In progress Figure in Exterior Space

painting. LIGHT AND SHADOW LIGHT AND SHADOW

this paiting is the first completed figure painting i have EVER done. i have done a good many hour long studies but this is the product of a progression of studies done with a specific focus on the figure in an indoor setting. it was expected that while working on these paintings we do a master study of sorts. Euan Uglow was my inspiration artist. his work is incredible. there are parts of this painting that i hate (the anatomy is off a bit i know) but there is something wonderful that i have discovered on my journey: connection with this wonderful medium. I used palet knives to achieve much of the texture. mostly i just kept fearlessly adding layer after layer of thick oil paint and then i got to play with this putty of color. it was pretty much amazing. below is a detail of the shoulder area (maybe the best example of the texture)

Oh Deer, (in progress photos)

it's been a while since i posted i know. this semester thus far has been the hardest, most enlightening yet. I am taking a carving and construction sculpture class that i absolutely love! 'Oh Deer,' was the first of our projects. The assignment here was to synthesize three inspirations into one in-the-round sculptural form using carving techniques with wood. So my inspirations were: taxedermy, Dennis Oppenhiem's work, and inscription work. This is what I have come up with so far and for critique i finished to a resolved degree the head of the deer with the bottom portion still in progress. I am hoping to have the final piece finished in the next month or so. There are several defferent materials here including wood (both walnut and what seems to be pine?), the marble inscription, ceramic ears, and real deer antlers and eventually it will have wax on it. The peice as a whole is about 4 feet tall.
Working on this deer here has been quite an experience. I've used a chainsaw for shaping out the primary form and then a four inch angle grinder for better defining the planes as well as a series of hand carving tools including a ads which is like an axe but with a scoopy blade. That's about all this is to say about this here deer.

... Next on the course sylabus for this class is a metal fabrication project using both oxyacetylene and TIG welding processes creating a 'play' inspired object and then doing a 'round about' where we trade off objects and continue working to a new end with the object. Collaboration is fun as is welding! Should be interesting.

cardboard cutouts

i made this self portrait in too short an amount of time as a final for drawing 3. there are some definite juicy spots in it that i dig but in other areas of the drawing i wish it was more sensitively rendered. also, i had some difficulties with the materials i was using in this peice which is likely evident to the audience as well on some level.

this here drawing deals with the self/community dynamic. from strangers to life long friends, the people we interact with in our lives often confront us with a degree of disconnect which can be off putting, even jarring. i dont consider myself to be greatly isolated from others but in those instances where we just cant make the connection with the rest of the universe a statement is being made; it imprints itself on us psychologically posing the question of origin, and possibily prompting resolution if it is that we can skrew our heads back on straight. the bottom third of the drawing is a powerdered graphite/wax mixture just so you know.

mmm bod.

alright. this summer i took drawing iii. these are a few figure studies i did of the lovely miss lily. alright.

development of yogi piece

in contemplating my practice on the mat (and off the mat) i have found myself coming back time and again to the concept of honoring my teachers. there really aren't words to accurately discribe what i want to say about this. mostly it's, well hmm...simply and humbly, i give thanks for the people in my life who have directly impacted me allowing thier life's experiences to wash over me. i want to say that this is the material which binds the separate parts of me into one semi-wholeness. in this drawing, i have explored this concept, attempting to address even the teachers whose impact has been passed on, aging and growing more sacred as it contributes to the greater wealth of knowledge.
so, i drew 8 or so of these faces, some yogi's and some not. they were darling little things each drawn in blue ball point pen on tracing paper. the materials used in this drawing are important as they are meant to reinforce this sense of humility in the face of the greater source.. and, one night at late o'clock i got playing with materials in the first production of this piece and at the time it represented my feelings towards all this, but the next morning i got a look at it and it was something so different to me. so we struggled together. how do i illustrate a relationship i have with something that i dont even fullly understand? something that i was reminded of with this drawing was that much like the relationships in our lives, sometimes the dynamic we have with our work is effortless and sometimes it takes a great deal of attention and purposeful care. i rode that line with this drawing. anyhow. after that night i sat with it and played with different options and all i could do was sort of tear it up break it into managable portions, there's not a picture of it here but i needed it to be more quiet and lighter. so i made this little tactile juicy drawing below to clear my head and then i started over from a new angle. multiples. multiples. then i came to an understanding and i knew where it needed to go. check it out.

materials- watercolor, oil pastel, chalk pastel, xeroxes, grafite, wax, wood
size wise its about 2 ' by 4'
the inclass critique- didn't get a whole lot of feed back on this piece although we all sort of agreed that there needs to be another layer of information behind the back drawing maybe another layer of wood.

final for drawing...these are my father.

this drawing was the final for my drawing 2 class with tim ford. we were supposed to do a redo of another project we had done from earlier in the semester. contrary to the previous drawing i had done of my father, i wanted to really develop the image purely as apart from any sort of loaded meaning. i wanted it to be playful and yet i wanted it to still seem related to the other peices i have made this semester in this class. unfortunately what you can't tell form this image is that there is some bee's wax which coats the central image, sort of setting it apart from the rest of the piece. i am really satisfied with how it came out; its dreamy, just the way i like.