Greetings!
Some may recall my occasional grumblings about not getting my art to reproduce well, granted no reproduction ever meets to the in-person experience but as artists we can hope to come close. There are many factors which are simply out of my hands (the viewer or publisher's computer, OS, browser, monitor, printer, etc- simply too many steps and variables), but then some things can be controlled. Since about '92 I have been using acrylic almost exclusively, I am more familiar with it than any other paint but it has always been a challenge when it comes to scanning, photography and reproduction. In part this is because the values in my art (shades from light to dark) are mostly stacked in the darker end, and my paint tends to be quite shiny. Have you noticed that bodybuilders often tan and oil themselves to accentuate as much of their surface as possible? Well, when you have a dark shiny painting you're effectively doing the same thing in the scanner or camera's eye. I've hired professional photographers and scanning services, and they were a bust as well. Every bit of paint texture is highlighted with stark glare and the 'valleys' of the paint texture fall into shadow- things like the color and value get completely upstaged by the texture of the painting (which is not the focus of my work). So, what does one do, change their chosen style in order to be received more clearly? For me that was a daunting idea, and perhaps a bit disheartening to feel like I might have to start over and reinvent my painting style. Maybe there's some new paint that could take care of this problem....
.... or, howabout the oldest known paint in history? Nine thousand year old cave paintings have been found in Asia, and they are painted with Casein. The Byzantines, Romans and Renaissance painters used it as well- even Edvard Much's 'The Scream' was in casein. It's binder is derived from milk (casein comes from the Latin word for Cheese), and behaves like a mix of acrylic and oils. The best part is that it dries to an absolutely matte surface, and the scanner loves it!! After I finished my first painting I scanned it and was shocked at how beautifully it scanned. Normally I need to spend a good amount of time in photoshop attempting to recover and restore the file to something that vaguely resembles the original art, but the raw scan was practically a bulls-eye. I'm not sure if this is too much rambling for those less interested in painting, so let me just say that the idea of finally being able to have my art received as I intended... it feels like I've discovered fire.
On to pictures...
First up, my first casein painting. Night Light, 8x10" on masonite:

I had the pleasure of reading some of Night Light in advance, and it's quite entertaining indeed! I'll let Chris explain in his own words (he's the writer after all):
Chris here, Paul's lucky collaborator. I’ve decided to go ahead and add another entry to the already crowded Indonesian-demons-in-a-porno-store subgenre. However, it’s Paul’s amazing cover art that will make this relentlessly tasteless gorefest of a novel stand out from hundreds of other similar works.
Synopsis? Sure. At a second-rate adult bookstore, the night shift collects its usual crowd of misfits, lonely-hearts and seekers, as well as a down-on-her-luck “star” in town for a signing. But the owner’s ambitious attempt to hawk harder-edged material from overseas has horribly backfired: an air-mailed package turns out to contain far worse than naughty footage. Instead, a trio of vengeful demons has hitched a ride (if you’re wondering how three demons pack into a FedEx box, er, you’ll just have to read it) and is hell-bent on feasting upon whatever luckless porn-store denizen opens the package. In the time-honored way of such things, the trapped survivors must battle the hideous clan of monsters, each other, and their own dark pasts. Will the puny humans determine what the heck the demons are after? Will the authorities show up, only to get their rears kicked in spectacularly graphic fashion? Most importantly, will the Gang Bang Girl DVDs be knocked hopelessly out of alphabetical order?
All lame hilarity aside, I’m going for scares, originality, and above all an entertaining way to escape the fetid world around us for a couple of hours. The monsters are one-of-a-kind (hey, just check out Paul’s cover), or at least they’re not seen too often in American horror—Indonesian demons, led by the penanggalan, the disembodied, viscera-trailing head of an evil witch that loathes men and feeds on the unborn. She has brought with her her granddaughter, a beastly spirit that occupies the bodies of young women, and their pet, a foot-long telepathic cricket able to control the thoughts and actions of its victims. Eh? Eh?
As you can see, the crazy awesome cover is done, and now only formatting remains. Paul and I hope to have an Amazon link up by the end of August that you good people can use to buy yourselves a copy if you so desire (and we certainly hope you do). Hey, if the book itself knocks you into a stupidity coma, you’ve still got Paul’s artwork in hand, right?
Gracias, all!
As you might imagine, my correspondence with Chris has been quite entertaining throughout the project. Here's the current layout design, though there will undoubtedly be some adjustments:

I'll be sure to give a heads-up when the book is available for sale.
My second casein painting is for Eric Webb, who has written a Role Playing Game 'monograph' for Chaosium, Inc. . He's a writer, too, so I'll pass him the microphone:
Operation Ulysses will be a military science fiction campaign for the Basic RolePlaying system available through Chaosium Inc. Operation Ulysses takes place within the Gammadon fields, scene of an apocalyptic space war fought millennia ago by two extinct species. The shattered remains of their colossal starcraft still drift aimlessly and their ancient atomic mines even now patrol the space lanes, seeking to destroy any ship traversing the system. Midway through its journey across the Gammadon fields, near the planet of Ion 9, the ISIS corp. star freighter Ulysses was inexplicably wrenched out of hyperspace by an unknown form of energy. Shortly after its initial distress call, all communication between ISIS Corp. and the Ulysses was lost. Contacted by ISIS Corp., you and your team have been hired to travel to the Gammadon fields to unlock the mysteries behind the disappearance of the Ulysses.
Chaosium Monographs are longer works by one or more authors on a single idea or concept. On these products, the writer fulfills the function of editor and artist. Chaosium does little in the way of editorial. They have adopted this idea to provide a way for writers to present their role playing background, game, or setting to a select audience of Chaosium role players.
Here's the cover art, Casein 10x13" on illustration board:

I'll be sure to give a heads-up when it is available for purchase.
If you can't tell, I am loving the new paint and I cannot wait to see where it leads me, I'm going to be able to do things I never have been able to with acrylic. I think switching gears was good for my creativity, it's forcing me to think differently when painting- and that's always good for blowing out the cobwebs!
Next episode... a new print for sale!
cheers!
~Paul