AH-LEW-HAH Pretty peoples!
First off..... Tiki Oasis was wonderful
it's always cool wandering around,philosomiphizing with all of youse
i rarely get out,so it was nice to get some face time with folks
hugging folks and swapping stories and drinking shots and....
oh! i bought a flask! 47 and i finally bought one....
what a loser,huh?
:)
Anyways, i have a pretty involved step-by-step coming up
but first,let me reply to all of yooz who left some words here...
WENDY!
My heart sang when i saw you at Bali Ha'i and later when we were able to walk around the Piggy-Velvet-Donkey show at Tiki Oasis...
Your huge Ku with a torch was Amazing!
it filled me with a sense of WOW..
and those sparkling skies.......
(i always feel like poor Dan gets no attention because you're the one gettin all the love.... Well Dan! I love you too!
but Wendy is much more huggable!)
Come to Mojave Oasis in October
where it's so much more relaxed....
where we can chat for HOURS! :)
Hey zero!
looking over 20 years of work and the events
the peaks and valleys and gutters and clouds
an artist can see how
even tho NOT aware of it
that the artist's "outer" world seeps in...
Some paintings there's an awareness of the exact emotion or memory
that is being put in there...it's a strange lucidity
but it was nice to look to the past for some comfort.
Tim!
Thanks for the sentiment,man!
Very funny how you and ed'sgonetiki crossed paths!
Things happen for a reason...
We shall be able to converse further
Monday night at the studio
nose-ring Jim said he may pop by with his missus as well
twill be a fun little gathering!
Mike-mahalos man! the palette of the ;last one set me to experimenting with some new and challenging colorways
so we will seeeeeeeeeee!
Sending you and Leslie some love!
oh! and hugs!
can't forget the hugs!
:)
tigertail-Thank you Sir! i was JUST over on your thread this morning!
i need to see more of Blair's work... i was raised on Marvel Comics,cartoons (mid 60-s-late 70's) and Provensen were a couple that influenced me very early,as well as that Golden book of Dinosaurs with those awemagnificent paintings and D'Aulaire Mythology Books and old Ripley's Believe it or not paperbacks
(my grandpa would let us take 1 book out of this HUGE chest every time we visited... i grabbed all the Ripleys-10-11 of em over time!)
Your words about friends and loved ones and the lives we touch rings so true....i think you'll agree that being an artist,being born one,there is a sensitivity to situations that resounds inside.....
For years in the Marines may have tweaked that a bit
but the ability to shut off and turn on emotions
as well as being able to view situations close and emotionally-vested
or from a distance,as an outsider...very strange....
and i see you've mentioned liking the progress shots
Well,since you have been so gracious with the TC art lovers
i will follow that cue
scroll down,art-brother...
and hang on
cuz this one got me real stoked!
remember we talked about earlier?
about when ya start painting every 12 paintings are what you would consider good....a masterwork perhaps?
and as one progresses
it becomes every 10 paintings is said Marvel....
then every 7
and so on.....
Welpers, i think i'm somewhere around every 5
and this one
is a masterwork!
to me at least
you might hate it
but that's okay because it makes me very happy!
:)
:)
:)
it was a real fun exercise in
1)immediacy
2)minor experimentation
3)application
as well as disregard of color theory to a successful end
4)elaborating on a previous theme
5)and MORE!
Come looky See!
But first,a Brief History lesson......
First experiment with this stained glass abstract style
and late night interior Tiki Bar atmosphere...
Sven has this one.....
he's a visionary like that!
"Song of the Pufferfish"
cel vinyl and acrylic on masonite
private collection
which advance into a darker,richer interior
and going from the golden glow of the original
it changes to a greener hue in
"the Lively Conversation"
cel vinyl and acrylic on wood
with a simple yet stately frame by my friend
the genius
Bamboo Ben
Next i found,while revisiting the book of Tiki
the stately Moai inspiration used in the below painting
from the Kahiki?
maybe?
Help me with armchair archaeologists....
anyways,after a 2-year Virgin Mary apparition
painting/research jag
a few years back
i am now irresistibly drawn to grottoes
and this Moai fellow was in a grotto...
that's enough inspiration validation,eh?
there's a drawing somewhere in this vein as well, will post it here when i find it(don't bother waiting-it may take a while...)
"After Hours"
cel vinyl and acrylic on wood
with a perfect frame by Mr. Bamboo Ben
private collection
i believe the man from Wildsville has this up
in his Safari Jungle Bondage Love Room
.....or maybe in the bathroom :)
This one retained that darker atmosphere
of it's partner
but wanted a more exciting feel
that late night drunk-a-babble
so first off,i shifted back to the warmer hues
but instead of gold
made the red of the moai
and the orange glow of the puffyfish lamp
to radiate that vibe....
What's the same about all of them previous pieces?
WHITE OUTLINES
which i like
but i wondered what would happen if i did the initial lighting on the ground and through layers and then used a raw umber for that
stained glass effect....would it be too dark?
probably...
hmmmmmm
hmmmm
BUT!
what if i did SOME of it like that
and relied on color,MOSTLY pure color
real rough
to promote the atmosphere..
kinda like
"the Invocation"
acrylic and cel vinyl on masonite
16x20
Raw umber was used in this
in layers ...to achieve a dimensional quality i like...
Another thing to notice is the compositional similarity
to a few of the above pieces...
upper left hand light source
shield on the right,slightly lower
Elaboration of a theme?
Sheer laziness?
hmmmmmmm
History lesson complete
fast forward to last weekend
here is a record of how i gleaned from previous pieces
changed em up a bit
took a few risks
and made a real pretty picture!
You might hate it tho
hey! it's a big blue marble,right?
so here goes....
"the Mystery Bowl
a chronicle of its creation
got some Bamboo Ben frames at the TikiHighway event
and i just LOVE how they really set off the paintings!
ben...yer a genius! mahalo!
Started this one with a quick pencil sketch
circles/an oval/two cylinders/and some elliptical diamonds(for leaves)
didn't shoot that because i was in a frenzy!
But i just started grabbing colors and sloshing em around,trying to capture the atmosphere first
so i can just pile the detail atop it
here's how it looked after mah FRENZY!
Here's some close-ups to show you how rough and rugged it is!
The two mugs i used were from a 75 mug sketchbook jag earlier this year...ideas were a flowing...i just need someone to make them for me....
the fellow on the left was a perfect choice as i had already begun to abstract him as an actual mug...
may i introduce.... Mr. Stumblebee? Staggerbee?
and across the Red lake of libation is Crybaby-Whineyboy
another "dream" mug from that mug inspiration discussed earlier..
altered and improved in this imaginary bar....
Side Note:Please don't make these as mugs to sell to people
without working out something with the me,artist. (it makes sense!)
I'm a very fair business guy-ask anyone!
I'd love to help you make some cash
but don't get all sneaky
unless you enjoy car bombs
and Rambo-like traps!
Thank you
and now back to our regular programming
:)
the Mystery Bowl...
Crybaby!
i gave him a pug nose!
and here we are!
Phase Two!
a lil bit of white to build up the main light source..
See? i didn't abandon white completely!
started sprucing up the Mystery bowl...
and opening the character's eyes...
Mr. Staggerbeegets a pretty umbrella and a skewer with cherries!
added some yellow highlights as well
around the rim of this mystery bowl
por exemple...
Mr. Sourpuss gets a lemon!
and some yellow highlights
started throwing some of the background blue into the shadow areas of some places...working on staggerbee's abstract split
Phase Three!
RAW UMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
it's dark and warm and makes great shadows
and it's not as harsh as black!
or white,for that matter....
flashing out puffyfish...
someone's not too happy about the mystery bowl breaking into the plane of his eye....wah
you can see a lot of the mix of the blue and the raw umber for the shadows...gives it a nice otherworldly feeling...
this effect worked well with the table wood grains
blue underneath and the raw umber over it....
here you can see both the hard outline and the shading...ENJOY!
Phase Four!
Phase four is just a lot of cleaning up...
doing washes for shadows and for hi-lights as well!
here's a close-up of the infernal concoction!
working out the interior vegetation...
and the fish float globe lights!
this lighting shot reminds me of those European nativity pieces
and here's the lighting over crybaby
added some shadows to puffy
and added some dark to his glow
just to get it vibrating...
here's the hole in his back....
PHASE FIVE
defining and shading the leaves....also bringing the table grains alive!
Just needed a little bit of raw umber for the background
it was atmospheric enough on it's own!
phew!
eye-to-eye
tried to make it glow a bit from the inside....
more of the morestuff...
crybaby and his background vegetation
started workin on his woodgrain...wah.
playin with the plains of the contents of the mysterioso bowl
puffy's straining to reach that straw!
so close!
Speaking of close....
here's that umbrella again...
and a fish float globe!
and a few final touches on the mystery bowl and the tabletop...
and Done!
"the Mystery Bowl"
acrylic and cel-vinyl on wood
with a PERFECT bamboo ben frame!
and just the piece...
and OOPS! i ain't done with it yet! Forgot just one area...
can you guess?
If you guess correctly i'll send you a FREE print for only $10!
no i won't....
Anyways,hope you enjoyed that!
Thanks for visiting and showing up to class today!
:)
