FREE BOOKS. If I can have a moment of your time please? Thanks.

 If you could take a look at my bookshelf here  http://thomasluca.paperbackswap.com/profile/  I would appreciate it much! And please have a llok at the Wish List too. You see I have books listed where you, "If you are a member", can get FREE books, that's right I said absolutely FREE. And have books in my wish list that I would like to get. I'll explain it all if you read on further.

 If anyone would like to know where to get free Books, well the only amount that it will cost you is the shipping but otherwise the books are free!
The other week I stumbled upon this website called Paperbackswap and to my surprise found out that I joined sometime in 2008? "How bout that", I said I had forgotten about it.
 Anyway it works like this, you list a book on your profile bookshelf, a swapper sees it and requests it or pulls it from your bookshelf you ship it out to them and they receive it and click that they received it and so you earn a credit which equals a book that you can get.
"Oh and by the way you automatically get two credits when you list your first ten books on your bookshelf to swap".
You then can scour the millions of possibilities of books, "i'm not kidding they have about 5 million available and still counting", that you want and when you find one can click on the "Order This Book" button and congratulations you now will be getting a book from some swapper which they to have to ship it out to you as the same way you did for other swappers.

 When I first listed my books, some sixty or so? I swapped twenty eight right off the bat in two days. This site works fast, but there is a chance you may not get to request a book or many right away? You may have to wait until someone lists that book that you want, I know because I have waited a while but the rewards are plenty when you get your books in the mail absolutely FREE. You know what they say, Murphy's Law.

 So there you have it an awesome book website where you can circumvent the fees of listing from sales platforms such as ebay, amazon and so on.

New addition for the Gallery

      As you know by now I love creating fine art and for those of you who read this blog regularly know this. Today I just finished a painting of a nice little Manta ray, well okay he's not so little but I want to point out something, all of what you will see here is a display mockup meaning everything but the painting itself is faux.
I made it all entirely in Photoshop without the aid of textures or photos, "including the art itself large enough to print of course" to accentuate or show how aesthetically pleasing it would look on your wall.

 I will be doing more projects like this in the coming posts so keep an eye on this blog. Oh and I meant to say this earlier, the glares on the art are not actually on the painting, those are there to sell the image so to speak, to help make it look as real as possible. If you would like to see the painting naked or it without all the glares and fx then please check back here again after New Years by then I will post the link to the Gallery it will be for sale at. As always any comments or questions please don't hesitate to ask, you can find my email on my Blog Profile page.

                                                                             

Green Monday Brings Deals From OWC

There are many themed days to keep track of during the holiday season: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the lesser known (and perhaps a bit less jolly) National Regifting Day. Today brings another of those days in Green Monday, which is considered on

via blog.macsales.com

Halloween Coffin Box with maniacal laugh when opened!

I just finished this last night and posted it up on my Etsy Shop! Go and have a closer look, the images are much larger and you can see more detail.

                                                                                               ( Click here to see it on Etsy )

"The Pulps"

                                                                         


   I laid down a background wash of red and muddled or dry brushed some black in as an contrasting accent to dirty it up a bit with a 4" L998 Gesso Flat.
 For the eye, wall, blood and knife I used a no. 6 and 8 Royal & Langnickel Flat and Filbert by lightly pulling the paint you get a nice texture look. I learned a nifty little trade secret from a friend on how to achieve straight lines, you just use a ruler as a mahlstick that way you get straight lines every time. The key light or glare on the eyeball and knife blade were achieved by dabbing and gently pulling a half loaded brush just so that it looks like a there is a glimmer. I used a tooth brush with the red color to get a speckled effect around the edges. All of the art except for the type was painted and I added the type in Photoshop. The original was sold, the price was $350. But you can still get a print from my Gallery on Society6 here http://society6.com/monstersrobotsandfinks/The-Pulps-How-far-will-you-let-it-take-you_Print

Just a follow up on the painting I have been working on. It measures 24 inches by 36 inches and is painted with Acrylics on a medium surface Canvas. I just uploaded it on my Art Gallery here... http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/thomas-luca.html It was entitled, "The Princess of Felinicia" which I was going to call it but I thought "The Beast is Never Far from Beauty" had a better ring to it?

DIY Handy Work in the Kitchen by yours truly.

My Art on Fine Art America:  Well I was going through my HD and found some ima...:  Well I was going through my HD and found some images when I put backsplash tiles on my parents kitchen wall, actually my Mother bought all ...

Thomas Luca - Fine Art

Thomas Luca - Fine Art
And have a look at my creative portfolio on Behance
http://www.behance.net/Artist_ThomasLuca

Ok, I made some changes thanks to a handful of friends who gave me some helpful criticism.  So here she is almost finished...
                                       from right POV                                  from left POV

Ok, I'll see you in about a week and hopefully I'll have this done? 

Well here's that update continuing from this blog post here

http://tjpaintings.blogspot.com/2012/04/wheeeew.html

I'm really getting a lot done on this and it's looking pretty good so far. I will title it "The Princess of Felinicia".  I made the Title up. This is an Acrylic on canvas at 24" x 36".  Here is what I have so far,

It still needs lots'a work. I'll post it next when it is finished. Comment, Let me know what you think?

I thought it would be real wild to do a Monster Fink rendition as an homage to Kustom Kulture so here it is,

This is going to be a series I'm doing starting with this one as No. 01. It was painted on a 6" x 8" canvas board with Acrylics. I have a number of humorous and thought provoking and just down right fun scenarios I have in mind that I want to paint. I don't know how many I'll do? I'm thinking of just painting them until I get bored with the whole Series or can't think of any more scenarios which ever comes first?


This is also posted on my HOT RODS & PINUPS A Kustom Kulture Life Style Blog

Well I'm off to paint some more but first I need some zzZzzZzzZzzZzZzzZzzZzZzZzleep...
I'll post some more later on in the daytime in the meantime if you are looking at this please comment if you like?

Here it is! I've just finished it after two weeks, "On and off of course" and I just put it on my Gallery at Fine Art America!

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/resting-tiger-thomas-luca.html?newartwork=true

Now I'm working on a few other paintings that I started in the middle of this one and I'm almost done with one of them so I should have it posted soon on this Blog. Stay tuned!

Just posted an update for the Tiger painting I've been working on, just a few more things to add and then my Sig and then it's going to be on my Gallery on Fine Art America.

   Well I was at my desk the other day, you know... drawing and checking my email, the usual thing and my Niece comes over and says that she has a great idea for a doll! I said, "Oh yeah? What sort of idea? She says to me, "It's a Monster High Doll!" And I said to her I know the ones because I have seen their cartoons on youtube a few times when they were first marketing them aggressively. They aren't bad at all?

Anyway, she explains to me the whole shebang and I said, "not a bad idea... did you come up with this yourself Marah?! That's my Nieces name. She said well kind'a and then she explained to me that her Aunt, Mom and Her spontaneously thought it up in a conversation they were having. My Niece took her Aunt's name, which is "Charlene" and merged it with the word, "Shark" and came up with, "Sharklene", pretty ingenious really.
Soon after my Niece had to go to a friend's Birthday Party so I took all the specifications of the doll and began to work on the concept sketches then I drawn it out and finished it and made a model sheet that has all the doll's likes, dislikes, pet, name, age, you know like a dossier.

 When my Niece got back from the Birthday party she was ecstatic and said that's great! That's how I thought she would look like! So here it is a new version of a Monster High Doll that my Niece thought up.                              
                                      Meet Sharklene!

Now I have a few more things to do till I'm done but I'm having fun and hey... this is for my Niece. Even if Mattel doesn't go for the idea she can still say she thought her up, right?!

An extraordinarily talented artist I have been keeping up with lately has very inspiring tips, tutorials and much more on his Blog here Chris Oatley Disney Character Designer

If you subscribe you will get a FREE DIGITAL PAINTING KIT!

Doooo iiiiit! It'll be worth the extra newsletter, I know you have a ton already...right? Well one more won't hurt besides, in the words of a great little green guy "Tremendous know-how this guy has, yours the path will soon be. " I don't know if that made sense but I can tell you something that will make sense and that is take a few minutes out of your busy day and browse his Blog. You'll learn a few new tricks to add to your repertoire.

My Art on Fine Art America: Hi I'm Thomas J. Luca, I'm a Commercial...

My Art on Fine Art America: Hi I'm Thomas J. Luca,
           I'm a Commercial...: Hi I'm Thomas J. Luca,            I'm a Commercial and Fine Artist. Here's one of my Galleries, it's on Fine Art America, "Just click here"...

I'm going to share my opinions of which Art Suppliers I like to deal with to arm myself with tools and mediums. I have only three places I like to shop to build my arsenal of brushes, paints, etc.
Not in any order, "Dick Blick Art Materials, Hobby Lobby and Utrecht"

I have been dealing with them for years with the exception for Hobby Lobby of course because I just recently discovered them and I personally like them for their unbelievable deals, quality and selection of supplies to choose from. For the most supplies to choose from I would go with Blick Art hands down, I have saved thousands over a long period of time. Well there you have it just an idea for any one thats having trouble deciding on who to buy from or where to get your Art supplies from?

Below are links to their stores

• Art Supplies from Dick Blick Art Materials- The Best Art Supplies...at the best discounts!
• Hobby Lobby
• Art Supplies at Utrecht- Buy 13K Affordable Items in 400 Areas Online

Thomas Luca - Fine Art

Thomas Luca - Fine Art

Come see my latest Art works in a Gallery

Update: Wed Jul 25, 2012
Just another update for the Tiger painting, just a few more things to add and then it's completed. It's going up on Fine Art America soon.

I just posted new updates for my Tiger Painting and you can see it here: Tiger Painting Update

Thanks for looking.

        This may come as a surprise to some and some it may not but in case you haven't had the chance to try on a SmudgeGuard Glove you are missing out! They are fairly old now as far as date of invention but if you are an Artist and it doesn't matter whether you are a Traditional or Digital Artist these handy little gems will help speed up your production time ten fold.
 For illustrators using no. 2 pencils or pen 'n' ink, it can not help prevent unwanted smudges from charcoal though. Now for digital artists using a tablet let's say the Cintiq, "that's my favorite", it not only prevents smudging but also helps your wrist to glide across the monitor screen like grease lightning! Plus it helps not to smudge up your screen which is a pain in the @$$ to wipe every time you see a dirty spot!

 Here's a screencap of the glove that came out first right here

For use with a Bic Pen

With a pencil

With a... crayon? Yes folks even crayons or any creative tool that will leave a smudge or dirty mess behind

For a peek at the Colors, Sizes and Prices

The single finger glove goes for $14.99 and the double finger for $16.99 which is a pretty fair price.

And don't worry about whether or not the gloves will fit... well, like a glove or not because they even have a sizing chart and I can personally vouch for them fitting. As soon as mine arrived in the mail I tried them on and BAM! instantly fit right to the form of my hand like magic. I was skeptical at first but when I put them on and tried them out I was a firm believer from that point on.

Here's their size adjustment chart below

More Reasons to Buy a SmudgeGuard you ask? Well have a look at theirs? (And by the way this and all this subject matter was respectfully from the website and I take no credit for it.)

 And there are 3 more colors to choose from now! Like Lavender, Burgundy and they just came out with a new and improved glove, it has an added finger sleeve now, here it is

So hop on over to the website and check 'em out! They are Guaranteed to help 110% or your money back! All the FAQ's are on her website.

Do yourself a favor and get a few, really all you need is two because I have had mine for about 5 years now since 2008 and they are still doing what are supposed to just fine. For a look at these godsends go see for yourself?

The proud inventor's name of this marvelous glove is Jeannie Lit. Here's her link, just click on the banner  

         Just a follow up on the latest painting I'm working on now, it's an Oil and Acrylic on canvas painting of a Siberian Tiger, "Panthera tigris altaica" is it's scientific classification. It seems to be resting its head on a snow covered tree that is parallel to the ground, the environment that surounds him is somewhere in the woods. Who knows maybe he just had a nice meal and now he or she needs a rest. Please have a look at the conservation status and history below as it is the magnificent animals are being hunted to the point of extinction causing their species to be endangered, it is a shame yes but we can do something to minimize their fate. I just wish I could do something to help because I Love these BIG Cats! So that is why I'm painting this, a kind'a way to show my love for them.

You'll see this for sale on my Art Gallery online when I'm finished, here is the link Thomas Luca on Fine Art America

It's Characteristics

The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigrisaltaica), also known as the Amur tiger, is a tiger subspecies inhabiting mainly the Sikhote Alin mountain region with a small subpopulation in southwest Primorye province in the Russian Far East. In 2005, there were 331–393 adult-subadult Amur tigers in this region, with a breeding adult population of about 250 individuals. The population has been stable for more than a decade due to intensive conservation efforts, but partial surveys conducted after 2005 indicate that the Russian tiger population is declining.

The Siberian tiger is the largest living felid and ranks among the biggest felids that ever existed.

Phylogeographic analysis with extant tiger subspecies suggests that less than 10,000 years ago the ancestor of Amur and Caspian tigers colonized Central Asia via the Gansu−Silk Road corridor from eastern China then subsequently traversed Siberia eastward to establish the Amur tiger population in the Russian Far East.

The Siberian tiger is reddish-rusty or rusty-yellow in colour, with narrow black transverse stripes. The body length is not less than 150 cm (60 in), condylobasal length of skull 250 mm (10 in), zygomatic width 180 mm (7 in), and length of upper carnassial tooth over 26 mm (1 in) long. It has an extended supple body standing on rather short legs with a fairly long tail. It is typically 5–10 cm (2–4 in) taller than the Bengal tiger, which is about 107–110 cm (42–43 in) tall.

Threats

A broad genetic sampling of 95 wild Russian tigers found markedly lowgenetic diversity, with the effective population size extraordinarily low in comparison to the census population size, with the population behaving as if it were just 27–35 individuals. Further exacerbating the problem is that more than 90% of the population occurs in the Sikhote Alin mountain region, and there is little movement of tigers across the development corridor, which separates this sub-population from the much smaller sub-population found in southwest Primorye province.

The winter of 2006–2007 was marked by heavy poaching. Poaching of tigers and their wild prey species is considered to be driving the decline, although heavy snows in the winter of 2009 could have biased the data.

Threats in the past

In the early years of the Russian Civil War, both Red and White armies based in Vladivostok nearly wiped out the local Siberian tigers. In 1935, when the Manchurian Chinese were driven back across the Amur and the Ussuri, the tigers had already withdrawn from their northern and western range. The few that remained in the East Manchurian mountains were cut off from the main population by the building of railroads. Within a few years, the last viable Siberian tiger population in Russia was confined toUssuriland. Legal tiger hunting within the Soviet Union would continue until 1947 when it was officially prohibited. In the mid 1980s, it was estimated that the Siberian tiger population consisted of approximately 250 animals. In 1987, law and order almost entirely broke down due to the impending dissolution of the Soviet Union. Subsequent illegal deforestation and bribery of park rangers made the poaching of Siberian tigers easier, once again putting the subspecies at risk from extinction.

Decades of development and war have destroyed the population in Korea. Heat sensing camera traps set up in the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea did not record any tigers.

Conservation

Tigers are included on CITES Appendix I, banning international trade. All tiger range states and countries with consumer markets have banned domestic trade as well. At the 14th Conference of the Parties toCITES in 2007, stronger enforcement measures were called for, as well as an end to tiger farming.

In 1992, the Siberian Tiger Project was founded, with the aim of providing a comprehensive picture of the ecology of the Amur tiger and the role of tigers in the Russian Far East through scientific studies. By capturing and outfitting tigers with radio collars, their social structure, land use patterns, food habits, reproduction, mortality patterns and their relation with other inhabitants of the ecosystem, including humans is studied. These data compilations will hopefully contribute toward minimizing poaching threats due to traditional hunting. The Siberian Tiger Project has been productive in increasing local capacity to address human-tiger conflict with a Tiger Response Team, part of the Russian government’s Inspection Tiger, which responds to all tiger-human conflicts; by continuing to enhance the large database on tiger ecology and conservation with the goal of creating a comprehensive Siberian tiger conservation plan; and training the next generation of Russian conservation biologists.

In August 2010, China and Russia agreed to enhance conservation and cooperation in protected areas in a transboundary area for Amur tigers. China has undertaken a series of public awareness campaigns including celebration of the first Global Tiger Day in July 2010, and International Forum on Tiger Conservation and Tiger Culture and China 2010 Hunchun Amur Tiger Culture Festival in August 2010.

In December 2010, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Russia) and Phoenix Fund initiated a project in co-operation with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to improve the protection of tigers and prey species in four key-protected areas, namely Lavovsky Nature Reserve, Sikhote Alin Nature Reserve, Zov Tigra National Park and Kedrovaya Pad - Leopardovii Protected Area. The project consists of the following components: 1) monitoring patrol routes and law enforcement results with the patrol monitoring system MIST which is based on GIS-technique, 2) support for patrol teams (fuel, spare parts, maintenance for vehicles and ranger outfits) and 3) bonuses for patrol teams that perform well. The first project results indicate a success. Patrol efforts (measured by total time spent on patrols and distance of foot patrols) in the two protected areas where the project started first (Kedrovaya Pad - Leopardovii and Lazovsky protected areas) have increased substantially. This was established by comparing the patrol data of the 1st quarter of 2011 with the 1st quarter of 2012. Patrol law enforcement results (confiscated fire arms, citations for poaching and other violations as well as fines) have also increased markedly (this was established by comparing the results of the two protected areas in 2011 to previous years).

Re-population ideas

In 2010, Russia exchanged two captive Amur tigers for Persian Leopards with the Iran government, as conservation groups of both countries have agreed on restocking these animals back into the wild within the next 5 years. Some experts, however, doubt the plan as they feel that this is a political publicity exercise. On December 30, 2010, one of the tigers exchanged died in Eram Zoo in Tehran.

Inspired by recent findings that the Amur tiger is the closest relative of the Caspian tiger, discussions started if the Amur tiger could be an appropriate subspecies for reintroduction into a safe place in Central Asia. The Amu-Darya Delta was suggested as a potential site for such a project. A feasibility study was initiated to investigate if the area is suitable and if such an initiative would receive support from relevant decision makers. A viable tiger population of about 100 animals would require at least 5,000 ha (19 sq mi) of large tracts of contiguous habitat with rich prey populations. Such habitat is not available at this stage and can not be provided in the short term. The proposed region is therefore unsuitable for the reintroduction, at least at this stage of developments.

I hope you enjoyed this post and please feel free to comment if you know of ways to help them maintain their existence on this planet. Thank You

Reference by Wikipedia

Well, I've been caught up with many projects and one of them is a mural in a bathroom, here have a look at what I'm up to so far.

The order is from right to left or to make it easier I just posted them in the appropriate order.

I painted all around the room so it looks as though you are inside an aquarium or fish tank.

I'm happy so far how it turned out but I especially like this little guy, somehow my eyes keep looking to it as a focal point?

I would love to do this more often and experiment with different settings or themes like Classic Monsters such as Frankenstein, Creature, Dracula and the werewolf or Mythical Monsters and Creatures or Cinema Characters and scenes? 

"A figure study" by Tom Luca | RedBubble

"A figure study" by Tom Luca | RedBubble:

For my latest works please visit my Gallery on Fine Art America here: Click Me

Wheeeew... it's been a while but I'm back to one of my original blogs and I need to update this post somethin' fierce. Here's a painting I'm working on now, it's an 18 X 24 inch canvas pre-stretched. So far I'm almost finished with the sketch. Criticism is welcome and I would even like to hear some suggestions from artists that have had their work made into Giclee prints.
Like who would you recommend? Or what do I ask the printer to make sure I get the results I want, where's all the cheap but top notch printers hiding at?


Here's the first pic in a series of many to come.

I don't have any experience with Giclee printing so any and all suggestions are appreciated. I heard of one place called PosterPop which I really like but I'm window browsing for the best choice. I'd like to have 500 made but I'm not sure on the size yet or if I could have it printed on gallery wrapped canvas that would be kool? I'm just surfin' the web to see all the possibilities.






Recent Updates: Tue July 10, 2012


Well I just finished laying on the flats or commonly known as "blocking". I'll post an update tomorrow at the latest to show you what it looks like so far. Still lots more to do.
When I am finished with it I will have it for sale on Fine Art America

Paintings

Hi there here are some WIP's, the Raccoon is the only finished one in fact it's the very first painting I have ever done in oil's. I work mainly in acrylics and digitally now. I'll post more soon.