Blast(s) From the Past...

Night Must Fall, 1999, 20x30 inches, airbrushed acrylics on illustration board.

I'm going to be launching my new website soon, and there will be an "archive" page (of some sort), which will feature some of the airbrushed science fiction paintings I was making more than a decade ago--

--this kind of thing. (This painting was based on a photograph that was from photo-shoot I arranged years ago with a lovely young lady who was studying nursing here in Kansas City. My best friend had just moved into a new apartment, and his furniture hadn't yet arrived, so he, my ex-wife, and I spent the afternoon setting up various shots of our lovely model, at his new place, against the bare white walls...)

Another funny thing about this painting; my chiropractor saw it, and mentioned that it seemed that the model might have had scoliosis as a child (which, of course, she did!) Yeah, I was a bit flattered that I apparently painted this accurately enough that an accurate diagnosis could be made, just from my painting!)

Ironically, the portfolio that I submitted to the Kansas City Art Institute included mostly these airbrushed sci-fi pieces, but it was my experiences at KCAI which led me to the paintings I'm making now...

A Change in (Studio) Tactics...

I keep a lot of stuff in my studio: reference books, photos, and models; CDs, drawing tools, paper, raw canvas, paint, etc. The last couple of times that I've moved, I've spent a great deal of time, after moving, re-arranging my studio until everything is in its place. Organizing all this stuff kept me from doing any actual artwork--sketching, drawing, painting--'til I was satisfied that everything was in its proper place.

This time, I decided that being able to make art should be my priority, and if that means leaving some stuff unpacked--in boxes or piles on the studio floor, or in the garage--for a while longer, so be it. So, I've been able to work on several new sketches, which will hopefully become new drawings before too long, over the last several evenings.

Tonight, I'm going to do some painting...

Interlude...

Eight wonderful friends showed up last Saturday to help us move. In one day, we were able to move most of our belongings to our new place, including all of the "large" furniture, tools, and other such bulky "stuff". Two of Liora's friends, in particular, were instrumental; we couldn't have done it without their generous help.

I'm thinking of starting to blog on some sort of regular schedule, perhaps posting a new blog entry over the weekend, and definitely on an art-related topic.

We still don't have the Internet hooked up in our new place, yet. We were supposed to have it installed last Saturday, but they wanted to install the satellite dish in a way that did not please our new landlords.

So, for now, I'm blogging from work. (I know, I'm a BAD boy!)

I will definitely have an "Art" entry for this coming weekend, though (and since I'm off this weekend, I'll try to post it tomorrow...)

Moving, plus the new stuff: "a preview" (in words)...

I had forgotten (or, more likely) repressed, just how much work moving is. I had Friday, yesterday, and today off, and I've been moving about four carloads of stuff (on average) each day, over to the new place. About half of the floor of the room that will be my new studio is covered in boxes, and I just finished disassembling the drafting table, and putting most of it in the car.

I'm hoping to have it reassembled and set up, in the new studio, tonight--

--but I'm getting tired. It's been a very long weekend.

I haven't heard from the guy about the truck, which is fine--plenty of other things to do. But, my fear is that he'll call asking me to start work on it right away, without any advance notice. That'll be a problem because I'll need time to have the supplies purchased and delivered; I only buy automotive paint when I need it. If he doesn't allow for that plus the actual painting-time, I won't have time to do a really good job, even if there's enough time to meet his deadline.

But, I haven't heard from him, so I'm not going to worry about it right now.

I've been thinking--a lot--about my next three paintings. All three are basically new versions of some paintings I began working on while I was at school, but wasn't able to fully realize to my satisfaction, within the restrictions necessary in a classroom setting.

Of course, they won't simply be copies. I'm hoping to avoid many of the problems I had with the earlier versions--including the fact that they were never actually completed!

For each painting, I'm going to create a "tight" (finished) fully rendered drawing (including all the values from highlights to shading) before I start painting. And I'm seriously thinking of creating my next three large paintings using the "Mische" technique, using alternating layers of transparent oils, each layer following by repainting the underpainting using white egg-tempera, and finally finishing the painting using additional layers of transparent oils.

These next three paintings are going to be large paintings, at least 36x60 inches. I have the panels already built, and the first one is primed and ready for the first drawing to be transferred to it--once the drawing is "finsihed".

I've started the drawing...