Concept Drawing

A concept drawing for an upcoming music-related project.

Saturday Studio Report

Wow, if there are any fans of poorly lit photos out there you are in for a treat today. But first, a picture of Grant and his excellent friend Natalie in Rye, NH on Memorial Day:



Break At Dawn, in progress, copper.


Brood Nurse, underdrawing on poplar


Scylla and Charybdis, very much in progress, it will end up being beautiful I promise!


Woodcut for gilding, featuring a view from Independence Park, Bevtown.


Long White Cloud, 63% done.

Relics Of A Week Spent In Maine

A mysterious teaser; read right through to find out what this is!

Maine
So I'd been going to do a lot of drawings in Maine, but decided to Down East it up and do some classic watercolors instead. I went to the Bass Harbor light every day (yes), not for the lighthouse but just to see the rocks and the tide coming and going. The first two were done en plein air.




These are a bit more premeditated; the first one has me trying to do some linear work in the water, but still keep everything fluid and in the style of the medium.


In this one I did a sketch onsite and then filled in the colors later, using photographs for reference. (I took a lot of photos. I'll have to post my gull ones soon, they're superfunny.) It doesn't have much energy and I have to see if there's a way to pep up the water, but I like the colors.


Studio
Back in the studio last night, painted some things pink, tried to sand them down for some variegated background effects; think I need a new plate for my sander (something rougher like an 80) as not much went on. Sometimes I worry about breathing in acrylic dust.... :/ Anyway -

In between painting and sanding, began searching for a technique to maintain my underdrawing on Long White Cloud once it had been leafed. I wanted to do an indented line rather than the embossed lines I have been doing. Tried knocking it in with my silverpoint, but the wood of the panel is rather harder than I thought, and I just ended up silverpointing the drawing rather than sculpting it. But will remember that; it's amazing what you can silverpoint. I'd like to do some of those again sometime. Anyway -

Then I got out my printmaker's woodcut set (a gift of my dear friend Becca) which i was afraid wasn't very sharp, but things started going my way, and soon I had a woodcut that I will gild and paint. I forgot how much I love carving in wood and linoleum, I'll have to od a print show too, if I can get someone else to do the printing for me :P

Now my only problem is what do I put on the card: gilded polychromed wood or acrylic and gold leaf on panel?? Being an artist is hard.





P.S.
Seriously, though, it is dangerous work. In college I would tell people I didn't have to take tests or do readings and they'd be grumpy, but there are all kinds of bodily dangers involved in art: powdered cobalt, sharp blades, acid, the carpal tunnel flare-up triggered by last night's return to relief carving...hehe. I almost gouged my arm with my gouge last night. Luckily I have the motor skills of a cat and Bene Gesserit-like control over my own body.

Back In Civilisation

My life is in a little turmoil right now due to the sudden transition from wilderness to commuting to Boston for the HOW Design Conference ( :x ), and also the chaos of having my little brother move into my room for the summer.

But as a sign of goodwill to all you readers, here is a little peek of my fabulous vacation: a 180 degree(ish) composite of the rocks at Schoodic Head on the Schoodic Peninsula.



Lots more that I will post - including some awesome seagull shots.

Vacation

I'll be on vacay with the fam in Acadia for a week starting tomorrow. I plan to turn out a series of Coronation drawings for open studios at Redbrick in June.

$ $ $

The Vault Opens

Recent work in the studio is preparatory and unscannable, so I have an X-tra Big Helping of Vault today - for the first time in a while!


Duck underdrawing on panel. This is an abandoned drawing from when i was still hopeful about embossed gold-line drawings (turns out they're not really high-contrast enough to hold up from more than arm's length :( ). I love the duck, but the background details were not supergreat (and, as Out recently noted, coral is so three months ago.)


Rabbit Diagram from the first Italy Sketchbook.


detail of Virtuous Rabbits which is currently on haitus but will be featured in the NEXT show...probably. Also the inspiration for the Rabbit Triptych I am currently working on.

Some Sketches and Ideas

A recent 7 hour Photoshop training seminar turned out to be a ripe time for all sorts of ideation:
Got some great new ideas for Brood Nurse, a piece I've been thinking about for a long time but have not been able to finalize in my head, and came up with a concept for utilizing some nice Japanese-style clouds and my new gold and silver powders.


Some sketches for the rabbit triptych - three pieces which connect but will be separate entities, from a commercial standpoint (as seen in the purple section.)


above: Break At Dawn
below it: Brood Nurse


Sketch for Berries (very much a working title :P), a small piece to help fill in the low price points. A nice chance to get some delicate foliage going on that would be prohibitively time-consuming in a larger format.

Today I sent out a call for an apprentice/studio assistant this summer. I can't really offer any money, so I tried to play up what I honestly beleive would be a valuable learning experience.

The current list for the show looks like it will be about 23 pieces, now that I have abetter idea of how long it is taking to do pieces in the Silver Worlds series, and also know how big the potential venue is. (My initial goals for the amount I would produce this year would be feasible, I think , if I didn't have another full time job, but in any case, so many would not fint into the space I'll probably be in.)