SUMMERTIME

A QUIET SUMMER MOMENT- AND SOMETHING PERSISTS.


A BEAR TRAP OF A BLACKHOLE.



...FINISHED IMAGE COMING SOON. ANOTHER PIECE/PROJECT THAT'S BEEN KEEPING ME AT THE STUDIO FOR 15 HOUR DAYS HAS BEEN THIS:


BASED ON THE PHOTO SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON ALREADY. BUT FULL DETAILS ON NEWS THAT'S BIGGER THAN BIG WILL COME SOONER THAN LATER.

PURPOSE

Recently, I got an email from a friend who shared my work with her fourth grade class. It so happens, the kids got it. They got the fact that line making can make more than just lines. It's a dope feeling to say the least knowing that kids clear across town appreciate my work and learn about themselves in the creative process. Clearly, I've got some competition here.











This student apparently was quick to try and finish. But after a gentle little reminder that each line, as small or insignificant it may seem serves a purpose and deserves it's own diginity and respect, the student chose to tackle their piece and do it again. It's a beautiful thing when students pursue improvement on their own. Before.



After.



An awesome beatle and hopefully some important life lessons were taken away. Nothing sweeter than the fruits of labors done in love. Who says you can't be inspired by a fourth grader? Thanks for sharing, Christine.

SO WHAT'S NEXT

Been cranking away on another tree. But what differentiated this tree from the past trees I've done is that the client actually requested..."no wood". This was a bit refreshing because I was able to streamline the prep process a bit and just flat out draw. Fortunately, this is something I've been itching to do. Anyways, not much else to say about this piece other than it's probably one of the more detailed trees I've done. Considering the scale, amount of detail and how I was able to crank away at it and get it done within a week, I'm feeling a little bit kind of dope. I'm "growing" in scale and that's something I've really been trying to do this year.

As of now, this is it in terms of commissioned pieces. Knock on wood, this year has been predominantly commissionings and well that makes me anxious in both good and bad ways. The fear of having just done my final commissioned piece will always sprout in place of a sold piece. However, I'm excited to see if what I've imagined my evolution to be will be what actually pours out in reality. So that means new stuff regardless. Either a whole new direction for me, or a bunch of doodles gone wrong to grow from.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

I learned and realized that the worst thing for me to do creatively is to be desperate. Desperately working just to finish. Just for it all to end. I'm always telling myself to stay focused on the line at hand in order for me to prevent work I'll later regret. This is especially true and valuable with respect to ink. Feeling a bit out of sorts before the night really ever even got into full gear, I had to take a step back and identify a possible culprit in trying to clutter my mind... and it was my cluttered desk. I don't know if it's just me or not, but there's a strong correlation between a cluttered space and fruitless labor. Now there are times when I feel dope and sexy because my space is subject to my focus. Unfortuantely, tonight was the former. Regardless, I was feeling a bit out of sorts but now I am feeling fortunate that I didn't ruin my work nor have to undo too many mistakes.

One down, three to go.



A smaller piece.



Still a tree, but a commissioned piece with a rare request to not be done on wood. What's interesting is that I've been planning to go away from more of the wood pieces.

I'm also working on a piece that I didn't bother taking a picture of because... well... it would have been just a blank piece of vellum. Worked on it for a few days and realized it was generically stamped onto the paper and was subsequently nothing I'd be proud to put my name on. So that's that. You are now abreast of what's been keeping me busy. And this is just on the ink side of things. More on what else has kept me busy later.

All the while, my ever present carousel of pens is always on my desk, waiting to be called to attention. If you notice, I took a picture of the pens coming full circle. The smallest nib is .13 mm and the largest is a hefty 2.0 mm. I couldn't afford the typical art supplies when I first ventured into art on my own, and that basically forced me to use ink. Now I can't imagine what I'd do without my pens.

ALL WILL BE REVEALED

My first collaged tree on wood. Over 30 hand drawn/handcut pieces. This was the first piece I did once I dropped out of art school. At that point in my life, my mind was all over the place. I had to use my first degree in Psychology to analyze why I quit pursuing a second degree in something I actually wanted to study. And at the end of the day, I was unemployed but with much more debt. Looking back, this tree might reflect much of that.


A tree made specifically for a show I had late last year. I cranked it out and the curator of the show snatched it up before I could get a decent image of it. Life was chaotic to say the least. A full time job and a 20+ piece show had me wishing for 30 hour days.


More on this later.


A tree I did for a client in Philadelphia. At 1ft x 2ft, it's the redwood of the bunch.


While my first few trees were more experimental, I feel like I've come into my own with the last two trees I've done. I've been able to prune my thoughts, Mr. Miagi style, and figure out why I dig trees so much. Most noticably, there's the tree rings. I've got tree rings growing in the foliage for all to see. Those rings are like tire treads. The only difference is these don't fade with time. Our pasts, pleasantly functional or not, make us who we are today. I can't put it simpler and won't bother trying to make it poetic. Anyways, the time motif ticks on (sorry) with the twelve petal daisies planted in the trees. Untouched petals in full bloom, again, for the world to see. None of those petals have been plucked in insecure suspense wondering if she loves me or loves me not. Sand baggage bags plotted on the bottom of an hourglass are irrelevant when you appreciate everything that's made you who you are to this point.

And I guess that's what trees are to me. Monuments and testimonies of the past manifest in the present. Kind of like volcanoes, no? Pressure exploding on the scene with a gangsta lean? Volcano-Trees... there's an idea. (If you were at my last show, I had a failure of a piece entitled, Volcano Tree. We'll see if I can make anything of it in the future.)

INKING

I don't think it'll ever change, but I get super anxious whenever I present a piece to a client. I assume the worst. And in all seriousness, I hope that school boy anxiety never goes away. I figure that's just my own little way of knowing that I've expended my efforts with no last ditch chips to throw in the pot. There's nothing else I can do. I don't know, I just find that nerve wracking to say the least. What do you do if who you are isn't good enough? I don't know. Well, fortunately the client dug it. And now that they've received the goods, I can show you the full process.

First night of inking once the prep work was done.


The next night.


The next night, I had a four hour marathon of a session. My "finger butt blister" was a bit hemorrhoidal (sorry); but, to be honest I felt pretty dope when I was able to finish the line work of the tree. I was surprised to able to get that much work done. Actually, not surprised, but just sexy. I felt sexy. Defining sexy as "making myself feel dope and good about myself". That's all I want to do everyday. Make myself feel sexy. I'm kidding, but not lieing.

Back to the piece. Just lines. No fills about it.




And a few inches to the left...



Now is when I feel the tree blooms and can begin to flaunt its identity. Hopefully the pictures show the difference between drawing the lines versus filing the gaps in between. It's always tough during this phase because I feel with each space I fill, I've lost two lines and thus the details. But in the end, I'd like to think it was worth it.





And here you go.





In the end, I'm glad each tree roots itself in a loving home and provides shade for one who appreciates it. I know it's late because I'm not going to delete what I just wrote. Just going to leave it there in all it's unabashed, stubborn nastiness.

Come back to tomorrow and I'll explain why I draw tree rings and flowers in trees.

There's a reason for everything.

JUST THE BEGINNING

I just wanted to share the details of what goes into a piece before any ink is ever used.

Well there was once a 12" x 12" piece of wood.



A tree grew on it.



Turned out to be a white tree that had to be pruned.



The tree had a twin brother.



This tree wanted to break out of its shell. Notice the swivelling blade on the lower knife! Yes, yes, I'm a geek, I know and if you make fun of me I'll carve swirls all over your face, and clip the blade on my pocket right after!





The brothers find each other and are stuck with each forever.



Okay, so there you go. Before I can even think of grabbing my pens, I have to prep my board in a fairly labor intensive process. (I actually messed up on the first try and had to do this a second time!) Anyways, I've come to grow into this process and as laborious as it is, I don't mind it at all. I preach to my kids that there's no compromise in something you want to do. If you're going to do something, do it right.

As much as I've tried to find shortcuts, every step is necessary in order to get an absolute white background for my translucent vellum. And vellum's necessary because out of the hundreds of dollars worth of paper I've experimented with, vellum is the only paper that won't bleed. As taxing and expensive as it can be, I just can't find myself compromising for my art. Otherwise, guilt burns through my with laser beam percision. Maybe I need to have that mentality with my physical and emotional and social health. Damn, multi-tasking sucks.

Oh and the next time you see that 12" x 12" piece of wood, it'll have a full grown, ink blossom tree. Like I said, I didn't want to spoil the surprise for the client. (Like she or anyone else reads this damn blog anyways-sheesh)