Release The Bees - NH invading CA

I've completed my painting for the Bee Here Now show at The Hive Gallery in LA. The finish and a critique from my buddy Erick, whose blog and work you should check out if you don't already know it - Erick ledesma, has made me realize that there is more that I can do with this. I like it. I've had this kind of little kid dream in my head of raising bees for honey and having a hive on land in the country here in New Hampshire. That is not to say that I will be dropping my paint brush for a Bee Keeper's mask any time soon. But it is good to have some thoughts running through your head to draw from.

My goal with this piece and with the squid sketch a few days ago was to keep my line work a little more, make the piece look a little less "produced" and edgier. I do think that I achieved that, and I think that this is a step in the right direction. I definitely enjoyed making this piece, but the size of the piece, which I chose because of the venue and the fact that I have to mail it across the country, made for limitations in my line and in my paint. Perhaps painting larger should be on the docket for things to be doing in 2010 as well.

I am excited about my new work, even if it does seem to have a little bit of my old work tied into it. It seems more personal in painting style. The next goal is to seem more personal in content as well. The next generation of Bee drawing is getting me super excited as well.

This sketch was completed for the Art House Co-op Book project, which I really need to kick into overdrive to finish the second half of this week. Not used to finishing books quickly. I usually work in several different books at once. I really like the play of negative and positive space with this bee drawing, and I enjoy that the tree is pretty much impossible to find in nature. I guess its all about finding a way to say something completely in your language.

I'm also looking forward to experimenting in the next drawing a bit more with some different fungus. Living and drawing in NH gives you entirely new perspectives on what is cool. I love fungi! Expect more fungi in 2010. But for now this fun guy is out...

peace
-Mike

Art House Procrastination-book Project

Wow. The deadline for the Art House book is really coming up fast. I sat down with the book today intending to knock out a good portion of it, and I ended up with some drawings that I was quite pleased with, though to be honest, I didn't work as quickly as I needed to. Oh well, I may have to work some late evenings to finish on time. Pretty much par for the course in my world.

This sketch was really tipping my hat to Michael Nobbs. If you don't know Michael Nobbs, you should really check out his work. He has an exceptional way of documenting every day life, that I really would like to be able to bring into my work.

This sketch is really nothing new for me. The last three years have been dominated by pieces like this, and I love doing them, I really do, but I do wonder if I end up pigeon holing myself too much by doing so many of them. I guess when I am old I question whether I want to be known as the "bird and robot guy", or the "guy who draws the Mighty Lark" or what. Then again, there is also the question of whether I want to be known or not anyway. Fame seems appealing, but you don't need to look any further than Kurt Cobain or Jimi Hendrix to see that it is an unnatural way to live, that induces extraordinary behavior...

Fortunately, I think I am safe. There are far less super famous artists than musicians in this era.

I know that this guy kind of looks like an old man, but I really was thinking about my buddy Grover while I was drawing this. I don't even think that Grover smokes, and he's not old, but something about this guys' walk and his posture made me think of Grover. That is the best part of drawing if you ask me. When I get some really great memory in my head of some person or event and I get to relive it for a while. That is why I love art. Uh oh, did I give the secret away.
Hope the magic isn't gone now....

So Anyway.....
peace
-Mike

Art House Sketchbook Project

I've gotten a pretty slow start on the Art House Sketchbook Project. What with it being due by the fourth of January I figure I better get going on it. So today I was drawing some work in the book. My theme is "Time". In the past I have done a lot of work on time travel and time as an element of existence. By element of existence I mean that to have volume an object has to have a length a width and a height, but the object isn't there if it isn't there for a given amount of time, so time is the fourth element.

I always thought that was really cool. When I first got the Art House book, I was still trying to find a job and move, so everything was very literal to me, but now I am thinking more about black holes, white dwarves, and the rotation of our planet. Time travel and time sitting still are going through my head. It feels good to have something a little more esoteric and creative running around in there again.

Here are a couple sketches that I worked up for the book.

The first sketch is from the series of half heads that I have been trying to figure out. Word bubbles get me so jazzed. I think they leave an artist the room to be anywhere from literal to enigmatic, and that ambiguity makes it a really fun subject for me to play with.

The second sketch I am going to work into a piece for the Bee Here Now show at the Hive Gallery in LA. I haven't sent a piece to their group show since I had my small wall feature there. But now it's time to get over some things that have been bugging me, and get back into this thing.

This piece is actually a reference to an older piece that I did when I was first into time travel. It was based largely on "Time Travel in Einstein's Universe", a book by J Richard Gott. I couldn't get over the concepts in this book and was drawing things relative to its content for months. (sorry for the pun - relative)

I'll keep you posted on this new piece. I think it's going to be a good one.
This is Mike Lewis signing off, until then......

Peace
-Mike