Lately…

New drawing in progress…

latest

The drawing for the “inspired by Music” show at ArtWorks is:  Hide and Seek inspire by the Imogen Heap song of the same name.

…and that’s that.

The “Alternate Worlds” opening happened on Saturday May 9th and tons of people came out and had a good time.  4 pieces sold out of the show thus far (which helps finance the gallery, so thank you!)

It felt good to work again, and It doesn’t make any sense to stop now just because the show is over.    I’ve been working in two new directions:

Sequentials.  These are simply 3 0r 4 paneled “narrative” stories rendered in graphite.  They employ the great comic book trick of utilizing the gutters to indicate the passage of time.  I like the movement they seem to have.  I’d love to do a full fledged comic but it’s just sooooo much work.  I have the utmost respect for comic artists.  Comics are truly a labor of love.

Secrets.  These are pieces that contain a hidden “secret” element.  I’m currently debating whether or not to “tell” what the secrets are.  I love the idea of the “secret” only being known by the purchaser of the piece.  They may like or or they may hate it, they could choose to tell it or keep it for themselves.  Would anyone be willing to purchase a piece of art knowing that it could have a function that they despise? conversely would anyone actually keep the secret, the secret between artist and collector, if the piece does (or contains) something amazing?     I currently have 2 of these working right now, I’m excited about these, we will see what happens…

Alternate Worlds show is open.

The show is now completely hung and is open.  The Feedback has been wildly enthusiastic so far.  People are really excited about what they are seeing!

For the record, I completely destroyed 2 seperate pieces and a third just wasn’t good enough. (I’m not going to even count all the false starts and ideas that sounded good “yesterday”) Despite that,  I’m reasonably content with my contribution, but remain in awe of the other artists in this show.  I have been familiar with Brian Paulsens work for some time and it’s just meticulious amazing work.  After looking at his work people always turn in disbelief muttering something like” I can’t believe that’s watercolor…”  David Holmes work is simply mind boggling and is just as meticulious as Brian’s, but in a much different way. The love for his craft is obvious and captivating.  I haven’t been this inspired by somebodys art in quite a while.  His art makes me want to work on my own, and may change the direction I was heading a bit.  I’m excited to see where it takes me.

less than a week

alright I’m nearly finished with my stuff , and as usual I wish I had an extra 2 months.   The  Alternate Worlds show itself is going to be  amazing:

Here’s the tall watercolor:  “The Repercussions of Blind Faith Falling”

self portrait

The angle of this photo is awful but you get the picture.

I’m always harping on my students (and anyone that will listen) about the importance of self portraits.  I realized recently that I haven’t  actually done one for years.  With the show coming up it seemed like a good opportunity to do one.  So that’s my ugly mug.   The  drawing is inspired by a series of drawings by John Wilde done in the 1940’s.  Those drawings are all graphite on cream/tan colored paper and have handwritten text as a working journal and as a design element.  

Well it’s monday…again

The drawing that I have been working on recently is now complete.  I’ll most likely “punch-up” the darks slap a frame on it and move along. 

 As proof that I have not learned my lesson, the latest drawing is twice as long  (5ft tall)   I am also working on 2 oil paintings

 and a smaller self portrait.  New deadline for the “first half” is March 8th.  That’s doable!  I’ll post some pics soon.

Well it’s Monday…

Here’s the full length

My goal was to have this drawing finished by Sunday, which would be yesterday, if you’re following along at home.   So the “due” date is now THIS Sunday.

Drawing in progress

 

This is graphite on illustration board. It’s not my favorite surface, but since I’m lugging the drawing around with me, I thought it best to play it safe. The way I usually work is that I will have a rough idea in my head and then I just go with it. So there’s no preparatory sketching,  just an idea and a pencil. However, due to the stature of the artists I’m showing with in May, I’ve tightened up. Most of the new pieces have been carefully planned out. This one was started before the “tightening”  We’ll see what happens.

Figuring all this out…

Alright, I figure that it’s time to join the rest of the world.  If anyone would like to comment on any of the stuff here, I’d love to hear what you have to say.

Thanks!