this is a piece i finished that was once part of my queue when i quit doing this. i did it as a part of my PT and thankfully the client is happy despite the many issues with it.
it is a redo of the arms i designed for them before. the client is of German, Polish, French and Volga-German ancestry. he is also an outdoorsman and his family is an old farming family along with other German farmers on our eastern plains of Colorado. the mantling is the same design i did for one of my uncles. i just liked the mantling style that much to do it again. figured since it was my design…not really cheating…maybe it is. oh well.
i tried to do it in a ‘Germanic’ manner. i used Carl-Alexander von Volbroth as my source of inspiration. i hope the piece honors him as he and Mr. Anthony Wood are the two largest influences i had with their books and works in addition to Andy, Ronny and Mr. Foppoli with their emblazons i would stare at and try to imitate…poorly as we all know…when attempting my hand at this heraldry stuff from the get go. CAvV is basically someone i really, really looked up to when it came to heraldry…be it for information or his artistic style, which i love. it is the same with Mr. Wood, but in this particular piece’s case i was going for a Germanic feel, so i chose to try and imitate CAvV and pay homage at the same time.
anyway, this does not mean i am back in the business of emblazoning. i’m just using this all for PT per the advice of my physical therapist and as a way of cleaning up my heraldic queue that i felt horrible i could not complete when the tremors became too much.
this piece took me almost 6 days to complete, which is about 4 or 5 days longer than it used to take doing one of these.
http://www.americanheraldry.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=94&pictureid=1589
p.s. please excuse the shadow of me in the pic. i used a camera phone and i did not have time to go back and correct it with proper lighting for a photo.
Well for the "many issues", it sure looks excellent to me. I suppose the issues never stand out more than to the artist himself.
And Denny is typically too hard on himself - even more so than most artists…
kind of you both. but, look closely at the lines, especially with the antlers and you’ll see where i’d lose control of the instruments i was using.
Again, Denny - If I have to "look closely" to find fault - You’re doing good - give yourself a bit of a break.
Denny,
It’s nice to see a fresh work of art from you again. I hope your p.t. is successful and you are able to again pick up pen and brush without problem.
I really admire your work!
—Guy
Coach I know you see imperfections all over the piece but I don’t. This is a wonderful emblazonment. I’d be honored to have that hanging on my wall.
Kathy McClurg;90485 wrote:
Again, Denny - If I have to "look closely" to find fault - You’re doing good - give yourself a bit of a break.
Wise words! Coach, you need to lighten up on Denny. 
Denny,
If you lost control of your line in the antlers, it only had the effect of making them look natural and spontaneous. I think this is the best thing you’ve done, at least that I’ve seen.
As for the shadow—until I saw your explanation I thought you’d created the effect of a sky with clouds as your background.
An enviable rendering!
Joseph McMillan;90496 wrote:
Denny,
If you lost control of your line in the antlers, it only had the effect of making them look natural and spontaneous. I think this is the best thing you’ve done, at least that I’ve seen.
As for the shadow—until I saw your explanation I thought you’d created the effect of a sky with clouds as your background.
Seconded.
My father—a carpenter, furniture maker, and general artist—told me years ago that when it comes to creating art, that imperfections make art unique and add character. Sometimes the make pleasant surprises.
He also told me that if people question your work, just say something like, "It signifies the internal struggle that is the human condition." Most will just nod and say, " Oh I get it"
Kathy McClurg;90485 wrote:
Again, Denny - If I have to "look closely" to find fault - You’re doing good - give yourself a bit of a break.
Well said milady!
Dennis, first of all I’m glad to see you painting again because some posts not so long time ago were rather on a sad tune.So, congratulations for overcoming your fears 
My favorite part is the cap in crest with antlers .
Joseph McMillan;90496 wrote:
Denny,
If you lost control of your line in the antlers, it only had the effect of making them look natural and spontaneous. I think this is the best thing you’ve done, at least that I’ve seen.
As for the shadow—until I saw your explanation I thought you’d created the effect of a sky with clouds as your background.
Thanks Joe. First, that is an excellent idea! Using clouds and sky as a backdrop for a piece is brilliant. I’ve never used it before. Maybe others have, but I haven’t. Just a great idea.
I would prefer the natural spontaneous look, mtself, like I did in Brian Jeffs piece a couple years or so ago where the antlers are like in real life and not symetrical. But, when I reviewed some of the Germanic pieces that CAvV has in his books I noticed they seem to be symetrical, so I was trying to make them symetrical here to go along with the ‘Germanic’ feel I wanted to give them. Perhaps I’ve not seen enough Germanic arms, or even emblazons by CAvV, but synetry was my impression of their usage there.
Overall I believe they’re symetrical, but it’s the flaws in the lines that bother me to no end. And that is all I can see when I look at these pieces. Granted now that the ‘carbidopalevadopa’ or whatever that weird name is is working in controling my tremors and the PT is also helping (although I do not much care for the PT…harder than my old coaches including Coach Mitchell who was a former Marine Drill Instructor and often treated us like what you’d see in the movies they do, well, maybe not as hard as him, but very close) it’s working enough to make this even possible, so I am happy I can do this again although not as much as I used to before. Just not happy with how long it takes, nor the final result with the squiggly (sp?) lines that are hard to see here but are clear as day in the real life ones.
But thanks Joe and thank you everyone. All kind words and I appreciate it. But, these are not as good as they used to be in terms of striaght lines. But, at least I am able to dabble in it from time to time. At least until my body gets used to the meds and the meds stop working, which the neurologist said to expect (this is a temporary fix, a band-aid, she said).
Aquilo;90525 wrote:
Dennis, first of all I’m glad to see you painting again because some posts not so long time ago were rather on a sad tune.So, congratulations for overcoming your fears
My favorite part is the cap in crest with antlers .
AGREED! I love the cap & antlers too!
—Guy
Denny, most of us would rejoice if our best work was as good as what you see as your worst. Most of your PT has to be a pain—don’t lose the joy of your artwork.
As for "Germanic" style—von Volborth’s work, while top-notch, is his style; there are others, both older & current, which are much less obsessively symmetrical and more free-flowing, even cartoonish—remember when that was your forte? I don’t have the URL’s handy, but some of the older german or Swiss rolls are really nice expressions of German heraldry in a simpler, freer style.