I was super busy with my day job and totally not able to do any art today (sigh, again) so here is another chapter in the art of 2020. I feel like I’m missing images, so it’s probably not a complete treatise. As far as the background on each artwork? It’s in the posts. Hope you like it.
local art
The Bubble
I wanted to see if I could create the feeling of being inside a space helmet, without creating an actual helmet. I think it was a success.
Also, if you wonder what it looks like in the creation process, here’s a screenshot.
Basically, there’s a lot of illusion in the creation of art, especially digital art. This is a top down perspective, but some things are shrunk others grown, and placing objects just as they would occur in life, such as the four screens, don’t always give the best artistic visual. Anyway, thought you may like to know what’s behind the mask.
Fantasy v. Reality
One of the types of art I’ve enjoyed creating is the juxtaposition of adrenaline charged high fantasy, with the cold mundane-ness of reality. I’ve done a few creations to this end. Let’s explore:
The first is, “A Warrior Walks into a Bar.” I created this from multiple angles, because there is a lot more going on than just another portrait.
I did a second take to focus more on the server and her reaction to the impossibility of someone bringing their horse into the bar – which has been done in cinema.
Another cool thing about alternate angles is that it can showcase other players in the scene and what they are really doing, for example, the bartender saying to the Warrior that horses are definitely not allowed in the bar.
Finally, there’s the boredom that any gamer feels when having to ‘adult.’ In this case, our hero can’t wait to get out and slay the dragon, but she has to do the TPS report first.
Lost Mews-ing
Channeling the Black Dog today, which is why this subject is dark.
The #painting is heavily influenced by two things: #Strangerthings the TV show (also #Strangerthings2) & H.P. #Lovecraft. I’m calling it ‘Lost #Mews-ings’ (after the #cat in the show)… at least until I pick a different title.
It’s not my best work, because a lot is lost between what I envision in my head and what appears on the canvas. I’m also using a Monet reference model again. Why? Monet is awesome, and I don’t have my pose-able figurines yet. They should be here after Christmas. Someday I should actually sketch these things out, then paint, but that’s part of the fun – brain to canvas.
Also, this started as a challenge to paint a flashlight beam. I don’t know if I achieved that. I’ll let you tell me.
#art #acrylic #horror #scifi #tentacle
The Calm Before the Heresy
“The Calm Before the Heresy.” 18×24 #acrylic #painting on #canvas. $300 if interested, which is, mmm, $0.70 per square inch, plus $20 shipping CONUS. That’s a great deal. Prices are sure to shoot up the moment I’m discovered 🙂
I had the idea a couple weeks back, but it really wanted out of my head today. It’s part of my ramp up to #Halloween, the season of #magic – where the boundaries between our world and the #supernatural are at their weakest.
The setting is #Colonial #America, or Europe, suit yourself (as Marty Feldman used to say). A man, walking through the woods, comes upon a scene of #occult #witchcraft, or worship as the old religions call it. You get the rest, burnings, hangings, people succumbing to their basest instincts.
Cattitude
I initially hated this, but it’s starting to grow on me. I have to add Cats to creatures I can’t do photorealistic paintings of. I can, of course, take a cat and make a similar looking one but exact likeness – not yet.
There’s lots going on in the painting; direction of stroke, color theory and so on. I don’t know what that means, because I didn’t got to RISD, but it makes me sound like I know what I’m doing, haha.
If you like it, please share. I can’t sell it, because my mom saw it and laid claim to it. If you would like me to paint your cat or kitten, please contact me.
18 x 24 Acrylic on Canvas.
Parity Lost
“Everyone knew the war would one day end. It had raged for eons since Lucifer decided he would rather own his house than pay rent. The sides of light and darkness had fought themselves to a standstill. “If only God’s pets could see the ethereal ruin that lay in between their Starbucks and obsession with the Kardashians,” most angels mused to themselves as the conflict went on.
What no one expected, was for the war to end today. No one foresaw that the strongest of the Angels would exercise her free will, just as Lucifer had at the beginning of time. She had grown weary of the routine, the constant pressure of vigilance, of maintaining the balance, and had decided to do something about it. She would become what God loved most – human.
As her wings relented under the blade, tremors shook the ethereal, summoning Lucifer to her side. He loved her, this angel, his greatest threat. He had held her in greater esteem than those braggarts Michael and Gabriel. She, who had fought him to an aeons-long standstill, had earned his respect, and worse, corrupted the purity of his hate with love, however selfish.
She had chosen to become mortal, a contemptible, imperfect, creature that had what all angels desired. Now, the balance had shifted. He had loathed the favorites of God, he had achieved self-actualization through his torment of them – and now she was one of them! Could he go on destroying them? His heart sank at the only conclusion he could reach. The war was over.”
Kamikazbees
Kamikazbees is the result of a thought I had while on the throne of seclusion. I was thinking of World War II, as I am usually found doing, then thought of bees coming in for a landing on a flower. I made the sunflower look like the Rising Sun flag (of the Japanese Empire). As I was painting, I thought of the title that would fit the action.
The painting itself is a little jejune, and so I may take a break from painting, so I can recharge my creative battery. It’s a sunflower, with bees beginning to land. I actually learned quite about bees during the research. The legs, antennae, and even the wings are a result of that intellectual dive.
The vitals: 16×20, acrylic on canvas. There’s some texture there, but the photo doesn’t show it. May 2017.
Let’s Talk Commissions
I do commission work. If you’ve got something in mind, need something big, different from my norm, etc., I will take on the job.
You’ll notice that my art generally is in the 16×20 or 18×24 range. This is due to storage issues. I’ve done two bigger works, each at 30-something by forty-something (below), and have had to store them on my walls since there’s only so much space for keeping these paintings dry and temperature controlled.
Unity, 2016
This isn’t to say I wouldn’t mind painting bigger canvases, but until I get my studio set up, slated for February 2018, I can only take commissions for bigger work.
Firefly, 2016 (A light-based, 3-D Painting / Sculpture)
So yeah, big canvases are not a problem. I use a formula to calculate the price, basically a base of the canvas size times hours invested, plus materials and the dreaded beast – shipping.
If you are interested in having something painted, by all means contact me. If you have a reference picture that would be super-awesome. We can set up a conference call to discuss the work desired.
Note, my Achilles heel is doing realistic paintings of people. Animals? No problem. Concept or abstract art? Also, no problem. I will do portraits but can’t guarantee they will be spot on. Let’s go to the studio for a reference (below):
Now, granted this was painted two years ago when I was just starting (hopefully I’ve gotten better), but there are things I would do better/different now. Luckily, payment sort of fell through (they broke up), so I don’t feel bad about the work.
So actual portraits are a roll of the dice, enhanced portraits (kind of like Hollywood – based on actual people / events) are doable. Landscapes, flowers, animals, or abstract? The sky is the limit.
If you’re interested in hiring me to do commission work, send me an email using the contact form.
Wildflowers
I lost another long post (hint to WordPress, fix your app), so I will again give the short version.
I’ve been doodling. Over the last few days I’ve been trying to replicate the way the eye will focus on one-element, while others are blurred. I’m using flowers for this experiment.
For the out of focus elements, I used spray paint and simple forms. The foreground elements are done using acrylic paint. To achieve light in the background, I used metallic paint mixed in with the darker colors.
Like it? Make me an offer. Note: The canvas is damaged on the side. I’ve repaired it with Gorilla Glue and paint. If framed, no one but us will ever know it’s there. I cut the canvas trying to remove it from my table as it was painted onto the surface.
As it looks on the wall. 16×20.
Flowers of May
This is a practice canvas for an idea I’m putting together. Concepts here are the use of biological principles in painting. The human eye cannot focus on the foreground and background at the same time, so I’m trying to develop these techniques for future use.
By using flowers, I’m connecting with my affinty for the plant kingdom; which dominates my flat. I have a green thumb, to say the least. Anyway, here it is.
Mary and the Last Sinner
I had an entire long post ready to go but thanks to an app crash, I’ll give you the highlights.
I wasn’t going to share this painting. I didn’t think it worthy, but people started to like it, so, here we are.
There’s two themes going on here. First, there’s a piece of Papayrus at Harvard (this is not the Dan Brown / Da Vinci Code angle) that has a line where Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my Wife”. Imagine that? Going from fallen prostitute to the equal (or better than, in the words of Paul) of Jesus. The documentary I watched “The Gospel of Mary“, started the ball rolling on this idea. I was originally going to paint just her.
As an aside, and from a historical perspective since I’m not religious (there’s a long story involving an ex-wife that caused me to be like the hit R.E.M song with God), I’m fascinated by what got in the Bible, what got left out (Gnosticism, Council of Nicea, etc.), and the power-plays that took place to put down Mary (labeling her a prostitute). So painting this had a lot to do with egalité, as the French would say.
Next I came across a Mark Twain quote that made me pause:
“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?”
I thought, “who better to bring the word of God to the first and last sinner?” So I had Mary confronting the great vvrym and closing the loop on this Christianity thing – a denouement of sorts, but without the 80’s soundtrack.
The painting had a working title of “Prom Dress Mary and the Pompadour (fixed) Dragon“. That title should explain why I wasn’t going to post it at first. Anyway, here it is.