Thursday, December 25, 2008

Being In Thailand

So here I finally am in Thailand. I bought a new camera with my birthday so I am well-equipped to photodocument everything that goes on.


Because of the blizzards last weekend in Boston, Philip and I stayed in a hotel downtown so that we would be able to get to the airport without any weather-related problems.(Photo: Me looking through my Moleskine address book in the Back Bay Hilton. But we were delayed and missed all our connections, so by the time we finally arrived in Bangkok, several days later, I was ravenous and quickly made my way to a little shop to get some food.


I was able to find many of my favorites: Prawncrackers.


Sugus, which is kind of like Starburst but less sweet. It comes in Raspberry, Orange, Blackcurrant and Green Apple.


Some fish sticks for Philip.


And my favorite, these paprika-flavored potato chips in the shape of penne pasta.


Once we got home we hung out with our grumpy cat, Fitz.


We didn't really have jetlag, because that;s just not how Philip and I roll, so we were able to begin doing fun stuff right away. Last night we went out to a tiny Indian restaurant, smaller than my bedroom back in Beverly. The food was very good and cheap (about $1.75 for this dish of chana dal) but the portion size was tiny. Afterwards we went and walked around the night bazaar. I'll have to put up some pictures of that later.


In Thailand there are a huge variety of kanom, which means snack or dessert. Two of the main ingredients in most of these are coconut milk and rice. This morning for breakfast my father and I walked through the temple compund and over the bridge to the market, where we picked up lots of fresh fruit, flowers and these kanom. From the left: khao laam, khao niaow/sankaya and khao mun sai goey. Everything comes wrapped in traditional biodegradeable packaging.


Here is the khao niaow/sankaya and the khao mun unwrapped. There are both served in banana leaves. The khao mun is coconut milk-sweetened sticky rice wrapped around a little piece of baby banana and then steamed in a leaf. Khao niaow/sankaya is sticky rice with gatit (coconut milk) and a porous, homemade custard, wrapped together in a fresh bit of leaf.


The khao lam is the most interesting; it is sticky rice, flavored with something, usually black beans (beans are seen as kanom in Thailand) and packed somehow into a bamboo segment and steamed. The whole thing packs together and forms a thin skin over the outside, so that once you peel off the sides of bamboo you can handle the sticky rice without getting sticky yourself. It is sort of the same concept as a sausage casing. This khao laam seemed very fresh; sometimes when they are a little bit older, maybe, (or maybe it ia different method of preparing it?) the bamboo flavor seeps into the rice and gives it more of a rich, worked-on flavor. Still, it was all very good.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Hanuman

A drawing of Hanuman I did for an art trade. 0.3 mechanical pencil on buff Arches Cover paper. No erasing.

Details






Wednesday, December 10, 2008

And He Don't Stop

Christmas Decorations
I'm making some Christmas tree ornaments to give away to friends and family. They're gilded, rhinestoned dinosaurs.

Plateosaurus


Spinosaurus


Psitticasaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus (front)

Paintings

Finally did some more work on Independence Park, using my acrylic-stabilized gouache technique and a lot of granulation medium.

Also have been doing background work (sketching, etc.) for Fergus and the Druid and Nereus (working title). So am getting back to stuff that has been untouched for almost a year! :D

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Finally Here!

"...a man's work is nothing but the slow trek to discover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened." -Camus

The show is finally up at Redbrick, 95 Rantoul St., Beverly MA, bottom floor.
It's only open M-F during business hours, which is too bad - except on Saturday the 6th (upcoming) when it will be open for December Open Studios from 10 a.m.--5 p.m. I will be hanging around so you can come say hi if you want, and see everything hung up, which looks very good if I do say so myself.

The work will also be on display at Gordon College sometime in the spring - probably from late January until mid-April. That will be a slightly more complete show, including smaller work, some older works from private collections, and more Silver Worlds pieces.


Snared Rabbit


top: Resurrection Rabbit
bottom: Conquered Rabbit


Another angle showing the gilded inner rims of the frames.


from left: Carrion Crows, Lotus Pond, Predator/Prey


detail of Lotus Pond


Persian Megature


Persian Megature


left: Snared Rabbit, right: I am from battles!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I am from battles!

A look back on the history of I am from battles!

early digital mockup


embossing/underdrawing


Gilded


Done!
HURRAH


Detail

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Counting Down The Days

Lotus Pond







This is going really well. I've switched from acrylic to gouache mixed with acrylic medium (to make it waterproof), which is working out really well - I am much more comfortable with the way it handles; I just can't get the same results with pure acrylic. Also, the pigmentation of the gouache is SO much richer...*enraptured sigh*

I am from battles!


A greenflaming tendril.


head with a blade and more tendrils


eyes painted in a bit


detail of horns by ears


colophon on back


resurrection rabbit framed!!!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Coalescing

Images from the studio this weekend.

Resurrection Rabbit


Resurrection Rabbit, detail


Conquered Rabbit, detail


Conquered Rabbit, detail


Conquered Rabbit, detail


Snared In Its Glory (At the height of its powers. Thorn in the flesh.)


Snared, detail


left: Black Sheep (Apex), right: Black Sheep (Nadir) 6"x8" each


Persian Megature


Lotus Pond


On The Shoulders of Giants