the back-bone flute

a woman and her ostrich

2010-04-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

here is the woman and ostrich completed with ink and charcoal.
trying to develop a material collage of sorts to "nest" her into:

developing a web comic

2010-04-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

So Lucas has created a of pile short comics for me to illustrate that i've been trying to develop both a style and process for to finally turn into a regular web comic. We decided it to be called "Tomorrowesque" and its world exists in antiquated conceptions of the future. Most of the time taking a form of both absurd and grim.

So here are some partial renditions.

Here is one in an early ink stage:
Here is an alternative of this using a combination of ink and charcoal which together i am really enjoying though i am not sure if it works well in the comic form:

Same idea for a different one using graphite in addition to ink and charcoal. Seems to have a cleaner look here:

Finally here is how it looks when illustrated on the computer:

around portland

2010-04-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

here are some pages from my black book of people and things around portland.

the gazebo at the rose garden on ainsworth:

a woman twirling a stick at unthank park near our house:

Jorge playing with Lucas and Russell at Suzettes:

Anton playing some of his irish tunes at Jazz Cats:

and finally Lucas and Steve:

recent sketches

2010-04-01T22:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent sketches referenced from the film adaptation of the unbearable lightness of being:

a young mr. daniel day lewis:

two versions of Sabina that I took some liberty with but less satisfied about:

i'm finding doing sketches of photos to be less of a good exercise as opposed to live subjects. although they provide well for reference it doesn't exercise the eye as much or demand quick and confident work. so i will probably divert for a while form this sort of work.

album complete and released

2010-04-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

I have been way overdue for an update on this blog. So here are several posts to satisfy.
First Anton's album Noone Lasses was released:
http://www.celticfingerstyleguitar.com/
and it sounds fantastic. His album can be found on CDBaby and itunes.

Here is the finished product:

inkhh

2010-02-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

here is some recent ink work.
I've found recently that I enjoy working with ink a lot especially in combination with gouache and charcoal.

The deer head one I may just leave as is being that I was mainly focused on playing with floral pattern and line work.

For the woman on the ostrich though I am trying to clean up my charcoal work on the side to fill in the dark areas later not sure if want to use a light ink wash instead.

sketches

2010-02-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent sketches.
This first one used marion cotillard's face as reference
and the second is referenced from a still of charlotte gainsbourg and willem dafoe from Lars Von Triers film "anti-christ" which i absolutely loved but cautiously recommend.

Noone Lasses

2010-02-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

I recently completed in January some album art for my friend Anton Emery. He plays celtic guitar and his album should be out in the time of a few weeks. Be sure to check out his website: http://www.celticfingerstyleguitar.com/.

Here are the front and back covers:

About this blog.

2010-02-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

So I think it is appropriate to start this blog with an explanation for why it exists and for what reason it will continue. Firstly I want it to serve as an ongoing or living portfolio for creative works visual and written. During college and most of high school I have relegated most pursuits in art to a kind of hobby status with casual attention and practice. Having graduated recently and with an extraordinary amount of free time coincided with some mournfully long bouts of unemployment I find it that this is an area of my life that I want to give full attention to and develop not only professionally but as an everyday matured part of my person.

This will mean that I will be regularly posting works in progress or completed and technical practices such as sketches. Personally I intend for this to be a way to keep myself motivated to produce and practice work regularly, provide a space for criticism and improvement , and a place that can be referred to for those professionally or casually interested. I also want this to be a place where I can articulate openly and give concreteness to certain ideas and projects and even dialogue with others. I am considering not only posting my own work but short bits about the work of others that have grabbed my attention in a particular way so I can vocalize and understand that interest and inspiration.

The title of this blog has been ripped from above the body of an excellent poem by V. Mayakovsky for not only its own quality as a title but as a work that is partially a love poem it reminds well how nightmarish and demanding a passion can be.