Featured Image - By the Dawn's Early Light

Russell Smith Studios August Update
August 1, 2010

Hi everyone. What a busy month July was! The first week of the month found me at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor, HI, giving two presentation on my work methods and how I went about creating Birds of Paradise. The Pacific Aviation Museum is a world-class museum and the staff could not have been any more hospitable to me. My thanks goes out to everyone there whom I met that week.

And now, on with the show...

New Painting - "La Sentinelle"

- La Sentinelle depicts the 3rd victory of famed French ace Jean Navarre. The painting shows Navarre as he makes his pass on the grounded German LVG. The German crewmen walk away from their aircraft with their hands in the air, having been "warned" by the Hotchkiss gun on Navarre's Morane. La Sentinelle will be the featured cover art for an upcoming biography on Jean Navarre by Jim Wilberg.

http://www.russellsmithart.com/Small%20pages/La%20Sentinelle.htm

New Pencil study - "54Sq Sopwith Camel"

- This particular study is a pencil study for an upcoming commission. Its actually a more developed version of the Camel I posted last month. Both drawing are available for sale. The scene shows a 54Sq Sopwith Camel on approach to Clairmarais Aerodrome, outside of St Omer.

http://www.russellsmithart.com/valueStudies.htm

Big wins at the 2010 ASAA Exhibition - San Diego

- I am very proud to announce 2 big wins in the 2010 ASAA exhibition in San Diego. Starting Line took home the James V Roy award (best of the best) and By the Dawn's Early Light claimed the Aviation Week And Space Technology Best of Show Award. The ASAA awards and the Av Week awards are actually two different sets of awards given in the same exhibition, but since this is an ASAA exhibition the Roy is considered the highest honor.
Sixty eight paintings were selected from the finest aviation masters in the world, including three paintings of my own, and will continue to hang side by side on the walls of the San Diego Air & Space Museum until September 10, 2010.
If you live in or are visiting Southern California this summer, be sure to go by and see the exhibit.

http://www.sandiegoairandspace.org/

New Painting/Open Edition print - "Etrich Taube"

- This piece is still available for purchase. The painting is framed and needs to find a home outside of my studio. Open editions of the image are also now available on the website.

http://www.russellsmithart.com/Small%20pages/Etrich%20Taube.htm

Finally some news on "Tumult In The Clouds: The Aviation Art of Russell Smith"

- Finally, some more news about the book! Due to unforseen circumstances we have had to switch to a different publishing company. Tumult In the Clouds: The Aviation Art of Russell Smith will now be published by Jack Herris of Aeronaut Books. Many of you may already be familiar with Jack as he has carved out a reputation as a publisher of some of the finest WW1 books on the market. Jack is a great guy and I'm happy to be working with him. The downside of the switch is that the publication date has now been pushed back by roughly 1 year. The publication date is now set for December of 2011. That's a bit later than we had originally hoped, but the benefit of that timetable is that it will allow me time to include more of my newest works in the book, including Hector and Achilles.
Tumult in the Clouds will feature approximately 30-35 of my paintings included in a landscape style/size book.

Our current lineup of contributors now looks like this:

Javier Arrango
Dennis Gordon
Jon Guttman
Adrian Hellwig
James F Miller
Fred Murrin
Mike O'Neal
Colin Owers
Steve Skinner
Edward Soye
Alan Toelle
Jim Wilberg
Charlie Woolley
Greg van Wyngarden

Works In progress

- I am about to begin the color study for the 54 Sq Camel project mentioned above. I'll post an image of the completed study in next month's update.

- I am also about to begin a small pencil commission featuring Werner Voss

- Also in the works is Hector and Achilles - a the diptych featuring the famous dogfight between Manfred von Richthofen and Lanoe Hawker! Those of you with FaceBook accounts can see a WIP thread on the Russell Smith Studios FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190169&id=103226508613

Commissions

- Have you ever considered commissioning an original painting or drawing but thought that it would be out of your price range? You might be surprised at how affordable original artwork can be. If you are toying with the idea, send me an email and I will reply with information regarding my commission rates and payment plan options.

Originals For Sale

- Make sure to keep checking the "Old Works for Sale" list. You never know what might pop up here:

http://www.russellsmithart.com/Works%20for%20sale.htm

Upcoming projects

- I have lots of exciting projects coming up in the next few months. As much as I would like to go ahead and tackle the Albert Ball painting (and many of you have been asking me about it) I have other project that are currently higher priority, and so I need to get to those first. Among the paintings that you will see from me in the coming months are:

• A ground scene featuring Max Immelmann and a Fokker E.I

• A portrait of Charles Nungesser's Nieuport 17

Russell Smith Studios is now on Facebook

- If you have a Facebook account, make sure to sign on as s "fan" of Russell Smith Studios. Unlike my website, which features mainly finished works and items for sale, I'll be using my Facebook as a blog of sorts - posting works in progress, descriptive progression shots, commentary and answering your questions.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Russell-Smith-Studios/103226508613

Russ