Goings On

For the last couple of days I have been working on two projects: a mixed media cityscape, and a cover design for a local music compilation cd being put out by The Starving Artist, a creative collective based out of Keene, New Hampshire. I've mostly been focused on the cityscape, and I am over halfway done (waiting for glue to dry is time-consuming). Also, I've gathered materials for the cd cover, and made notes for some of its photographs.

Beware

I flipped past a show about Satan (and the requisite zealot nut jobs who were preaching 'fire & brimstone' to their 'flocks') on either the History Channel or Discovery, which featured lots of paintings and woodcuts from various eras, and I got the urge to draw some demons. Their whimsical faces popped immediately into my head, and the cartoonish bodies just followed. I was going to add clouds or mist or something, but then decided to keep them in the sky uncluttered, which I then intentionally photographed with the sepia tone in mind. I like the way the demons' rough edges were smoothed out by the flash, and the tone gives the image an aged feel, as if it had been drawn by some Dark Ages cartoonist for Ye Olde Newes Papier...

Quiet Day

I didn't do anything spectacular today, but I do want to keep in the swing of things and post every day if possible, so here are today's notes. I did draw a silly cartoon of an orange hulking 'abominable bunny', but it's hardly photo-worthy (haha). I did come up with a few new ideas though, so hopefully the next few posts will be interesting... Oh, and I got a 'like' from Nicole Nadeau about a comment I left on her Facebook page. Sweet.

Lines Only

When I am watching television, I need to keep my hands busy. It's usually with a sketchpad, though last year I had a bunch of Lego blocks at hand because my sister's four kids were going through a mania that I decided to share. Anyway, today it was a small notebook pad and three non-black fine-tipped pens (see yesterday's small astronaut). Today it was all lines, no shading, and it was very enjoyable. Each color was done at a different time today. The tree was first, then the bush, and finally the underwhelming sun (I don't think it quite fits with the other two, probably because there is no solid outline around the sunbeams).

Space and Stuff

Last night I experimented with using no black ink on a drawing. It came out kind of cool (see image at left). It's a pretty typical pose of mine for superheroes (which astronauts technically are not), so that aspect is weak, but it was a fun exercise.

And today I did the first of my 'at arm's length' drawing experiments. I've had space on the brain lately (I am SO psyched that Comcast carries the NASA channel), and have seen all kinds of cool astronaut drawings, so I decided to draw one with ink (no initial pencils). I like the way it came out. The basic figure is sound, and it's just cartoony enough to be amusing rather than sad (haha). The coloring was another experiment. I have a set of colored dual brush pens (with a fine tip on one end a paintbrush style tip on the other), and went with the brush ends (at arm's length, of course) to loosely "paint" the drawing. I didn't want to overload the sky, so I used colored pencils for that, but the rest of the image is all marker and ink. It was a lot of fun, forcing myself not to get up close to do any detail work. Someday soon (meaning this autumn), after more practice with the brush end of the pens, I'll attempt my first paint project since college back in the day...

Manrayvian

I was on Wikipedia yesterday, reading about a few things I was interested in, and then engaging in the 'organic click' thing I do (starting with a person, place or thing I want to read about, going off on related tangents, and ending up somewhere completely different), and wound up reading about the Dada and Surrealist artists. Man Ray's 'The Misunderstood' jumped out at me, and I decided to draw the strange flower creature depicted therein.

I really like the way the fine lines came out in the inked drawing, but the color scheme was what I was after, and I think it came out pretty nice. I definitely need to spend more time learning the best light settings for my Canon PowerShot A480. I took the ink photo last night with a flash, and the colored one this morning by cloudy sunlight.

I am going to work on full scenes next I think. While all of these drawings are nice to look at, they really don't tell much in the way of stories. I also have plans to do "at arm's length" sketches, more "Scatterbunnies", and another "Li'l Nippers" soon. I haven't done any writing lately.

Lastly, here's a weird note (pun intended): As I was falling asleep last night a fully-formed song was playing in my head. I don't remember very much of it now, and I wish I'd had a way to record it before I drifted off. It was a catchy tune, but hard to explain or compare to anything. I definitely need a cheap recording device for moments like that. They've been few & far between in my life (another I recall vividly was on a drive back to my Rollinsford, NH apartment six years ago), and I always feel an acute frustration at not having been able to preserve the sounds somehow.

Sunday HGTV

After an organized resupply at Michael's yesterday (I had a list, they had a big sale, and I had a 40% off coupon), I knew I wanted to use some of my new materials today. I was a slug most of this rainy day, doing little more than playing mahjongg online and reading, but in the evening after supper, I went on a drawing kick.

Seeing all of the great works yesterday at FAM really inspired me to want to experiment with capturing textures, so I decided to do a drawing of flowing honey. The jar's design took over for awhile, me trying to figure out a pleasing color scheme, but with the application of three different pencil colors (cream, bronze and sunburst yellow) I think the honey came out best.

I was also taken by the ancient carvings of seated Chinese dancers at FAM, and knew I wanted to draw them at some point, so I jumped right in after photographing the honey jar. It was a lot of fun, and it basically flowed right out of my No. 2 pencil. I spent way more time figuring out and then applying the color scheme than I did on the actual pencil and ink stages. I like the idea of them so much that I plan on drawing these often, until I can do them in my sleep. In the future, I'll also apply colored and patterned paper instead of colored pencils. An interesting and fitting bonus: as you can see, the paper has an aged and yellow tinge to it. It is white 60 lb sketch paper, but because the first several photos came out too washed out by the camera's flash, I adjusted the camera setting to 'aquarium', and this happy accident was the result.

Fitchburg Art Museum

After having it on my to-do list for the last few weeks, I finally went to the Fitchburg Art Museum. I bought an individual year-long membership for $35, which gets me several things: it would have cost me $7 to get in anyway; I got a free $8 mug; and I get free admission into ten other New England museums. A bargain any way you look at it.

So after talking to a couple of staff members, I headed off into the collections. I took a lot of notes as I went from piece to piece, and from room to room, finding inspiration in many places. I went from the American & European landscape, still life and portrait galleries, through the ceramics section (it was nice to see so much quality work without a "Made in China" stamp on any of it), to Eleanor Norcross's personal gallery. She had no lack of talent, and much of her stuff is very cool, but her greater contribution was founding the museum.

Then it was down the connector gallery, which was filled with African art, and it's many fascinating depictions of the human and animal forms. When I reached the newer building of the complex I headed downstairs first, to see the ancient art collections: Egyptian (including the mummy of a child and giant tomb wall reproductions); Greek and Roman sculpture and pottery; a small bit of Etruscan works, and a cool corner of art from the early Americas. It's easy to see why gold has caused so much strife over the millenia - the Costa Rican and Panamanian gold works caught my eye like a magnet, especially amidst all the dull and lusterless (but otherwise interesting in their own right) artifacts around them. Very cool. In the Asian Gallery it was interesting to see how Buddha's depiction has changed over the centuries and across the various cultures where he has had a strong influence.

I saved the upper gallery for last, since it featured contemporary local artists (the 75th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft). There were many fine works from the surrounding towns of north central Massachusetts, including a few people whose names I recognized, in all forms of media. I had a guidebook with me listing all of the artists, so I was able to make many notes, and circle my favorites for further research. The ones that truly impressed:

• Arthur Bodwell, Segmented Vase (wood) - it's amazing that he could do that with wood.
• Brenda Cirioni, Spring Dance (mixed media)
• Linda Dagnello, Carmel's Kitchen (oil)
• Amy Kutka, Jaguar, Skulls, Quetzalcoatl (mixed media) - she graduated with my sister.
• Scott Niemi, Legend of the Three Juicy Peppers (oil) - a gargantuan (and humorous) painting of peppers.
• Elina Nykanen, Dessert (gelatin silver print) - an amazing photo of a beautiful woman in a small mirror.
• Margret Richard, Afternoon Light and Winter Thaw (pastel) - two amazing, yet unique, works by the same woman.
• Gary Ruuska, 206 Central and The Shadow (colored pencil) - this man is a veritable wizard of light, shade, and detail work. Both pieces were amazing.
• Sally Sargent, Westminster Table (mixed media) - a large interesting collage.
• Margot Stage, Great Blue 2 (fiber) - this giant image of dried foliage looked like an oil painting on first glance. Amazing.

Who knew there were so many talented people in my home county? I do now (haha). And there was no one else in the building except the aforementioned staff (five people), so it was a great way to observe, inspect, absorb and admire the body of work without the uncomfortable psychological press of other people. It was a fantastic and memorable way to spend several hours. I learned a lot, saw plenty of amazing things (and a few puzzling ones), and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I get lost in books all the time, but it was nice to be out in the world, yet still be able to feel that way. On the way out I snagged my free mug (a reproduction of Childe Hassam's The Pinafore, Isle of Shoals, Moonlight on its side), another with the museum logo, and a few postcards, and drove away happy and inspired.

Night Stuff

I fell asleep last night around midnight, after reading for a bit while a jazz station played in the background, but I woke up a little after two and couldn't fall back to sleep. I had an image in my head that wouldn't let me alone, so I got up, went into the living room, and drew the pencil abstract pictured to the left. It's puzzling yet somehow gratifying that when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, that the awake time has been so productive lately, and not just futile tossing and turning.

And since I wasn't quite tired, I finally added an adversary to my previous "Salamander" piece. I'd been sitting over it all day yesterday, and had done all the pencil work except for a head. So I added the head (with an appropriate facial expression), and then proceeded to ink and then color the poor guy. I have always loved the space uniforms from pulp sci-fi and the "Legion of Superheroes" comic from the 60's, so I gave him the typical boots, chest logo and shoulder flair found so frequently back then. Perhaps I will add a background at some point, either a spaceship in its hangar, or just a starscape with a Saturnesque ringed planet hanging in the sky. If nothing else, I should probably choose a color for the salamander man, since his foe is so brightly hued.

Carnivorous Caterpillar

Another episode of "Wild Pacific" yields another inspiration. I never knew that there were meat-eating caterpillars, and after watching the segment, I felt that the image needed to be captured for future use. I am going to incorporate them at some point into a fearsome man-sized threat on one of the planets in my Winter Star Galaxy.

Late Night Ladies

I was surfing online for awhile after midnight, and I decided to draw a couple of nudes with a ball-point pen. Though they are a bit cartoony, I want this blog to be family-friendly in case I decide to show my nieces & nephews anytime soon, so I won't be posting images (though they will go in my written journal). Suffice to say they are not gratuitous, and nothing sexual is going on, they are just idle scribblings to keep in 'drawing' mode. I am happy with the way the one drawn from a photo came out, especially the way the green and red pens added to the image. The proportions are fantastic. And the other one looks like it leaped off the pages of a PG-13 comic book, with the way it looks after being finished in colored pencils (flesh tones and browns). I'll try to avoid 'no image' posts in the future...

Salamander

This morning I was watching part of the PBS series on Appalachia, and there was a spot about how that region is prime salamander territory, and has more species of them than anywhere else on the planet. As I hadn't yet decided what to put on the page, I decided to draw what an alien of salamander stock might look like. I didn't want to color the skin though, because the possibilities were endless, and I didn't want to detract from the spot pattern by doing a poor coloring job.

I have been working on another project for awhile now, called "Tales from the Winter Star Galaxy", and this creature will fit in perfectly. The story "Flight" from one of my earliest posts, as well as the deep sea story I began a few days ago, also come from that project.

Mad Men Hip

When I watched this week's episode of "Mad Men", I immediately wanted to draw the outfit Peggy wore to the hipster party with her new friends. The colors of the sweater just grabbed me, and wouldn't leave my brain. I scribbled up a rough color thumbnail immediately on a post-it note, but I didn't prioritize the time to sit still long enough to do the full image 'til now. Here it is, in all it's rough, colored-penciled glory. I took two photos of it, but the other one was from an angle that reflected too much of the flash in the meager light of my bedroom's overhead. I am pleased with the colors, but not the likeness.

Sleepless Night

I usually fall asleep as I am reading a book. This past night I was finishing "Ralph's Party" by Lisa Jewell, and when I was done around 4 am, I couldn't sleep. So I fed the cat, made coffee, and opened my sketchpad and notebook. I wrote the beginning of a deep sea tale whose idea had popped into my head yesterday afternoon out of thin air (though inspired by an episode of "Wild Pacific" I'd seen on Sunday). I also had an episode of "House Hunters" on, and one of the prettiest faces I've ever seen was in full smile, so I paused the image, and tried to draw her. 'Angela' looks so much more beautiful in real life - I swear my drawing looked much better when I was half asleep (haha). She looks old in my sketch, which is unfortunate. I definitely need some higher-quality tools.

Bikini

I'm always cutting out photos of beautiful women for future drawings. Here is this evening's attempt. I wasn't trying for anything fancy, just proper proportions. I had been looking back at the last couple of years' sketches last night, and the proportions were nearly always horribly off. So I concentrated on improving that lack, and didn't worry too much about trying to shade properly, or capture a 'perfect' face. I'm pretty pleased, considering how fast it came together (less than an hour).

Li'l Nippers

Back on August 1st, I was sitting around drawing in front of a few shows during "Shark Week", and I came up with a few ideas for, and then sketched up, a comic strip I call "Lil Nippers".

The strip is about three young sharks who hang around talking about stuff and doing shark-like things in between (and in the middle of) their conversations.

• Chuck - a tiger shark. I colored him orange today, but am not sure if that will be his final color scheme.
• Zig Zag - A great white (or perhaps a bull or white-tipped shark). He has a scar that gained him his nickname.
• Darla - A hammerhead shark. Despite her unusual appearance (compared to most sharks), she always tries to look presentable with fresh lipstick and a nice bow.

I have a few other ideas for the strip, but not enough to seriously submit it anytime soon. Also, while it was nice to get this particular gag all drawn up, inked and colored today, the initial sketches are far superior in design and degree of shading. It definitely needs a lot of work.

Morning Work

I spent the morning and early afternoon sketching a face from an ad in a magazine. I'm okay with how it turned out, but I definitely need to practice the pout/smooch mouth. Basically, I just need to do a lot of face drawings to get back in the swing of things. And then work on shading. Things I like about this drawing: the bottom of the nose, the hair, and the earrings. Things I don't like: the 'rubbery' looking frames of the sunglasses, the lopsided mouth.

I also finished writing the rough draft of "SB: Coco in Hawaii". I'll type it up soon, and edit as I go. I plan to do more drawing this evening, but I haven't decided what to focus on yet, either more faces, or a full-sized illustration for 'Coco' ...

Working On It

I spent the day writing and doing color thumbnails for "Scatterbunnies: Coco in Hawaii". It was a very productive (and fluid, art-wise) day, though some of the story still needs work. I'll be doing detailed illustrations this coming week, and I may post the thumbnails here later.

I thought about working on my "Shark Week" (I'm sure I'll need a new name for it) comic strip too, but I was too focused on SB.

Scatterbunnies

The Scatterbunnies are a family of bunnies from the midwest in the United States. One day a tornado scatters them across the globe. The stories are about how each bunny gets home from the exotic place he or she wakes up in.

The bunnies are named after their colors (in this world it's that simple). The current bunnies are:

• Coco - chocolate brown
• Indigo - the 7th color, indigo (a dark bluish tone)
• T.C. - terra cotta brown
• Braun - bronze
• Sunny - an off-white cream color

Each tale will have that particular bunny interact with 3 local animals, one who is friendly, one who is indifferent, and one who is a potential danger. Each tale will end with the bunny's arrival back home.

Probable locations:

• Hawai'i
• Australia
• Africa
• South America (Brazil or Peru)
• The Himalayas (China or Nepal or Tibet)

I came up with the idea a few days ago, and have some rough sketches, most of which I did today. I hope to turn them into a viable childrens book series over the next few months.

Flee

I was watching tv yesterday, and I don't recall what made me think to draw this, but I had in mind to draw a person with lots of random clothing elements flapping out behind him as he escaped something. I'm not sure what he is fleeing from, but it was fun to draw, and the look on his face cracks me up. I drew & inked him yesterday, and I colored him today after breakfast.

I also ran out to Michael's this afternoon for a couple of sketchpads (11"x17" Bristol and 11"x14" recycled, both smooth finish) and several colors to fill in the blanks amongst my set of Prismacolor pencils. I snagged bronze, chartreuse, copenhagen blue, cream, orange, terra cotta, ultramarine, and warm grey. I also got a couple of fine-tipped pens (orange and green), 2 sheets of patterned paper (antique stars and tikis), an aluminum yard stick (actually a meter stick, with conversion tables for all things metric on the back), and a multicolored packet of paper.

On a side note: Congratulations to Abdi Farah, who won "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" on Bravo last night. He was one of my favorites all season, and his work (along with that of Peregrine Honig, Nicole Nadeau, Erik Johnson, and Ryan Shultz) has been inspiring me for weeks now. He won his own showing at the Brooklyn Museum, which runs from August 14th to October 17th. I may have to make a list of additional things to see in Brooklyn, and make a road-trip...

Design Contest: Ando and Friends

I have been interested in surfing all my life. I've never had the opportunity to learn how, but over the last 5 years or so, it's been closer to the forefront of my mind. I've been a subscriber of Surfer Magazine for five years now, and this year I opted for the "two-fer", and am receiving Surfing as well. Long story short: there was a design contest for Ando and Friends, and I spent the last few days working on an entry. I sent it off in the mail yesterday thinking the deadline was this Friday, but they recently extended it a week, so I am surely on time. I used Prismacolor pencils and cut-up alphabet stickers that I had left over from a few birthday gifts for my nieces. This is what I came up with for my submission:

detail (click to enlarge)

I figured anyone can just color a black & white print out, and since I'd been wanting to put the many cool patterns contained in the stickers to good use, they were the perfect element to elevate my design. I had a blast trying to figure out the best ways to use the scraps, cutting as precisely as I could without wasting any of the material. All while trying to picture the finished product without smudging the larger colored areas (which I left 'til last). Judging is supposed to take place by September 3rd.

Flight

He soared high into the morning sky on wings of tan and brown. Far above the fields, he traced slow lazy arcs. Even the giant vanes that harvested the sky plankton looked small from his vantage. His climb was nearly effortless, as the air was always thicker in the early hours before the larger of the two moons rose and reflected so much of the sun's light.

Dipping low over the lake, he leveled out just a few feet above the water. A school of tiny inkfish chased and leaped at his shadow as it preceded him across the gleaming surface. He laughed deep in his chest at the sheer joy he felt in that moment.

Arching his back to enable more lift under his wings, and to capture the warmer air above the land, he ascended again into the orange sky. Up and up he rose, through a low-lying cloudstack, startling a triad of plump dozing sunfloats, their wispy tentacles sparking in alarm underneath their billowing bodies as they rapidly vented out of his away. He nodded a silent apology as he sped past, and they were as soon forgotten as last night's meal.

High above the pinkish clouds now, he could see the hills that circled the sleepy valley. Not wanting to be spotted by a chance traveler or wandering herder, and feeling a bit fatigued (and hungry), he pivoted on a wingtip (how adept at that move he had become!), spread his wings to their full length, and glided back home to his workshop.

Welcome

Today I have decided to keep my artwork separate from my other blogs. I have a journal site, a music site, and a site for the music festival I produced on 7-31-10, plus one for a major writing undertaking, but I've decided I want all of my artistic endeavors under one roof. I was born in 1968, and I plan on being around until at least 2068, so that is the 'official' time frame of The Kenozoic Age!

Going forward you will find all of my visual art creations, stories, and music ventures here in The Kenozoic Age. I will post as much of my future work as possible (as whim takes me), as well as talk about past undertakings. Feel free to comment and/or become a follower. I appreciate all feedback.