starshines & rainbows...

Here's the point where I am most likely to lose the plot. Because it has gone from a crisp B&W composition to some kind of schizoid clown barf, with little islands of crispness. And because I'm so drawn to and compelled by those islands, I start to loathe the color swirls just a little bit. Even though I love them. Even though I have the power to bring back the crisp with a few swipes of white paint.

Although I don't really feel 'at home' with acrylic paint just yet, I do love the fact that laying down this much paint has used so little paint. I know a lot of painters like to apply acrylic with a shovel, but I'm more a fan of having just enough paint to cover the canvas with the colors I want. Also, this entire painting has been done with red, yellow ocher, green, and white. I am unreasonably amused to be able to make purple and blue out of that combination.

so now there's a liquor store!

It's always so nice at the beginning.

As always, click for bigger.

This is the canvas I've just started a few days ago. It's not going to be B&W, I haven't even started painting yet. It's going to be acrylic paint. I really like the design, though. This is why I filled sketch book after sketch book, for years, with black line drawings, and consumed countless black Sharpies along the way... I'd start something like this, intending to color it in, and then fall in love with the B&W, and not be able to bear adding color. What if I didn't love it?!

Then I learned about photocopying...

This won't photocopy, though. It's 30cm x 150cm.

The First Time Always Sucks

Here's my first go at this, from sketch to trace to wax to plaster model. I'm not even going to bother cleaning up the plaster. The wax isn't what I wanted (size constraint) and the mold making process did not go smoothly--the plaster is weak and crumbly and full of air holes. However, lessons were learned, and I'm hoping more lessons will be learned in the near future. Especially looking forward to the lesson about how this is going to turn out just as awesome as I'd hoped.

Probably going to cast this in resin, in the end. Durable enough, available enough. Has ALL the advantages... :)

Test

biergarten at sunset
Originally uploaded by oferchrissake

Just checking to see if there is a better way.

Dude!

See that thing in the lower/left? I totally want to make that into a belt buckle. Would you wear a belt buckle like that? What if it had glass or semi-precious stone insets where the circles, tear drops and lens-shaped bits are in the drawing?

Proof of Paint 2

I don't like it, exactly, at least not ALL of it, but I believe it gave me a good idea for the next thing. In any case, I'm done picking at it with the paintbrush.

Proof of Paint

Started a new painting today (watercolor). Actually want to do something like this in acrylic, but I was in the watercolor mood. Anyway, here is the beginning. It's probably impossible to see, but this is entirely sketched out. I'm just coloring it in at this point.

Thanks to Regan for asking me for a proof-of-painting photo!

If you wondered at all, I was on vacation the last couple of weeks. Didn't do pretty much anything but read, wander around, and sleep late. It was great. Oh, and I signed up for a Japanese woodblock printing class in early December. Loooking forward to that. Even if the sample print in the catalog looks like crap.

If at first you don't succeed...

... keep making little disasters until you run out of paper/patience. Figured this was better than posting each one of these individually before they go in the bin. There are about 4 square inches of awesome up there. I maybe cut them out and glue them together. The detail on the pic isn't great, even if you click through, but that's OK, they look better that way. Promise.

Progress +

This photo was taken after the 3rd layer of glaze was applied. Will be putting a 4th layer today. Probably ought to start putting in some side/background paint, hey? Too bad about the dark green just left of lower/center. It just doesn't match anything else--not even the smaller bits of the *same* color on the 3 o'clock position. Grrr.

In other news, can anyone explain to me why cheap toilet paper roll tubes should be a thing? It never occurred to me before that the little cardboard tunnel supporting my TP was over-built. WTH??

Success!

On the left is the printing plate-- a sheet of glass with a designed taped to the back side of it, so I know where to make marks. I've colored the design on the top of the glass with watercolor/water soluble crayons. It's faint, because I've already pulled a print from this. On the right is the print that I pulled. More vibrant than the plate, probably 2/3 of the color transferred. There is enough color left on the plate that I can pull one more very faint print without recoloring, or I can add more color and print again at full strength. Or, I can clean the glass and start over entirely.

This is a crap photo of the final print. It's successful because it is more or less exactly what I was trying to do. The coloration is a little weird and uneven, and not just because it's a low light photo. It's actually weird. The whole image could benefit from some additional paint/ink detailing, and I'm experimenting to find out how much of what's on the page is water soluble (ie, I can alter/move it around with just water), and how much is just pigment, which means it's basically part of the paper now, and everything else goes on top.

Also, if you find yourself wondering, What the hell IS monoprinting, anyway? ... Wiki to the rescue!

Monoprinting?

First try. Not bad, considering how poorly the next several turned out. I taped a pattern to a sheet of glass, and painted the design on the other side of the glass in watercolor. I tried to pull the print by placing heavy things on top of it all, with the paper being wet enough, I thought, to suck up the paint, most of which had already dried. This *might* have worked if I'd rubbed the paper with a smooth thing, instead of letting it sit--the paper tore a bit when I peeled it up, because it had adhered to the glass, instead of just taking the paint and running off with it.


This is the 2nd try. The paper was FAR too wet, and the paint was... unwilling. After this, I decided I should probably just go read about how to make watercolor monoprints at home without any print equipment, instead of screwing around wasting a lot of time, energy, paint, and paper. Oh, and enthusiam. For reasons I can't guess, I'm really into this idea right now.


After doing a bunch of reading about how watercolor monoprints can be made, I tried a few of the recommendations. All together. On one plate. As you can see, it made a relatively uniformly unattractive print. Those recommendations were: a thin base layer of hand soap as a release agent, rub the paper by hand for the transfer, use paper designed specifically for watercolor paint. Although totally uncool, it encouraged me anyway. I'm easy, I guess.


A print to give me hope! Water-based pens on the left, water soluble/watercolor crayon on the right. The unevenness of the transfer comes from me using a bone folder tool to rub the transfer over. If you click through to the full size pic, you'll see how that's not a very good way to lay the color down, even if it seemed good at the time. I don't have a brayer, or a rolling pin, or anything. Outsider art, baybee!


This is the first really successful test. The big pink blob is from the paper being a little too wet, but that also was informative. The ghost image at the top is a 2nd pull from the original drawing with easy-wash-out kid's pens. The really vibrant bits of this were added in after I pulled the print, with those same pens. The actual base print was made with watercolor crayons, though.

Matting project continues

Besides being off center, I'm not pleased with this arrangement, I think it probably needs a dark over-mat instead of light. But, whatever, I'll re-do it sometime. As more and more stuff gets matted, the more official things look.

Oily!

After saying the other day that I don't have the skill with oil paint to make this go, I got annoyed and tried to do it in oil paint. Using a glazing technique (many thin layers of paint, instead of a few fat layers), and a tiny, soft brush.

This is after 2 layers of paint. I have NO idea where I'm going with the colors, or what it's supposed to look like when it's done. The asymmetric colors on a tri-symmetric pattern makes my brain really cranky, but it's probably good for me.

Things that makes me cranky are good, right?

Distraction/Documentation

It's always late at night when I remember that I forgot to take pictures of my most recent work/progress. At which time, I *don't* take pictures because with my lack of suitable lighting, it's virtually impossible to get good pics of flat things at night. Therefore, I hereby state my intention to begin each work day (usually M-F, but sometimes a weekend day also/instead) by taking pictures of whatever I worked on the previous day. Even if it sucks. Even if I stared at a blank sheet all damn day. Even if I'm busy.

Your part in this: If you are the type of person who wants to see stuff, and sees me on AIM or something, feel free to nag. Nag me in LJ. Nag me in e-mail. I hope to get this habit fully formed by the end of September, but we'll see, won't we? We all know how habits go...

Because no post here is really complete without a photo, I give you a snap shot of the pair of gentleman's drawers I saw in old town on the sidewalk on Sunday morning. I've noticed that Sunday morning is the prime time to see underwear on the sidewalk in this town. I make a habit of documenting it photographically, in case someday someone wants to give me a book contract chronicling the Sundarpants phenomenon. Unlike SOME people, I'm not so slack as to set up a web page requesting submissions of same, so I can eventually bundle that into a book. Or, I'm actually too slack to do that. It's definitely one or the other.

Another Incomplete

This is the current project. The drawing is good, I will probably use it for multiple versions of the finished piece. I *was* trying to set up something for an oil or acrylic painting, but this is too fine detailed for my oil paint skills, and for some reason I'm a little sour on acrylics right now. So, another watercolor/ink deal. Which is FINE. It just wasn't what I'd intended when I started.


Here is a detail from the ink wash part of this (click it for full size). I'm probably going to start coloring it in today, although I'm not yet 100% what the color scheme will be. Probably something I'll be excited by at the beginning and annoyed with at the end, or the other way 'round...

In progress, which is another way of saying...

... incomplete.

I've been trying to work out how to fill/color this one for over a week now, and it's very frustrating. I haven't found anything totally satisfying yet. This first version is a test of various types of shading, and various types of color (watercolor, pens, colored pencils...) It's not coherent, but it was kind of informative.

I do wish I'd taken a photo of the second version (the one that's got low-key colors and a lot of grey tones) before I started coloring it, because it was all grey tones--I'd inked it with dilute india ink and a paint brush, and where each 'tile' overlapped another, the ink was a tiny bit darker.



It looked nifty, but kind of flat, so I started coloring it. and it's not
bad with this color scheme, but I'm also not satisfied...
so I started adding more tint and shading on top of the color
with a super fine black pen.








After that, I tried a version with all color, and no black or ink. I like that one, but couldn't really decide which color scheme was best, so I tried several.

There were a few other color tests along the way (Blogger only lets me put 5 pictures/post, and the other two weren't all that exciting anyway, so I'm leaving them out.) However! This post might at least be informative for those who think visual art springs fully formed from the brain to the finished product. O! how I wish that were true. It takes so many steps, and so much time, to even begin to approach the realization of the idea.


Before all that, of course, the original pencil version, and an ink tracing to use so the original/design don't get lost or damaged.

Lotus concept sketch

Haven't done anything with this since completing this initial design, but I like it, so I put it up on the wall of designs I like that I haven't done anything with. It's getting kind of crowded over there. In fact, now that I've put this one up, there isn't really any more room on that wall. Guess I need to either do something with some of those designs, or stop making new ones...

New Obsession: Candle Chimnies

The way my brain works, I like to know which objects fit together in the world. I don't know why, exactly, but it is somehow satisfying when a thing fits another thing. I can pick out the right wrench or socket just from looking at the bolt head, and I love assembling things like furniture because the parts fit together just so.

Like many people, our bathroom has some candles in it, and also toilet paper. Toilet paper comes on little cardboard tubes. And one day my Tab A/Slot A, Tab B/Slot B oriented brain decided that tea light candles fit exactly inside toilet paper tubes. I tried it, and sure enough. Just so. Sweet.

Ever since then, it has been bugging me that I should be able to Do Something with that little nugget of information. I figured a TP tube would make a good candle chimney, except for that pesky 'fire + paper = bad' business. And most of the ways I could think of to fireproof a cardboard tube weren't very conducive to decorative quality (since I tend to favor delicate filigree styles).

I decided plaster might be a good way to go, but plaster tends to saturate the tube because the process of setting plaster is very efficient at making water go away. For this same reason, the plaster tends to fall off, because it becomes rigid long before the water comes back out of the cardboard, so there is no longer a stable support structure for the thing plaster. Been trying to work this out for a while now, how to preserve the structural integrity, the design options, and the not-burning-down-the-house.

Last weekend, I knocked over a full glass of wine, and it sprayed all over the wall, because our glasses are optimally designed for liquid launching. Annnnnyway: this necessitates a fresh coat of whitewash on the wall, and then the lightbulb went on. Whitewash is slaked lime, which is to say, plaster that has already absorbed all the water it is going to, and when the water that keeps it fluid evaporates, it will be just as sturdy as plaster, but without soaking the cardboard.

Yay!

What you see here is my very first attempt at this method of making the thing I want to make, and it gives me a lot of hope that this is a worthwhile effort. I have delusions of making these things regularly ('cause, you know, we get re-supplied with empty TP rolls pretty regularly), and selling them online or at the flea market. The materials are cheap, the production will be easy, and the designs can be pretty much endlessly varied. And if I can sell these, I can maybe fund some of my other activities. Which would be awesome. Also, since they won't exactly be heirloom quality objects, I should be able to sell them for cheap, which everyone loves. Cheap, fancy things. I am pretty sure I can paint them and otherwise ornament them, as well.

Blame Your Friends, Part 2

This is the final result of the input from Joc, combined with something Leesa mentioned (her instructor being fond of masking fluid). I probably need to find a way to put masking fluid more precisely, but this isn't bad at all. At least, not to my taste.

Blame Your Friends, Part 1

This is a sketch I did after Maia Joc* said my last finished piece looked a bit like a sacred lotus. This one is more lotus-y, and also more insectoid, somehow. Go figure.

I spent hours on this drawing, and then decided I wasn't happy with it, and had a small, but very satisfying revelation: I could just start over! This isn't news, exactly, but it is the kind of thing I have to re-know every once in a while. Anyway, it led to the next piece...

* sorry, both of you. I'll find something to blame on Maia eventually.

These aren't new, but...

These 5 paintings aren't new, but I just framed them last night. Framing them has revealed to me that I will be painting at least 2, and probably 3 new components for this set, because what's there either doesn't fit, or doesn't please me. That's just how it goes, I guess.

I've been stalling on framing these for 3 or 4 months, probably because I already knew I wasn't going to be happy, and didn't want to deal with it. Guess it's time to own up and finish it.

In which I spam you again.

First, 3 pages from my sketchbook:

Take 2.

Artist Betsabeé Romero carves tires (among other auto-related art and installations). Some of the tires get inked and leave a pattern print, which is very, very nifty. Do a Google image search on her name--that's what the last link was, but it expired or something. Her actual web site seems to be out of commission at the moment; I'm guessing this picture or others like it are what brought it down. A-frickin'-mazing stuff.

Just go see it.

Betsabee Romero

Just finished...

Just sprayed sealer on this. it's not bad, but it's not 100% what I wanted, either. The good news is, I think I know how to get what I wanted. Had a thought about that just as I was putting the last touches on this.

In case you were wondering, I'm pretty sure both the painting and the photograph are a little tilted, but when I mat this, I should be able to (mostly) correct that. I guess I'll find out...

If you have not done so...

You probably need to watch this. It is 26 minutes, but worth every second.

Until That Day, I Make My Home Down Here

Until That Day, I Make My Home Down Here
Originally uploaded by Patrick Gannon

Patrick Gannon continuing to make with the holycrapawesome. I highly recommend you browse his Flickr stream if you're just in it for the visuals. His web site has a lot more to it than that.

More Kickassery: Patrick Gannon

Making art and illustration from cut up bits of paper... sweet. You'll have to browse around Gannon's website a bit to get the full effect, but I find it to be both charming and delightful.

Patrick Gannon - cut paper art and illustration

Serendipitous Glimpses

Maybe this falls in the category of shoe-gazing, perhaps literally, but I love making pictures of little things I see on the ground when I'm out and about. They are invariably tiny details of the life of the sidewalk, but they please me a great deal.

Dunno if they are Art, except in the sense that they are capable of bringing to visibility that which only a few people ever apprehend directly.

This makes me very wanty.

Not because I actually want a knife of this kind, but because I crave this level of awesomeness.

Once Again, In Lieu of Content...

I give you a link to something awesome:

Some incredible woodworking, including a ukelele that has a pictorial guide to the mustaches of the world.

Someday, I hope to start posting my own stuff here again. Someday soon!

Dan Hillier

Here is a great example of the kind of visual art I like. It's got class, style, absurdity, and tentacles. Also, it is ink and engravings, which is hard to beat, in my book.

Check it out, yo: http://www.danhillier.com

Lost in the Dark

This week, my computer hard drive moved and did not leave a forwarding address. In the timeless wisdom of an idiot, I failed to make back up copies of almost anything from the last six months. This includes a fair amount of art, both original and reproduction. It is at times like this that I am glad I have made a habit, however sloppy and inconsistent, of posting my photos to the internet. Blogging may be one of the forms of poor mental hygiene, but at least it has a high Preserved For Posterity factor.

Go see Simon Schubert

Because the embossed paper architecture studies RULE!!

Seriously, check it out.

Go see Simon Schubert

Because the embossed paper architecture RULES!!

Seriously, check it out.

Two Heads and a Clown

At least, I think it's a clown. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking when I drew this. Just having a little sketchfest, I guess.

Another unfinished painting

The larger, pink, swirly painting is unfinished. It needs more contrast. More.... red. Mostly. I think. I'll paint on it more when I know what.

This is closer to what I was trying to get with the blue one, but it's still not right. And I'm still not totally sure why. Also, I painted it two weeks ago, which means that I'm actually moving farther from my target. Whee.

The other painting is just to demonstrate that I've become that kind of artistic bum who piles things up any which way. (When I say "become" it makes it sound like I was not already a bum. Please go along with this, my mom might be reading.)

just a doodle

Just screwing around with ink & watercolor, washes, fills, silhouettes, etc. Quite like some of it, haven't figured out where/how to use it.

2/5

I'm less fond of this one. Well. I like the composition. Not happy with the green sphere. The yellow one isn't bad, although it didn't photograph as well as I would have liked.

I guess if I want better photos I'll have to use lights and a tripod and all that tedious crap...

Part 1 of 5

I'm working on a 5 panels series, this is the first one I finished. I'm fond of it.

Looks better in person...

... but still isn't GOOD. I don't know for sure what effect I'm trying to get, but I keep not getting it, so I keep trying again and again. It's a little frustrating, and my house is filling up with a wide variety of similar and similarly unsatisfying paintings... but I'm hoping someday I'll actually find what I'm after.

sweet swirl action

Painted this in acrylic a few days ago. It's not great, it's barely composed... but I like it anyway.

When I get too much into the subtle shading, I start feeling like Rothko, but then I put some real color into it and can go on living. Anyway, it was an experiment. I didn't like it.

That's right, it's time...

Time for one of my mass-uploads of recent stuff. Yeah, it'd obviously be just WAY too much effort to put them whenever I have put them up on the wall. Worse than calling the book-ordering place.

Out of spite, I'm beginning with a hand-written list entitled: A Partial Catalog of Things That Are Not Funny. Everything else will be images, though.

Right Brain Took The Day Off

I have noticed that it is VERY difficult for me to have days which are productive for both art, and not-art.

For instance, on days where I'm getting art done, cleaning the toilet is a Herculean task, requiring a stunning amount of planning, fortitude, and recovery time. I can paint, draw, cut glass, design a dozen new projects, and cut mats for 4 pieces... but somehow taking the trash out is as feasible as a 3 minute mile.

On the other hand, on days when I'm not getting art done, I can do the shopping, clean the apartment (toilet included!), make the cat food, get some exercise, cook something for us peeps, do the filing, answer that letter from my grandmother, and read the newspaper... all in less time than it takes me to figure out which pencil I want to use with my sketchbook.

Why must the 2 halves of my brain be on a time share?? I'd have thought this would all be easier. I have a natural tendency toward ambidexterity, and often don't know right away which hand I want to hold an object or utensil with. I have to think about it. Is there some way to think about things so I can get the other side of my brain into gear?

n.b.: I will be posting some pictures later today, or possibly tomorrow. I've spent lots of time on art since my last picture post, just more in the "technique development" aspect, and less in the "resolved execution of a design" side of things.