cont.

I'll get er done.

Some progress

Ok, I need to just finish this and move on, it's been sitting in the studio too long now. It would be nice to fire up the kiln again for a change. I'm not sure this will make it through the inferno of the kiln, along with another one that needs to be fired. I tend to build them a tad bit o off balance.

Late night doodle 3

I would like to do this for awhile and see where it gets me, but I would really like to be sculpting and working on some pen and ink drawings.

late night doodle 2

More photoshop scribbling. I don't normally paint in photoshop, but I'm starting to like it. Late night winding down, no real thoughts on what I was painting.

Late night doodle

Just a late night scribble in photoshop.

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:)

Back to the kiln

I've got a couple of weeks off from work and am enjoying being home at the house. I fired up the kiln for the first time in too long a time, on monday night. I got to use a pyrometer that I had bought awhile back on ebay. I like knowing what's going on inside the kiln as it fires, trying to judge by color is not a very easy way to be sure of the temp. The one shot you can see through the peep hole and see the cone bending over, it has the number 04 upside down on it. Cone 04 is the temperature to which I fire my work to (Bisque)before I glaze and then fire it again. As you can see from the pyrometer reading at cone 04 is 1942 degrees, or somewhere around there depending how quickly or slowly you fire. Cones measure the amount of heat that the clay absorbs not the temperature that is in the kiln, when they bend over like this one is, you have reached your mark. I hope to improve my glaze firing with the help of the pyrometer. With it I'll be able to hold the temperature at a certain temperature to hopefully get some better results with my glazes. Anyhow, I hope to get some work done while I'm home. I just mixed up a new batch of paper clay so I can continue working on my series of man and woman theme sculptures. Merry Christmas!!

New Clay Stuff

I got myself back into the studio today to finish up two pieces that have been neglected for a couple of weeks now. I think if I focused on one thing I could probably be really great at what I chose to do, but that apparently is not going to be the case with my life. So my only hope is that I live a long time so I can pull together all of the misfit, half baked, creations.

I like the mask, with the hole drilled in threw the bridge of the nose to add something after glazing and firing. I do plan on exploring this avenue more and add sort of a head dress to the ceramic masks that I make. I'd like to incorporate metal, wood, and other materials in the future.

This other sculpture, another one in the series of man and woman growing together theme, is interesting. I've attached them to the top of a vessel I threw. I like how the two forms are incomplete, fluid, and somewhat broken, but still beautiful. The male figure is playing a supporting role in this one, but they are both in the struggle together. I'm excited to get this one fired and glazed, because I can't wait to see it with flowers coming out of it's cracked and open forms.

Work on Timmy begins

I recently started modeling my pal Timmy Fifel, as you can see he doesn't have his head yet. This is a learning process for me, mainly being a traditional artist and animator, I'm learning as I go. I did some simple rigging on him to see how his body mesh is working. It just blows me away when you start moving him like a puppet, to see him start to come to life. I guess that's the magic of animation.

Fun with Maya

Here's a little piece I threw together with a small piece of animation I did awhile back when I was getting familar with the rig the students in the fundamentals of animation class use at Full Sail. I'm having fun learning more and more these days to be able to work on my development and animation reel for my story with good old Timmy Fifel. I think the New Years resolution for next year will be to model and rig him and start animating him in an environment.

Clay, Ink, and the Princesses

I try not to labor over these pots too much since I haven't perfected my firing and glazing technique yet. I haven't done enough work yet to feel like I can confidently guarantee a successful result. So if they don't work out so well I haven't put to much blood and sweat into them, (makes it easier to swallow if they meet with disaster). I look forward to the day when my glazes will turn my work into something uniquely special.
Here's our two little girls, our found kitty Zen and my wife's precious little girl Shimmey. I'll have to post some video of them playing one day, they love to wrestle, and it's a hoot to watch.
Drawing continues. I would love to be able to spend a week on a drawing and see where I can take it, but for the moment I'll settle for a stolen hour here and there. I find it hard to weave a long deep story into my drawings unless I spend a great many hours focused mainly on the drawing. This drawing has no real story at this point, just a simple theme that's been showing up in my ink drawings. People biting people, although I love zombies, I don't think that is the motivation, and I'm not craving brains or human flesh. I have an idea what it means, it's just I haven't spent enough time exploring and weaving my tale.

Work continues

As I continue to draw my small 4x6 pen and ink drawings on my breaks at work, I can't help but get the itch to do some larger scale work, so I just started one. I'll have to try and shoe-horn this into my routine somehow. Just do it until it becomes part of the day.

Like I said time to make some pots, The weather has made a turn here in Florida, and it a perfect time to fire up a 2000 plus degree kiln. Not to mention, that come February of next year my wife and I would like to be able to open up our store front on Etsy.