This last weekend I made the trip from Utah to North Carolina to visit Dan Dos Santos and his family. It was a much-needed trek to spend time with Dan and his wonderful family. While there we spent time painting in his studio chatting about art and artists we love. I also attended Dan’s weekly painting session and studio space that he has rented for the sole purpose of providing the opportunity for artists to have the chance to paint from life. Dan suggested that we both paint the model side by side and film the process so that we could create a video that contrasts and compares the differences and similarities between our approaches. I had a blast! This is definitely something that I want to do again.

Dan created a video that is available to all the Patreon followers of Muddy Colors. It is also available on Gumroad (here), but Patreon subscribers will have access at half the cost. We shortened the video to 90 minutes and recorded the conversation between Dan and I discussing our processes.

Here are the paintings we created. Our model was the amazing Susan Addams, who created the costume herself and was rock solid posing for the entire time. Here is her Instagram, which is worth checking out! The top image is by Dan and the bottom one is mine.

Valkyrie by Dan Dos Santos

I always find it fascinating that artists, in general, can see the same thing but interpret it so differently.

Valkyrie by Howard Lyon

Here is a trailer for the video to give you a preview:

If you want to grab the whole video here is the link to the Muddy Colors Patreon and the link to Gumroad. There is so much great content on both sites. I am looking forward to the chance to paint with Dan again soon!

Sincerely,

Howard