AntiQuark Drawer4 (Official)

Um, don't blink (and good luck pausing because its so brief it doesn't show up when I try) but a portrait of an old boyfriend (Sergio O) is in this video by AntiQuark. Painting is around 1:17

mini landscape near zilker park

 

Near Barton Springs (unfortunately closed due to flooding) for several hours after some overdue errands 4"x5" acrylic ink on canvas

Trees-San Antonio, TX

 Top Left to right to bottom: 6"x3", 5"x4",4"x5", 2"x2" all acrylic ink on canvases

Self Portrait -horizontal format in progress

Late night/early morning session before final leg of San Antonio gig this week. Oil on canvas--I don't have access to it right this moment, but I think it is around 12"x24" There is more to be done but I want to keep the energy and high color as I refine it. (later this week or weekend) I will be wrapping up lots of larger paintings while trying to keep a steady flow of smaller newer work until my moving date.

Miniature Paintings on location in San Antonio

Two mini paintings from life during my 12 hour gap at a gig in San Antonio. Top: 5"x7" acrylic ink on panel.
 Below 5"x4" acrylic ink on canvas

mini landscape/treescape from direct observation

Here is one of the mini paintings I did outside an a park in San Antonio between other responsibilities (have a short term working gig). I had brought my acrylic inks for portable decorative/dreamscape stuff to do on the fly (can't bring oils&sovents to my job), but for mini work from life it turned out pretty well. Usually I save oils for this sort of thing, but I'm excited the portable inks worked well for direct observation. I have more I'm finishing up. 4"x4" acrylic ink and ink pencil on wood panel

portrait of Skye (in progress) April 22nd

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Here is my latest potrait session with Skye, my 9yr old niece. The light is dramatic but difficult. The light beam towards sunset changes rapidly over her body and the "sweet spot" of opportunity to capture her is too long (for her...the sun burns) and way too soon (for me -I'd like more time)-. I have one, maybee two more opportunities left before it is impossible to continue it any more (she and her mom are moving to a new apartment next week.)

fourth life painting session with Skye

Here is the fourth session with my niece Skye. The pressure is ON to get this thing resolved. I may be moving in June, but Skye and her mom are moving across town next week and I won't have her in this environment to paint after next week. I'm coming back tomorrow, and then again next Thursday, and I hope also next Friday. She's a good model for a nine year old, but the best nine year old is going to be a squirmy worm when she has to be still.* This may be a looser painting by necessity, but if the general areas are resolved that will be a good thing.
* When she started to make faces I threatened to paint a huge booger coming out of her nose, then told her years after I'm dead and oh so famous, she will be immortilised forever as the mysterious Mona Lisa of boogery faced children,. That kept her still for umm...3 minutes.

finishing dreamscape work in progress

                    Working chaos or just chaos? I'm finishing up some dreamscape work for the fair, as well knocking out some paintings from life before my move.

                     I was going to add watercolor to the ink but I think I like it as is. Each panel about 2"x6"

                               I'll get a proper photo with its mates and all the info soon

two mini treescapes in progress

two paintings from life (in progress) from the same sitting pov but opposite directions. left 6"x3" right 8"x8" oil on canvas

Experiment with portrait..Klimt inspired

Here is an experiment with an incomplete portrait session (due to circumstances beyond my control). I've been itching to resolve all unfinished work before my move to VA, and it was either toss the panel or go into another direction.  Going in a naturalistic direction without the on site sittings would have felt more fake to me than just riffing out into flat decorative artificiality. I think I can say with all confidence Klimt did it better. 20"x16" oil on reinforced wood panel.

Portrait of Skye in progress II-color blocking

3rd sitting with my niece, Skye. I think this one will be a bit looser by necessity. Skye is doing her best but she can't keep still as long as an adult. I'm really happy she is at an age that can tolerate modeling at all.

Portrait of Skye in progress

just the rough planning of the composition in vine charcoal, only to be wiped out in a oil wash to establish values.  I'll be visiting and blocking in the color on the next session tomorrow afternoon. Four by two feet.

multi session self portrait completed (stages documented)

                                                  16"x8" oil on canvas

It is going to its new home tomorrow. I have a lot going on right now between finishing stuff, trying to generate income from odd gigs and preparing for the move away from Austin TX to VA. The flight is purchased for me and Lolabeanne for June 13th. more photos and uploads this week.

continuing self portrait and dreamscape (both near completion) 3/26/12

Top: painting I started a while back (based on my animation themes) and picked up to rework. (photo is a shot indoors..a better lit one outside will be taken at its completion.) 2 feet wide, acrylic ink and paint on wood. Bottom: there is a very narrow margin of a specific type of light (afternoon to sundown) which draws this one out longer than I had hoped. I do think it will likely be resolved tomorrow. Likely. I know better than to promise.


These are a rather extreme range of styles I work in. I suspect my hardcore-work-only-from-life-painter colleagues  would find the top piece (and others in the same vein) frivolous, and others who would think that working in these two styles simultaneously as evidence of being less focused or "serious" about my work. To that I can only shrug. They satisfy two different ways of expression. The top starts with a stream  of consciousness type of markmaking and it evolves into a story that reveals itself to me which I may layer with more ideas. The lower one requires me to get out of the way and observe (though the multi arm idea is a bit of concept I'm playing with). They may meet up on some level someday (perhaps some of the silhouette pieces are already) , but they don't need to. Both are important to me on their own terms.

Dreamscapes on paper and wood 3/23/12

Top to bottom: Dreamscape 18"x12" acrylic ink and watercolor on watercolor paper. Next four- assorted dreamscapes all approximately 10"x5.5" acrylic ink and watercolor on watercolor paper. Bottom- acrylic ink treescape on assembled wood panels approximately 8"x2"

two self portraits in progress

 

more shifting of smaller areas and tone differences in vertical painting. Lets see what happens in the morning.

finishing small decorative dreamscape/treescape and starting new self portrait

started mapping quick sketch and sienna underpainting self portrait--about 12"x30"


...and some completed minis from my stay with my sister.  I seem to trade more than sell, but that is a help too.

acrylic ink on assembled wood panels--about 2"x7"

4" round wood panel. acrylic ink

4" round wood panel acrylic ink

 3"x3" acrylic ink on canvas

2"x3" acrylic ink on canvas

animation tutoring session and prepping my third project

I spent a good deal of yesterday going over some basic concepts of animation with my nine year old niece, Skye. We started with the most simple stuff...comparing a ball moving frame by frame vs. using a blur effect for a sense of speed. By the end of the day she created her own simple GIF looped animation in Photoshop and ImageReady. I could open the image right here, but it may be a little distracting to have running nonstop on the post. Check it out here.  

I was hoping to start the opening credits to "Eight" during my trip, but my brand new just out of the box (however---unfortunately not unpacked out of that box until after the exchange deadline at Office Depot) computer is busted during my travels (I was careful...not sure where or when it was damaged. My sister thinks the shell feels too lightweight and not really suitable for travel, despite it being a laptop. Who knows.)

So, my buddy/ex sis in law/niece's mama is lending me her reliable if smaller and less memory/RAM old sony laptop for the time being. I loaded my old Adobe CS on it and am looking at freeware/inexpensive animation programs. I was going to just go with what I used on Four (see second animation to your left on this here website)- Photostage Slideshow. However, I will be using a lot of rotation effects which it doesn't provide. I may use it for certain kinds of editing, but am considering a freeware 3d software in order to combine a 2-d characters with more traditional types of animation effects with a 3-d landscape environment. If this computer has roomI will download and test some programs out like Blender to see how easy or difficult it is to use for a fairly newbie animator.

2/27/12 treescape/dreamscapes in progress (on location)

Been at my sister's in Arlington VA this week, apartment hunting. Here are some of what I've been working on as time allows. I can't bring oils on the plane and get into the hardcore stuff...more of the decorative/dreamscape work which was what I was doing this fall with acrylic ink and paint. These are on wood and canvas, anywhere from 1" to 4" panels.

I'll leave at least one or two with my sister for treating my stay while we hammer out our future roommate arrangement this summer. ( I plan to work on more large scale work from life and get in touch with more galleries for a year and a half,  then deside if I will return to Austin or look into other places and opportunties). I'm getting ideas of how I would like to link some of the presentation ideas of the small decorative pieces with work from life though on a larger scale. I need to finish these up.  I'm looking forward to getting home to finish some oil paintings too.

Pear Still Lifes Complete

 

Single pear 8"x8" oil on canvas Trio are comprised of 3"x4" wood panels. oil paint

3rd session -pear

 

may do one more session here. Or not. not sure... have to run errand & will work later today. 8"x8" oil on canvas

Creative Blocks--Procrastination

 I wanted to share some advice from Elizabeth O' Brien regarding a major creative block: procrastination. Many artists have internal battles which can hold them back in their work, or at least turn a creative challenge into a painful one. I've sure had my moments. I've worked hard and often at very long stretches to the limits of my energy. That said, a lot of time has been wasted overthinking the task. I'm hitting the midway of my life and my time is too precious to throw away stewing about what needs to be done.

I thought this may be a familiar issue with other artists (and quite a few non-artists too) and they would benefit from this article. Thanks Elizabeth.--Jeanne

Elizabeth O’Brien, M.A., LPC

Procrastination Strategies

Procrastination plagues most of us some of the time, and some of us all the time. It is a recurring issue in therapy, and one of the main ways that clients sabotage their success. In order to confront the problem, it is important to begin by challenging some common cognitive distortions before we can alter our behavior. 

Cognitive:

1.    First, explore your resistance to the task: what, exactly, are you dreading, and why? What makes it so hard to get started? Is the task too large and overwhelming? Is performing it physically uncomfortable? Is it too mentally taxing? Is it too isolating? Is your work place too distracting? Is the task meaningful? Articulate your specific resistance and come up with ideas to address your reluctance. Think of ways to make beginning the task as comfortable as possible.
2.    Don’t allow yourself to think in terms of the whole, overwhelming task ahead. Think in terms of beginning with a tiny part of the task. If you are an artist, think about simply preparing your canvas and setting it up. If you are in the midst of a painting, think of addressing just one part of the painting, or correcting a problem area. If you are a writer, think about just starting with a title, or one first sentence. If you plan to clean out a closet, visualize just getting garbage bags ready for different categories: Goodwill, consignment store, trash, etc., and then picking just one item with which to dispose. Such small steps seem do-able, instead of disabling.
3.    Reframe your thinking: Instead of obsessing over how tired you are, or how scattered,       or how you have a million other things you need to do, focus on how good you’ll feel once you accomplish the task. Remember: the hardest part is the anxiety beforehand. Once you begin the task, you generally feel immediate relief.
4.    Reframe: instead of thinking of the task as drudgery, think of it as an opportunity to liberate yourself—not only from that anxiety, but also from your limbo, your inertia. Frame the task as an opportunity to create order out of chaos, on many levels. Frame it as an accomplishment-in-progress.
5.    Focus on your reward afterwards, such as a latte, an ice cream cone, a movie, a visit to a bookstore, an outing with a friend, or some other “treat.”

Once you’ve re-calibrated your thinking, you may not need to do anything else, except begin your task. However, for some people some or all of the following behaviors may be helpful:


Behavioral:

1. Begin sticking to a daily schedule. Wake up at the same time every day, and go to bed at the same time every night. Don’t eat right before bedtime.
2. Choose your most energetic time of day/night to start your task, regardless of whether you are a morning or an evening person.
3.    Prepare: If you need to exercise before beginning your task, to get your body and mind going, do it. Take a walk, run or bike ride, go to the gym, etc. Stay in the moment with your exercise and try not to think about the task ahead.
4.    Prepare: Shower/bathe and put on some comfortable clothes.
5.    Prepare: Eat something healthy, preferably including protein.
6.    Prepare: If the task is at home, try making your bed and cleaning up the kitchen to de-clutter your head. This is the “clean slate” approach.
7.    Prepare: Prep your work space: get your supplies ready, straighten up clutter, etc.
8.    Prepare: Put on music, if that helps you work.
9.    Prepare: Fix your favorite drink—with caffeine if that helps you stay focused.
10.     Prepare: Perform a brief grounding exercise. Settle down at your work station. Begin  to pay attention to your breathing; you don’t have to do anything special, just focus on your breath. Next, relax your jaw, neck and shoulders. Un-tense your stomach. Feel your hips where they make contact with the chair. Feel your feet on the ground. Feel your hands as they prepare to begin working. Now you are “in the moment.” If it helps to use a grounding mantra, to get you there quickly, do so; think of a word, or phrase, that is resonant for you. “Me, here, now” works well for some people.
11.    Start your task. Don’t overwhelm yourself with “rules” that you have to accomplish a gargantuan amount in one sitting. Begin by breaking the task into small pieces, if you need to. Work until you truly lose focus. You can always repeat the grounding exercise if you want to try and keep working. But don’t force it.
12.    Reward yourself for your efforts. Take a walk, go to a coffee or ice cream shop, visit a bookstore or park. Call a friend.
13.    Begin again, if you have the energy. Or start over again tomorrow. You’ll find that each day, once you have the ritual in place, you can accomplish more each time, and dread the task less and less.

The beauty of these strategies is that eventually, you may be able to discard much of the ritual and just buckle down to business. By addressing the anxiety beforehand—tweaking your thinking and creating a calm, pleasant work experience—you have re-wired your brain.
   
   

2/12/12 still lifes in progress

 

Here are my early steps in a  still life painting. . (No, I don't copy the photo. I work from direct observation when doing this sort of work. I'm just showing the source)  I do a quick figuring out on canvas with charcoal, then lose that when I put a wash of a neutral oil paint color down and wipe out the lights and intensify the darks.  Then the first color marks, a little heavy handed- but I can go for more subtlety later. The triptych is 3 wood panels of 3"x4" and the larger composition is 8" square canvas.

2/11/12 3rd step of self portrait in progress

 

 

3rd step. Ideally, I'd like tomorrow to be the last session. We'll see. Have a small still life to work on now.

2/10/12 self portrait in progress (first two steps)

Been a little off this week. Low energy, focus and enthusiasm/motivation. Headachy and just generally blah. I may have caught a bug from my niece, but I'm feeling much better these past two days. First two steps of a requested self portrait. The arm will show an animated motion effect if I do it well....8"x16 oil on canvas

2/8/12 small still life

I need to replace this with a better photo in outdoor light. Ehh. 5"x7" oil on canvas

2/4/12 still life (peppers and tomatillos) complete

                                                                   oil on canvas 9"x12" 

I repainted this for several nights. Not sure whether or not it was a good idea but at least I took it to some conclusion. on to more projects

Jan 27 still life in progress

 

1st session of still life (assorted peppers and tomatillos) fri-jan 27 hope to finish in one more session on Sun. jan 29th. 

oil on canvas 9"x12"