First, pictures of my new sketchbook! I made this over the weekend. It took me longer than it probably should have, considering how complicated it isn't, but it's been a while since I made a book. Also, I didn't have the right glue, and had to do some dodgey substituting, and then also spray the covers in waterproofing stuff. .... don't ask.

The front cover.

The back cover. The covers are made with a fabric scrap I bought in the Ikea clearance room a long time ago. I bought it with no particular purpose in mind, but knew I would find something eventually. And, so I have. Vindication!

Laying open. Because it's a coptic binding, it opens pretty much totally flat, which is nice. The crease in the standard hardcover sketchbook is problematic. I'd been buying spiral bound for a while, but I don't really love them, they are just a compromise between not opening all the way, and using plain old loose leaves of paper. Which I might do next time.

Here's a shot of the spine, in case you were wondering what coptic binding means in practice. Each signature (group of pages) is stitched from the inside to the outside, connecting to the signatures that come before and after it. The first and last signatures are attached directly to the cover boards. It provides exceptional flexibility of the spine, and can also be used for a book of almost any thickness.

This picture shows the inside of the back coverboard, and some of my drafting tools. Not that you really needed to know about that, I just liked the shot.


I know it's been a while since I posted the current work in progress, and technically I am not really doing that now. HOWEVER! Here is a picture of my workspace as it sits right at the moment. The panels along the back are the pieces of a custom crate, the center of the desk has a belt buckle design I am finalizing with hopes of begining the actual piece today, and the rack on the right has a bunch of work on paper that needs to be matted, imaged for the portfolio, and filed. Also, some Sequential Tart review materials are there, and my new sketchbook that I made over the weekend.

All the little containers are writing implements, tools, etc. The pink things on the top / left are tape dispensers, which I have needed for a long time. (Yes, it IS "the little things" that make happy happen.)

Little file cabinet is full of more tools / utensils, paints, inks, etc. Trash can on the left, and the cubbies on the desk supports are full of random crap that I need without warning ... but then set aside without warning. It's a functional system, don't judge!

Chair is a swiveling kneeling desk chair. It's not super duper comfortable, but it does save my back and hips. And shoulders and neck. Also, it's really good for keeping my herniated cervical disk from pinching the nerve in my right hand. So ... comfort isn't always immediate gratification.

Neato Graphic Artist!

Although I picked something else to preview for you here, I found this guy's portrait work to be awefully intense. I love it. I'm not a big fan of portraiture, but in this case, I'll allow it.
More drawings... on the Behance Network

fisheyed

fisheyed
Originally uploaded by Id Marks

This picture shows two things...

1, that I took down a bunch of 2 year old designs and replaced them with some matted art, both mine and M. Ferner's.

2, my camera's fisheye lens is nice in many situations, but for taking good pictures of artwork, it is problematic.

I finally posted my first piece to Etsy to sell. It's the one you see pictured here. If you click the Etsy link to the left, under See Me On ... it will take you to my shop, which so far has only this one posting.

But! I would be very open to suggestions. Let me know if you have ideas for improving this (or any) item I list.

Work in Progress

wip220211
Originally uploaded by Id Marks

There are several pieces in the works right now, nothing finished yet. That notion of getting something done every day? Not happening. Not because I don't work every day, but because I tend to parallel process, so I'll have a bunch under way and nothing finished for ages, and then a bunch finishing up all at once.

Click through to Flickr to see more works in progress.

Also, check out Mary Golay, whose color techniques for Art Nouveau illustrations are amazing.

Thar she blows ...

shell marker 1
Originally uploaded by Id Marks

Here's the other bookmark that was scratching to get out. Cut by hand, needs clean up in a big way! And, I need better saw blades.

As usual, click through to Flickr for full size, and another view.

New bookmark today!

Here's one for you cephalopod fans ...

The major cuts on this were done on the scroll saw, and the interior / fine cuts were done with the hand saw. Definite good marks for speed and a clean edge. The drawback to using the scroller for this is that it uses the middle inch of a 6" blade -only- leaving most of the teeth totally unused by the time the blade is worn down to the point where I can't use it on the scroll saw anymore. I did not try using that blade in the hand saw afterward, mostly because I have a good sense of what happens when you have a blade that's sharp at both ends and dull in the middle.

Hint: It's not something good!

In an act of optimism, I am leaving my set-up set up so that when I get back from running errands, I can get right back to it. There is another design in my sketchbook waiting to be released into the world! I am really looking forward to that beautiful day in the future when my obsessions get rooms of their own, and I don't have to put away my toys if I want to eat dinner.

Groundhog's Day Again

That was a little joke, y'see.

Here's today's project, another prototype bookmark. Spent a lot of time doing sketches, and this is just one of the ideas I scratched out. It was easier than yesterday's, and perhaps easier than tomorrow's. I am particularly pleased with how much this one matches the sketch.



Again, a prototype. A few technical details stand between me and a finished piece, not least the question of how to harden the metal. I find myself actually wondering if I can use a stand mixer in place of a polishing tumbler.

More pictures in Flickr, just click through the pic from here.

back in the saddle

I have a provisional goal of doing one small project every day. I accept that this won't happen every day, but it's nice to get to the end of a day and have a Finished Thing to show for it. This is today's Thing -- a bookmark. This is made from copper, and not super-high-polish finished. It's a relatively crude prototype for the next project of the day. Tomorrow, I'll probably go in copper again. Eventually, when I'm happy with the prototypes, I'll move on to silver.

If you're interested to see some COOL metal bookmarks, try here.

New Year / New Blog

Hi there! I know it's been pretty quiet around here. Too quiet! There are some changes coming. I would say soon, but soon is relative. Here are the highlights.

• I'm opening two Etsy shops. One for 'fine art' — paintings, sculptures, prints, etc., and one for functional and silly items. This is taking some time, but I hope when I get it all up and running, it'll be easy for folks who are interested to browse & buy stuff I've made.
• I'm re-doing this blog. Can't say too much about it yet, because I just don't know the details yet, but as soon as I know, I'll post it here, and then you'll know.
• Metal work!! I have my tools and some supplies to get going with, so I'm very excited to say I'm getting back to my true love.
• Printmaking!! I'm ready to start experimenting with this. This goes nicely with some of the metalworking I plan to do.
  
• Other! It's going to be a busy year. I'm really excited about this. I've got cold glass work planned, custom-printed materials such as textiles and stationery goods, and a couple of guerrilla art maneuvers in the world. Oh, and maybe something that will lead to a book.
  

I realize that's a lot more exclamation points than I normally indulge in, but what can I say? That was a really good cup of coffee!!!! I mean, there's a lot going on. First, however, there is some administrative stuff to address. Because setting up an online store and a new blog isn't all about firing up the torch, sawing on stuff, or breaking out the paints. It's mostly about filling in the blanks, uploading the pictures, and double checking all the squinty little details.

For now, I'm going to leave you with this picture of the sun, moments after emerging from an eclipse, and a vague promise to post again just as soon as I can.

I *think* that's finished.

Pretty sure this is done? Haven't sealed it yet, haven't matted it yet. Want to be sure. It's like they say... takes two to make a painting. One to paint it, one to shoot the sumbitch so she'll put the brush down when it's time to stop...

A detail that has been tough to capture in the photo is that the background are off-white silver stripes against the white-white paper. It's much easier to see in the previous post, with the detail shot, but the colors and saturation are pretty whacky with that one.

I'm very pleased with this. It was fun, and although it took about 3x as long as I expected, it is also about 3x cooler than I thought it would be, when I started it. Also, it's plain that all those people who told me I should go into print making were right.

PS, this picture is on the small side, the actual painting is about 6"x20". I'll post a bigger one tomorrow with mo' betta' details, but for tonight, I'm much, much too tired to keep messing with this.

workin' on it

workin' on it
Originally uploaded by Id Marks

workin' on it

Among a few other things, here's a little snippet from a watercolor composition I'm working. The watercolor part is done, I'm just inking in details now. It's time consuming, but enjoyable. It's always nice to see the piece come together, but there's a sense of being outside the magic, almost as if I'm simply witnessing something the materials were going to do on their own.

Reminds me of a few lines from Mos Def's CHAMPION REQUIEM (from The New Danger, 2004) -

If you see or hear goodness from me
Then that goodness is from The Creator
You should be thankful to The Creator for all of that
'Cause I'm not the architect of that
I'm only the...the recipient
If you see weakness or shortcoming in me
It's from my own weakness or shortcoming
And I ask The Creator and the people to forgive me for that

Old Dog / New Tricks

Took a two evening advanced course in acrylic abstract painting, with emphasis on landscape rendering. I went with a water theme, probably because I'd been listening to The Odyssey audio book all afternoon...

Although that style of painting does not especially interest me, the techniques presented did, and the instructor did a fine job of explaining them.

My canvas was, sadly, too small to try them all out at once, as most of them rely on allowing thin layers of paint dry between applications. Obviously this is tough with a small canvas! You can only get so far away from what you've just painted. Everyone else in the class was working with one or more canvasses in the 2'x3' size range, for the most part.

Here is the canvas I painted during class. Currently I have a couple of watercolors in progress, but when I have finished those, I am going to start some acrylic paintings. It seems that having a couple of canvasses going simultaneously is the cure for waiting, and I love trying new stuff. I did come out of the classes feeling pretty inspired to try these techniques, and full of ideas about how to put them to good use.

I admit it was hard not to giggle when several of the other course participants extended sincere sympathy to me, as an apparently obvious total beginner to painting. I took the small canvas (about a foot square) because I've not been feeling well lately, and didn't have a lot of energy for a large painting -- and I *hate* unfinished paintings. Also, carrying it to class and back home in the freezing damn cold on foot kinda sucks. $5 says everyone else in the class came in a car. Since I'd been doing watercolors during the day both days, I ended up painting the acrylic left-handed to give my right a break. Didn't really get into any of that with the other people in the class, though. I was just happy to be there.

There is a summer course, 3 days somewhere north of here, that I will probably sign up for, if I can work out transportation, and get registered before all the spots fill. It does look like fun.

Waiting Rooms, Pt 2

Dr. Brain's waiting rooms, Thursday afternoon, (outer and inner, 75 minutes combined)


Not composed, just freestyling.







Dr. Brain wasn't terribly interested.

Dr. F's waiting room, Friday morning. 90 minutes.








Dr. F liked it very much.


The resulting watercolor painting, Friday afternoon / evening, at home.








The cats stayed close the whole time I was working on it, but weren't impressed at all.

Zazzle Sale...

Edit: Friggin´time zones. Apparently Zazzle.com is on Pacific time. 9 a.m. rolled around here, and their deal changed to Posters / Calenders. 60% off is nice (super, even!) but doesn´t help with the cost of mugs. On the bright side, if you ordered 2 mugs, they now ship for free...? Ahh, well. Sorry. I was so excited, too.

Zazzle is doing sales on some things right now - mousepads and mugs, 35% off, with free shipping over $35, is the one that caught my eye. I'm adding a couple to the line up and hoping they show up fast, 'cause the deal is only today (Tuesday, 8 December 2010). I realize sales like this are an obnoxious high-pressure sales tactic.

On the other hand! Mugs like this are wicked cool! That sucker changes color*. Dude. It‘s black when it´s cold, and then when you put a hot beverage in it, the design is revealed. I want one, and will probably order one, because this sale is way better than the seller discount. (My margin on these is 10%, this sale is 35%...)

Also, I realized it´d been ages since I added anything to the Zazzle store. It is fun, and whenever I get enough credit from selling stuff, I think I will have custom postage stamps made and send them to my grandmother as her Christmas gift.

Here is a fancy link to the whole shop. It is a little busy for my taste, but I guess it´s what the young people like?

make custom gifts at Zazzle

As always — should you order a thing I designed, I am very grateful. Obviously it isn´t making me rich, or famous, or good looking. But it makes me happy, which is pretty damn cool.

And, no, I don´t want to talk about the apostrophes. Thanks for bringing that up, though... :/

* color change mugs being a well known and long standing object of appreciation for me.

Time Well Spent

I've been in a lot of waiting rooms lately. I've come to love the sound of someone's eyeball creeping off a back issue of Waiting Room Quarterly and onto my paper.

*creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

What it looks like...

... not to sell art at the flea market. It's easy to think the display might've been a problem, but I assure you, that was not the difficulty. Most sellers seemed to simply have brought some stuff in a laundry basket and overturned it when they arrived at the flea market. The difficulty was, most of the people who were at the market looking for stuff were looking for specific things, and I don't think any of them were there looking for watercolor paintings. Most of those people were probably waiting for the Christmas market to open down in old town.

Wrong venue. Live and learn.

Look Over There ---->

I've added a link over on the right side, that will take you to a slide show of available works. I will post a notice here whenever new items are added to it. It's a very simply Flickr slide show, should play for anyone. However, if you have trouble loading it, just click in the middle of the screen that comes up, and it should take you to the normal Flickr set of available art. Same pictures, no slide show.

Go See The Slide Show on Flickr!

WC11
Originally uploaded by Id Marks

With details, even. Yay!

To see the show - click on THIS picture, which will take you to the Flickr set for these things, and if you click on the first picture THERE, it brings up a nice screen where you can keep clicking next and seeing it all right there.

Let me know if you have questions or comments or are desirous of some art.

Also — I'll make a thing just for you. No need to buy stuff off the shelf. Talk to me.

Art Sale (finally)

I am going to be taking nearly four years of watercolor and ink paintings to the flea market and try to sell them to holiday gift-hungry strangers in the weekends between now and the end of December. However! If YOU are interested in any acquiring of my art for yourself or someone you know, now's a good time, because I'm in the mood to get it out of the house.

Everything on paper is matted by me (so, not professionally, although I do have a proper mat board cutter and the skills to make it go), and the dimensions can be / will be provided. As far as I know, everything I'm taking has already been posted in the art blog, but I'm going to try to put up a slide show of the work I'm taking to sell, so it can be seen in its fancy, matted, ready-to-frame glory. For the record -- the pictures of the art won't be amazing because my camera isn't a "real" camera, it's a point and shoot with a fixed lens, so everything looks a little curved in the middle. Maybe if I sell ALL the paintings, I can buy a grown-up camera!

Oh, to be clear -- these are all original works. There are no copies, no prints, no clever forgeries. One of a kind only.