At last, my new website!

Like all websites, mine is a work in progress. At the least, it it useful enough, with images, dates for upcoming shows, link to this blog and other cool places, etc.

Check it out:

www.syntheticskystudios.com

Thanks, and Happy Holidays!

Year's End...

I know I haven't blogged much, lately. I've been very busy finishing a commissioned piece before Christmas (and since it's a surprise) I'll be posting pictures and comments after Christmas.

I have a little more than a month to finish whatever work I'm going to show in February; a a little less than three months to get ready for the April Show. It seems like plenty of time, but (trust me), I know better!

The gallery where I'm showing in April wants to make postcards to advertise my show, and I'd like to feature a new painting, which means I need to paint something new! So, that's my second task for next month--first, I need to finish a drawing of my girlfriend's kids, promised over a year ago.

I'm hoping to have the drawing finished by the 7th.

I'm going to clean the studio over the next couple of days, and I hope to spend quite a bit of time on Sunday, working on the drawing...

Features and Coming Attractions...

So, it's December 16th. I have no idea how that happened--it was mid-October just a few weeks ago!

Then--suddenly--it was much, much, later...

The commissioned sculpture is nearly done. Since it's going to be given as a Christmas gift, I'm not going to post any more pictures of it until after Christmas. But, I will post some pictures. (I promise.)

I think it's turned out well.

I met with the client Tuesday, and he was very pleased with it. (Honestly, I think he's surprised that it actually exists. I used to have truly horrible work habits; I've worked very hard to overcome them as well as I have...)

So (now that it's mid-December) I have, basically, six weeks or so 'til the February show. I had such grand plans. I was hoping to have a dozen new paintings, and several new sculptures, ready for the February opening. (Four months seems like a long time, but it's not!)

-sigh-

There will be at least three new paintings, plus one re-working of an older one, and at least one new sculpture. I'm still hoping to have a decent amount of work (I'm going to include two or three relevant pieces I did at school) without having to show any of the Faces that were exhibited in September.

But, the really cool new stuff will be shown in April. I want the 36x60 inch canvas done, one or two of the panels (prepared with the "Traditional Gesso") done, the three narrow panel paintings (Arachnaverte was the first of these; the other two still need to be finished) and at least one new sculpture. I still probably won't have as much work in that show, quantity-wise, as I'd planned, but (mainly) the work must be quality.

Stay tuned.

You're gonna see it all here, first!

Making Progress...

I've prepared three panels, so far, with Gamblin's "Traditional Gesso". The 36x48 inch panel turned out to be the wrong proprtion for the painting I had in mind, so--since I already had heavy duty stretcher bars the right size, plus plenty of raw canvas--I prepared a 36 x 60 inch canvas, which I'll use for that painting instead.

I don't know, right now, what I'm going to paint on the 36x48 inch panel, but it's ready to go, whenever I decide.

I've started sketching out the basic composition to a new painting on one of the "smaller" (30 x 48 inch) "traditionally gessoed" panels. This is a "re-do" of a painting I started in college (seniour year, 2006 -2007) but never finished. I'm looking forward to doing it "right", this time.

So far, I'm really liking how the "Traditional Gesso" surface responds to charcoal pencil--and to erasing, too! The next step will be to find out how it responds to paint...

I've finished the legs on the commissioned tarantula sculpture. I'm going to try to finish sculpting and painting it (and the drawing of my girlfriend's children) this week. My client called last week to make sure it would be done in time for him to give it to his wife for Christmas, and he seemed genuinely pleased when I told him it would be. (Yes, it's good when people like what I do and are willing to pay me to do it!)

Sun Spider finished...

This is a new painting, Sun Spider, 3x3 inches, oil on panel. I've bought a bunch of small, square frames over the past year or so, and am finally getting around to making some miniature spider paintings, which I'm going to offer in my Etsy shop.

Sun Spider is the first of these paintings. There will be no reproductions of this painting, so its owner will have a true, original work of art.

Enjoy!

Panel Preparation for New Painting...

This is how I prepared my latest panel: a 36x48x1/4 inch oak plywood panel.

I bought a sheet of 4x8 foot oak panel at the hardware store, cut a 36x48 inch piece from it. I mitred some pieces of select pine to "cradle" the panel. These were then glued into place around the edges, and three additional pine pieces were glued across the back for bracing.

I used a bungee cord to pull it tight at the corners (photo 1), then And it was clamped along the entire length as it was glued (photo 2), then I weighed the braces down (since I didn't have clamps wide enough to reach across the panel - photo 3.)








This photo should give you a clearer idea of how the panel was constructed.

(I have a router and several dovetail jigs, and plan to dovetail the cradling on my panels from now on.)

Gluing the four pieces of the cradle and the bracing took a couple evenings.

I had been wanting to try Gamblin's "Traditional Gesso" (titanium dioxide, gypsum, animal hide glue, marble dust) for quite some time. I had purchased some (and a double-boiler) several months ago. I decided to use it on this panel, to see how I liked it.

Last week, I mixed up one batch of the "Traditional Gesso" and applied it to the front of the panel. The gesso gets very thin and runny after heating. I ended up applying four coats, sanding with 150-grit sandpaper between the second and third coats, and 220-grit sandpaper between the third and fourth coats. Preparing the panel with gesso took three evenings.

The panel's surface is super-smooth, and very white, and has a slight "chalky" feel.

Why paint on panel? (And, why go to all this time and trouble?)

Firstl, I don't like the "give" of stretched canvas, especially when working this size. Painting on panel feels very much like painting on illustration board, which I did for many years as an airbrush artist. Second, I don't like the canvas' texture. If I want texture in my paintings, I want to put it in, myself. Otherwise, I want the surface to be very smooth, far smoother than canvas usually is.

The trouble is because I want to know what it's like to paint on "real" gesso, as opposed to the "plastic"-feeling acrylic-based stuff. I might not like it (and for that, and many other reasons, this whole painting could fall apart, and I would either have to start over, or scrap it altogether. Either way, I'll have learned something.)

Nearly ready to begin...

So far, November is proceeding rather well. I picked up the check this morning for the airbrush work I did last weekend, and most of my errand-running is now done for the day. I'm hoping to work on the sculpture, a drawing of my girlfriend's kids (that I've promised her for Chanukah this year (I began the drawing on the first day of Chanukah last year!) and do the final sanding on the 36x48 inch panel I've spent the past week preparing (a process I described in my previous entry) today.

I'm planning a detailed seies of posts about the painting I'm planning for that panel, which will be also be posted as a "Work In Progress" thread in the oil painting forum at www.wetcanvas.com I'm going to cover every step of the painting process, and also highlight the thinking that goes into the painting: conceptually, as well as technically.

This will be my first "major" painting since graduation, and I'm really going to push myself with this painting. I'm going to try to have it done in time to show at the group show in February, but it must be finished in time for my solo show in April (along with several other pieces--including at least one other "major" painting--which I will also post here, as well.)

Anyway, enough about what I'm going to do.

Lots of cool stuff coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

(The picture is Sun Spider, a work-in-progress, 3x3 inches, oil on panel.)