Scum Choir

Mask in Motion

Here's my mask design idea. I'll probably change the ornate gashes. But this is the concept

I got these blank paper masks and started painting som...

Mask Sketch

For me it seems like some of the best ideas come when I don't have time for them. Yesterday I was late for something and rushing out of the house. And then this mask idea just popped into my head. It seemed like the answer to the problem of the pa...

The Map, two masks and some hands

Many of the earlier mask thumbnails I did were a little too wild for the purposes of this painting. 

The thing about masks is that they are designed to disguise, In many cases they were used to symbolically transform. 

I love...

Composition Sketches

Some more sketches of this idea. Variations on the mask. I realized that I basically drew the same thing twice. So I think I'm settled on the composition and am going to focus on some of the details. Such as the mask, the hands, the costume, etc.&...

Back from the Photographer

Sometimes I think about how much work goes into this. Not just the painting, but the framing, varnishing, photographing it. All that kind of work. It really makes me want to make work that is worth doing all that work for. Because if you're going ...

Given over to the Bitter Flames

Here's some video from the sculpture night the other night.  So many people working on cool stuffs. 

Mine's definitely the least fun of all these creations. 

I just made a template to help me build other (hopefully) cool...

Mask sketches

A couple of mask sketches. These are copies from a book. I'm just looking for ideas at this point.

Happy Jan 20th Everybody

Last night I went to Sculpture night at the Hive.

It was great. I feel rejuvinated. I worked on a head ma...

Sketches for a New Piece

I have all these painting studies that I did last year that I'm going to start developing. I'm doing sketchbook sessions based on this painting:

I...

Full painting timelapse of "The Cave"

Usually I like to edit these things down to 1-2 minutes. And I'll still do that for the social media and what not. But I wanted to show the Choir the whole thing.

I filmed everything with my regular camera and I had my phone set up behind th...

My best painting

Well. About a month of development and prep and 2 and a half weeks of solid painting in 4-12 hour shifts. This is the biggest painting I've done in over 5 years. I haven't felt this good about a painting in a long time.

I think this is my be...

Signing it as jolly as ever

I think I'm done. Signed it last night before bed. I did more looking at it today. I didn't touch it.

I took some pictures in its frame to send to the gallery.

I took it to the photographer tonight in San Pedro. More on that later. I'l...

Looking at it

Today I mostly just looked at it. I made small changes where I saw fit. But I spend hours mostly just looking. It’s kind of hard to think of it as “working on a painting” if you aren’t doing a lot of painting. Just sitting and looking. But...

Who let the dogs out?

I think I’ve put 24 hours of work into this over the last 2 days. I’m trying to find a photographer to take pictures of it. I also have to varnish it. The varnish will take about 2 days to dry. Assuming I find a photographer, that will take a ...

Closing in

I started putting in details and textures. For the first time since I started this painting, I feel confident that I can finish. The end is in sight. There will be more 8 hour shifts for the next few days. But It's just about zoning in and doing w...

Cute Killer Penguin First Color Pass

Very loose first color pass. Just wanted to add some color to everything at this point. It kind of flattens everything down a bit, so I'll have to go back in and bring the shadows and highlights back. 

From here on out that's what the p...

Today I thought about the Donner party in the shower

I'm about to prepare my Sta-wet pallet and I'll start coloring this tonight. 

Mostly because of tick tick tick at this point. I've got less than a week to finish. 

But it also feels like a comfortable time to do it. 

Texture on the Primordial Face

Today I spent a lot of time working on the texture on the "primordial face." I'm trying to get a good texture on it without losing the structure. I made some texture marks on the clay model to help me see the lighting effects on the little nooks a...

Dogmatic Surrealism

Still making the rounds with the gray scale. It's getting a little more detailed, a little more refined. Started adding some texture to places. The fabric on the figure in the very front is driving me a little crazy. I keep coming back to it and r...

The Belly of the Whale

The Frame came today! I put the painting in it to make sure it would fit. It does. And it's cool to get an idea of what it will look like when It's finally done. 

I call this part of the process "making the rounds." Because I just keep ...

The Landscape Zone

I zoned in to the background landscape today. I love doing landscapes. I think because they can just emerge out of nowhere. It's just natural for me to create random brushstrokes and be able to see hills and cliffs and valleys in it. I always feel...

Common Foolishness

Light, Shadow, Form

Making progress. Still sticking with the process as stated in the last post. At this point I'm just trying to get the values right. I started on the background a little bit. I'll probably try and finish the background and...

Update from the Cave pt. III

Painting. Finally. 

To be honest I was a little shy with the paint at first. I did all this sculpting and prep stuff and then I thought "I don't know where to start."

So I just started.

2024-01-06 01:02:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Update from the Cave Pt. II

After I started looking at the canvas with the reference photos I took, the ideas started coming into focus for me. 

Ideas about the design and about the themes.  Also ideas about how to sculpt the reference model.

This was o...

Update from the Cave pt. I

After I did all those little thumbnail sketches and color studies, I wanted to make some 3 dimensional references for the painting. 

This is not a very straight forward process for me. 

Typically when an artist creates refere...

New Prompt Announcement

EDIT: The original flyer said submissions due January 2nd. They're due February 2nd

We're doing masks! This was another tie breaker vote. I chose masks because it seems appropriate for that to be the first prompt of the year.

It woul...

Insect Larvae

Sketches for the big cave painting. I don't want to describe the idea here because I feel like if I articulate it in words it will loose something. 

But I started looking at pictures of insect larvae, eggs, caterpillars etc. and I drew ...

Inner Landscape Submissions

The prompt submissions this month made me remember why I love doing them. Good Job Everybody. I like seeing what everyone comes up with every month. But for this one especially I enjoyed the strength and variety of the submissions. Every new one t...

Last Painting Last Playlist

Well. We did it. This is my prompt submission for inner landscape.

I'm leaning towards the name "Necro Hermit Golden Sunshine."

Or just "Golden Sunshine." Or just "Necro Hermit." I don't know. thoughts?

I know I Just did a 20 min...

Last Video of the Year! Recital and Recap of 2023

In this video I do little (sort of) guitar recital, paint my inner landscape painting and recap the significant things that happened regarding my art life this year. 

This was a pretty positive year for me and my art. 

The mo...

Janky Set Up Automatic Drawing

I did some automatic drawing using the thumbnails I did as a loose reference for the gesture. 

I didn't think about what everything was. just let it flow through. Then I spent probably 30 minutes looking at it.

What I see, I will ...