Beware what you ask for...

Well, a post or two back I was fantasizing about locking myself away for a week and just doing art. I got my wish... sort of. I threw my back out last Thurs. at work and have been in bed ever since. Aside from feeling guilty for not being at work, and not being able to just jump up to get more coffee, go to the bathroom... anything, I did get some artwork done sitting on my butt all day. I completed a larger scale version of the osprey skull I posted earlier and am so pleased with it! No, it's not a grand work of art... but I like it. That's a huge achievement for me. I've come across two new thoughts also... it's ok for art to look like art, instead of what  exactly what it's of, and art's not a competition. How often do artists look at a finished work and think of some other artist who could have done it better? I do all the time... it doesn't measure up to my idea of what someone else's standards are.... well, that's just stupid and it cripples me.... so in the process of repainting the osprey I kept thinking "do I like this? does it please me to look at it?" When I could answer 'yes' to those questions the painting was done and I find myself content about a piece I did. YAY!

now if only I could convince my best friend of all this....

Cat skull update and new 'support system'

I remembered that I'd once heard a watercolor artist mention that she stretched her paper over a frame like you would linen for an oil painting, so I googled it. Apparently this isn't as uncommon as I'd thought when I heard about it so I thought I'd try it. I now have 2 5x7 watercolor paper canvases... so far I like working on it alot, no warping, no having to tape it down, it's lovely. I'm doing the cat skull and I think it's coming along ok so far.... here's a work in progress shot...

Forgotten long nosed armadillo WIP

I mentioned I'd be working on a cat skull next, and I am, however I remembered this piece I started a few weeks ago....

I came across this little guy in my search for interestingly shaped skulls and thought he was just about the cutest thing I'd seen in a long time. I think I'll finish him up first.

Animal Skull Watercolor Paintings

Of all the subjects in the world why skulls? This thought has been bouncing around in my head for a while now and I think I have an answer. As a tattoo artist I've been surrounded by them; in the flash art, the paintings my fellow artists do for themselves, and as knick knacks all over the shop... sometimes models, sometimes the real thing... but always the same thing, human skulls.

For years I've mostly ignored skulls as subject matter, I found the idea of drawing endless pictures of the same thing frightfully dull. Animal skulls, however, are widely diverse but with all the interest (maybe more) of a human skull as a subject. Lots of nooks and cracks, large smooth areas, not to mention that some of them just look completely alien.

My biggest hurdle as an artist has always been completing a 'body of work', I lose interest halfway through and go on to another subject. I'm planning on completing at least 10 skull paintings, not a large number but hey, start small right? Below are the skulls I've done so far...

Moa Skull

Saber-toothed Tiger Skull

Chihuahua Skull

Burrowing Owl Skull

Osprey Skull

Greater Flamingo skull watercolor

Well, I finished it....

Learning to use watercolors is turning out to be good for me. I have a tendency to 'noodle the details' and watercolors do not allow me to be as anal about it as usual.

Next project... a cat skull

WIP

The latest watercolor of a flamingo skull is plodding along.....

I plan on darkening some shadows a bit and painting the dragonfly.... I'm thinking royal blue and teal.

I've been asked to do an ATC of a frog and hopefully will be able to polish them both off tonight... I tend not to sleep at all on Sunday nights. I will be holed up on the couch with my art supplies and endless episodes of 'the L word'.   I really dig Shane lol.

Amoeba butterfly

Another 6x6 for the Rochester Contemporary Art Center.

Harvey

In memory of the dreds he just chopped off

graphite on 9"x12" plate bristol

Jim

Jim... our local "Carlinesque" coffee shop lounger.

9"x12" graphite on plate bristol

Zack

Graphite on 9x12 plate bristol

Pete

Graphite on 9x12 plate bristol

Mason

Mason

Graphite on 9x12 plate bristol

Shawna

This is a 9x12 in. graphite portrait done on plate bristol I did of my co-worker Shawna.