Varnishing Day

Saturday I varnished a bunch of work at the studio. I'm always a fan of varnishing a batch of work, it really pulls together the body of work into a cohesive whole, that are very consistent with each other. It's refreshing to step back and look at a batch of paintings you've been creating for a while, and see them in their final, glossy, hangable state.

Lizard!!

Continuing with the animal imagery, and working with those in particular that have visually rich lines, textures and shapes, I've finally been able to start my lizard, likely one of many, and this is the start of the line work. Expect an updated image in the next couple of days.

Image of My Studio

I felt like taking some cool Black and White Studio shots recently. Here is a neat one that shows off my working space as well as a lot of the work I am currently creating (and getting ready for the two upcoming shows - One of a Kind being the big one). My work is now going to be for sale at a store here in Vancouver called Bird on a Wire Creations, at Main and Broadway. The owner is amazingly nice and kind and helpful and want to do everything she can to promote me and my work. I'm so stoked for it!!

Three New Animal Paintings In Progress

So I'm obviously obsessed with making the run of crow paintings, but I'm stoked on exploring other animals as well. The variety of skin textures, line work, and other cool areas of visual interest are very interesting.

Here are three works in progress:

Hockey Commission

The three pieces of hockey equipment that I was working on in and amongst other projects is now complete. As always, the document photos here are placed for quick visual reference, and are not final documentations, although the idea still certainly gets across.

I am happy with how these turned out! I am looking forward to seeing them hung in a Vancouver home :)

The Current State of Things No. 5

This weekend has been good in the studio. Lots of artistic messing around, experimenting, and completing new pieces.

I recently finalized three new crow pieces (Crows 4, 5 and 6) and am about to finalize #7. Below are some other interesting things I did yesterday.

I am starting a batch of several smaller (12" x 12") works where I am preparing the background surface BEFORE the drawing. Most of the time lately I have been doing the drawing, then painting, then integrating them together. This current approach I am starting will allow me to see the results of experimenting with altering the order of the comfort zone.

These are already looking like they will be more colourful, as the background surface is bright but also very complete on the surface area - my other works haven't filled the entire surface in the same way, I've been leaving negative white space. So we will see what becomes of this!!

Also here are two other works in progress, which I worked on, and posted for viewing.

The Current State of Things No. 4

Here are a couple of updates to existing pieces. I worked on three drawn canvases yesterday evening, and prepared a couple of textured surfaces for upcoming works.

Now that these have the chance to dry I will be able to draw into all three of them to start integrating the paint work into the line work

Two Pieces Nearly Finished

I'm ready to put the final touches on these little guys.

As usual, bear in mind the colours are off cuz of my crappy iPhone camera. The good, high res documentation will be on the gallery site once the final pieces are posted!

These will have a future home, after varnishing and completion, in Bird on a Wire Creations here in Vancouver for exhibition/sale, or at my two upcoming shows.

The Current State of Things

I'm wrapping up work on the hockey equipment commission I've been working on. Also, this weekend, I made some good progress with one of my Crow pieces.

I'm very happy with the integration of the paint on the crows. After some good critiquing with a studio mate I am going to push forward on my future pieces with a painted surface FIRST then draw on top of THAT, then apply more paint as needed. This will be to further integrate the paint to the drawn lines. I'm super stoked about the evolution of style and the body of work that is building up at my studio!

The hockey pieces are mostly finished. The stick, and skate, are complete. I'm about 75% finished the glove. My next painting session should be enough to complete that one, and then I may need to apply some "unifying" brushwork to all three at the same time, finish the edges, and finalize the set.

I've also put a shot of my studio in its current state, because it looks cool.

Diceros Bicornis

Being Wednesday, I took part in my friends' and my weekly Drawing Jam @ Benny's Cafe in Vancouver. We sit around for a couple of hours and draw, chat, listen to music and engage in festive merriment.

I started work on a new piece that I'm really stoked to get working on in the studio with paint etc, as the earthiness of the rhino skin tones are going to look very good in light oil paint washes. This image has so much power to me - such an ancient animal, apparently which only has five varieties left on the planet (which is crazy to me when I think of how many varieties of dogs, crows, flies, etc we have)..

This piece is larger and is therefore going to require a second drawing session to complete the line work! (Lately all of my pieces get the drawing treatment finished in one sitting). It's 24" x 24", and with the level of complexity I like to get with the lines it definately merrits that second session.

This is a piece I would have liked to have prepared some sort of surface texture for first, but that is coming on future projects :)

Enjoy, RAWWWR

Not Sure If It's Done...

I worked on a couple of pieces at the studio today, and this one got a fair amount of attention. However, I'm not sure if it is complete yet...

I think I need a bit of time to stare at it/contemplate its completion.

The Current State of Things

I thought it would be fun to post an image of the current state of my studio.

My studio is located at 110 East Hastings, in the back of the Gam Gallery in Vancouver. I love spending time there. At the end of this month however I will relocate to a new studio up the street from the Gam.

PS I tidied up after today's painting session.

Rooster!!

My last drawing to be turned into a painting is a rooster. I've made this to switch up the flow of crows (haha) and to keep myself artistically excited.

What I'm most attracted to in this subject, and that of the crows, is the varying textures and interesting visuals that translate well into a variety of linework.

Based on that, I'm stoked to do a piece of a rhinoscerous. That will come when the time is right.

Crow X

Because its number 10...I think...I promise I have a counter coming soon :) (ie actually figuring out how many I have..)

But for NOW - here's the lil guy I drew at the coffee shop this evening, with my friend Maria.

The setting: Me, lying on a comfy leather couch, no shoes. Next to a fire. Listened to two Zeppelin albums (2 and 3) and drinking green tea.

Info: 16"x16", ink on canvas

JOY

Drawing Complete For Crow Number...

... I'm not sure where I'm at with numbers. This is around 7, or 8. They are all at various stages of completion. #'s 1, 2 and 3 are complete, and on my gallery site. I number them in the order I create them, but since I've got several lying around my studio and house right now in different stages of completeness, I haven't actually gotten to line them up chronologically and draw a timeline.

In any regard, this is a cool one that I like, its slightly smaller, 12" x 12" on a 1.5" deep gallery style canvas. This coming long weekend means lots of painting of these guys...

:)

I'm off to work on the next one now. Expect a post by tomorrow.

My brain is also bouncing with some new animal study ideas, and I've sourced some images and gotten a huge interest in the idea of painting:

- a rhinoscerous (spelling..)
- a rooster
- a pigeon
- a pig

So we will see what comes in the future.

New Piece Finished

Last night I completed a new work.

I've gotten in a very good groove lately. I spend several nights per week drawing in public on the canvases, and prepping them for painting at coffee shops or other venues. This is a fun evening excursion, but also allows me to promote my work and interact with new people.

I take these pieces to the studio another couple of nights per week and work on the painted component.

This piece is an example of an evening of drawing, and an evening of studio-painting.

I'm going to be creating as many of these as possible over the next two months. The upcoming One of a Kind show in early December is a huge opportunity for my work to be promoted to new faces...and I wish to have as much new work as possible ready for it!

I'm really, really stoked about the direction this combination of drawing and painting is going....