Some work for a change

Ok, I slapped some more clay onto this the other night. It's headed somewhere, I promise :)
Just started a sculpture while I'm off for the holidays. Anyhow, feeling a bit rusty, I have an idea what this is, it might change though.

Etching plate proof

I had some fun stopping for a moment and firing up my kiln over the last weekend and then thanks to a a small bout of insomnia finding some time to bite a plate and run off a proof on the etching press. I'm very happy with the glaze results I got on these two sculptures below, I think I have finally figured out a good method of controlling the firing down phase of the kiln to control it's rate to help my glazes to develop more. Take a look at some of the detail close ups, and be sure to click on them to enlarge and see some of the nice glaze results I got. The etching print I like also, I had fun with the mark making on this plate. I think I could of taken it a bit farther, but it still works rather well for me. My acid is on it's last leg though, no much bite left to it. Hopefully the acid fairy will stop by and leave a new batch for me, Ronnie, you listening?

Fired up the Kiln

Week 6

Week 6 was a good week again for thumbnails, and I also did a quick painting in painter to flush out my values. The top pic is the original thumbnail, painter sketch and finish. Unfortunately I rushed the finish, and got a little messy, and didn't have time to work up my values to where I wanted to. It's still a good learning process for me. By the end of 52 weeks I hope to being more successful with my finished drawings then I am with my thumbnails.

"Ink In unfailing supplies" Week4

Week 4 was a good week for thumb nailing, I had a lot of fun as you might be able to tell, I had a hard time stopping. I think in the end I settled on a composition that......... well, was ok. Not bad though pretty good week.

"Ink In unfailing supplies" Week3

These are some of the thumbnails from week three along with the finished drawing. I thought this was a good start for me as far as making some changes in the type of drawing I normally produce. The top thumbnails are fairly abstract, no strong idea that fit the topic of the week, mainly focusing on cutting up the page to find a compositions until some visuals started coming to mind. Then a thought found it's way onto the page which led me down the path of a walking womb, which hooked my attention. I was also pleased with some of the mark making choices I did with the final piece, I think they work fairly well.

Process

Since I started the new blog journey with Richard Kirk, posting a drawing a week, I've been slowly integrating a thought process that I have neglected to use for quite some time. As much as it pains me to admit this, I have poor work habits:(

But this years journey will force me to develop what I have so badly neglected these last maybe 10 years of scribbling with my pen and ink drawings. A process, yes commonly known as thumb nailing. I had gotten so used to drawing spontaneously, that I convinced myself that premeditation was the death of my artwork. Well the truth is I'm just not that good at it. So I think I will start posting on this blog my process of thumbnails, and inspirational drawings that I do to work up to the weeks drawing. Just a little more commitment on my part to help me get to where I want to go.

Todays post is from the week two drawing. A interesting week , I did some fun thumbnails, which I then wound up ignoring for the most part and then started some drawings which I then restarted over and over until I settled on the last one. You can see a larger version at "and ink in unfailing supplies"

.....and ink in unfailing supplies...

This year I will be embarking on a journey and starting another blog. "And ink in unfailing supplies"Fueled by a number of inspiring artistic influences, namely Justin and Shel Rasch at Stop Motion Mission, and Tom Thorspecken at Analog artist Digital World and specifically his newest blog pursuit, South by North West, a blog he has started working with another artist who lives up in Seattle. Their idea is to have a visual dialog with their sketches sounded like great fun. I have been really enjoying myself by getting back into my pen and ink drawings, and wanted to push myself artistically in hopes of carving my artistic path a little deeper into the untamed and uncharted wild of the unknown. I guess the seed that was planted by Tom's new blog grew into the bold proposition that I wrote to another one of my inspirations, Richard Kirk about. I decide to invite him to join me in posting a drawing a week each for the next 52 weeks. We will both take turns posting what Richard has termed a "text seed", which will grow into our drawings for the week. I feel very lucky to have this opportunity to work this closely with such a talented and inspiring artist, that I know will inspire me to do great work, and hopefully I can return the favor and do the same for him. Check out Richard's website and I think you will see my point, and visit his blog also.

Pen & Ink continues

Well my 2 weeks of freedom is up, but I did enjoy my time at home, stealing every moment I could away from the holidays to work on some of my stuff. I did get a chance to spend some time with a drawing I had started awhile back. I spent enough time to get myself back into the groove of widdle-ing away at one of my drawings that I love to do so much. Life is about living in the now, the moment. When I spend a few hours with one of my drawings, it helps me to be present and focused unlike any other thing that I do. Now if I could find a way to keep this bean of mine focused that well when I go out into that world, and mix with those humans:)

Closer look

Here's a better look at was in the kiln from the last post. I think it's time to stop and focus on getting the display boxes ready for the masks I've been making, sort of shadow type boxes I am going to build to house each mask. Jacque and I will be opening up our store on Etsy this year and the masks and Vessels will be for sale on our store. By the way Happy New Year!! to all of my loyal blog followers:)

Kiln Firing 12/30/09

Here's a look at what happened inside the kiln this past week. As always, some disappointments, but I was also able to salvage a couple of masks that didn't turn out so well the first time I fired them, buy re-glazing them and firing them again. There is so much chance in this process, but also like everything else, experience is key, and since I love to try so many different things, Well.............. it will take some time to become experienced in all that I am trying to do.

It's a marathon,not a sprint, see you all at the finish line:)