Fun with Transparencies

Fooling around with layering some of my looser ink doodles with the tight ink circles.  Still need to work out some technical and artistic kinks, but here's where I'm starting.

Some ink abstracts from 2010

Here's a newish piece that I've bee playing around with.  I've been trying to get loose and free gain, as I think that often my obsessive side takes over and removes a lot of the energy from my work.  It feels good.  No title on this one at the moment.  Naming things feels so official and frequently artificial, and I often resent doing it unless a name just floats into my head as I'm working.

untitled

2010

Ink, graphite, charcoal

The following two pieces were made earlier this year in response to a friend's death.  Since I'm posting little ink works, I thought I'd share these as well.

Dan died of a heart attack I and II

2010

Ink, graphite

Playing around

Sometimes, you just have to spill ink and scribble on things.

More to come in this line.

November art events are cancelled at Wall Talk this month.  Sorry!

Brumal is my new favorite word.

Paper icosahedron ornaments will be available this holiday season at Wall Talk... more to come on that later.  There will also be very giftable items under $100 at the gallery by myself and various other artists at the gallery for your winter holiday pleasure.

Also, this friday the 12th is this month's Arts Night Out in Northampton.  Wall Talk and many other galleries will be open, many with snacks and wine.  There are also some pieces on display in the front window of Downtown Sounds on Pleasant Street, Noho, and one of my drawings is featured.

And that's all I have for you today.

Blog updates

Just wanted to point out that I have made a few gallery pages in the top bar with some selected works.  Eventually I'll get my bio and artist's statement out there, as well as some oil and representational works.  Thanks for your support, folks!

Williamsburg Fair, October 24th

I am pleased to announce that my work will be showing at the Williamsburg fair in Western Massachusetts.  The arts event will be held at the Brewmasters Tavern, located on 4 Main St., Williamsburg, MA.  The fair will take place on October 24th.  Here are some new works that I've completed in preparation.  I've had some fun playing around with color and revisiting and revising some older ideas.

Clouds 6

2010

14" x 17"

Ink on Paper

Cambodia

2010

19" x 24"

Ink on Paper

Pacific

2010

5 1/2" x 14"

Ink on Paper

Art Cards

Art Card 4"x 6" Ink on Paper

Art Card 4"x 6" Ink on Paper

Art Card 4"x 6" Ink on Paper

Art Cards

I've been making a few 4"x6" ink drawings to sell as original mini art cards.  Here are a few:

Wall Talk, Northampton Arts Night Out

I am very excited to announce that I will be joining the artists at Wall Talk Art & Design and will have a few pieces up for this upcoming Northampton Arts Night Out on Friday the 10th.  I will be showing four pieces from my circle series.  Arts Night Out occurs the second Friday of every month, and the gallery will be open in the evening.  I hear rumors of wine and cheese.

Wall Talk Art & Design is located on 7 Pleasant Street, Suite 2, and is upstairs between Sweeties and Northampton Wools.

Circle Series

Clouds III, 2010

Ink on paper

14" x 17"

Clouds IV

Ink on paper

14" x 17"

Clouds II

Ink on paper

19" x 24"

Clouds I

Ink on paper

22" x 28"

Painting Progress

It's not finished yet, but here's the start of the painting I've been working on.  I still need to work out a few problems and continue to build up layers.  We'll see where it goes.

bARTer

Things have been plugging along here.  While I am continuing to work on my circle series and wrap up my latest large oil painting, I've been speaking with a local musician about doing some album art.  I have never done commissioned work before, and am interested in creating something that is both true to my personal vision but also congruent with the band's musical style.

Instead of cash, as much as I adore the stuff, I am going to receive guitar lessons and an "indefinitely borrowed" guitar in exchange for doing some album art, and maybe posters later on.  Although money is tight for me right now, I'm intrigued by the arrangement as it will also give me some exposure in addition to being just plain fun.  I have starting drawing up a couple of little things, and will see if including the style of my circle series is something of interest for the band.

2010 oil painting

Finally got a few hours to drag my 3'x5' underpainted canvas outside for a lovely afternoon of painting in the sunshine.  Very much looking forward to playing around with this one.  Hopefully I'll have the courage to get some process pictures up as I go without hindering creativity with self consciousness.

Shibori!

I just wanted to say that I love shibori.  A lot of my stuff is influenced by textiles, and shibori utilizes that obsessive repetitiveness that I find so intriguing.    There is also that interplay that you often find in Japanese aesthetics between tight, careful man made work and wild, organic simplicity.  It is both controlled and casual, cataloged and empty.  A sense of movement and energy despite the stillness of the line. 

For those with no earthly clue what I'm talking about, shibori is the Japanese art of tie dying fabric.  I'm not talking Grateful Dead shirts here.  Fabric is bound in various ways and usually dyed a dark indigo, creating an incredible array of two tone or ombre designs.  It's definitely something I'd like to play around with

View out my window

Pretty self explanitory!  I was playing around with ink because oil is not an option at this moment, and I found myself trying to solve the problem of a limited and unusual palate because of the inks I had.  It was nice to work fluidly on shorter painting with a lot of open space.  I still got to do some of the building up that I love as well as using scribbling, agitated marks in conjunction with softer, flowing motions.

Obviously some were more successful than others, and working in a series allowed me to explore and solve some of the problems, such as balancing emptiness with positive space.

Complete landscape series, as of Feb 8, 2010

landscape, ink on paper, 2010