NEW ADIDAS WOMENS PREDATOR POWERSWERVE TRX FG 2008/09 IN STOCK

New womens soccer footwear from Adidas is in stock with two different color styles. The Adidas Womens Predator Powerswerve TRX FG is available in black with silver and white with blue.

UMBRO SX VALOUR & UMBRO SX FLARE BOOTS ON SALE

Umbro Boots SX Valour MD originally $199.98 and SX Flare MD originally
$219.98 now on sale for $99.98

Andie McDowell

Having neglected my blog entries last week, I thought I'd better get my act together and start posting more regularly. So here is Andie McDowell. It's the first one I've done in marker on this particular sketch paper and I don't think I'll be using it with markers again. There is an annoying tendency for the ink to bleed. Yesterday was quite good from a drawing/painting perspective. Managed to do a couple of watercolour sketches in the field. The first one is one I intend to return to, the second was a more studied sketch. I was going to get out and about for a walk but I found a good position in the middle of the road, so decided the car might be safer, with the added bonus I could listen to the radio. I'm not particularly pleased with either sketch, they both needed more time, so I will probably try again or maybe revisit the scenes? I haven't quite cracked the logistics of carting paints around yet but I'm refining my kit to improve that aspect.

Another quick sketch

I've just realised I haven't posted anything for nearly a week, where does the time go! I've been exploring textural techniques and working on my oil painting for most of the week. I've not progressed very far with Marilyn, maybe tomorrow. I've had some really positive feedback from my Cricket caricatures, lots of talk about orders but nothing more concrete yet. I'll just have to keep plodding along. I'm trying to maximise my drawing opportunities and hone my watercolour skills. As a result spent some time restoring a box I got from a car boot sale for £1 on Saturday. It's designed for oil paints and was full of some very ancient paints and is bigger than I wanted but will do until I can find a better one.

This is a quick sketch I did on Wednesday night. I don't know who she is, the picture was an advert.

OFFICIAL ADIDAS AC MILAN NUMBER & NAMES IN STOCK

Now in stock are the official adidas AC Milan names and numbers, both home and away, as worn by the Serie A team for the 2008/09 season. The names and numbers currently available are:

Maldini 3 - Home
Ronaldinho 80 - Away
Kaka 22 - Away
Pirlo 21 - Home
Pirlo 21 - Away
Gattuso 8 -Home

NEW LAZIO JERSEY AND AS MONACO JERSEY FROM PUMA IN STOCK

Just arrived this week are the new official Lazio home jersey and AS Monaco Jersey from Puma for the 2008/09 Season.

NEW DIADORA MAXIMUS II & BRASIL GOLD MD PU ARRIVALS

New soccer footwear from Diadora has arrived at North America Sports. Adult sizes now available in the Diadora Maximus II RTX 14 in colors black with yellow, white with black and white with red.

Also available are the Diadora Brasil Gold MD PU as worn by Francesco Totti & Pippo Inzaghi. Colors available are white with gold and black with gold.

Marilyn Monroe

I've spent today's practice sessions working on Marilyn Monroe. Today's image was a quick sketch of a young Marilyn without the high gloss polish she developed later on. I felt like doing a black and white picture for a change. I did 2 larger A3 pictures, the first made her look more like Kylie Minogue (Note to self, must have a go at Kylie sometime) I'd started to paint it before I'd decided to start again. The second picture is a better likeness, I've got as far as inking in and will start painting tomorrow.

I've uploaded an image for sale on ebay. Now I've sorted the process out it shouldn't take too long next time. I've just got to decide which images people will want to buy. Or create some...

Cricket Caricatures

Here are the pictures as promised. I'm really pleased with them, I think they mark a significant step towards the professional finish I've been aiming for. They are both Watercolours, so aren't as vibrant or Smooth as the marker pens. I've photographed them through the cellophane which has given an interesting effect in places!

Jennifer Anniston

I finished the commission yesterday. Two A3 watercolours of retiring members of a cricket club. I'll be able to post them tomorrow, as they're being presented at a cricket dinner tonight, possibly even as I write. I finished them on Thursday and they were handed over yesterday, client was happy and I got paid, so I was.

I spent most of yesterday trying to sort out how to put images in a database of my artwork, still no success so feeling VERY frustrated. If anyone reading this can offer any advise, it would be appreciated? I'm using Open Office but I think I need to upgrade as I could write the tables and forms but not edit them once they were saved, and I still can't get the individual pictures into the files, just the same one on ALL of them.

Today has been much better, I returned to the celebrity marker pen caricatures. Here is Jennifer Anniston in a stretch limo.

NEW ADIDAS AC MILAN & LIVERPOOL THERMAL STADIUM JACKETS 2008/09

New Adidas Thermal Stadium Jackets for Liverpool and AC Milan for the 2008/09 season have arrived. Adult sizes available Small, Medium, Large & XLarge for the official adidas bench jackets.

Progress report

The commission is going well, although finding time to do any of it over the weekend has been a nightmare. Also the children keep having appointments during my "child free" time which has been cramping my style. I've completed one of the pictures and I am at the colouring stage of the second one. Hooray, I'm past the inking in stage! I hate that part because it's when it can all go horribly wrong.

ADIDAS LIVERPOOL & CHELSEA KIT VIDEOS!

Liverpool and Chelsea have new kit from Adidas for 2008/09. Here's the player's take on the new equipment...

The new kits are available now by Adidas Canada at North America Sports, from the official jerseys in short and long sleeve with official numbering and lettering to bench thermal jackets that the subs wear!

MORE NEW OFFICIAL CLUB GEAR ARRIVALS FROM ADIDAS

We've received more new official licensed jerseys today from Adidas. New items now in stock include:

Liverpool FC Away Jerseys Short Sleeve

Liverpool FC Home Youth Jerseys Short Sleeve

AC Milan Home Jerseys Short Sleeve

AC Milan Home Youth Jerseys Short Sleeve

Variety of Adult sizes in Small, Medium, Large & XLarge and Youth Medium, Large and Xlarges available.

Cristiano Ronaldo:"I have changed football"

Cristiano Ronaldo wins the “Golden Boot” award

Cristiano Ronaldo accepted the European Golden Boot award at a ceremonial in his hometown Madeira for the top scorer of the European leagues during the 2007/2008 season.
Ronaldo's wished to receive the award where he was born as a tribute to his late father Diniz Aveiro.
"With this Golden Boot I have changed football a little. Usually strikers won it and I'm a winger.When I put on the (United) shirt, I give my all. And I'm already in the history of the club," "When I play again the fans will love me again." Cristiano told La Gazzetta dello Sport afterward he received the prize at a ceremonial in his native Madeira.

Cristiano Ronaldo wins the “Golden Boot” award

What Soccer Shoes Should I Wear for Artificial Grass?

With the greater popularity of artificial grass fields across Vancouver, the country and indeed around the world, the biggest soccer brands are beginning to offer specialty articial grass soccer boots for this field condition. Like Turf and Indoor shoes, Articial Grass soccer footwear have a unique sole which assist in providing traction and comfort for the specific conditions that arise with this type of field. The sole for artificial grass soccer shoes that are currently available on the market, are bladed, shorter in length than natural grass models, offer a unique circular blade pattern under the balls of the foot and also can have additional material on the tip of the boot for additional wear from the artificial grass.

The following models are available this season as soccer footwear specifically for artificial grass:

Adidas Predator Absolion PowerSwerve TRX AG Firm Ground
Black/Red

Adidas Predator Absolion TRX AG Firm Ground
White Metallic/Indigo/Rave Green

Puma King XL I HG Synthetic Grass Firm Ground

North America Sports will be continuing to post on contemporary soccer retail info like artificial grass soccer shoes so keep posted to our regular updates!

Freddie Mercury

Well, as promised, here is the late great Freddie Mercury. I've gone for an earlier image, I always preferred him with long hair. I still can't make my mind up about the spotlights. Apart from not being round, a matter which will probably result in some tweaking later, and I know how! I'm still not sure whether the sun ray effect is working. I think I'm going to have to sleep on it and review the situation in the morning.

I'm probably not going to be posting much over the next couple of days as I've got a commission! I'm very excited about it, but details will have to wait until I can publish them without ruining the surprise. There is always the possibility, however slim, that one of the potential recipients will see the image before they receive it, and that's not right!

Cristiano Ronaldo Shopping

Cristiano Ronaldo was seen back in Manchester to get some shopping done, with his sister and niece as he recovers from an ankle operation.

Here are pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo shopping in Manchester

NEW ADIDAS CLUBS ARRIVAL & UMBRO MOULDED BOOTS SALE

Here is a list of some new stock from Adidas we got this week, up to today:

Chelsea Home (Youth sizes aswell)
AC Milan Home (Long Sleeve aswell)
Liverpool Home (Long Sleeve aswell)
Benfica Home
Real Madrid Home (Youth sizes aswell)
Real Madrid Training Top
AC Milan Training Top
Chelsea Training Top

In addition, all Umbro Moulded boots (except for the Specialis!) will be put on sale! Call for more info anytime at 604-299-1721.

Ewan McGregor

A quick sketch today, I wasn't so much restricted for time to draw as for access to the picture. I found a lovely picture of Ewan McGregor (I do like a good Scottish accent.) when I was out today but had to leave it behind.

I'm still playing with the oils!!

ADIDAS INDOOR SOCCER SHOES FOR AC MILAN, LIVERPOOL & CHELSEA SUPPORTER

New Adidas indoor soccer shoes have recently arrived in several european club styles, including Chelsea FC, AC Milan and Liverpool. Adult sizes range from size 6 to size 12.

We've recently also received new styles and sizing for indoor soccer shoes for the 2008/ 2009 season.

NIKE MERCURIAL, VAPORS, TOTAL 90 & TIEMPO SOCCER BOOTS IN STOCK

Nike Mercurials, Vapors and Total 90s, along with Tiempos are all in stock in various colors, including some of the latest colors for season 2008/2009.

Jim Carrey

Well this is Jim Carrey. Not my best likeness by a long chalk but quite a pleasing result nonetheless. It has not been a productive few days from the portrait/caricature front. The oil paintings are going quite well, but they're a still life and landscape. I've been playing with ripple effects in oil, as you can see below.

I think I prefer the bottom one. I was intending to work them more but something about the simple rendering of the shapes was quite appealing. These were done about 2 weeks ago but I've only just felt happy about putting them on the scanner bed, oil takes soooooooooo long to dry! Definitely a watery them going on today. I can't say that I consciously planned things that way! Just a process of evolution I suppose.

NEW 2008/09 OFFICIAL CLUB GEAR

New Official European Club merchandise for 2008/09 has been arriving all throughout August and September at North America Sports. Below are just a few of the new items from the jerseys, polos, training tops, track suits, shorts and other official fan gear that European clubs will be wearing this season!

Looking for your club team's 2008/09 gear? Call us at 604-299-1721 for the latest!

Heath Ledger - round 2

Finally got around to another attempt at Heath Ledger. So many things were bugging me about the shading on the last one. Decided to go for the "Night's tale" image, it suits him so well.

Spent some time today sorting out online gallery submissions. I've not put many pictures on them yet but I've signed up with Yessy.com and the Saatchi gallery's "Your gallery" I need to sort out links and get some more work scanned to submit. For "Your gallery" I will need to be more selective as there is a limit on how man y pictures I can submit, fortunately Yessy has unlimited submissions.

Vera Farmiga- again

Here is the completed picture, I'm still not happy with it but it's OK. I've been doing more general artwork recently that I am happy with, so I thought I'd upload a couple of these, might have to do another blog! Naa!

Vera Farmiga

This is an unfinished picture, the hair isn't right yet. It's also still wet so I had to photograph it hence the funny yellow colour. I thought I'd better post something, even if incomplete as I haven't posted since Friday.

I've been experimenting with watercolour techniques, thought I'd take a few risks and chose Vera because I was interested in her face and her blouse.She was on the cover of the Telegraph magazine. I can't say I know who she is.