Slightly more rhan FIve Months to go...

August is rapidly drawing to a close, and I actually feel good about what I've accomplished so far this month. I've been re-drawing The Presentation of Spiders, and I'm pleased at how it's looking. I'm still hoping that the drawing will be finished, transferred to the panel, and I'll be ready to start painting sometime around September 7th.

I'm working the drawing for a "larger" spider painting right now, too. It's going to be (roughly) 24x36 inches, and painted on a honeycombed aluminal panel, that I've primed with Gamblin's Traditional Gesso.

(Several people at my two most recent shows have said they wanted to see some larger spiders...so, I'm planning to make at least three 24x36" spider paintings for the fall!)

Last night, I painted the legs on a small spider painting. (See picture, above...) The background was painted quite earlier this year. I had started painting the spider's body a little later, but I wasn't happy with it. So, I repainted it about a week ago, making it large enough to cover the earlier attempt.

There's going to be a bit of a "surprise" to this painting (the first "hint" of something I'm planning to develop further in several of the next spider paintings);

EDIT: I finished this piece late in 2011, and never got around to taking a "final" photograph of it--and it was sold at the APEX show in March. So, the finished piece doesn't appear at my blog, and I can't post it here as I'd originally promised.

This was sold to a friend, so I should be able to snap a photo of it at some point...but still, I really must be more dedicated about documenting all of my work!

Website Updates...

I added a few more of the "older" (airbrushed, science fiction) paintings to the website:



Tin Man, 20x30 airbrushed acrylics on illustration board, 1997 (Sold).

(Check 'em all out! www.syntheticskystudios.com)

We've had out-of-town guests this week, and we've spent most of our evenings visiting with them.

I've done a bit of drawing, but have not been as productive as I would have liked.

I hope that enough of the new drawing is done, that I can post portions of it next week.

'Til then, at least there's something new to look at, here!

2011 Fringe Festival Ends...

We brought my paintings (and one sculpture) home yesterday, all of them.

It felt really strange.

I guess I had hoped that one or two pieces would sell, at least the two small spider paintings. (Honestly, I was hoping to sell one or two of the larger pieces...!)

Now the clock is ticking down the six months to my next show, and I'm already hard at work on "the new stuff"--and I'm pleased, so far--which is helping to ease my distress that I sold nothing at the Fringe Fest!

It's tempting to think of a "no-sale show" as a failure (and, it's tempting to blame the event, the gallery, etc.) I try very hard never to do that. My work was exhibited, and people saw it! Most of the fifty or sixty people who came out for the "Iron Artist" event were folks I didn't know--and I think it's always a plus when my stuff is seen by new eyes. (I'll definitely be leaving some postcards for the February show at the Wine Gallery!)

There's no way to know how many of those folks will see my stuff at a future show, and remember it (and hopefully, remember that they liked it!) No way to know how many of them might operate their own galleries, or be artists looking to invite other artists to exhibit with them in a group show, etc.

So, I'll have a much better idea how this show went, after I see the response to my next show.

The bigger question I've been pondering is, am I interested in participating in the Fringe Festival next year?

I haven't decided yet, although I am leaning towards, "Yes". I suspect that the Fringe attracts a different art crowd than most of the other art events around town. If so, showing with the Fringe for the second year in a row will help that audience see me as an artist who is "still here"--still making and exhibiting new work.

And I don't think it's ever a good idea to give anyone the impression that an artist has "given up".

'Cause I certainly haven't!