The New Lewis Acrylics Store

It has been crazy in Lewis Acrylics land. This past week I got my first two days in a row off from my day job since the 31st of January. I can't believe that 2 months have gone by so fast, but now I'm coming down from the winter job and trying to find something until I start graduate school in June. So I thought one of the coolest ways to do that would be to put together a Google store for Lewis Acrylics. It was really easy and I'm pretty stoked about that.

If anyone wants to check out the store, there are a lot of paintings at incredibly reduced rates, and since it's through Google Checkout you can even use a credit card and all of that jazz. You can check it out here!

I think it looks pretty slick. Hope you like it too.

In other news, I am starting to work on my plans for my summer projects at MECA. I have sent in the enrollment check so it seems final. Next thing is obviously to start sketching out the main projects.

This sketch is going to end up somehow being the centerpiece for a major show coming up that I will be working on while at school. I don't know if you will be able to tell the grandiose nature of it from the sketch, but in my head it is all starting to come to life. Check it out, and drop me a line with your thoughts.


Well, for now, I've got a bunch of work to do, so I should get going and starting working on some more stuff. In the meantime, help out a starving artist and pick up a painting, and for those of you with incredibly limited budgets like mine, there are some plans for some super cheap stuff going up in the store soon too.

Til next time.
peace
-Mike

Wow

This past month has been insane. In the month of February I was awarded 3 days off at my day job. So far in March the trend has continued. Fortunately there is an end in sight just as things are starting to pick up with a couple paintings that I am working on. I love when everything comes together.

I thought I would just quickly post a couple images as I just finished painting with that "I could stay up all night and just look at this mark and this mark and this mark" feeling. It's awesome. The artist's high.

The first image is actually of the piece that I am working on now which gave me such a high. It is too dark in the studio to take a decent pic of it tonight but in sketch stage yesterday this is what it looked like.

I am stoked with the way this is piecing together. I also have big plans for the lower (you can't see it cuz it is not attached yet) part of this piece. It is going to involve some construction and be generally awesome!

The second image is of a more resolved piece in the smoke series which I am really excited about. This one came about in that flurry of putting down paint in efforts of trying not to waste any right before you have to leave studio. Sometimes this results in some very happy mistakes.
I for one am loving these.

I am really digging the amorphous quality of these smoke pieces and am really starting to see some reference to some Stuart Davis and Brian Barneclo in the shape of the smoke. More to come soon. For now I'm out. Just wanted to share quickly while I was feeling the right vibe.

peace
Mike

Irrigation the Lewis Acrylics way.

Welcome to all of you new folks that are following the blog! It's great to see that more folks are checking it out. As any of you who have been reading the blog know, I've been accepted to graduate school, and with my acceptance I have made a bit of a shift in the work that I have been creating. I have been trying to think about projects in a larger scope as opposed to a purely illustrative manner.

One matter that I have been pursuing is irrigation and trees. In 2006, I was putting together several pieces with tree roots subbed out for by pipes. I am completely obsessed with pipes and I really don't know why that is, but I find the designs and abstract images that are created by plumbing and heating to be amazing. Weird sure, but it does keep me amused if I go any place with exposed piping.

I have five panels that I am going to link together in my newest piece. I plan on connecting the piece with pipes between the panels. I have several sketches as to how to arrange this but haven't quite narrowed it down yet. I will keep you posted on the composition of that piece as I am more certain of it. For now I have three of the panels in my "forest" started.

As you can see this one is very basic. I am toying with taking the whole thing back to that blue color and just drawing in the tree without rendering in paint. The second and third are a bit more developed:

I am very into the yellow creating negative space that almost looks like foliage in the tree. I feel that this "sparseness" really starts to get at the point that the whole piece is supposed to be going for. What do you think? Too blunt, too cryptic?

This one is starting to come together a bit. Though as I look at all of these pieces together I realize that I could probably do a whole lot more with the pipes to mimic the branches in the trees. More to come folks, more to come.

On another note, I have been working on some urban scenes. One is for a friend, who has been claiming that he is going to buy the piece ever since he saw the sketch. I hope he likes the painting as well as the sketch. I always feel as if there is a lot of pressure on me when someone is interested in something from the get go.

I am really into this old man. I am also very into the mock storefronts from my childhood. In case you don't know, I grew up in Croghan, NY. The meat market was one of the only places that folks in the rest of the state knew about. So there you go. Oh and by the way, I used a lot of creative license here, Ralph's is nowhere near the Meat Market, it is two towns away and there is also not nearly that many buildings or people in Croghan, but it's nice to think about those places anyway.

The last piece is just a quick one. I was thinking about my friend Katie who I met in Minneapolis last summer. She's from Pittsburgh, which if you hang out with her you will find out very quickly. She's quite proud of the fact. Anyway, I was thinking about the mid eighties graffito pieces of New York City and decided that Pittsburgh needs one too.

Hope you think it's successful. I like it.

Glad to hear any thoughts that any of you may have. Hope you enjoy the work. Until next time.
Peace
-Mike