Friday, September 19, 2008

Music Machinations, and more


Music Machinations


Breakfast Chimera. Village in Mourning.



King! is a redo of an old drawing (so was Tamed by a Twang). He seems like some tragic Shakespeare character, amidst fluttering tournament pennants.

The middle 2 are about recent personal grief - but even as I try to convey it, the humour is irrepressible - very mixed feelings.

The Machinations are four attempts to draw to chosen pieces of music - a bit contrived perhaps, the drawing soon took on its own life getting further away from immediate reactions to the music.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Another in Mike's: memory (remembering)

Memory (Remembering), by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Ball-point pen. This one is paired on the page with the earlier similar one--I took a picture of the two together but haven't downloaded it yet.

One in Mike's: Exuberance

Exuberance, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. I was wanting more very
fine-point pens, but had to make do with some that said fine but
weren't, very. And just for Andrea, lol, I used some stencils. And I
copied Milo's shading style, though I haven't quite got it down as
well as she does. Trying to learn here.

Willie's on its way...

what day is it? no, Willie's molie is well posted but I had quickly scanned these before and not done anything with them - it's hectic here, the credit crunch effect!



the nude didn't scan well - I got some new polychromos. got tired of the standard tin acid house assortment so went and got some individual colours, lots of greys, sanguine, and dull green. a much improved collection but downside is they don't scan so well.

I discovered that Hector Zazou has died (no, I didn't know who he was either - apparently the french's world music version of Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel). I also discovered that the Zazous were a post-war French youth cult, with a penchant for heavy outdoor clothes, big shoes, swing and bebop music, Clark Gable moustaches (women optional), and rolled-up umbrellas. Not only that but the delightfully named Edelweiss Piraten (pirates) were a pre-war youth cult evolved as a liberal alternative and in opposition to the strict conformity of the Hitler Youth. Sadly, they were severely persecuted in turn by the Third Reich and then the Soviet victors. The Piraten liked fresh air, mixed company, skimpy shorts and camp-fire music. Don't say Moleskine Exchange isn't educational! ha ha.

footnote: those readers thinking of forming bands might want to know that The Edelweiss Pirates has been used for three separate bands already but, as far as I know, The Zazous is still up for grabs!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Two in Mike's

I got Mike's Mole in the mail--thank you, Milo, and have done my first two pieces. They are called "Rage" and "Contemplation" (Yay Biker Buddy!). Apologies to Ammon for stealing his blood (what a vampire), but I needed it. The first one is art pen, colored pencil, and gouache and the second ballpoint pen.

The darker patches in the rat picture are some of the contemplation picture showing through the paper. :-( I guess I leaned a little too hard on the pen.

Monday, September 15, 2008

More Moles






I am sorry for all of the violence.

Ian's Mole is on the way to Steve!

I'll bet you couldn't tell I am obsessed with parallel lines right now, huh?
They make me so happy!
Does that make me crazy ... wait, don't answer that.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

cyborgs in Milo's book





Here's my submission for Milo's book. Once again I used collage along with drawing. I had amassed a stack of pre-painted strips of 2.5" x 3.5" paper, mostly set aside for making ATCs (artist trading cards). For each two page spread I cut a card without thinking much at all. I laid the pieces from the card out, and it wasn't until I glued them down that I decided to make them into "something". What that something is, I'm not too sure myself even. They remind me of the cyborg characters in the film AI, who turned out to be more benevolent and intelligent than the humans in the film. I decided to call them "Communicators", though how they are communicating is left up to the viewer. Below I colored them in Photoshop.




Friday, September 12, 2008

digital stencils (for Andrea and . . . ?)

I don't have a mole right now, so forgive me for sharing this--I know Andrea loves stencils. I've been playing with the stencils on artrage, a computer program that you can download free (smaller version) or $25 for full version.

Of course, you can't use it on moles, unless you paste your work on, but I thought if you didn't know about it you might enjoy it--maybe you all do already. These three were made from stencils. You can make your own stencils from art or photos. Or use theirs.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Polychromos Pencils: The Vase

I ordered some Polychromos pencils, even though I knew that the
quality came from the artist and not the tools. This is my first
piece. It is very small, 3.75" x 5.75." It also did not scan very
well. But it is not as smooth as the work of certain other artists,
of course.

This is not in mole. It's in a little hardbound sketchbook that came
from Jerry's Artarama with my order.