2012, March 30

Got bored watching some movies today and decided I could put the time to practicing some sketch work. I love these types of mopeds, and at some point I'd love to get one - though I'm sure any brand and any size would have trouble hauling my bulk around at the speeds I like to travel. I have to admit - what the scanner puts on the computer is never quite what is on the page. Though it is revealing to me, and helpful to see how grainy the image appears at 600 dots per square inch.

The wheels and spokes were an absolute nightmare for me; justice is simply not done to them as I could not feel comfortable no matter what I put on the paper - I need to develop my capacity to draw circular objects, because I stink at it. Aside from that I'm more or less happy with this, and at some point I might take either colored pencils or water colors to it and add the color it deserves - the blue body and red rust marks should look nice against the stucco wall and mossy road.

2012, March 29

I'm always surprised by my face - it's just never what I expect it to be. Not that I'm disappointed by it, or feel that it should be different in any way, It just never seems to be as I remember it - even after twenty four years of seeing it, day in, day out. The lines are never quite where they are in my head, the curves never quite the same. I suppose I'm also quite amazed at how huge my cheeks are, stretched quite vastly from cheek to chin as they are.

Anyhow. This is somewhat what my face would look like if made into a topo map. You'll note the absence of eyebrows, so as not to interrupt the contour lines of my forehead. I've found that slicing things up in this manner helps me better to understand blending, shading, and lighting for oil painting - as well as color flow. Odd.

2012, March 26

Another tattoo design, made for a friend (who will never use it.) She just thought it would look cool. I think conceptually, this would have to go around the lower left abdominal, with the spirals raising up the left side to the ribs. It's the only place I could see this looking remotely good. As an aside, I love boats, and for some reason I've been thinking about them a lot as of late - the wood is so earthy, and the representation of movement - of freedom of motion and the ability to travel, sail and discover, is powerful and a delight to experience. At some point I'd like to paint a rather wide image of a man sailing on a boat in the sky. Another day.

2012, March 26

This is another piece where I just played around with watercolors. I wish I had used a brighter yellow or orange as the background to make it pop harder, so there would have been a more stark contrast between the foreground and background. As it stands I like the way it turned out, with the near blackness of the foreground fauna, but also the balanced brightness of the green yellow cattails and the green reddish canopy. I think I'm going to be doing more work in watercolors in the future; this only took me about an hour to knock out.

2012, March 26

Doing some color study with water colors - I've never been too great with the color wheel - understanding complimentary colors, dissonance, and real shading with color has been a problem for me for a long time. This was just a little fun for me, to play with flow of water and the power of colors.

2012, March 22

A tattoo design for a friend, dated July 24, 2011. If I remember correctly he didn't like the design for the word 'Listen', so I'll probably re work that in the future. He's been waiting a good little while for it.

2012, March 22

The most damning evidence as to why I could never be a great artist can be found in this sketch, again from my first drawing class in college - drawing 101. Done with a mechanical pencil, in about 20 minutes. Though the start of the drawing, and the more complete portions of the skeleton show general good form, shading, and placement, I simply could not complete it.

In the majority of my art, the brunt of the work is done quickly, and then I tire - becoming bored and eventually completely uninterested. I can't explain why, and when prodded by the teacher I could only come up with the reasoning that I had completed what I found interesting in the subject - and felt that the addition of more elements, more particulars or more detail, would be a waste of time and effort. What I felt was important was done. He seemed to think that was fine.

2012, March 22

A figure drawing done in charcoal, again from my first art class in college last year (2011) - Drawing 101. This was a good lesson in lighting and shading (we were only supposed to draw the shadows of the objects in front of us, in my case a skull, a metal mask to the left, a mannequin head to the right, and a woman with an elongated neck smoking a pipe rear/center left), how different textures react to warm, soft light and how it effects their shadows. There are distinct errors in this piece, but also things that I feel very comfortable and proud of. I really like the job I did on the skulls teeth, nose and eyes, yet I have problems with how the jaw line and cheeks came out (both proportion wise, and shading).

I wish the woman smoking in the back had had more neck definition.

2012, March 22

Delicate arch in Utah, drawn from a photograph in my first college art class last year (2011) - Drawing 101. It has comparatively dull colors; sometime in the future I'm probably going to go back over it and make it pop with brighter oranges and reds, as I've never been a fan of washed out colors, and dull effects. This was also a learning experience in charcoal for me, as most of the dark shading was done in charcoal, and smeared horribly.

P.S. - I generally feel I did a horrendous job on the skyline. As I remember I finished the arch, and just wanted the piece to be done. So I slapped it together.

2012, March 21

Just a little oil work, done in some spare time at work. I think it looks fair, for only the second piece of oil work I've ever done. I'm going to try and work more consistently in oil, as I would like to emulate the van Gogh impressionist style. The striking movement of his paint really brings out emotions for me. As a side note, I really love classic landscapes. Typically, though, they're devoid of any life or action - but the sublime nature of the rolling forest, peaked mountains, and spacious fields all have a uniquely captivating effect on me.