Snow!

We've just had this huge snowstorm and the view from our studio window is so beautiful that we had to share it with you! One would think it would be a good day to stay inside and paint, but for some crazy reason, it seems irresistible to get out there and be in the snow.

Illuxcon 2

The second Illuxcon took place last week from Thursday the 12th through Sunday the 15th in Altoona, PA. More than sixty five artists were at hand displaying several hundred incredible pieces of art. Numerous collectors were also in attendance purchasing
original art as well as high quality prints for their collections. David, Tony, and his girlfriend, Nonie and the two of us had a grand time. Julie and I also gave an impromptu demonstration as we were working on two paintings for our 2011 calendar. The above picture of Julie appeared in the first page of the local newspaper. What fun!
--Boris

Illustration Master Class III

To all of you who might be interested in attending this year's Illustration Master Class, we've just gotten word that now is a good time to register! Don't miss this amazing opportunity to study with the two of us as well as Rebecca Guay, James Gurney, Greg Manchess, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Scott Fischer, and Irene Gallo. Experiences like this don't grow on trees!

Barn Time

We've just come back from our annual trip to The Barn. Every year about this time, we pack up our paints and easels and head out to the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts to meet up with a group of our fellow artist friends. We spend a week working together, sharing inspiration and silliness, making campfires, eating s'mores. It's great because we can have a refreshing get-away while still getting our work done. The internet service is sketchy and phone service is practically non-existent, so we can really concentrate on good old fashioned painting.

This is an example of the inspiration/silliness part. Photographed by Marc Scheff. Drawn by Tony, Dena, Boris, Julie, and Winona.


Arkady Roytman, Dave Seeley, Justin Gerard, and Boris


Cyril Van Der Haegen, Dena Obeza, Barn, David Palumbo, Arkady Roytman


Winona Nelson, Anthony Palumbo, Lars Grant-West and Dilly, David Palumbo



Justin Gerard, Kerry, Marc Scheff, Jordu Schell, Julie, Dilly, Scott Brundage

Spectrum Show at The Society of Illustrators

This past weekend, we had the thrill of attending both the Spectrum exhibit at the Society of Illustrators in New York City AND going back the next day for Art Out Loud. Painting demonstrations were being given by Donato Giancola, Gregory Manchess, Charles Vess, Sam Weber, and James Gurney, who was painting a portrait from life of the great art historian, Walter Reed. It was such a blast! By the way, in case you didn't know about it, James Gurney not only paints awesome life portraits and is an honest-to-goodness nice person, but he has one of the best blogs about painting we know of.
So now our heads are filled with new art and inspiration as well as all the fun we had getting together with our fellow art-loving friends! If you are anywhere near New York City, you will be doing yourself a great favor by stopping by the SOI to see the show while it's up.

Our 2010 Calendar

It's that time of the year again! Our 2010 Calendar is now available! Get 'em while they're hot--which is always, but you should get 'em now, nevertheless.

And The Winner Is...

Sebastian Rice! Congratulations Sebastian! This was really tough to judge--there were lots of guesses that had some parts
right, but other parts wrong, so we had to balance it all out by taking into account more rights and
less wrongs. Thank you, everybody, for taking part--you really made this fun for us all!

Here's the actual breakdown on who did what:

The original concept was figured out between Julie and the client.
Boris did the original sketch and laid the main elements out on the board.
Julie painted the background and foreground-- all of the sky, foliage, rocks, trees, etc.
Boris started the wolf, Julie made adjustments and final touches to him.
Julie painted the head of the front horse (on the right) and Boris painted the body.
Boris painted the back horse (on the left).
Boris painted the woman’s body, Julie made some final touches to her face.
Julie painted the woman’s halter top, Boris painted her skirt and boots.
Boris painted the sword in the foreground.

There is no particular formula of how we work together because every painting is different. The decision as to “who paints what” is mostly based on convenience. We are usually working on several different projects at any given time and, in the interest of efficiency, we try to both stay pretty busy. Sometimes Boris will do the original layout, sometimes Julie. Sometimes Boris will paint the figure, sometimes Julie. Same with the background, whatever. If there is any particular part of the painting that one of us really wants to do, we will say so and do that--but we do sometimes have to arm wrestle to come to a final decision. Just kidding! :) There are times when one of us starts a face, then has to stop for some reason, and the other one will pick up where it was left off.

It’s a really fun way to work and we don’t run into ego battles about it. We both respect each other’s vision and ability equally. We do recognize that it’s an amazingly unique situation and that we’re luckier than our wildest dreams could have ever come up with!

So, Sebastian, send us an e-mail at bjart1@imaginistix.com!