Superfrog Gig Poster

Life has been crazy for the past six months, but I'm finally moved into a new place and putting my studio back together. Life is good. The hard times this year were not lost on me though. I have learned a lot this year about what I need in life and what I don't need in life, what I really like and what is mediocre.

I really like making gig posters and doing illustrations. I'm moving in a direction to do more of these. I'm also looking to push my illustration work a bit more in New Hampshire. The economy has made me feel much more in tune with community, so I want to try to keep some business going locally.

But Anyway...

This is a poster that I finished today for the Stone Church on Zion Hill. Superfrog is a cool sounding little jam band, so I tried to keep the poster really simple, and kind of like the old posters for the Greatful Dead and the Doors. I actually had the LA Woman album cover in mind as I was working on the text.


I really did dug doing this poster. I hope you like the finished product as much as I do. I'll be back soon with some more stuff to post.

peace
Mike

November Lewis Acrylics Wallpaper Download is Posted.

I've posted the monthly Lewis Acrylics desktop wallpaper download. The Download is free of charge. Hop over to the site and get it before there is a new one including reindeer and Santa Claus.

Hope you like it this month! Let me know what you think, or if you have any requests for particular pieces to be made into wallpapers. Have a good Holiday season folks.

You can download the Lewis Acrylics Desktop Theme here.

peace
-Mike

Changing Perspectives.

This past weekend my fiance and I rode the bus down to Baltimore so that she could check out the Maryland Institute College of Art's graduate program in Graphic Design. She was very impressed which is awesome. As long as I was there I checked out MICA's Hoffberger school of painting. I am still undetermined as to whether I think that it was great or not, but it was awesome to see some painters in their studio again. It has been so long painting in my bedroom/kitchen that I've nearly forgotten my awesome studio spaces.

I also started to think about how to break the mold that I have built for myself in recent years. Not to say that I am not a huge bird fan anymore, because I am. In fact today on a hike I saw a Downy Woodpecker, and it was awesome, but I don't think I need to continue painting solely birds. It is not healthy and it doesn't push my creativity anymore. So I started to think back, and realized that the series that I had started with word bubbles needs to come back. There is so much left to say with it, and I kind of missed the point before.

The goal of this series that I am starting is to convey more feeling than my works of late. I am very pleased with the paint quality that I've been able to achieve, and I think that I am much more comfortable with my drawing style than I was immediately after college, but it is time to bring back some of the feel for paint that I have lost. I want to get back to walking away from my canvas and feeling out the tone of my piece, and not just creating a quick illustration. I have been thinking about different aspects of this series and in sitting and thinking about the pieces on the bus for eight hours, I've got a much better feel for my next bold move.

The sketches in this post are merely quick preliminary sketches. Expect something more final in the coming weeks. In summation, I am really attempting to make my work a bit more cerebral and less like production. I need to remember to love paint again.

So, keep looking back. I will have some new work soon. I am very much looking forward to painting the next couple of weeks. Until then.

Peace
-Mike

Comin' Back Freakie Fresh!!

I'm feeling so Freakie Fresh. Winter in New Hampshire is coming and coming fast. First off this winter, I am going to learn to ski and maybe snowboard. Second things are looking good for Lewis Acrylics. I have a lot going on, but there seems to be plenty of time to complete everything right now. Very good. Some new things that are coming up:

1.) I have started to do interviews for Underground Art School. The first interview is with Andrea Porter of Blue Bottle in Seattle. It is scheduled to run in mid-November, which as I check my ical is in five days. So I will keep you posted on that.

2.) I had to cancel my November show with Borough Gallery. It is very unfortunate, but due to personal difficulties this fall, I did not have the mental faculty or desire to finish any new paintings. On top of that, I just didn't have enough time to create five new paintings in a new vein. The gallery has been very kind however, and it looks like I may be showing with them in the future.

3.) I have verified the theme of my Fall 2010 show at the Blue Bottle. It will be a Mighty Lark comic. I will be doing full paintings of the frames of the comic. The comic itself will be available for sale as well as the completed paintings.

4.) I have started a Society6 Account. It's a cool site. Through them I have Giclee prints available of My Home in the Tree and Singing on a Wire. Check it out on my homepage here.

5.) I have been working with TinCan Web Works to produce a couple new websites. There will be one for the new literary magazine OVS, which I am producing the header for and offering some design suggestions, and the site for WPCR, that's Plymouth College Radio, will be entirely my design. OVS Magazine is also still accepting submissions for art and poetry for another 9 days after today. Go submit. It's going to be great.

6.) Lastly I've been doing some new design work highlighting my line. I just put together a piece for the Kitchen Sessions Warren, NH. Check it out.

Check out the Kitchen Sessions for some cool new poetry. The idea is that none of the work read at the kitchen session will have been read before. Also, the event is being held at a very cool log cabin in the middle of the woods. It's going to be great.

That's all I have for now folks. Lots of sketchbook work that I may post, but I'm still living in someone else's house, so I don't really have a studio set up right now. I don't really want to get paint all over the place you know? But keep posted, there will be some more cool stuff soon.

Until then.
peace
-Mike

Borough Gallery & Studio

I've been invited to be in another show for November at Borough Gallery & Studio. At this point this year though I am not looking to do a whole bunch more bird paintings. I have really been wanting to do some cartoony figurative work again.

So I started with the Umbrella Man who I have painted before but who I feel I can always do better with. I think he's coming out great this time. I can really see how my painting has progressed when I compare the phases of UM.


The second piece I admit is a little bit of a cheat but I have been looking to piece this painting into a show for a while now, and it is not as if I am not producing other paintings for the show as well. So the second piece is a waiting for the bus piece.


Love this painting. Hope that folks in Burlington will too. Until tomorrow. I gots work to do.

peace
-Mike

Germ - Quistodors!

It's Illustration Wednesday, cuz I'm a slacker and didn't finish this on Friday. Hope you like it!

Dwellings Maximus

It's done, well if I want it to be. I have two pieces that I may try to finish by Monday, or I may not try to finish them by Monday. Either way, I dropped off my show at Artstream Studios today and I am stoked. I have no more shows lined up for this year, so I'm going to work on some cool little projects for me, and try to pick up some illustration work here and there.

I'm also going to get back to work on the Mighty Lark web and mini comics that I have brewing in my head. And lastly I will be applying to the Low Residency programs at MECA and SFAI to hopefully be enrolled in an MFA program next fall, because I'm that guy. Awww Yeah.

But, you haven't seen work from me in weeks and I have a couple new pieces for your viewing pleasure, so here they are.

Yar... I thought of this piece while maxing and relaxing in Warren, NH, because that is what you do in Warren, NH. I love pirates, I love birds, I love the Jolly Roger ( both the flag and the Maritime brew ). What more can I say?

This next piece is a diptych. I think I might make diptychs just so I can use the word. The sound of the word itself is known to make some men uncomfortable. Diptych.

Definitely got into the pipe lettering, but also was able to bring some really colorful painterly background into this one. Amped all around. I'm beginning to realize that this particular blog post is an English Comp professor's nightmare though. And now for another round of colloquialisms....

The last piece is The Burbs #2. I have been feeling very free with the paint application lately. Perhaps I am enjoying the entropy of joblessness. Anyway, I will keep folks up on some future happenings soon. Comic and painting madness are on their way, as well as a couple treats for Halloween and Christmas.

peace
-Mike