been makin these little bites of cute.

so i've been making a lot of these the passed couple of days, pretty excited about them. 

just put 7th track from the playall books album and it spits these out of my head

the human condition as far as im concerned it's repitition

so the question is: what is the human condition? and my answer is, as are so many things in life, based on the convoluted expansion of a single concept which i will quickly walk you through, because this is how i came to find this image as the grand solution (in it's semi complete form). imediately the answer comes to me to be repitition. we live our lives along a path which is relatively congruent to the days before; eating, sleeping, interpersonal interactions, images which spark a thought dialogue we've likely explored in the past on some level, etc. this is a force which guides us all and of which many of us wish to escape. from here i think of the positive and negative associations to repitition which leads me to my step dad Steve who struggled with addiction- the particular repitition which lead him down a destructive path, away from the positive, normative associations to repitition...which in my eyes, in this situation comes down to family and the rituals therein. anyhow, here it is, this image is about me and steve and our relationship with one another as the condition has drenched us in a familial dynamic unique from any other in my life.
the process i followed was influenced by a process used by artist alex asher daniel. first i lay down the color allowing my sentiment towards steve to guide me (my first several preliminary drawings had colors different from the one above, they were less restful, the strokes more choatic and disjointed). the color is a combination of media including acrylic, watercolor, oil pastel, and a gel medium charcoal mixture. i would then follow with a grafite sketch which i tried to complete relatively quickly. the process is intintionally brief so as to maintain an honest quality, which isn't overthought, because that's a lot like how relationships work, sometimes they are just what they are no matter how hard you try. that just about sums it up except i want to say lastly that i know that there is a lot that is wrong with this image technically, but i love it because within the process of working i moved from a space anger to one of contentment.
the end.

in-class figure study-ing.

here is the beautiful lily, she would be my new favorite figure model. we had approximately 45 minutes to work on this piece, and for the first time in a while, i drew the face on my model! the drawing isn't quite life sized, probably closer to 4' in length. working big might be my big new thing.

another!

these sketches are an ode to the reborn yogi in me. i've been really pushing my practice on the mat recently, and these are a couple of poses i have practiced this passed month. the pose (eka pada sirsasana) with the splayed legs is a basic variation of the final pose in which the leg stays propped on the shoulder while hands are at the heart center...love this one in particular. anyhow, thats that.

from the sketchbook...

this is my face.

the final examination for my first drawing course in the appalachain state institution was to do a self portrait. mainly i wanted to portray myself in the most honest manner possibly, examining the relationships between the features of my face and neck and whatnot. but as my instructor, TIM FORD, suggested (and he's right) i could've taken this illustration further and really pushed the bounds of visual interest. he wants for me more than merely. so just wait, next semester i'm going to really push it find my boundaries until i'm at the edge of it all looking down

collaboration. enough said

this is a still-life collaboration that i did with several class mates in drawing. we each had 3 basic drawings which are arranged by student: left- jeff martin, center- mary crockette, right- sarah. through the initial drawings were done on an individual basis, we each worked on all of the panels in some way helping to blend the separate images into a more cohesive larger one. i'm satisfied with the illustrative quality of the piece, though i find the composition to be lacking and the color could be a bit more dynamic. anyhow, it was my first experience with collaborative art making, and i pretty much really enjoyed the experience.