Norman Rockwell

I just returned from the east coast, seeing a lot of great art that is much more accessible then out here in the west. I found a couple beautiful Norman Rockwell paintings, it's sad that its still rare to find these treasures done by the golden age illustrators. I visited a couple of modern art galleries where collectively the work didn't equal a single good Rockwell in my eyes.
I found this fantastic photo of Rockwell painting the hard part was stopping. I like the graphic shape/composition of the unfinished piece. I am also trying to push my values and shading, I used to do fully shaded drawings always but have lost the patience for it more recently.

Sweeney Todd

A new digital painting I really like. I painted it with the dull green background and kept all of his values very muted then thought of the blood in the background idea, which I think works extremely well to punch it with the contrast. Sometimes my digital paintings are done on the fly, on a whim, this one was a little more planned out and I think that helped. Also, initially I wanted a solid graphic shape for the hair similar to Sebastian's Tim Burton painting that was so effective. But once I got into it I couldn't stop, I really enjoy painting hair.
I'm having this agrivating problem with the blood and the red name turning fuzzy when I publish it. The jpg is sharp, sorry. Anyway, hope you like it.

Brandywine

This is a newer painting. A lot of glare is showing up in this picture but you get the idea. I wanted a warm face to contrast with a very cool background. I also was trying to get a loose style in the background to compliment the more finished face.
This is oil on board 12"x24".

Figure drawing

A newer figure drawing done at work.

Birthday surprise

A new painting done from an old concept that I could never get the colors that I wanted. I did the drawing a few months back and tried 2-3 times to paint it up but kept getting stuck with bad colors. I've decided it may have come subconsciously from the Godfather part II, doesn't it look like Hyman Roth? Remember that whole scene cutting the cake in Cuba?