Illustration for Krystal

My friend Krystal recently graduated college. When I asked her what I could get here for graduating she pointed to an old sketch stuck on the big foam board covering part of the wall in my studio. A drawing of a tree, like that. I've always liked this sketch. It came from a series of drawings that I did around ASU. This tree is outside the art building. There's actual another building behind these trees, but I removed because I wanted to. An I do what I want. I've redone it as a basic chalk pastel before. Now I'm trying it with pen, watercolor and chalk pastel. Here's a view of all three. The one on the right is the piece I'm currently working on, the one in the middle is the original sketch that I did so many years ago.

What do ya think? Finished? Unfinished?

This is a multi-media piece I did about a year or more ago. I kept fiddeling with it, trying to bring it to a finished state. I showed it to a friend recently who told me it was finished and to stop screwing with it. What do y'all think? Should I frame it or keep working with it?

And my latest flower...

And another flower. i think I'll do one or two more in this series before moving on. I'm starting a series of people, figures that have caught  my eye. I hope that these pieces will give the air of a piece of a story. I think these fun flowers have really been helpful in getting back into painting. And the few people that have seen them really seem to respond well to them.

Another flower painting....

Alright, here's a painting I did based off of the sketch I did on 1/23/11, day # 4. It's oils on a birch panel. I didn't primer the panel first. I like this technique, the wood sopped up the oils quite nicely, allowing for a quicker dry time and the golden color of the wood gave the piece a nice glow as well.  It's 41 x 24". I think I'm going to stick with oil painting on wood, I definitely enjoy the way the paint handels on this surface and its difficult ot over wet the surface. After I've used up the canvases I have, I don't think I'll ever go back.

I know this subject matter might be considered trite, but I don't care. I throughly enjoyed creating this painting. It's the first full scale painting I've done in about 3 years. And it really got me back in the creating mood.

Painting..loaded!

This painting is the 2-d work I did based off of the Day #2 sketches. Its 24" by 36" and is done in oil paints. the colors are a little bit more vibrant than the photo, it's got that shine to it so every photo is either washed out or has a big bright flash shine.

Those sketches...

remeber the sketches I did for about 30 days? Well, I have based a few paintings off of them. As well a the designs for some of my masks. This mask and this painting were done based off of the sketch for Day # 2 (1/21/2011).

This mask took forever to carve. The surface is done with washes and engobes, all of which I made myself. i decided to leave its surface matt, i felt that worked with the earthy feel of the piece the best.

okay..the painting wont load right now...no surprise there..I'll try again in a little bit.

Been awhile....

It's been quite awhile since I kept up with this page. however, I actually have been quite busy and I'm going to share some of that with y'all tonight. I also recently gave out business cards with this site on them and felt embarrassed that people might check it out and there be nothing much there. i used some of the sketches from last Jan. to inspire some new ceramics as well as paintings. Also, remember the girl in the bird cage? I showed that at Halloween at the Nth gallery in Boone. Also, I created new work for two craft festival on Dec. 10th. Actually made a little money at one of them. So, if this blog will cooperate I am going to post photos of my newest work. so far, it has not worked....so they may get posted on another night.

Yea!, one finally loaded. This mask is the result of heavy glaze application on one of my masks, I actually painted a flower on it! Whatever it is now, I don't know, but I like it. I'll post more soon.

My art....

what is art? is it simply sketches and watercolors, bowls and vases? does it need to be anything more? Must art make a statement? must it have a concept? must it come in a carefully thought out series with carefully thought out statements? These questions plague me daily in the studio. What if I just have one piece, all unto it's own self; can I show just it? can i show several unrelated pieces? who made up these rules that I must follow in order to redeem myself as a professional artist?
I have not posted in quite awhile. I find myself falling into a creative funk of which I am having a hard time heaving myself out of. Where to go from here? which ideas to pursue, what styles to stick with? after all, I can't have it all now can I?
I have continued in my aimless, and admittedly, less passionate pursuit of artistic creation. I have many pieces, but know not what to do with them. I must unite my many thoughts and once again create a fire in my heart and mind's eye for what I do. I must let loose of the shackles of expectation and conformity and create, create, CREATE! once again with a holy fire do I wish to burn.
I will post art again and regularly. My determination and motivation come back after much languish.

day 26 through 30th

Okay, I know it's been a week. but I have been doing some art. I've been working on some ceramic tiles. they're not very exciting to look at. Not until they're fired and glazed. I've got a oiece for posting. Just a nude done in the water-oil patels. I've also been working on documenting my art. Not the most glamorous of artist activities but a very important part of artist business, so I'm going to post some of these as well. Ta-dah!

Day 25 working out a painting style

Here's my work for tonight. I've been trying to translate the work I do in clay into something 2-d. I carve stories, words and phrases into my clay body castings. Now I'm trying to develope a painting style that embraces the creativity that flows so easily in my sculpture. Here's a prelim sketch for a larger piece. I'm using my water soluable oil pastels, sharpie markers and charcoal.

And today, 24 I believe../..

Well, today I have been working with some clay and stencils today. I have been continuously deriving new ideas from the content I have been posting on this blog. I have received some good feedback from the birdcage posts and have decided to incorporate this into my clay work. Here are some of my first atempts. When they come out of the kiln I will post those as well. 

The top is a tile that has already been fired. I used hand drawn chalk glazes on it. The second is a test tile that I used some of my new cut stencils on. I used amaco undergalzes for it. At the bottom are some of the tiles.

day 23, saki set again

                                   

Okay, here's the final carving. I tried to keep it earthy. And I want to go with a natural glaze. Something that compliments the texture but still looks very refined. I'll have to run some tests. I hope the carafe purs well. the little shot glasses are called o'chokos (not spelled right) and I can't rmember the correct name for the little pitcher. I'll have to check that out.

day 22, saki set

Last night I started making a saki set. I recently got a job at a Japanese resturant and the decorations and ceramic ware has inspired me to start making ceramics again. I dedcided to start out with a saki set. i'll document the stages of developement with the final blogs being of the pieces fresh out of the kiln.I'm going to finish up the set tonight..

20 and 21

hello there, started a new job and have been rather busy. I'm uploading a few different works. One is some kind of petals or something that i did with water-soluable oil pastels. sounds like an oxymoron i know but they're pretty cool. like working with watercolors and pastels in one. The other one is another variation on the girl in the bird cage. I know that's a lot of playing with one piece, but there it is. I also did a couple of variations on the assorted marbles and here it is. check them out.                      

# 19 for my ma

My ma's been looking into tatto designs and this is one I've been working on for her. She used to sign her a name with a similar symbol and she wanted something with a dreamcatcher in it. So I combined the two. Here's the result.

I find that I really enjoy designing things for other people. I hope I can go to UNCC for graphic design courses.  

another day...18 i think

this piece is in reference to the art group I have recently joined, thought I'd do a series of little posters to represent the group. we're called assorted marbles b/c we all have different styles and mediums of artwork. there's five of us, hence the five marbles. so here's today's 

sometimes i roam around throug other blogs and sites; exploring what the rest of the world is doing with their internet worlds. turns out there are lots of people doing a painting a day and art every day and other very similar themes. many of them much better than my sad little attempts on this blog. but i will keep plugging along. after all, I never manage to give up.

day 17

Ok, I swear after tthis I will be posting only new work! But I ended up taking this piece into photoshop and playing around with it. so here are a few of the variations I came up with. Brand new work tomorrow!

Day 16 & 17

Okay, it's finally finished. This thing took way too long. Very tedious with the bars and chain links. All that detail was difficult with the chalk pastels. A different medium would have been more appropriate probably, or a much larger piece of paper. Tiny lines with chalk is pain. But here it is. I owe a drawing or two. Was pretty busy this weekend and didn't get anything up.

day 15

Okay, this is the point at in this piece. It's getting close to completion, very tedious working with all these lines so close. the woman still needs lots of detail work. Hard to do with chalk pastels at this size. Have started wroking some color pencils in there to help it out. See what you think.

days 13 and 14

hello, the past two days I have been embarking on the piece that started with sketches I have been doing for this blog. It took me quite a while to draw, lots of intricate lines and elipses. It's a 24"x18", most of my sketches have been about half that or smaller, so definitely more time consuming. I have it laid out on my living room floor, and crouching for hours while drawing is NOT ideal. I think every joint has locked up. But it's so much warmer in here by the stove than in my chilly studio.  The first one is just the drawing and the second is the start of the color. I realize I have to stop, it's 3 am and I should be in bed.