Girl With Cat

Mad magazine, Cracked magazine, and Sick magazine all play an important part in my early art education. They probably play a larger part than any of my art teachers or art school. Every once in a while, I have to bang out a drawing in that sort of style. Not sure what part of my subconscious this came from but here it is for your visual pleasure.

Game Of Shrooms

This year I will be participating in my very first Game Of Shrooms event. It was created by the artist, Attaboy. It’s a world-wide event where artists create originals works of art that are mushroom themed. Then they give the artworks away by hiding them in public spaces and leaving clues on social media. I will create two framed pieces. I’ll post about it in June when it happens. Any artist can participate if they want. Just look up Game Of Shrooms online and follow the instructions.

Bacon

I just finished reading the book, Francis Bacon, Revelations by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan. The 900-page biography of the Irish-born, British painter basically covers every single moment of his tumultuous life. Quite a read. Hopefully my own painting will improve slightly having consumed all of his lunacy.

Wings

“Friendly reminder that chickens only have 2 wings. So when people order 24 wings, that’s 12 chickens.”
Plant Based News

Japanese Restaurant

This painting proved to myself that I can boss acrylic ink around. I’m quite relieved. A strange thing happens as I finish a painting. I get sad for a moment. The initial stages of any new painting are a bit of a war. I make underpaintings for each little section and then I battle to get the areas to where I want them. It’s a mental struggle. For me, drawing or painting is exhausting. It’s not really relaxing by any means. At a certain stage of the painting process, things take shape and begin to come together. The fun part is adding all those last little highlights and flourishes that bring the scene to life. I can actually see when I have about 20 paint strokes left. There is a little countdown that happens in my head. 5, 4, 3, 2, and then I place that last little drip of paint and I know it’s complete. My first feeling is always sadness. A kind of deep inner sadness. I think the reason for this is that I sort of hate the battle of wrestling with the paint but I love as it eventually comes into view. It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle and finally placing in the last pieces. Yes, it’s finished but now you have to break it up and put it back in the box. Same goes for my painting. I stick it in a box. Then I really dread staring at another blank piece of watercolor paper and heading into battle again. Ugh.

Japan Grocery store

This is the first acrylic ink painting that I actually like. In fact, I love it. When I made my first acrylic ink painting, I thought it would look like this. I was very wrong though but it only took me a few to get the gist of how to succeed. The street came out nice with its many layers of different colors.

Monica Vitti

The legendary Italian actress, Monica Vitti, passed away yesterday. She was 90 and quite frankly I was surprised she was still around. She was one of my favorites. I mean why else would I have already done such an elaborate drawing of her. I posted this a few years ago. At the time, I was in the midst of watching like 4 or 5 of her films in a row. We were lucky to have her.

Snow

The acrylic ink is starting to behave. I’m feeling more in control. I was even able to make snow actually look like snow. A mini achievement. I’m thinking of growing a little Salvador Dali moustache. If I can only make C- paintings, the least I can do is look like an artist.

Route 66

An artist on Facebook asked if I was using wet on wet technique to paint my skies. I told her I was using the close my eyes, hope for the best method of painting skies. This ink dries quickly so you have to keep things moving along which I don’t mind. At a certain point, while painting this sign, I began to feel like I could tell the ink what I wanted it to do. Then this feeling came over me to get this painting done and over with quickly so I could get on to the next one. It’s as if I’d finally gained enough trial-and-error know-how, to now attempt a painting that counted.

Paris

My third acrylic ink painting. Not a success but a good try. I was attempting to get the feeling of dawn. I did a so-so job. A D+. I’ve been inspired by the artist, Missy Dunaway. She has a great style and is a master of the ink. I’m trying to find my own style and that means learning to crawl before I walk. I stare at her book looking for clues. Once the brush is in my hand, it’s of no use. I have a funny feeling I can find my way though.

Painting Mexico

Lessons learned the hard way are the most effective. Take this bad painting for instance. I always envision a finished work of art before I begin making it. Then I use my skill set to bring it to fruition. What I thought this painting would become, went out the window once the acrylic ink informed me that it was in charge. Seeing as my acrylic ink skill set is mediocre, all I could do was take a beating and then humbly post this defeat. But it taught me a lesson. I need to plan out my vision for painting with ink differently then when I do a drawing. Unfortunately I know there are more defeats ahead but hopefully that will mean some victories are on the horizon.

Holland

I recently purchased some jars of acrylic ink. This is my first attempt at pushing it around a piece of paper. I quickly discovered the ink was in control of me. It will take me quite a few more paintings until I gain a modicum of control. For the time being, I will keep sloshing it around on more sheets of paper.