Hey everybody I’m having a giveaway on Instagram for a free Krampus print.
How To Enter: Follow @john_vanhouten on Instagram. Repost this image and tag @john_vanhouten and hashtag #freekrampus on Instagram. The contest will run through December 31st and the winner will be announced on January 1, 2016.
Good luck!
I don’t ask for help very often but this is a quick and easy way that you can help support me. You can vote for me (5 votes per phone number!) by texting WIND or PARADE to 1-405-888-5477.
Voting is between May 2 and May 8 (ending at 4:00pm on May 8).
You can vote for me 5 times per phone. If you want you can vote for 1 painting 5 times or split up your 5 votes. You can also vote in person at the Holland Area Arts Council (150 E 8th St, Holland, MI 49423). You might even be able to vote more than 5 times by voting via phone and then in person!
This is a quick and easy way to show your support and help me win some money so I can keep doing what I do.
Here’s a picture of the first page of my new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.
And did I mention that I’m now on Instagram? You can follow me @john_vanhouten
Has it really been an entire month since I last updated this blog? Boy have I been slacking off!
What have I been doing, you ask?
I have been reading a lot of comic books and various books about the comic book industry and it’s roller coaster of a history. I also went camping for a while and spent a lot of time taking photos.
I have to admit that since I’ve purchased a camera I have been neglecting my duties to draw and paint (and occasionally sculpt but that’s not my forte). I’ve also been neglecting to update my portfolio and my blog. It’s more work than most people realize. There’s a lot of annoying back end stuff that I have to do behind the scenes when adding new work to my website (and having to deal with SEO on all of my posts is pretty annoying). But anyways…
Here’s a little taste of what’s on my Flickr:
Thanks for stopping by! (or not?)
If you follow my Facebook page then you may already know about this but The Art Order has the remaining tiny paintings from the Tiny Painting show from Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2014 for sale in their online store.
My painting, Psychotropic Cavern (from this blog post) is for sale in the Art Order store. You can go directly to my painting by clicking here.
Don’t miss out on owning an original painting by yours truly, John VanHouten!
I have neglected keeping my portfolio updated. Today I added three pieces I created in 2013. There’s more to come.
You have seen “Milk and Cookies” in a previous post. It’s now officially added to my portfolio.
This is a painting I made for my mother for her birthday last year. She isn’t going to get any more original art until she frames this haha. I was experimenting with Holbein’s acrylic/gouache hybrid line of paint: Acryla Gouache. It’s great paint. The title “Would You Be My Girl?” is something I feel this guy would say and it’s also from The Police song “Be My Girl”.
This is one of my favorite pieces of art that I have created. It’s one of the biggest and most detailed drawings I have ever attempted. I prefer working small. This piece was in the 28th Annual West Michigan Regional (Art) Competition at LowellArts!.
Of course all of this artwork is for sale except “Would You Be My Girl?” (because I made it for my mother, duh). Contact me if you’d like to purchase art. “Milk and Cookies” and “Flying Whales” are both already framed.
If you follow me on my official Facebook page then you also know that I recently graduated from KCAD with an Illustration degree! If you don’t follow me on Facebook and you didn’t know that then maybe you should stay in the loop (the graduation photo below was taken by my pal Simon Lee).
And what better way to celebrate graduating than purchasing a new camera? Actually I could think of a few better ways but I digress. A new camera means experimenting and making up reasons to use the aforementioned new camera. Today I photographed some lilacs (obviously seen in the photos below).
Stay cool out there in that heat! It’s about time that Michigan weather realized what season it is.
I look forward to connecting with you through yet another social media venue! Don’t worry, I’ll still be posting on my blog and on Twitter, but I’ll be posting some different stuff on each platform (and some of the same). So head on over to Facebook and check it out!
This image appears larger than the actual painting (unless you are viewing on a smart phone).
Here’s a tiny 3″ x 3″ painting that I’m calling “Psychotropic Cavern”. It’s acryla gouche and colored pencil on board. I created it for Jon Schindehette‘s tiny painting show at SFAL. If you go to Spectrum Fantastic Art Live, be sure to see his tiny painting show featuring over 200 tiny science fiction/fantasy pieces (and buy mine)! It certainly looks like a neon black light poster but sadly it doesn’t look that great under a black light. I’m now inspired to try to make a black light illustration now.
2014 is here and I’m anxious to accomplish many things this year. It’s hard to believe that my blog has now been around for a year (Although technically the first post was on January 10, 2013). I somehow found something to talk about each month! When I first started my blog I had no idea how long it took to create a good post. Some posts take several hours to write, revise (and revise again many times), add photos, and much more. I certainly appreciate the work that blog writers put into their posts, now that I know how much effort is required to post meaningful content.
The Monoprice tablet unboxing and review:
Some notable painting process posts:
Some art:
Art book reviews:
Miscellaneous:
I hope you have a happy new year and stick to your new year resolutions (unless your resolution is something awful like drowning 100 kittens; then I don’t hope you stick to your new year resolutions).