Skate Decks

I am working on art for skate decks tonight and it's pretty exciting since that is the first thing that I attempted to do when I graduated with my undergraduate degree in illustration.  I think I know less about Illustrator now than I did then, but I think I know more about art and illustration now, so this should be interesting.  I'm wondering how much of the Illustrator I will remember as I move along here.  Some of it comes back relatively fast while other aspects I am sure will take me an entire evening to understand again.  It is a worthwhile venture though.  It is also a venture that people who don't know all of the details will say things like, "Why don't you already know everything about the program since you are an illustrator?" or "You should understand all of the tools at your disposal", but I think that equally important is probably the fact that I understand how visually I can create an image far better than I could when I was 22.  So I guess all things considered, I am glad to be operating the way I do now.  I'm going to make this work, because I want to, and I may need to, and frankly, it would be nice to finally have that job at the design firm, whether it be "selling out" or any of that b.s.  I would be happy for that sale if it were offered to me.  Check out the original sketch.  Tis one of those awesome marble boards.

Wish me luck.  I would like more of this type of work.  I think it would be good for me, and it might even make my parents rest a little easier, which after all of this time would be an incredible blessing.

Big ups!
Peace
Mike

Re-Visiting & Re-Purposing

Large scale installations constructed out of wooden elements lead to lots of wood scrap, and when your main painting ground is random wood scraps, that is a very good thing.  While I was cleaning studio recently, I found a project that I had started several years ago that is actually quite similar to the totems that I had started this spring.  Pieces of segmented 2x4 were shaped into blocks, painted in pastel and adorned with robot heads.  I would then stack them at random, allowing people to play with my work as they wished.

It is shocking to find that what you took a year to muddle through in an academic setting is actually something that you had already figured out and forgotten about.  Does this mean that I have actually thought of no new ideas while in school?  This is quite possible.  In fact it is beginning to seem quite probable.  As I know that I enjoy working, and have considerably in the last year and a half, I wonder what it is that I need to do to step out of this box that I have created for myself.

That all said, I enjoy this little box.   I don't think I am completely ready to leave yet.  These robot blocks are pretty great too. 

 

I think that this re-purposing is probably one of the most enjoyable parts of doing the work that I do.  My favorite question is probably, "well this is strange looking, what can I do with this?"  Oddly, now that I think about it, that may be an answer to a question that they have been badgering me about at school.  All the more reason to have a blog, I suppose.

I have also started working on the third piece for my Billboard project.  This one is a little more along the lines of what I was working on during the summer.  The pipes are interesting still, but I like the addition of some random color as well as moths and more sporadic hatching to move the viewer around the picture plane.

There will be more color eventually as well as more pieces added to make it fit the dimensions of the billboard better, but for now I am pleased to be working through a couple more issues with the whole process.

Stay up.

Peace

Mike

 

Day of the Dead

I also thought that I would share my Day of the Dead piece for Lunar Boy tonight.  These are actually separate drawings, but it seemed easier to post as one photo.  Yet again the hatching and painted negative space.

Hope you dig.

That's it for now.
Peace for real this time.
Mike

Billboards

This semester of school I have made a major decision, and it boils down to this.  I will not be making work solely for my betterment as a student.  I have worked too hard and too long at creating relationships with galleries and artists to stop for the sake of my education.  With this in mind the first project that I am working on for my present study is the Billboard Project, which I will be participating in.  I have two images ready to be used on a billboard in downtown New Orleans.  This is great not only because of the immensity of the project but also because I have never shown in the state of Louisiana before.  This exhibition will knock of the tenth state in my goal to show in every state in the union.

I have been sticking with the crosshatching and negative space painting method for a series of pipe drawings as my first go around.  I have found that as I paint, I often lose some of the energy that my drawings possess.  I am sure that the same energy can be achieved with paint, but I think with a little more focus on the drawing I may get myself to a better place than I have been recently.  Then, hopefully, I will be able to return to the painting with a fresh mind and the capability of making it more loose and expressive.  With any luck these qualities will come out as free as the drawing and not appear contrived.

But enough of that.  I have drawings to show you, or are they?  I don't know what to term these pieces.  They do have paint on them.  How much paint is required for it to be a painting?  I suppose I am merely defining the characteristics of my drawing so it would fall into drawing.  Thoughts?

 I am not sure why, but sometimes the cheapest materials are the most fun to work on.  Chip board takes an ink hatching really nicely, and lets be honest, there is little that acrylic paint won't adhere to.  I am very fond of this piece.  I enjoy how the color of paint is not so different from that of the board surface.  It is subtle but not without contrast.

I am not sure that I am as big a fan of this particular color combination.  Perhaps I should have gone with more of an off compliment green.  There is a lot of pop in this but that blue seems so solid even here in digital form.  I am also not so certain that I appreciate the large swatches of pipe drawing as the more segmented piece.

I have more to share in the near future.  This blog was far easier to keep up with when I was not in school.  Frankly the scanning alone is often forgotten at this point, but like I say, I want to be doing more projects for me.  It is good for my sanity, and as an anti-depressant. 

I hope all of you are doing rad.
Peace
Mike

The Studio Installation is Nearing a Close

It has been a great week working in The Studio.  Melissa McCarthy is an amazing hostess, our awesome DJ Kyle dropped off some great tunage for the opening, and I have been working for three days straight to try to put together an interesting visual mash-up for the citizens of Central NH.  The Citizen of Laconia printed a photograph today of me installing and all around this has been a pretty tremendous experience.

 Here is what the installation looks like right now.  I am really only waiting for the paint to dry on the small table top.  Imagine with me if you will that the receiver is on top of the orange and pink blotch in the center of the the black table top.

 Here is a little close up of some intimate hatching in the middle.  There will be several more of the bears tomorrow for people to remove from the pegs and use if they so please.  It's like a weird masquerade ball with Kyle's music jamming.

Just a little further out so you can see where the speakers lay in this equation.  I spent a ton of time with the pipe connection in that lower right corner.  Weird.  The panel next to it took a quarter of the time but I like it a ton better.

That's it for now.  I may post some images from the opening tomorrow depending on the turn out.  Also there may be some images from Saturday's opening at Artstream Studios in Rochester, NH.  My glass jars are on exhibit there.  Stop by if you have time.  Five to eight-ish at both establishments.

Peace
Mike

Working at The Studio

It has been a super busy week.  I have two openings this week, an illustration that I need to work on, and an open studio event at the Studio, 84 Union Ave, Laconia, NH.  I am very pleased with the progress which the installation has shown thus far.  As I sit back and look at the installation, I also realize that I am making work now that I was completely incapable of visualizing years ago.  Perhaps this graduate school thing is doing what it is supposed to do, and perhaps I am getting older, more comfortable and more relaxed in my work.  Perhaps it is really a combination of the three.  No matter how I look at it though, I can see progress.  There is still a long way to go.  As an artist, is it possible to think that there isn't someplace to go?  If you've made it, then what is there to work for?

I pontificate, so here's some images.

It's crazy, but I realized that I am a.) not nearly as afraid of heights as I used to be and b.) it is far easier to find a groove on a ladder when you put something in your hands that you feel completely comfortable with.

 I am very pleased with the movement in this corner.  The gaps seem just as important as the positive space.  I like the idea of negative space serving a role as a conscious element.

 I found a real use for the panels from my installation at the end of summer intensive and I think I understand both the characters and my artistic identity issues better for having let myself dwell on the subject a bit.

 The messy work area.  Found the table top at the back in the trash this morning on the way into the Studio.  How appropriate?

On the ladder again. 

I'm listening to some old Rancid, settling into working on this illustration, while I wait for my girlfriend with her cat snuggled up next to me on the bed.  Tomorrow more time at the Studio.  If you're in the area, stop by.  But for now, chilling.

Peace
Mike

Prints - AKA Cheap Art.

Tomorrow I begin installing at The Studio in Laconia, NH.  On Friday I will be rolling out a limited run of prints of my new painting Love Me, which goes right along with the show, which is titled, Love Me.  The prints will be available at The Studio, however, if you've gotta have one, they will be signed and numbered and matted at a whopping 15 bucks.  Email me and I will set one aside for you if you like, though if I've gotta mail it, I may charge a couple extra for shipping.

Here's the piece.  Pretty cool I think.  The big one has changed a little for the show as well.

Also, I will be updating the blog this week while I work with photos and perhaps videos of the installation in progress.  This project should turn out to be totally dope and I'm pretty excited by it.

Be sure to check back.
Peace
Mike

Masks for the Studio Project

This morning I was reading the Design Sponge's newspaper, a new project that the folks over at Design Sponge have put together.  It is quite good.  There was an article about Hess surfboards, which interviewed the owner about his shaping of custom surfboards.  For some reason it occurred to me that I really wanted to shape wood today so I started to think about a project that I had had in mind to make masks.  I had originally planned on making them out of card stock but wasn't particularly into the idea of having them printed and cutting them out.  It did not seem hands on enough, however, shaping them out of wood sounded great.

I got started on them right away, and although they seem to be a bit small right now for the average human face, they still look pretty much like what I had wanted and I think with a little editing they will work well as masks too!

Check them out.

 I have not decided whether I like them better painted or cross hatched.  I have heard opinions to either end and I like them both.  Hopefully folks will feel inclined to use these bad boys at the opening.

Come check out the show as I install next week at The Studio.  Play with a mask, make me take a break, whatever you feel like.  It should be a good time.  Catch you folks later.

Peace
Mike