Finally, Back in the Studio

I made the trip up to the studio yesterday. Tried to get a lot of work done. I was up there at 9:30 and started painting. It went pretty good, but jeez the studio was quite, and I started getting sleepy. Beautiful day outside, so I went to 19th street to check out the happenings. That got me inspired again, and so I went back to finish some stuff up.

I feel like this peice is finally nearing completion. I really like looking at it. I added the buildings in yesterday. I was originally planning a smaller grouping just in the middle, but after putting the first one in, I realized the scale was all wrong. A actually used the drips to define the shapes of the buildings, which makes it look like there are some ghostly buildings in there too. I like the effect.

Here is the update on the "august sun" painting. I'm really loving this one. It's still got two more sessions on it I think, but I was able to correct the tree line. I had the color bands reversed earlier.

By the way here's a link to an earlier post of these paintings ( in progress )

Wednesday Night Life Drawing

Had another great Life Drawing session at the Art League October 1st. Here is one of the sketches that I'm going to continue to work with.

I've been wanting to work more with these pastel sketches, but of course it's difficult without fixative. I mixed up some water and acrylic matte medium in a spray bottle to use. I made this quick sketch as a test. I've already gone back in with some prisma color. The matte medium kinda worked, but it obliterated my finer shading and splashed little pastel filled drops all over the paper.

By the way, here is an update on the sketch of Cory from the last session. I used the matte medium spray on it, and then started going over it with burnt umber and burnt sienna glazes. Still not sure about this process. Oh well, live and learn.

Inspiration and no Materials

Went to "Collage 151" opening at the M2 Gallery in September. The show was a collection of collage pieces by Patrick Palmer. I was really inspired by the use of maps in some of his peices. I had the idea for some collages of my own. A series I'm calling Star Maps. Still trying to work out the media. I've was separated from my art supplies, which were in my studio in Houston. After the hurricane, it's taken a while to get back up there. Of course it was Sunday when I was working on these two mockups, so the only place to get art supplies was Walmart.

These two sketches were done after the mockups. I'm still working on it.

Hurricane Sketches

Termites on the windows. AHHHH! Well maybe ants. Anyway, didn't get a lot of drawing done durring our little evacuation into the path of Ike. No power, and trying to keep Andrew entertained. And little windup flashlights are hard to draw with.

The night after the hurricane, and the moon was nice and bright. The clouds kept running across the moon, changing it's face.

Ahhhh!!! They're rising up from there graves in the soggy soil!!! Hurricane Zombies!

Haha. Thinking about the cemetery in Galveston as the storm blew in. An idea for a horror flick, of course the problem is that all the zombies get blown around by the wind and smashed into things. Maybe it's a comedy.

Hurricane Ike

I'm hoping to get some art posted once power is returned, probably this weekend. I plan on adding a prompt from Ike to the Life Drawing Session tomorrow, if we have it. More on this later. To anyone that was affected by this storm, I hope you are doing well.

Son of Tron

Well I know that this is an Art Blog, but it's also the only blog I really have now. So here's something sort of art related. Cosmic Bowling.

We went out last night to the local bowling alley. I'm glad I don't have seizures, but at first it was a little tricky aiming with the lights dancing on the floor. Still I almost broke 100, haha. Oh yes, the art part. With the black lights on, I loved the way the bowling shoes looked. It reminded me of Tron. I intend to do something artistic with this. Just you wait.

Wednesday Life Drawing Sessions

Well, this last week was the first Wednesday Evening Life Drawing session that I've run. It was a lot of fun, and I hope that next time even more people show up. I took off the whole day from work to get ready for it, (not knowing exactly what to expect). As a consequence I got to attend the daytime life drawing. There was not a model, so us artists had to take turns modeling. Unfortunately, I was not able to sketch myself as a model, but here's what I did get.

These were the tree sketches I did get. I wish I had something more than my moleskine, but it was fun. I tell you, my 20 minute pose definately helped me empathize with my models. I promise nothing longer than a 20 minute pose.

Here is the model from the evening session that I ran, and the final drawing I ended up with.

And I want to give a special thanks to Cory Todd for modeling for us. He did a great job.

Working the Studio

I just started moving into a studio in Houston. Still not much up there, but I figured I should start trying to put out as much work as possible while there. It is easier to focus. I've started three pieces so far. Nothing done yet, but here are some previews.

Tree Zombies

I was noticing a lot of dead and dying trees along the new jogging path. I don't know if this is a result of the path (hopefully not) or just the dry weather. Anyway, I thought the were cool and kinda creepy looking. I'm going to try and post more.

Brazosport Art League Daytime Model

Here are some sketches from the daytime life drawing session at the Brazosport Art League. Didn't have enough time to really work on the face. Anyway, learned a lot in preparation for the first night-time session. Can't wait.

The Surrender

Ok, a lot of people fed into this idea.

Portrait

Wood-Grain Bear

I really saw this in the wood grain of my kitchen cabinets.

Tadpole

Frisby Golf at the Park off Memorial

Building a Foundation

You need some kind of foundation to really achieve your goals. At least that's what I was thinking about when I sketched this

Egg Road

Idea for a new painting

Tree at Discovery Green

I loved the grass in the photos from my trip to Houston. tried to capture it.

Meditation

A picture of me after a run, right before getting rained on. Trying to work on my breathing

Three-Eye Emotibot

Sometimes you just don't know what it's thinking.