I plan to start working on a second faerie painting fairly soon, but here's what's underway at the moment: JunkBot01. The picture at left is a peek into the studio. It's become moderately filled with all sorts of metal parts and objects. Over the last few weeks I've been collecting "interesting" metal objects from Creative Re-Use Warehouse, American Science and Surplus, Thrift Stores and eBay. I've also bought a few tools that are more geared towards metal manipulation.
The bots are somewhat stylized after and inspired by classic boxy,1950's era robot toys (and the idea of junk-droids from Star Wars).
I'm really enjoying working on the Bots. Other than the construction aspect which is fun, assembling this first junkbot is sort of like a solving a puzzle. I have a box full of pieces and parts, from that I see a head or torso start to take shape- how to "solve" the rest of the bot? Once the right pieces are laid out, connecting the components is the next challenge. Not only does it have to be a solidly joined connection, but it has to fit with the aesthetics of the bot, too.
The first phase of JunkBot01 began with the head. I'd picked up a small motor on one of my part shopping trips and I opened and gutted it- all I really needed was the case (at right). Next using a metal shearing bit in the rotary tool, I ripped a hole through the case for the first eye. And got quite a few slivers in the process: gloves, live and learn. This eye is some sort of plumbing piece.
Posted at 2:38 PM on Thursday, April 29, 2004
By all accounts, the show at Art & Science was a big success.
Everything ran very smoothly, there was a quite a huge turn-out and I sold some work (which is always nice). So here's a pic of the finished faerie. She was in the show and there were quite a few people interested, though she did not sell by the end of the evening. The next project has already begun. It's a sculpture. Weird, I know. So i'll post some on that soon.
Everything ran very smoothly, there was a quite a huge turn-out and I sold some work (which is always nice). So here's a pic of the finished faerie. She was in the show and there were quite a few people interested, though she did not sell by the end of the evening. The next project has already begun. It's a sculpture. Weird, I know. So i'll post some on that soon.
Posted at 9:51 PM on Monday, April 26, 2004
Here's a black and white value pic of the finished painting. I'll post some actual pics of the entire piece after the show. You can see this painting and others this Saturday:
Sequence Multimedia Showing @
Art + Science Salon – Wicker Park
1552 n. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Show Begins: 8:30
Fashion: 9:30
End: 11:30
[773.227.HAIR]
Here's a black and white value pic of the finished painting. I'll post some actual pics of the entire piece after the show. You can see this painting and others this Saturday:
Sequence Multimedia Showing @
Art + Science Salon – Wicker Park
1552 n. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Show Begins: 8:30
Fashion: 9:30
End: 11:30
[773.227.HAIR]
Posted at 4:07 PM on Wednesday, April 21, 2004
When I'm painting naturalistically, as I am for the head and shoulders of this figure, I almost always paint in thin glazes and washes. The pic at right shows the glazing process early on as I lay in the base color glazes. Oh, that's the reason I didn't outline the figure's head- it's the only part of the painting that will be naturalistically rendered. The hair is close to being finished, but needs some touches here and there. The first wing wash has also been roughed in, too.
I think this painting will be finished in the next few days. If it is I'll have it up in the Sequence show...
Saturday, April 24th - the Sequence Show. Here's the skinny:
Sequence Multimedia Showing @
Art + Science Salon – Wicker Park
1552 n. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Show Begins: 8:30
Fashion: 9:30
End: 11:30
[773.227.HAIR]
When I'm painting naturalistically, as I am for the head and shoulders of this figure, I almost always paint in thin glazes and washes. The pic at right shows the glazing process early on as I lay in the base color glazes. Oh, that's the reason I didn't outline the figure's head- it's the only part of the painting that will be naturalistically rendered. The hair is close to being finished, but needs some touches here and there. The first wing wash has also been roughed in, too.
I think this painting will be finished in the next few days. If it is I'll have it up in the Sequence show...
Saturday, April 24th - the Sequence Show. Here's the skinny:
Sequence Multimedia Showing @
Art + Science Salon – Wicker Park
1552 n. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Show Begins: 8:30
Fashion: 9:30
End: 11:30
[773.227.HAIR]
Posted at 4:58 PM on Friday, April 16, 2004
A new painting was started this week, smaller than I usually work: 11x14. It's a painting of either a faerie or an angel depending on how you interpret these things. My first step was to paint the color field I had in mind. An orange-y, reddish, warm, earthy background. After that, the outline was drawn onto the canvas with a pencil. Most of the figure's outline was then painted over with a fine black line. The version on the right was taken after the outline had been painted. The figure's head / features will not be outlined (although you can make out the pencil outline at this stage). The reason will become clear in the next stage: a different technique will be used. Here's a black and white version of the outline which may make it easier for some of you to see.
The Series Gallery is up over there on the left...more galleries to come.
A new painting was started this week, smaller than I usually work: 11x14. It's a painting of either a faerie or an angel depending on how you interpret these things. My first step was to paint the color field I had in mind. An orange-y, reddish, warm, earthy background. After that, the outline was drawn onto the canvas with a pencil. Most of the figure's outline was then painted over with a fine black line. The version on the right was taken after the outline had been painted. The figure's head / features will not be outlined (although you can make out the pencil outline at this stage). The reason will become clear in the next stage: a different technique will be used. Here's a black and white version of the outline which may make it easier for some of you to see.
The Series Gallery is up over there on the left...more galleries to come.
Posted at 11:37 PM on Thursday, April 08, 2004
I'd mentioned before that each piece in the Girl Series has some sort of text. That's the reason that it was important that the medium in between the tiles was totally clear when it dried: that's where the text is. There are also some elements from matchbooks buried beneath the self-leveling gel as well. In total there are 5 lines of text / matchbook pieces within the artwork, the first of which you can see here.
Because this piece was done on masonite rather than a canvas, I'd decided that I needed to give it more height. That way if the four are displayed together, the height of the group will be more balanced. To do this, I assembled 3/4" stretcher bars into an 18x24 frame. Instead of stretching canvas over the it, I tacked and glued the existing artwork to it. Once that was done I finished it off by painting the sides of the stretcher frame and the tile black. And so it's done! The Girl Series is complete!
Are you wondering what the rest of the works from the Girl Series look like? Well wonder no more- the Series Gallery is up over there on the left! Yep, amazing I know: I actually completed another gallery. Even more amazing, I've got all of my other art photographed, scanned and ready for the web. Now I just need some time to put together the gallery pages...yep, more galleries to come.
I'd mentioned before that each piece in the Girl Series has some sort of text. That's the reason that it was important that the medium in between the tiles was totally clear when it dried: that's where the text is. There are also some elements from matchbooks buried beneath the self-leveling gel as well. In total there are 5 lines of text / matchbook pieces within the artwork, the first of which you can see here.
Because this piece was done on masonite rather than a canvas, I'd decided that I needed to give it more height. That way if the four are displayed together, the height of the group will be more balanced. To do this, I assembled 3/4" stretcher bars into an 18x24 frame. Instead of stretching canvas over the it, I tacked and glued the existing artwork to it. Once that was done I finished it off by painting the sides of the stretcher frame and the tile black. And so it's done! The Girl Series is complete!
Are you wondering what the rest of the works from the Girl Series look like? Well wonder no more- the Series Gallery is up over there on the left! Yep, amazing I know: I actually completed another gallery. Even more amazing, I've got all of my other art photographed, scanned and ready for the web. Now I just need some time to put together the gallery pages...yep, more galleries to come.