Turtles "Battle Royal"

Well, it seems I find myself with a bit of free time to finally post a couple of pictures of my artwork from this years Hope gallery show, "Heroes & Villains". I chose to do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With this like many other projects, I chose last minute to change my surface up. On this piece I had picked up a few pieces of Balsa wood. About 1/2" thick. I put a couple of thin coats of Gesso on, to seal the wood, and went at em. Unfortunately it wasn't until I started the 4th Turtle (Leonardo), that I though to sand the gessoed surface before painting it. IM thinking that sanding before Gesso, and after gesso, may give me a smoother surface. And while I enjoy the tooth, and texture of the wood. It makes for very poor reproductions. Any true TMNT fans out there may notice the same colored bandanas. I chose to do this after a discussion with Phil (At Hope), where he asked if I was gonna go old school with them. Meaning a red bandana for each. And not the 4 different colored bandanas from the more popular/trendy cartoons. IM old, and liked the Turtles from the get go. So red it is. I also chose to do 2 basic color schemes for the Turtles. 2 in a green, highlighted with a yellow. and the other 2 cut with whites. I thought this would help add a bit of difference between the 4. And as for the nemesis. I strayed away from tradition by not inserting the Foot Clan Ninjas, or the Shredder (as we all know he's dead). And went with my tattoo roots, and used a japanese style dragon. Unfortunately time constraints, deadlines, and work made me neglect getting close ups of Leonardo. The last, and probably most important of the brothers. It also didn't allow me to mount to boys the way I had originally intended. My first idea was to mount them all on a trash can lid. Thinking that to be a great way to display them. But as fortune would have it. The brothers were sold before making it up onto the wall, and I though that perhaps the buyer wouldn't be too keen displaying a trash can lid on the walls of her home. You can see this, and all the other great art hanging at Hope Gallery, or by checking out Hopes Flicker page.