Visions by Ross W

Title: Sunset City

Happy New Year! I got a little creative over the holidays.

I take a lot of photos. Often I'm just going about my daily business, I see interesting things & snap photos. The photos disappear into a digital pit of ten thousand other photos I've forgotten about over the years. Occasionally the forgotten surfaces as AI enhanced memories, courtesy of the omnipresent Google Gods. Occasionally inspiration follows. This piece is a composition of three separate elements visible in the Dartmouth & Halifax harbor area. I wanted to capture the tree, the moon & a distant spire. I brought the spire forward & improvised the attached structure. The other buildings are improvised as well. I enjoy composing memorable & iconic imagery that would normally be outside the total view of a traditional camera lens. I'm not looking to create something detached from reality, it's more like a slightly tweaked realistic dream state where what could be, exists. Each element is enhanced but not copied, I don't really "reference" the photos line by line per say. I take a brief look at each key element, put my pen to paper & let the flow engulf me. This original piece is for sale, if interested please contact me. Also, all comments welcome. The good, the bad & the ugly.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker
Dimensions: 8.5X4.5 Inches
Time: Roughly 5 Hours.
Ask: Recommended Minimum: $75.00 / Living Wage: $130.00
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker

Prints & more: https://society6.com/ocdthreepio

Title: All Natural, Imperfect Coif

Often I sweat the details. And often it pays off. I am off the mind that if one is going to embark on a task, it is important to fully understand the desired outcome and all of the nuance in between. It is my opinion that without complete understanding, without patience, without excellence, the execution will likely be flawed. One, in turn misses the intended mark. Success requires the application of excellence. But... With that said, sometimes a little freeform experimentation is Ok. There are plenty of situations where the stakes aren't so high that one needs to apply maximum rigor. Sometimes ya just yolo it and the outcome renders spontaneous beautiful results. This piece is the result of simply acting. No planning, no nuance, it was executed in haste, I wasn't too worried about the destination. And despite all that, I am happy with the end result. I hope you are too. Enjoy, all comments welcome.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Digital

Dimensions: 2X2 Inches

Time: 45 Minutes

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #chain

Title: Temple Grounds - Guardian of Lucid Wisdom

They say time heals all wounds; Large detailed pieces like this take days, months or sometimes a year or more to finish. The journey in total often feels like a healing event. My negative thoughts, my hurt feelings, my life losses, my dark moments, all fade away into the flow. And in the end, even if mistakes were made, the outcome is the result of commitment, determination & a will to succeed. I am of the opinion the outcome is beautiful, it is vibrant, it is love, it is endurance, it is what's left of my heart & soul when the thinking is done. I love even the parts I hate. I hope you enjoy as well; All comments welcome. The good, the bad, the ugly.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Watercolor Paper

Dimensions: 12X18 Inches

Time: Roughly 100 Hours in total.

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #templeguardian

Title: Temple Grounds - Guardian of Lucid Wisdom

Last night I was able to progress the background of this piece a bit. The tree, also meant to be perceived as a dreamcatcher has been one of my favorite features to work on. It twists & turns, weaves in & out of the foreground & background. The feel of the green ink is really nice to work with. Its either the brand or the inks physical/chemical composition that makes it flow really nicely. I find temperature plays a role as well, when the room reaches a certain ambient temperature the inks flows thick & smooth. I have high hopes about finishing this piece over the weekend. 99% confidence.

I've also been working on a digital store where fans of my work can acquire prints on traditional media or other various products like cups or throws, pillows etc. More information to come on this, I want to get it right.

Thank you to everyone that reacts or comments on my work. It really is a labor of love and the feedback only enriches the entire experience. Sincerely appreciated.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Watercolor Paper
Dimensions: 12X18 Inches
Time: 3 Hour Session
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #templeguardian

Title: Temple Grounds - Guardian of Lucid Wisdom

I was able to progress the helm last night. I disappeared into a flow state almost immediately after taking my seat at the table. I had been dreaming all day about how the remainder of this piece will unfold. Something I've been really wanting to expand upon is the sense of atmosphere & vastness of the space I am trying to portray. In the past (even in this piece) I've made quite limited choices when it comes to color diversity; Its partly on purpose but also partly out of fear. I want all my art to be amazing but the truth is, nothing is perfect and by limiting risk I limit my chances of discovering something new & fantastic. I've been exploring social media for other amazing artist (and there are tons of them). In my adventures through the metasphere & pinterstellar space I've pick up a trick or two to help increase my toolkit of art skills. I can use these new skills to create harder, better, faster, stronger. More to come.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Watercolor Paper
Dimensions: 12X18 Inches
Time: 3 Hour Session
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #templeguardian

Title: Temple Grounds - Guardian of Lucid Wisdom

Another piece out of the archives. I started this quite some time ago, probably about a year ago now since I shelved it. It's been on my mind for a while and it just felt like the right time to progress my vision. I put a pretty big push on over the weekend. The before and after photos here represent about six to eight hours of concept, experimentation, lines & color. I'd like to start doing some deeper commentary on my creative choices, all in due time though. There is a bit of a learning curve to all this and I'm pacing myself, enjoying the process.

Enjoy. All comments welcome.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Watercolor Paper

Dimensions: 12X18 Inches

Time: 6-8 Hour Session

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #templeguardian

Title: Dancing in the Dark

Like everyone, I go through a thing or two from time to time. And as most of you know, when it rains it pours. With that said, some of my bigger projects got put on the back burner. I'm dusting off some of my physical & digital pieces in hopes that if I am diligent, I'll finish them (is anything really ever finished thought lol).

What you see here is one of my own photos, shadows cast on the wall by my refrigerator. You can also see a pillar fan in the foreground. I often see mundane things like this shadow in my day to day life, and in my mind it begins to unfold like brightly colored origami. The shapes morph and bend, they grow in a way. And I try my best to quickly capture it as the image materializes in my head. I've never been able to capture all the detail in one continuous session. The last piece I completed in a similar style took me about 300 Hours. I know this piece is now up over 100 Hrs. And I intend to use my upcoming weekends to really focus on completing it.

Let me know what you think so far. All comments welcome. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Medium: Digital Ink

Dimensions: 1396X2471 Pixels

Time: 4 Hours, 4 Minute Session

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #digital

Title: Star Struck

I started out with my ruler in hand, ready to make the most perfect star. It was going to satisfy my ocd to the max. But then, I reflected on my past week. I reflected on how hard I've been flexing, trying to achieve the most possible every minute of everyday. And I decided to just relax & enjoy the flow state creativity provides me. I started freehanding, just making the shapes. The color choices are random. Most of the creativity here was automatic. In the end, outta nothing here is something, spontaneously. Enjoy.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Bristol
Dimensions: 2X2 Inches
Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #star

Title: Vineyard - Grand Pre, Nova Scotia

I'm really happy with how this piece turned out. I revisited the wine theme from my "Wine n Dine" piece earlier in the week. Here you can see my depiction of the view from a winerys deck, overlooking lush grapevines. I made an attempt to capture the simple but vast beauty of Grand Pre's sprawling vistas. Definately a better execution compared to yesterday's post "Washed Away" lol. Enjoy! All comments welcome, the good the bad the ugly.

Medium: Pencil, Colored Pencil, Pen, Marker on Bristol

Dimensions: 2X2 Inches

Time: 2 Hours, 13 Minutes

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #coloredpencil #pen #marker #grapes

Title: Washed Away

In this piece I was trying to capture an experience I had a while back. I was hiking along the beach at Tanners Point, Nova Scotia and it was a rough day on the ocean. I was walking quite close to the water and to be honest, I was kinda nervous. The sound of the waves were thunderous and I could feel the crashing water shaking the beach. I experienced a moment of curiosity, awe, fear & reverence. I tried to depict the ocean as towering mountains poised to crash on the rocks & sand. I'm not sure I hit the mark but I tried and that's what counts.

I ran into a few technical issues today. Turns out scanners don't do neon colors very well. The fluorescence messes with the image quality. Not a super big deal, it just forced me to pivot a little. Photographing is still an option, I scored a tripod outta the for free pile a while back and it needed a little work but it was mostly the camera mount that peaked my interest. A little cannibalizing & frankensteining I now have a solid platform to take photos on. I'm still experimenting with the lighting; With photography I run into another problem I was trying to fix with scanning. The works contain metallic inks and it causes reflections that sometimes distort the photos. I'll figure it out.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Bristol

Dimensions: 2X2 Inches

Time: 2 Hours, 44 Minutes

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #footprints

Title: Wine n Dine

A long long time ago, I can still remember; A wine tasting I attended. This is a rendering of how the taste subject was presented. The bottle, an empty glass and a hooked table top holder (I think was made of shaped iron). Looked very much like rebar. It held bunches of the grape used for this sample production. The entire experience was beautiful. The winery was located in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. Situated atop a hill overlooking the valley. I could see the perfectly straight rows of grape vines trailing off into the horizon. Picture perfect north mountain in the background. The building had tall ceilings topped with skylights that let in crystal clear sunlight bathing all the natural wood. I will never forget this place, this moment or the one I was with.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker on Bristol
Dimensions: 2X2 Inches
Time: 2 Hours, 27 Minutes
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pencil #pen #marker #wine

Title: Howling at the Moon

I've had to scale down again. I was making 2.5X2.5 inch pieces, but the problem is OCD lol. I obsess over the details and there isn't really anything wrong with that but when creating larger pieces it becomes very very, very time consuming. I have a couple bigger works in progress I'll share here at some point. It has been a rough weekend, battling some sorta bug. I'm finding it super difficult to muster the energy to get really anything done. I'm marching on though, this road to fame won't pave itself lol.

Medium: Pencil, Pen on Bristol
Dimensions: 2X2 inches
Time: 2 Hours, 8 Minutes
#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pen #pencil #wolf

Title: Leaf No Trace

I decided to make an investment in myself and buy a scanner. I have, probably a hundred pieces or more that I've never shared simply because I didn't really have a good way to upload quality representations. I have in the past used print services but it can be costly or inconvenient. So here we are. The quality of this first scan is great, if you look closely even the grain in the paper can is visible. Although, what you can't see is the effect of my ink choices. A lot of my pen work is done in gel and I really like to use metallic colors set with thick lines to create a stained glass look or feel. The ink is thick and lays on top of the paper giving texture & depth to the simple shapes. I also really like that by using the scanner I no longer need to digitally enhance the images, you are getting a more real digital representation of the physical piece. Feel free to comment, the good the bad & the ugly. All feedback is welcome!

Medium: Pencil, Pen

Dimensions: 2.5X2.5 Inches

Time: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes

#art #artlovers #artoftheday #illustration #pen #pencil

Title: Eye of the Storm

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital
Dimensions: 2.5X2.5 Inches
Time: 2 Hours, 25 Minutes
#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

I fell off for a couple days, just needed to regroup a bit. I've been going hard for the past month, burning the candle both ends. Sometimes I forget to be kind to myself and I am sure I'm not the only one. Life feels like a bit of a grind these days, the holidays are rolling up. No doubt financial stress is hitting people hard, I know it is definitely squeezing on my life. You are not alone, I am not alone. I see you and I know you see me. Try not to be afraid. Ask for help if you need it, embrace each other, we are in this together.

Title: Burning Leaf Pizza Run

The prompt: Pizza. Hum Yum & the Burning Leaf are a couple of my favorite places to frequent. They aren't in the same building but I kinda combined the two into one piece. This is drawn from memory, no reference so it may not be 100% accurate but hey no ones perfect ;). That's what they say.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital

Dimensions: 2.5X2.5 Inches

Time: 2 Hours, 45 Minutes

#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

"If you go down in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise."

The prompt was "sure". I instantly heard the Teddy Bears' Picnic Song in my head. I've always found the song kinda creepy and in an attempt to depict an owl with its head slightly cocked inquisitively, I ended up with this even creepier illustration lol. According to Wikipedia the melody for the song was written in 1907 & the lyrics followed in 1932.

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital

Dimensions: 2.5x2.5 Inches

Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes

#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

Title: Game of Conkers, Sonic Collision

Ok. Soo lol. I had no idea what a Conker was. I had to look it up. And apparently there is a game where Conkers are smashed together and the loose condition is when a players Conker breaks open. This piece is really more of a doodle, it was created quickly in Google Keep. I made a trip to the art store last night, I got some new paper to experiment with. I'm looking forward to skilling up.

Medium: Digital
Dimensions: 1440x2438
Time: 1 Hour
#artoftheday #digital

Title: Tambourine by the fire

Medium: Digital
Dimensions: 1440x2438
Time: 1 Hour, 20 Minutes
#artoftheday #digital

Communing with the ancestors transcends time & space.

Title: Galactic Warrior Princess (Roundhouse Kick)

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital
Dimensions: 3 X 3 Inches
Time: 3 Hours, 10 Minutes
#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

I really struggled with this prompt lol. I started by just making some random marks and then morphed it into this final piece. Honestly, I feel like it's ridiculous, but here we are.

Title: Island in the Sun

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital
Dimensions: 3 Inches X 3 Inches
Time: 3 Hours, 26 Minutes
#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #marker

I've been really enjoying making these smaller pieces, I can make several a week and soon I will start making them available for purchase. I've been working on converting them to digital format while maintaining the quality. Hopefully this week I'll make some more progress on that. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy. Comments are welcome!

Title: Fastened in for Launch

Prompt: Fasten
Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital
Time: 4 Hours, 15 Minutes
#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

Title: Birch Forest at Night

Sketch a Day Prompt: Birch

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital

Time: 2 Hours, 32 Minutes

#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

I was walking in the night. Off the beaten path. And I saw this scene. Tall birch in the moon, snow on the ground.

Sketch a Day Prompt: Egyptian

Title: Ancient Astronauts Return

Medium: Pencil, Pen, Marker, Digital

Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes

#artoftheday #pencil #pen #marker #digital

Sketch a Day Prompt: Nordic

Title: Huldra in the Forest

Medium: Pencil, Pen

Time: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes

#artoftheday #pencil #pen #digital

A nymph from Norse mythology lurking in the forest. Northern lights in the background.

Sketch a Day Prompt: Sticker

Title: Peeling Sticker, Heart Shaped Clock
Medium: Pencil, Pen, Markers, Colored Pencil, Digital
Time: 2 Hours, 40 Minutes
#artoftheday #pencil #pen #markers #coloredpencil #digital