Sketching Ideas and a Blob Painting

It's been snowing nearly every day here in Colorado. Some days don't feel like dealing with traffic to the studio, so I've been sketching a lot. The collage above shows some sketches and a few details of a finished painting (seen at the end of this post).

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This fellow was a quick one--sort of an unconscious bit of drawing. Since all my gouache is at the studio, I used a Pentel Brushpen for the outline, a pilot Hi-Tec-C pen for the crosshatching, and a few Prismacolor pencils for the color.

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Same with this fellow. The visible red lines are my initial drawing; I use a red Verithin pencil for that, on either Kona brand paper, a brown paper bag, or wrapping paper.

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Then I finally plowed through the snow to the studio and painted this Squashed Pea Fellow with Acryla Gouache. 

Yeah he's weird--I make no excuses--I draw and paint what comes to me, not what I think will please others. To me, that's the philosophy that has added richness and progress to all the arts.

If you share that ideal (and like eclectic art-weirdness) follow me on Instagram:

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Animal Parameters at Valkarie Gallery!

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For the third year in a row, I'm excited to be part of a fall show at Valkarie Gallery!

Animal Parameters is coming soon, and my works will join the amazing art of

http://karrieyorkart.com/

Karrie York

http://www.mikiharderart.com/

and Miki Harder 

Please click on their names for links to their sites and more of their art!

Here's a little preview of a few of my works which will be in the show:

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For folks who like fantastic creatures, here's a Lava Monster! A few illustrators and I were discussing how to create a stone creature who oozed lava from cracks in its hide, so I tried my hand at this fellow.

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I love owning sketches by artists, so I make many of mine available to collectors. And I gotta have a few Cranky Birds in every show.

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My animal works are most often images that spring from real animals but end up imaginary creatures.

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And dragons are animals, right?

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So I hope you will join us for Animal Parameters!

Here are the particulars:

 And be sure to check out Valkarie Gallery's current show Elements and Curiosities, featuring the works of Valerie Savarie and Sharon Eisley!

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Also, Innate Tapestries: The Endless Stage--a 96 page book full of my paintings and sketches--will be available for purchase at Animal Parameters. I hope you will grab a copy!

 Thanks for reading, and for supporting us artists!

Alice on Stage

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Detail crop from the painting, Alice on Stage.

 

Alice Liddell was Lewis Carroll's muse for the two "Alice" books that he wrote. I've done many works based upon Carroll's other characters, but finally chose Alice as the subject. 

 

A photograph of Alice Liddell.

 

 While I used the dark hair and hairstyle of Alice Liddell as a jumping off point (I am no portrait artist) there was probably a bit of Ramona Quimby and Lucy Van Pelt in my mind as well.

Interestingly, Carroll wanted Alice Liddell's personality in his heroine, but chose Mary Hilton Badcock as the model for her looks. 

 

 He sent this photo of her to Sir John Tenniel, who firmly rejected using any model for his drawings.

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Before I began to paint Alice on Stage, I sketched many Alices. This is the one I finally chose for reference, and then decided to break with traditional Victorian-children's fashion and make Alice's coat very fancy for the painting.

Been resting up from a hard push and many paintings over the past six months. After some sculpting and other "relaxing" forms of art, I'm back at it--and enjoying the evolution of the new work. I will post some soon.

Thanks for checking out my blog!

The Voyage of the Aeolus: A Process

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The Voyage of the Aeolus, detail

I really like pen and ink, crosshatching, costumed characters, and theater sets (the look of toy theaters in particular). And I like looking at other artist's processes. This post shows all of that, and my own methods for this type of colored ink artwork.

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For this piece, my interest centered around a voyage. The first thumbnail sketch was a rudimentary one featuring a top-hatted figure who quickly evolved into a pirate with his bird-buddy. I like to start these types of works with a red Verithin pencil, and then use a Pentel Brushpen for the varying width outline. My favorite paper is Kona Classic because its tough surface takes many layers of hatching without shredding, and is a great surface for water-media too.

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In this case, a Pilot High-Tec C pen was used for the crosshatching, and I'm never without a Uni-Ball Signo white pen for highlights.

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Sorry, this is the only photo I have of the initial pencil drawing (had to yank it off of a Facebook post).

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Obviously I changed the look of the pirate--a younger face better-suited the fantasy-like atmosphere, and for this final piece I used Acryla white gouache for the highlights.

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Once the highlights and values are finished, I give the piece a coating of UV blocking acrylic gloss spray. Then the color is added with watered-down, transparent acrylic inks. And that's about it!

It's a fun process--feel free to comment or email me with any questions you might have.

Thanks for checking this out!

Recent Drawings from My Sketchbooks

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Some recent, selected works from a variety of sketchbooks. 

These fellows are spontaneous drawings from my head, with the exception of the blue lantern--drawn using an actual lantern as reference. 

Sketching is almost as good as meditation when I'm needing a bit of peace. I've been doing a lot of sketching lately.

I wish peace for you as well.

Thank you for checking in!

Leaning Forward

Winterbreeze. Mixed media, private collection.

 

When a cold blast hits, leaning forward feels better than running away. Maybe because the forward bend means resistance rather than compliance; conjures courage rather than cowardice; maintains hope rather than fostering despair.

Here's Winterbreeze in progress...

 

 ...and another sketch along the same theme. He's gotten a blast of bad news, but he's not gonna run.

I wish peaceful Holidays to all.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Challenges and Surprises

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Character design sketch

Kept seeing the "Make the art you want to see" quote on Facebook. Guess it was originally by a fellow named Austin Kleon, and it was actually "Draw the art you want to see".

Just as repetitious ads and billboards make me want to scream with boredom, I get weary of clever quotes quickly. People complain about cat and food photos on Fb, but my top thumbs-down vote is with quote-cliches.

Still, Kleon's phrase sticks with me, because it is a challenge. Doing just that is not easy. 

In actuality, I try to draw the art I see in my head. It's never exact. But enjoyable nonetheless, because the drawings are different enough from the visions to keep surprising me.

And that's about it.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Night Scares

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Growing up, I shared a bedroom with my older brother. His sleeping presence didn't help me with my night scares though. I was probably ten years old when these fellows emerged through the wall, marched across the room in line, and disappeared.

You are where you are

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Little Guys. A sketch-in-progress.

Showing my work; to a client, in a gallery, a show, or even on the web, often makes me nervous and nit-picky about my progress, ability, worth. That's natural I guess, but not pleasant.

Sometimes it's good for an artist--for anyone--to step back and realize they are where they are right now, and that it's got to be a good place.

Here's my smudgy latest sketch, non-embellished. I'm pretending to post it without reservation. 

I really don't know which little guy is me.

Thanks for the visit!