I took the Christmas weekend to do some “just for me art”, but it’s time to get back to the projects. Speaking of - I’m (very slightly) revising my plans which I’ll post more about soon. But for now, here’s the drawing for the next Bear Portrait painting

Happy Christmas to those who celebrate it 😊

The gAyBearC's: Smells Like Bear Spirit Dec. 2025 | 11 x 11 | Gouache Paints and Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolor Paper A Bearish tribute to the classic cover of Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind".

Finished the painting. Varnishing it tonight and letting it dry. Will scan and post the final tomorrow or Tuesday 😊

Got the drawing down for the next gAyBearCs illustration.

Bear Portrait: Rob Ayotte Dec. 2025 | 11 x 11 | Gouache Paints and Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolor Paper A handsome Bear chilling out, look'n good.

Had a few hiccups in my time to work on this since I started it - but I finished it today. I just varnished it, so it’s currently drying, but I’ll be able to scan and post it tomorrow 😊

Ches Clark purchased this print of my Bear Portrait of Randy Wyatt, on metal and was kind enough to shared some pictures with me - I think it turned out quite nice 😊

The gAyBearCs: Be a Good Bear... Sep 2025 | 7 x 4 | Gouache Paints and Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolor Paper | Purchase A bearish take on the photo of Janet Jackson used for the cover of the Sep. 16 1993 issue of Rolling Stone

The gAyBearCs: Bellied Victory Sep 2025 | 7 x 4 | Gouache Paints and Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolor Paper | Purchase A bearish homage to the classic Greek Sculpture,The Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Something I didn’t realize when I posted the last completed “Bear Portrait” was that it was the 50th painting (and half way point) in the project! To celebrate, I designed the logo for the series that will be used on the book cover and put together this collage.

I updated my website to include a page about my book. It looks better on a desktop than phone, but still, here it is: www.thegeekcanpaint.com/the-secret-w...

So it’s official - the rerelease of my first book is out! There’s more to say about it, but for now if you look up “Return to Deaths Province” or “The Secret War, Book 1” at a book seller - you should be able to find it 😊 Barns & Nobel: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/return-to-... Amazon: a.co/d/8gT9zVh

I actually got really far into this piece last weekend, but got sick and didn’t do much of anything for the week after. Luckily I’m feeling well enough now that I was able to almost finish it this weekend. Tomorrow, I’ll give it a look over, do any final touches it may need and wrap it up!

Smaller piece, with no background, and a simple colour palette… meant getting this piece done in less than a day. Despite all those advantages that helped make it happen, it still felt good to get something done.

There is still more to be said about my book - specifically its release announcement, which I expect I’ll be able to do very soon. But for now, it’s time to move along and get back into my Bear art. Here are the drawings for the next “gAy,Bear,Cs” illustrations and “Bear Portrait”

Unless something goes wrong, the next time I post about the book it will be to announce its official relaunch and where you can get it. For now, here are the final scans of the art with the new title logo added to the front cover. I’m really happy with how this all turned out 😊

The paintings are all done. They’ve been scanned, and are now digital files. I still need to digitally “clean” them, format for printing, and then upload them for publishing. And unless I encounter a technical issue with the upload, that will all be done by next weekend!!!

I posted yesterday about cutting out the portions of some of the paintings I did for the project I’m working on. But before that, I’d forgotten to post the last piece of the primary painting for said project. So, here it is

Welp - that was about the most stressful thing I’ve ever done

Hey @davecobb.com

These aren’t all that much to see right now, but they go with the rest of the project I’ve been working on and will be more significant in time.

15 TV shows to get to know me Buffy/Angel* LOST Six Feet Under Avatar: TLA/ LOK* Voltron TLD New Radio Batman/Superman/JL: TAS Mary Tyler Moore Veronica Mars Animaniacs Clone Wars/Bad Batch/Rebels/ Tales of…* Battlestar Galactic Arcane Demon Slayer Schitt$ Creek *the franchise is counted as one

Posted this on other social media a little while back- forgot to do so here as well 😊

It took longer to get here than I wanted, and like the front cover, there is still more to do - touchups and effects. Before I can do those - I need to do the boarder art for these illustrations next.

I’d planned to do the vignette for the back cover illustration - but I had a rough Monday and Tuesday and I didn’t even get started. So I decided to do the vignettes for what will go on the flaps of the dust jacket of the hard cover version of the book instead. NOW - on to the back cover vignette!

There’s still more to do to it - touchups and a few effects - let alone the border - but colour has been added to what will be the vignette of main characters for the front cover of my book. Next step is the same step for the back cover.

This weekend, my hubby and I had pizza for dinner. Our dog was… very interested in having some too. After I told her no, she planted herself in plain sight, to let me know she was both not interested in me, but should I learn my lesson, she was absolutely ready to have some pizza.

Next step done - the black & white step where I set in some basic value structure on the main clusters of charts. Next step is to add colour!

First section(s) painted. My story is structured kind of like the TV show “Lost”, in that there’s a main story line, but every now and again there’s a flashback sequence. That is what these sections represent.

I finally got all the sketching and designing and layouts in place, and this weekend I began work on the final painting…S for the cover illustrations for the revised/reissue of my first book. There is more to say about it, and I will - but for now, here’s the final drawings.

Bear Portrait: Rick Gray 2 July 2025 | 13 x 18 | Gouache Paints and Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolor Paper | Purchase A sexy Bear relaxing in a kaftan.

About an hour or two of work left and this new Bear Portrait will be done. If all goes well, I’ll get it all finished, sealed, scanned and uploaded online by the end of the day tomorrow.

Drawing down for the next Bear Portrait

The gAyBearCs: Guncle Sam June 2025 | 13x17 | Gouache with Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolour Paper | Purchase An homage to J.M.Flagg's classic 1917 illustration of Uncle Sam - if he were a bear.

I posted the drawing for this some time ago. I haven’t been painting all the time since; I’ve mostly been sketching for a different piece. But I finished said sketching and got to painting this one which only took a few nights. The official scan will be posted soon.

Next gAyBearC illustration drawn. I could use a little public opinion about something before starting to add paint. Do you think I should keep the colour scheme the same as the illustration I’m homaging (red, white & blue) or bring in the colours of the bear pride flag?

Bear Portrait: Reid Baty June 2025 | 17 x 22 | Gouache with Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolour Paper | Purchase A handsome bear with a fabulous beard and mustache.

I need to let this sit for a day and look at it with fresh eyes before I feel comfortable calling it done. But it’s damn close - if there is more work needed, it isn’t much and will be done tomorrow. The final scan will come shortly after.

I’ve teased that I’m working on other art and that something else is coming. And it is. I’m just trying to get to a certain point with it before I go into explaining exactly what. But consider this another tease as I get closer and closer to being able to explain.

Set up and drew the next Bear Portrait 😊

The gAyBearCs: Self-Portrait May 2025 | 17 x 22 | Gouache with Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolour Paper A bearish homage to the classic painting "Triple Self Portrait" by Norman Rockwell.

The drawing sat untouched for a while (I’ve been working on some other art) but I got this long holiday weekend to work on it. I did, and I finished it! I’ll scan and post the final tomorrow 😊

Next gAyBearCs illustration drawn and ready for paint!

Bear Portrait: Rashad Miller April 2025 | 11 x 11 | Gouache with Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolour Paper A handsome, introspective bear.

Newest Bear Portrait is just about done. Final scan will be posted tomorrow.

New Bear Portrait started…

The gAyBearCs: Supermo March 2025 | 13 x 16.25 | Gouache with Ink on HotPress Watercolour Paper The iconic transformation from Clark Kent to Superman, with a bearish twist.

The gAyBearCs: Keithelangelo's David March 2025 | 17.5 x 6.5 | Gouache with Coloured Pencil on HotPress Watercolour Paper A bearish homage to the classic Sculpture by Michelangelo.

And the other half done. Final scans for both this and the previously posted illustration to come