The making of "GAS ATTACK"

Hi folks, here's a sneak preview of one of my paintings for the "White cloud Worlds" book.

This one is called "Gas Attack", it is part of a concept I called: "War of the Woods".

The idea for it came a few years ago as I was walking in the streets of Nancy, a city in the French region of Lorraine. The first world war still permeates the whole landscape over there. You know how it is when your mind wonders about ...What a strange building... Hey look a pretty girl... and then... hundreds of angry Dwarves wearing strange helmets and gas masks appear!

I ran home and did the sketch that you see at the top. Then I forgot about it for a year or two.

Later I thought it'd be fun to do a more finalized painting from that crude rough.

The image in the middle was taken by my wife as I was painting it. The books in the background are all real, and barely any of them is a Playboy magazine.

The last image is the final painting.

It is really sad to think that the real world influences the parallel world of the fairies in such a dramatic way, but there it is! Who knows what they're up to these days...

White Cloud Worlds!

Yours truly will have some paintings published in a book coming out on November 1st, 2010, and featuring the work of several fellow artists from New Zealand: 'White Cloud Worlds'. The title comes from 'Aotearoa', the Maori name for my adopted land which means: "Land of the long white cloud". There will also be an exibition and some book signings, check out the website:

http://www.whitecloudworlds.com/about.php

My own work included in the anthology is part of a project going on inside my head for a few years now. In the story, I discover a chest in New Zealand full of paintings dating back to the first world war. They relate a parallel history of the faerie kingdoms during that terrible time. All of the paintings are done with acrylic on paper or canvas.

You can buy the book here:
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/White-Cloud-Worlds-Paul-Tobin/?isbn=9781869508241