Tag: Snow Queen

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Diamond Art Club New Releases

When Diamond Art Club approached me a couple of years ago to license my work, I only had a passing acquaintance with diamond art kits. I soon realized, however, that they were the leading company in the world for this exciting and popular creative hobby that’s similar to cross-stitch or paint by numbers.

They’ve previously released my Otter, Smiling Tiger and T-Rex paintings as diamond art kits, and all three sold out quickly upon launch. As these are intricate kits and each requires manufacture, assembly and transport before they’re available to purchase, it takes time to restock them. But over the last year, they’ve done so more than once and they’ve sold out again. As I write this , the Otter is currently available. You can sign up for an email notification on their site when the Smiling Tiger and T-Rex are back in stock.

I’ve heard from several Diamond Art Club customers who’ve told me how much they enjoyed putting the kits together and they’ve asked when more of my work will be available.

As with many licenses, I often know months before launch that a new design is on the horizon. It’s an exercise in patience, because I can’t talk about it until Diamond Art Club makes an official announcement.

I was thrilled to get an email this week from their Licensing Director letting me know I can post that two new paintings are launching for Black Friday. They’re releasing a lot of art this week on their social media pages, so while I don’t know when the second announcement is coming, and can’t spoil their surprise, the first has been revealed.

From their Instagram page…

The Countdown is on! You’ve been eagerly awaiting the scoop, and the wait is finally over—Black Friday is going to be epic with 100 DISCOUNTED NEW DESIGNS just for you!

Circle the date: November 24th, 7:00 am PT | 10:00 am ET.

Diamond Members, you’ve got the VIP pass! Early Access kicks off November 23rd at 9:00 pm PT | 12:00 am ET. Sorry, Ruby Members, this one’s just for the Diamonds.

See your way through a wintry storm with clear blue vision and an inner sense of strength. A thick, shimmering coat of fur notices every twitch in the wind and keeps you warm no matter the temperature.
“Snow Queen” by Patrick LaMontagne available in 19.5″ x 25.8″ (49.6cm x 65.5cm) | Square with 28 Colors including 2 ABs and 1 Fairy Dust Diamond

Also available in 22″ x 29″ (55.8cm x 73.7cm) | Round with 28 Colors including 2 ABs and 1 Fairy Dust Diamond

Keep your eyes on Facebook and Instagram! Every hour from 8 am to 5 pm PT, we’ll unveil a different sneak peek on each platform.

When it’s go-time, head over to www.diamondartclub.com. These beauties are ready to fly into your cart—catch them before they vanish!

Both of this week’s launches are two of my personal favourite paintings, and already bestsellers. If you want to find out more about their Diamond Insider Rewards program, click here.

For my second image they’re releasing this week, you’ll need to follow Diamond Art Club on Facebook and Instagram.

Cheers,
Patrick

EDIT: Here’s the second one, released a couple of days after this initial post.

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Designs, Devices and DecalGirl


DecalGirl has been licensing my work on device cases and decals since 2016. It’s not one of my biggest licenses, but it is a favourite. The quality of their printing is excellent and lasts a long time.

It’s always fun to run into people who have my work on their phones or iPads. The above phones belong to two of my favourite supporters, Sheldon and Tracy, taken during a surprise encounter last year when I spent the afternoon with them at The Calgary Zoo.

Shonna and I have had DecalGirl hybrid cases on our phones for years. We both have the older iPhone 8 Plus; we hang onto tech until it’s dead. They’re solid workhorse phones, so we’re reluctant to replace them. Our Decalgirl Hybrid cases have been on these phones for years and are still in great shape. I’ve also got a beautiful print of my Shark painting on my laptop and a Smiling Tiger decal on my iPad Pro.

When people ask me what I do for a living, a common question in polite conversation, I say, “editorial cartoonist and I paint whimsical wildlife.”

Of course, that leads to more questions because they don’t know what whimsical wildlife means, and it’s hard to describe. So it comes in handy to show them my phone case or iPad decal and say, “stuff like this.”
This month, DecalGirl added two new designs to my available images, the Snow Queen and Hey Bear. These are two of my favourite paintings, so I’m pleased to see them in their gallery. As with most licensing, companies will change out the images now and then, keeping the more popular ones and retiring others. I do the same thing with prints.

There are currently ten of my designs available through DecalGirl. Check them out! Use the SAVE25 code to get 25% off right now!

Cheers,
Patrick

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Snow Queen

After I finished my recent duckling painting, I did what I always do, went through my archive of photos to look for the next project. All the reference photos I’ve taken over the years are organized in folders by animal name, so before I even look at the images, I’ll admit to deciding against an animal simply because I’ve already painted it.

I get tunnel vision sometimes, thinking that this next animal must be one I’ve never painted before. As a result, I’ve occasionally talked myself out of a painting because “I’ve already done that.”

It’s rather silly when you think about it.

There are several animals I’ve painted more than once, and it’s a rare thing that the first one is the best one. Some photographers make their entire careers from taking photos of critters from the same part of the world. So to dismiss an animal simply because they’ve seen it before would be shortsighted.

Had I stopped at the first tiger I painted, I wouldn’t have painted my Smiling Tiger, one of my best-selling pieces. While my first wolf is special to many people, including me, my latest Winter Wolf has surpassed its popularity and has become a personal favourite. It’s part of the reason I wanted to paint this Snow Queen in the same palette.
And finally, the very first whimsical wildlife image I painted was a grizzly bear. I’ve painted more than a dozen since, and it remains my favourite animal to paint. It would have been a shame to decide that I’d done enough of them and never got to Grizzly on Grass, the painting I love the most out of all my work.

So even though I’ve painted a snow leopard before, I wanted to paint another. I painted most of this piece while under the weather last week, and I still enjoyed it. Thankfully, I felt better for the final hours this weekend and truly enjoyed watching her personality show up. I hadn’t planned on it being so obviously feminine, but that’s the magic of this work. A lot of this stuff just happens, and I’m grateful for it.
For those interested in the technical side of things, this file is 30” X 40” at 300ppi, with seven layers and an adjustment layer. I usually only have three layers at the end of a piece, the background, backdrop and subject. For this one, however, I wanted to keep some parts separate in case I have some formatting or colour challenges later with licensing.

The working file was 1.33GB, the largest file I’ve worked on since this computer was built in 2020. However, it handled it beautifully, and I could still jump around and paint fine detail with no performance lag.

Next up, I’m going to paint another burrowing owl to include with a larger piece I started months ago. Having a piece I can keep coming back to with fresh eyes is fun.

Cheers,
Patrick