Ghostly Presence

After scanning in my sketch & refining, roughly coloring, & working out the collage elements in Photoshop, I print out the collage base (I have an archival Epson printer & I use archival paper as well) & begin adding the earliest glazes. Before I collage it to the canvas I want the border colors in so that they don't end up puddling over the edges, & the main figure colors so I know I'm off on the right track before committing it to canvas. So I usually begin with light, thin glazes, again painting/blotting/drying until the basic colors are blocked in.

Then I glue it down with Golden Open Gel.

Please click the image for details. To see all the posts in this process, please click the "Goodly Creature" tab.

Starting Block

This is usually my first step... painting the "frames" on deep-edge canvas. For Goodly Creature I'm using 6, each one 6x6 inches. As you can see here, my painting style is all about layers. I use Golden Fluid Acrylics mixed with Open Medium, building up the texture by painting with a wide brush, then blotting, drying & painting again until I like the effect. The unfinished center part will be covered by the collage elements.

Please click the image for details. To see all the posts in this process, please click the "Goodly Creature" label below.

Some Assembly Required

As I was sketching the Creature Soon To Be Known As Goodly, I realized his slinky figure wouldn't fit comfortably on any of the standard canvas sizes. At first I was thinking I'd stretch my own in a taller format, but then as his arms began to grow, I realized that wouldn't quite work either. Then it dawned on me that I could make a sort of patchwork of small canvases. I was quite tickled with this notion since it seemed to fit the patchwork mode of his genetic bits & pieces, & also it was something I've never done before, which always makes me happy.

In the sketch you can see me brainstorming ideas for joining the elements, including a hinged version, which I decided wouldn't quite work for this project, but I'm definitely going to try it someday! In the end though I decided to join it with corner braces, as you can see here. Once it is permanently assembled, I may reinforce it with a wooden brace as well if needed, but this does the basic job.

More on this project soon!

Please click the image for details. To see all the posts in this process, please click the "Goodly Creature" label below.

Storms & Brainstorms

August in NC is thunderstorm season. I always feel a bit crazy as the storms approach-- maybe it's the electricity in the atmosphere.

I've been full of crazy ideas lately too, all waiting in the clouds, impatient for the moment when they can make their way across the atmosphere to earth. I finally have a stretch of time without tight deadlines, & I'm so very ready to release that storm of ideas!

This is an illustration from my children's book in progress, The Old Man and the Cat by Anthony Holcroft (see earlier posts on my main blog, Curious Art).

The background texts & diagrams are scanned from antique encyclopedias, music books, maps, dictionaries & science textbooks. These are printed on archival paper, mounted on stretched canvas, & the painting is done with Golden acrylics & Winsor & Newton Sceptre Gold watercolor brushes. I'll show more about this process in upcoming posts.

Institute of Genotechnics

I've been mining my collection of texts for goodies to include in the collage elements of the new piece, & I found this great ad which I'd scanned from an old Mechanics Illustrated:


















These zoobotanical creatures are the result of extensive genetic engineering, so I did a bit of pixel engineering in Photoshop.




















You will see this again in later posts, showing the collage state, but most of it will be obliterated by paint in the end... I'm glad I'm keeping progress shots from this one!

Please click the image for details. To see all the posts in this process, please click the "Goodly Creature" label below.

Zoorobotany

For quite a while now I've had this word in my head... describing some of the creatures that inhabit my sketchbooks, part animal, part vegetable, part mechanical. I'm working on a piece right now that I hope will be the first in a series of paintings based on this theme.

Here's my initial sketch of a fellow I call Goodly Creature after the Shakespeare quote from the Tempest:

O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!
O brave new world,
That has such people in it!

Please click the image for details. To see all the posts in this process, please click the "Goodly Creature" label below.

p.s. This is the very first time I've shared my personal sketchbook with the world! It's a bit scary.

Visit the hidden lair of a mad artistic scientist!

Welcome to the Curious Art Lab!

I'm a very shy creature at heart & I have never been able to draw or paint with anyone looking over my shoulder. In fact, just hearing someone approach my studio door while I work causes all my creativity to grind to a halt.

But now, thanks to the mysterious powers of the internet, I've finally dared to invite folks in! I'll be posting sketches, sources, process pictures, maybe even a studio shot or two. I'll talk about ideas, intentions, materials, techniques, discoveries, 'druthers-- all the ingredients of my curious concoctions.

Feel free to poke about the Lab, & if you haven't yet wandered over to my original blog, Curious Art, please do!