Sketchbook

What I did tonight instead of real work

snow in april

Acrylic and gouache on masonite. About 11"x 12.5", or 12.5"x 11" (I never remember how that goes)

















The painting is based on the first little story-thing below, as is this from a while back.

The first story-thing I'm going to call "Two White Dogs". I don't really feel compelled to title things most of the time, but the overuse of "untitled" can get kind of annoying.

-Cast aside in undone importance, an Empress wrestled through the snow in silk. Two white dogs were her only companions now that things were turned fully askew. They kept her warm on the cold nights and lit her way in the dark. But she soon grew envious of their gleaming coats and the way they spoke to one another without words.
As they slept, she stole their coats from them, tossing their bodies into the cold to be devoured by roving wolves. She made a cloak from their fur, but it was thinner than she’d thought, and she wondered why it had felt so much warmer on them.
A lost traveler stumbled over her as she lay huddled in the snow. Thinking of the warmth he may provide, she offered him a place inside her cloak for the night. She awoke to find him wearing it. He leaned over her saying that silk was never his favorite, and then he tied a bag over her head and she fell asleep like a canary.
When she opened her eyes she was lying on a frozen stream in a canyon. She cried at the thought that the dogs would have torn the thief to pieces for her.-


Aaaand another more recent one which has nothing to do with anything.


-A non-subtle salemaker emptied his pockets into a stream of swift gold, hoping it would cling to his worthless baubles. The hungry current swallowed them in an instant, and he raced along the bank in pursuit. Eventually they came to rest in an entanglement of weeds just below the surface. Shrewd and observant at times, he decided to ask a beautiful boy passing by if he would reach in and pull up his trinkets. The boy kindly agreed, but when trying to retrieve the items, found he could not remove his hand from the stream. Both men tugged and cursed the current, but to no avail. The salemaker said the only way was to cut off the offending hand. The distraught boy was too horrified at this to even speak. He wailed of his distaste for pain, and protested that he could not go on living as a hideous cripple. The sun went down as he continued to cry and scream like a child. The salemaker grew so tired of this that he kicked the lovely boy, who then vanished into the gullet of the stream. The man sat on the bank staring into the golden water for several hours. He finally decided his action must have been some god compelling him toward an act of uncomfortable mercy. With a sated conscience, he walked home.
Several weeks later, in a land quiet and remote, a shining gold statue of a beautiful young man washed ashore. The people were so captivated by it, they had it put up on a high pedestal in the town square. It still stands there to this day, despite the protests of certain citizens who are disturbed by the look of terrible apprehension on the figure’s face.-

Well well...

...look who's back. For the past couple of months I have been working on a children's book, which should be in print in the next couple/few months. Here is a little teaser...
















And to fill space until I have some new work to show, here is a doodle that I find to be really cute for some reason.











AWWWWW

new painting

Acrylic and gouache on masonite. 12" x 16"

And a detail:

Halloween

Bird head mostly made from some aluminum mesh stuff, foam, and felt.
































With real flapping action!!!!



















After the fact, broken-necked and reeking of cigarettes.

Glorious Sammy in the Third Dimension

He is about five inches tall and made of super sculpey. He is covered with fleece, and now, so is everything within ten feet of my desk.




































































From the front
The lighting looks like he is next to a neon sign. And very distressed about it. Hmm... "The Temptation of Glorious Sammy"



















"Glorious Sammy Copes with Premature Balding"

Glorious Sammy

...who, ideally, would star in a graphic novel/illustrated book entitled something like "Glorious Sammy Takes On a Perilous and Riveting Adventure of Great Symbolic Value and Meaning". In which he would encounter friends Follyfed Lucian and Millie Entirely, and challenge the previously undisputed social tyrant, Roustabout Ollie. It would also feature humanistic observations of startling poignancy, as well as a touch of indulgent romance.With perhaps a smattering of unprovoked violence to round things out.
Subsequent titles would include:
"Glorious Sammy Chastises the World"
"Glorious Sammy and the Era of Misfortune"
"Glorious Sammy and Conrad Cradleboard Make Amends"
"Glorious Sammy Lacks an Acceptable Conclusion"

Doodles

Just for the sake of posting something, here is a collection of doodles, some old some new-ish, most done during classes when I was supposed to be paying attention. I tend to draw lots of faces which all look kind of the same.
I don't know if this sort of thing is interesting to anyone but me, but here you go anyhow.
I'm going to start trying to post weekly again, so there will probably be many more posts composed of sketches and/or excuses.

Embroidery 2 finished

Finally...




















It is about 11" in diameter. To give you an idea of scale...

I would like to us text more often in my pieces, but
1) My lettering skills are awful
2) Pithiness and wit are not things I do well.

But anyhow, here is a thing I did the other day.





The imagery and text here is taken directly from a doodled list I had made in my notes during an art history class some time ago, and since have forgotten the meaning of.

Embroidery 2

So far.
This one is Twelve inches in diameter and the fisrt one was eight. I think I'll put trees or something in the background.

new thing

I still need to finish the water, but I think the little guy and the boat might be done.

The voyager returns

What did I learn from the class I took while I was away? That I can draw fairly well but I can't paint worth crap. So I'm attempting to work on that. I also learned that painting landscapes is ridiculously irritating, even if said landscapes are in Italy. I think I just haven't been able to figure out a method of working which enables me to enjoy that sort of thing. So, yeah, while in Italy I drew and painted a lot of really awful crap which will not be seen by anyone. But I did have a really great time there, and I saw an exhibit of super awesome medieval icons at the Accademia. As well as obscene amounts of other great art.

Anyway, as I said, I am trying to work on my painting skills- here is a little practice piece I did the other day. (my scanner is terrible, sorry)

Finally something new

I have been trying out embroidery, this is my first piece.

MORE OLD STUFF

From I guess last year at some point. They are little 3-d figures made of sculpey and various other materials in front of a painted backdrop which was stuck back there with photoshop.

COMIC!

My post-graduaton life has begun with an abandonment of all things creative, and lots of sleeping. But now I am bored with being a useless bum and intend to make stuff again. So to initiate the festivites, here is the only comic I have ever liked out of all the ones I made. It has no title, not for any grand conceptual reason, but because I am lazy.

So...

Here is a shot of my painting in the gallery


And painting #2 (about 9" x 12")

11 days = senior show

So here is the final product.





















Acrylic and gouache, 27" x 29"

Concept to finish in eleven panic-filled days.

THE END IS NEAR

Here is what I have finally decided on for my senior show.
It is acrylic and gouache on a canvas that is about 26" x 28".
(still very much in progress)


















The look of it was inspired by this painting that I started last summer and never finished, but still like.
( the string of christmas lights is not intended as part of it)

Ordinary

His life, so dull and standard, he lamented everyday in a series of teatime discussions with his cat. But she was always uninterested or argumentative, and never made a worthwhile contribution to the table. He leaned back in his wooden chair and wondered if anyone would ever be interested in how horrifically, ghastly normal his existence was. How could he ever make anything wonderful when he'd never felt anything wonderful? Well, there was that one time when he was taking the trash out and he saw that girl from the third floor. He saw her not notice him and now she's gone. Moved away or dead, he doesn't know anything at all. It would be worse if he did, he supposes. Rising crooked, he went to look out of the window and rested his head on the glass. He noticed a terrible act being committed in the alley below. Oh, just someone doing laundry.
He banged his head on the glass and wished that something at all would happen. Then, that girl. He spied her from his room. But, oh, that was too much of a something to suddenly come to terms with, and what could he do? In a decision uncharacteristic, he tossed his cat out the window and made for the alleyway on the pretext of fetching her. When he arrived, her husband had pointed that cat out as the one they had lost some months ago. They thanked him without asking his name and the two were off.
Climbing the stairs back up, he wondered how he could have failed to notice her spouse, and he knew the cat wasn't hers, but what could he say? So he went on having teatime discussions with nobody, and almost felt more satisfied to talk to himself because there were still surprises, but maybe only because he forgets. But it doesn't matter, and the alleyway is empty now, and that's fine, he tells himself, that's fine.

sketchbook 3-the CAT issue