RIP Maurice Sendak

an inspiration, amazing artist and writer, your work and brazen attitude will always be remembered. The Steven Colbert interview w Mr.Sendak just a few months ago is one of the most hilarious bits ever, and will always stay with me as a fleeting memory of this great creator. Thanks for viewing on this day that a great artist passed from us, you will be missed.

(sketches, roughs, and "Bring The Rumpus" Oil on Board, 2010 created for
Where The Wild Things Art Group Show)

Minimalist Gestures

are the foundation for all drawing, and can take a life-time to master. The spine, hips, and shoulders dictate so much emotion and movement in the human form, there is often a subtle beauty and effortless touch to artists whom their works can capture the flow of the form in a few seconds, or a few gestural marks on paper. These are exercises in exactly that, but also looking to break down the line and form in to the most basic indications I can, and as said before a practice and learning session always. These are from imagination,  no more than a minute or two each, and I work them layer upon layer with vellum or tracing paper. The step by step consists of roughs to line drawing, seven steps on the light-table. I have a few more posts about Montana and the trip to On Deck 7 soon, thanks for stopping by to view the posts. 

On Deck 7 MT Recap

from the confines of Studio 72 on this post. Well what can I say, I am proud of Karma for creating such a nice painting for the show in Missoula, Mt. and I have to say that the show's variety, and vigor to sell so many works in gallery and online for a great organization, is quite admirable. Karma's skate sold, and another of our friends and fellow painters, Decoy, hailing from Washington D.C. had her skate hung as a pair with Karma's, you can see the works together in the photos above. A very cool and unintentional artistic twist to the showcase, I will let the photos speak for the remainder of the skate art. The other great highlights were the Haroshi works, both real treasures to behold in person. Wish we could've gotten our hands on one of the limited edition posters that were raffled, you can read and see more about this amazing resurrective artist in the detail photos. An honor to ride and share this show with Karma, and I hope to see and do more with On Deck in the future, a great grouping of creative energy in Missoula. Head on over to Karma's blog to read more about our adventures on the trip and her showing at On Deck 7. Thanks for viewing a Studio 72 Karma spotlight post.

Links for the show and Gallery
Huf
Montana Skatepark
the brink

Montana/YellowStone Field Studies

 sketched from observation. I had full intentions of setting up for some plein air work both in Missoula, and in Yellowstone, but the weather in the high northern mountains was not allowing for such creation. Thanks to Karma for these photos, very brief sketching sessions, and from the photos you can tell it was cold with blowing snow and wind. These were created as studies to work simultaneously with photo reference for some smaller paintings. Full recap and more from the On Deck 7 show, Missoula sites and our return trip to Denver in the next few posts. 

Blown Covers Rich and Poor Submissions

was this past weeks theme for Blown Covers. I was honored to have my submission placed amongst the Runners-up this past week. I focused on ideas of political rich and poor, and my ideas ended up centering upon Mitch Romney and his bags of riches. I worked through concepts to best tell this story, and I came upon ideas of Scrooge McDuck and Richie Rich that I felt would be effective solutions. Once I had settled upon this direction, it was a decision of how to best display the gesture of the character. I always think back to the vault of money swimming pool from the old Duck Tales shows, and I felt this would be the best image to display Romneys with his riches. You can see the basic process from rough thumbnail, to line drawing, to value study, to final. Always a pleasure to work through these ideas, and a great honor to have placed at the top for last weeks theme. Special thanks to Francoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman for the nod, and thanks for stopping through to view the work. More from Montana in the next few posts. 

Runner-up #5 my submission

The Winner

Runner-Ups 1-12

All other submissions

On Deck 7 from Missoula Montana

at Brink Gallery is featuring the artwork of our wonderful friend and fellow Studio 72 artist Karma Leigh. Karma and I made the long and beautiful trip to Missoula, and I am posting this from the hotel in Montana. Karma diligently and strenuously worked on this deck to have it complete and ready to mail to Big Sky Country. You can see from the detail shots and other photos that she put a great deal of time into preparing the board in which the figure is painted on, and then adhered it to the larger skate deck to create the topographical effect. The figure was painted in acrylic, and the added details are found shoelaces to complete the aesthetic.  The artwork is to be auctioned to and proceeds are to support the Montana Skatepark Association. You can find more info about the organization at the link below. If you are in Missoula hope to see you there, and I will post some event shots and more from Missoula in the next few posts. Thanks for road trippin with us. 

http://www.montanaskatepark.org/

Primary Primates

or should we say colorful monkeys. That is what I have been getting my hands into, among a few other things on the work table. These are from our rough studies from a few posts ago, adding some quick color swatches to the scenes to get a feel for the overall shapes. As mentioned previously, all will change in many layers but for now you get to share in the abstract process with me. Look for more from the road to Montana tomorrow, with special news from Karma!

Iron Monkey

is the product of what seems to be an infinite amount of monkey drawing. This is still in the rough stages, and you can see the sketch, and digital wash. I have yet to use any reference yet and I will most likely get some out and do a watercolor as well as probably put another layer on in photoshop. Too much fun.....is what this amounts to. Thanks for dropping by and look for more on this concept and more in tomorrows post.