.

This Blog is Incredible!

Everyone needs to check out this blog. Daisy is terrific and she will certainly light up your day! 

 

http://luvandlight.blogspot.com/

Ripped Away in Art Contest

Ripped Away in Colored Pencil Art Contest with Prismacolor Pencil Company!

http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/172075/voteable_entries/37469411

Show your support for my work by checking it out and voting!

Thank you!

Ripped Away Rated Best on Noenga.com 12/01/2011

Ripped Away is rated Best on Noenga.com as of 12/01/2011. Check it out!

http://www.noenga.com/best-rated/

New WIP 11/27/2011

No title yet just a new WIP.

http://fav.me/d4hhtyb

Ripped Away Finished 11/26/2011

Ripped Away was finished on 11/26/2011. It was derived from a series of dreams. I manipulated them into a mental blender. It was a lot of fun, I hope you enjoy. It is 8.5”x 11” on Strathmore paper with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and took roughly 100 hours.

http://daniel-combs.blogspot.com/2011/11/ripped-away-finished-11262011.html

http://fav.me/d4hhq5w

http://www.noenga.com/user/?work=10730#yearbook

Ripped Away in final stages

I will be finished with Ripped Away tonight or tomorrow!
http://fav.me/d4ha66c

Torn as I play

I'm torn between what exists in the natural realm and the spheres in my mind. I search for boundaries that confide in one another, while coexisting in the spiritual realm. Part of me pulls toward the static structures of the rehearsed 'norm'. While the other part of me doesn't give a flying leap of the boundaries known and well comprehended. We may never know what truly is reality and that which we merely manifest by our mental consciousness. As I continue to grow and understand my role as an artist, my body of work shall document my mere survival of these two forces at play within the fibers of my spirit.

Immersed in my Studio 11/22/2011

I took a fun photo in my studio space, while I was immersed in my work. I hope you enjoy!

Ripped Away Almost Finished 11/23/2011



I'm almost done with this one! I have a few portraits lining up so hopefully I will be done soon. Like so many pieces it often seems to be a case of just one more thing, just one more detail, and one more line. http://fav.me/d4h3fpm

Progress on Ripped Away 11/20/2011

I hope to be finished with this piece soon. I'm having fun playing with it, we'll see where this journey takes us? Hope you enjoy, more to come soon!

Progress on Ripped Away 11/19/2011

Here are a couple pictures taken of the current stage of Ripped Away as of 11/19/2011.

Blog of note!

Here is a blog from a Art friend of mine. Check it out at http://shelleysupernova.wordpress.com/ very . She is a very talented Artist devoted to the love of the arts!

Progress of Ripped Away 11/17/2011

Here are a couple pictures of the progress of Ripped Away from Today, 11/17/2011.

Potential reference material

Here are some things I've wandered across on walks lately. I thought they were interesting enough to take pictures of and end up as potential reference material for my art. Enjoy!

Artist of the Week

This is awesome, I have now made it as Artist of the Week on Noenga.com!
http://www.noenga.com/community/portfolios/danielcombs/

Progression on Ripped Away

Here is the latest progress on Ripped Away. Things have been busy, I hope you enjoy seeing the development!

Morning Star

I just had fun with this piece. I decided to play with some different techniques. It turned out the way you see it. I’m calling it Morning Star. I hope you enjoy.

Morning Star was made with Prismacolor color pencil on sketch paper, 8.5 in. 11 in.. It was made in less than 10 hours.

http://fav.me/d4g3f5b

Me working on Large version of Reader.

Reader was inspired by my wifes passion for reading Scripture. Here I was working on a larger version.

Calm Pier

A peaceful part of the day.

Internal Conflict

Internal Conflict is a from a series of self portraits based on classical poses.

Beating Hour

Beating Hour is a drawing I did inspired by pain, loss and the dragging of time. I came up with this idea when I was in the Navy.

Geometric Sketches

These are some Geometric Sketches I've played with.

Angelic Inspiration

An angelic inspiration done in Colored pencil.

Baby's Aquatic Scene

Here is 'Baby's Aquatic Scene' in it's finished form. It was completed on pine wood panel with Prismacolor color pencil, 8"x10"x1". I sealed it with two finish coats of Prismacolor permanent fixative. I worked extensively on keeping myself from over complicating the image.

Here is a detail shot.

This is an older academic study from a Correvaggio study.

Christmas is just around the corner

Imagine owning or sharing the love of art with a family member or friend. I am offering for the Holiday Season 2011 Original Works of Art for under $200+ shipping! I will be accepting Holiday orders for a limited time, from now up to the end of November. Looking for that last minute gift, contact me. Or you can check out prints of my work on fineartamerica.com @ http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/daniel+ragsdale+combs/all .

Games

I love games! What games do you like?

Make It Stop

After getting carried away in the shuffling of bones, they decided to make it stop.

In between turns

I enjoy game photography. In between turns.

My wife's turn to deal.

Off My Bones

My wife and Mother in Law shuffling Domino bones. They got a little carried away.

Having fun playing card games. My deal.

I don’t use a traditional studio space. Out of necessity I've used a booth at a local Panera. Hoorah for coffee!

King

King was inspired by my Aunts German Shepherd. I love the mannerisms animals convey. He was produced in Prismacolor Colored pencil on sketch paper, size 8.5"x 14".

Piercing Heart

I used Prisma Color color pencils on Stonehenge paper. I don't use any erasers or blending sticks. I layer the pencil strokes until it is the effect I'm trying to aim for. I am mainly self taught, and am always looking for improvements and critical advice. I carry a copy of the Bargue Drawing Course with me at all times, and find it encouraging.


Piercing Heart was inspired by scripture. Luke 2:34-35 speaks of God opening the peoples hearts and revealing them like a sword piercing their hearts.
For our rewards are laid up for us in Heaven. They may pry our Bibles from our homes and imprison us but they can not touch what they so despirately long for, our Salvation.

Piercing Heart is in the CoveredNTheWORD Clothing concept competition. Voting is available at the link below. I appreciate everyone's support!
[link]
[link]

War Within

War Within is a piece dedicated to the daily inner conflict the human sinner goes through. As the word of God clearly states with all authority that we have all fallen short of the Glory of God, and wonder this world as lost sheep in his merciful care. I focused on capturing some glimpses of the monsters that lie deep inside trying to rip their way out. It is a piece composed of self portraits twisted into these manifestations. I chose to leave it slightly rough and expressive to resemble that of almost a dream.

Art of Target

Here's my entry for the Red cover competition. I was intrigued by the open ended theme "The Art of Target." As soon as I saw this great idea for a theme, I had visions of my time I spend in my studio and how fun it would be to give the target audience a peek into the mindset and life of an artist at work.
I used Prismacolor color pencils on 80# drawing paper for this piece.

On The Rocks

On the rocks was inspired by societies pull to bring us down into wicked imaginations and instability with the use of Satanic forces. We boldly grip onto the word of God while forces are at play around us and trying to bring us down. We guard ourselves from the attacks of the world by covering ourselves with the blood of Christ.
This piece is in a National competition with Bombay Sapphire, here is the link [link] . I would really appreciate your vote and support! Cheers!

Recent Commission of Petey

I absolutely fell in love with this dog! I received this commission at the end of October. I worked the piece from a series of three reference photos provided by the client.
It was produced on Stonehenge paper with Prismacolor color pencils. It’s image size is 10”x 14”. It took approx. 1.5 weeks/ 60 hrs to finish. I hope you enjoy the completed piece!

Wacky Dream- WIP

I don’t know why I feel the need to record dreams I have. I keep telling myself I am going to create a normal piece of art one day. My wife says I shouldn’t worry about creating something ‘normal.’ She tells me my dreams are what give my work character. I know that I am compulsive about them and I will continue depicting them in my work. I strive to yet one day to create a ‘normal’ piece of art. Here is another WIP of another dream I started and is in my stack of experimental I’m working on. I hope you like it.

I am working through a few WIPs at the moment. Because I don’t have any real deadlines at the moment, my experiments I’ve been taking my time with. When a deadline comes in like for a competition I feel I might be worthy for, I typically put my experiments on hold to focus on the deadlines. I am rambling. I hope this clears up any fuzzy edges about the process of my work.

Collective Manipulation

‘Collective Manipulation’ is a piece I completed for a contest on Deviant Art called one cat, one clock and one fruit. I chose to create a piece that deals with a few of the multitude of issues going on with mass manipulation in the world today.

Everything in our lives is being tampered with, manipulated and distorted. We are fed lies from the Government. They hold themselves up as our only hope for a better future. Calling their perverse mind control games with us and saying it’s for our own interest and it’s the only way we can come to a ‘collective salvation.’ I illustrated this point with the statue in the left mid-ground, representing what a possible future monument to President Barack Hussein Obama. Obama is pictured forming out of a cloud, almost riding on top of it in his arrogance. A plaque is seen on the structure saying ‘FOUNDER OF COLLECTIVE MANIPULATION.’ This purely Liberal monument would not be fit without showing the President in his glory days smoking his infamous crack.

We are fed foods that are no longer pure and lack the nutritional levels to sustain life. Food is being genetically altered creating unnatural physiology in the animals and having genetic alterations in the people eating them. Represented in the manipulated creatures is an extreme view of genetic manipulation. The idea of a screaming strawberry amused almost like the strawberry was furious with what’s been done with it.

Time clicking away as Dali put it so elegantly, making reference to the past. Time is becoming more of a pressing argument of what we can produce and the major issues needing to be fixed that are tearing us all apart. Whether we choose to accept responsibility for our problems or look away from them, we have no choice to be caught up in the ‘Collective Manipulation’ that is affecting all of us.

Modern Gorgon 1, Finished

Modern Gorgon is inspired by Political and Entertainment Celebrities. It will be depicting several figures that people worship. You know the ones people get seduced by with their words and get their hearts turned to stone.

Modern Gorgon 1 is a work depicting Oprah Winfrey. With her sharp twisted tongue spewing absurdities and seducing people with mixed ideologies. Hair twisting with venomous snakes, Oprah floats in a vast sea of wine bubbles. Wine was placed in the background, due to it often being used for acts of persuasion and seduction.

She is a prime example of a celebrity captivating the hearts of the public with her charisma and turning their hearts to stone with perversion.

Ripped Away WIP

Ripped Away is a work in progress. I’m not quite sure where it is going. At the moment it has been an experimental piece. It follows the theme of All My Love, with everything in life being ripped away.

Modern Gorgon Stage 1 WIP

Modern Gorgon is inspired by Political and Entertainment Celebrities. It will be depicting several figures that people worship. You know the ones people get seduced by with their words and get their hearts turned to stone. This one is a work in progress of Oprah Winfrey.

Here is a view of the current stage for ‘Modern Gorgon’. I have added a few more snakes, finished the rendering of the spinal cord and am in the process of working out wine bubbles in the background. I have been pretty much working nonstop on this piece. Wine bubbles came to me out of thinking about how wine is often used for seduction.

Open View

Inspiration for ‘Open view’ came from my ADHD mind. It is a way of depicting how my mind works. I did this piece as a second piece for the Creator competition. After finding out the restriction of one entry, I might enter it next year. Cheers.

Exit Strategy

Exit Stategy- Color Pencil 16"x 16" on Stonehenge rag paper

I'm an emerging oil and colored pencil painter who has shown work in Chicago, Houston, NW and Central Indiana. I believe creamy yellow can save the world. I’m currently pursuing a career as an Art Professor. If you like my work tweet me at www.tweeter.com/ragsdalecombs.