I’m trying to commit myself to finishing this painting, which has sat unattended for months, within two weeks. It’s being done in a mix of acrylic slurry (”sludge”; the byproduct of manufacturing acrylic paint — sort of a neutral plastic mud), irridescents, and regular acrylic paints.

SOLD

I’m not sure if it’s totally done yet, but it’s definitely almost done. As I mentioned in the first entry, this is a mix of standard acrylics and metallic paints as well, on a 24″x48″ canvas. I think next I’m going to finish off the turtle painting because my “real” work should finally be firing up again and I have months of catch-up to do which will make me quite swamped (which is a wonderful thing).

I took this picture outside in overcast weather so I think it’s quite accurate in terms of colour, but still it looks much better in person I think.

I’d wanted a tattoo of a jack rabbit for a long time but I don’t have enough room left for a life sized one. Next best thing is a painting of one. I used a photograph, enlarged it with a projector and decided on colour as I worked. Shannon helped make technical decisions (”You should thicken up the outside line”) and took the picture.

The starfish are painted with a mix of rubine red, iridescent silver, and micaceous iron oxide acrylics so it’s a sort of “unphotographable” painting… I haven’t decided yet how to progress in terms of colour scheme, and am currently flip-flopping between a bluish duotone and typical bright psychedelia. This painting is currently unspoken for if anyone reading this feels like making me an advance offer.

All rumors of my limitless wealth from the sale of paintings to gazillionaires aside, even though I am stretching my luck covering my basic bills this month, I picked up three wood panels today for a multi-frame painting that I’m planning of some critters playing catch (two critter panels and a ball panel)… although I still have to finish Cold Water Extraction, I figure I’ll do that quickie first.

SOLD

Note: The original entry is after the break… You can see that since then I’ve repainted the owl’s eyes on Caitlin’s suggestion (“it’s dark in space so their pupils should be dilated” — true), added some white linework, and beefed up some of the outlines. Other than the frame, it may be done now. You can click the painting for a much higher resolution picture (warning: about half a meg) if you want.

I still don’t have the depth of color right; it’s much deeper and richer than this picture conveys… I really need to learn how to photograph my work properly.

Read the rest of this entry »

Continue reading for close-up pictures of what Caitlin and I are each working on…

Read the rest of this entry »

I fiddled a bit on Owl’s Adventure III today (already sold), and Caitlin did some doodling in paint on a sloth portrait… This photo was taken in pretty terrible lighting so it doesn’t really show the colors of either of these incomplete pieces very well. It really brings me immense joy to be in a house so full of art, as cluttered as it may be because of that!

I finished the “Guitar Hero” painting today. It’s for sale… rent’s due so I’m feeling reasonable! You can’t see him super well in this picture, but I’m particularly thrilled with the lizard Lars Umlaut. The painting is done in a kind of duotone in lime green mixed with grays — other than the TV image and the guitar hero controller buttons of course.

PS. If you’re wondering he’s playing Cliffs of Dover…

I hadn’t painted anything other than walls since high school and I am pretty happy with how these turned out. The smaller one is a portrait of my mother’s cat, Harriet. The larger one was influenced by our trip to Cape Breton Island (our land is covered in birch trees) and my love of owls. They are gifts for my mother and father.

First: I’d strongly appreciate if conversation on this blog was kept to art, homesteading, and other stuff tied to the entries as much as possible… BodyTwo was taken down for a reason and while I know everyone wants to know the details, I’d rather not have those issues affect this site as well. There will be a time and place when it’s possible to discuss this at length but this isn’t that time or place… Thank you.

Second: If anyone has any ideas as to why this blog renders its archive and index pages wrong on IE (other than “IE sucks!”), please drop me a line so I can fix it… Or switch to FireFox!

* * *

Third: I’m still alive and doing fine and looking forward to a wonderful holiday period with Nefarious and Caitlin and others, and am as always, working to create lots of new stuff. A couple more paintings are now on the go — on the left is “Where Water Snakes Come From” “The Origin of Water Snakes” and on the right is “Owl’s Adventure III” (on wood panel).

I’m also giving a lot more thought to the idea of the children’s art museum, and perhaps launching a children’s clothing line at the same time. I was being interviewed by a doctor yesterday as part of my ongoing legal stuff, and he asked me how I saw myself, and I told him that I saw myself as someone with a deep drive to create things of beauty, bring them into the world, and share them with as many people as I can.