OSU EcoCar Project!

I cant believe March was the last time I posted, it's not for lack of work though. Here is one piece I had a particularly fun time making the past month or so.
I was lucky enough to be chosen, along with about eight other local artists, to partner up with the OSU Eco Car Program (check out some more info about them here) and 83 Gallery here in columbus to make a pretty unique piece. The long and short of it is we took old junk yard car hoods, and turned them into art! This is what the hood looked like after I got it and cleaned it off. I kind of wish I had a picture of it when it was all covered in rust and dirt, but I was too eager to start working to think of it.

I chose one with a hole in the center because I knew it would be fun to try and do something with. So step one was getting it clean and prettied up, then came the gesso. It was interesting to see it go through the next couple of stages as it went from black to white to bright orange/red, then ended up mostly blue.

 The gesso layer helped me start the planning process better, at this point I really didn't even know what it was I wanted to paint on here yet. I had so many different ideas, I think the hardest part of the whole thing was just deciding. The next step was what I usually do with my paintings, I put a wash on it to make the base color. I also took out the center piece covering the hole.

 The intensity of the orange was something new though, I usually use a burnt sienna or something close to it that is more of an earth tone. The recent pieces I was doing with the lettering probably influenced this step the most. After this one it was time to start actually committing to a painting.

I recently did a piece entitled "Think Happy Thoughts" that had a lone island. I really enjoyed how that piece turned out and was excited to try and tweak it and bring it to a much bigger scale, I think the hood was close to 4 feet on both sides. Thats quite a step up from the 3" or 2" paintings I usually do. I did want to bring a more graffiti influenced feel to it as well, so I added in the arrows and stylized clouds to bring attention to that tiny spot in the middle of the hood. I wonder what that is?

 After I had the sky and Island blocked in and laid out it was just a matter of painting in the entire thing. I started by finishing up most of the clouds and water, then trying to paint the island as loosely and undefined as possible. I really didn't want it to look like I was painting a specific island or even a realistic one. I wanted it to have more of a dream like feel, something you would catch a glimpse of real quick in your mind then it would disappear.

So this is how it turned out! Now for what is through that little dot in the center; I made a box with a small hole on top so I could put a light hanging in. I then made new cover for the front and put a peep hole in it so you would have to get right up close to see what's inside. Then I covered the inside with chalkboard paint and scribbled thoughts and ideas all over the inside. Most of them had to do with environmental and societal problems, that I think could be easily changed if more people knew about them and cared enough to actually make changes in their lives. I have been trying to incorporate things like this into my work lately mostly because I think many environmental problems can be easily solved if more people start to take a part in the change, so even if one person saw this and was influenced then it was worth it to me.

New Stuff

So ive been wanting to do something different lately, but not too different. So I came up with these ideas of words written in the sky of the landscapes I paint. Here are a couple of the first ones!

New Stuff on Etsy

The past few days I have been working on getting my Etsy site back up and full of new stuff, here is one of my new paintings, the most recent to go up.

Lately I have been doing a lot with these bright blue skies. I think its because I got a new big tube of this manganese blue, which is such a sweet color. I cant help but want to use it on every painting. So anywho, check out all my new stuff here.

Two new pieces on Etsy.

Just recently finished up two more mini landscapes. This first one is from a picture I took driving down to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. I think the landscape surrounding route 71, in between Columbus and Cincinnati, is always amazing. The farm land is so flat and you can see for miles.

*Etsy Listing*

This next one is from a picture as well. I was missing the warm western landscape a few days ago when the weather was cold again here, so I was looking back through my pictures from Arizona and found one with this great mesa in it. I completely forgot about this picture so it was fun to paint and pretend to be back in the sun and warmth.

*Etsy Listing*

Both paintings are 2" x 3" and are done in acrylic paint.

New Landscape Painting

I have finally had a few days without too much work and Ive been able to crank out a whole bunch of new paintings. I still find myself making things less and less realistic, and things have been leaning almost towards a more illustrated look. Maybe all those years of illustration classes at CCAD are finally showing through in my work. This is the biggest new piece..

Seascape

15" x 30"

Acrylic

Stay tuned for a bunch more paintings!

New Painting!

I finally finished this piece! I started this so long ago, maybe 2 years ago now? I forgot about it for awhile, then found it again and had intentions of finishing it, until I forgot about it again.. Then a few days ago I found it once again, and so I decided it was finally time to get it done.

It is my own version of one of my favorite paintings, a piece by Gregory Manchess. In my book he is one of the best painters and illustrators alive today and I have always wanted a version of this painting for my studio wall.

And once again, it was cold yesterday and I started this last night, and it was so nice out today I was doing yard work in a t-shirt.. and it's the last day of January! I love controlling the weather with my paintings.

Spring Painting

Here is a new little 3" x 3" painting!

I really think I am controlling the weather with my paintings now though, I did that last big orange oceanscape and it was beautiful that day and the next. Then It got cold for a few days again, and then I started working on this little guy and today is so nice out, and its supposed to be like 45 or 50 all week, in January! I havn't decided how I will use my new found abilities yet.. but I think Ohio could use more palm trees.

New Painting

So we have only had about two or three cold days this winter I feel like, but I am still not a happy camper about it. I needed a big warm painting session to get over the idea of winter actually being here, and for some reason this orange ocean scene never gets old to me. I like tweaking it a little bit every time and changing or adding little things. This time I added some jet trails criss-crossing the sky. The oranges got a little blown out by my camera but this gives you the idea. I have been back in the mood to paint a bunch again so hopefully I'll have a string of new stuff up soon!

24" x 24"

Acrylic

83 Gallery Tomorrow

So tomorrow is gallery hop here in Columbus, and weather dot com told me that it's supposed to actually not be too cold and miserable out! I am going to be heading to 83 gallery to see all the new stuff, here are two of my new pieces that will be up there.

With both of these new pieces I was getting away from only have that really low horizon line and breaking it up into a few basic colors. Making the landscape a little more realistic is fun sometimes, especially in winter when I am cooped up inside all the time.

With this one I just took what I usually do, and reversed it; I put the horizon line near the top and had the waves gently lapping in over a much bigger distance of the canvas.

So these two will be up at 83 Gallery plus a few new triptych paintings and one big still life I did at CCAD. Hope to see some familiar faces there!

New Stuff on Etsy, and Gallery Hop this saturday!

So I finally have some new stuff up on etsy again, two new miniatures and two new mini triptychs! Check those out here.

Also I will have a few pieces up at 83 Gallery this saturday for gallery hop here in columbus! They will have live bands all night and tons of new work up, so come check it out if you can. Wee

Oops it's been awhile..

Man, December went by fast! I hope everyone had a great holiday season and happy new years. I was lucky enough to get a bunch of commissions recently, so I had an extra busy few weeks before Christmas. Things have slowed down a bit now though, so I can finally show everyone what I've been up to!

This was a piece I did for a climbing friend of mine from New York. Her family has a cabin on a beautiful lake where they have always fished, kayaked, and done all sorts of fun stuff. It is much looser and quicker than most of my paintings which I enjoyed doing. Lately I have been moving more and more towards impressionism and a less realistic painting style. One more commission to finish up now, which I will post once it's done, then I can start working on new paintings! weee

Thank You!

I just wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to the CCAD Art Sale yesterday! Thanks for supporting us artists and making the day memorable.

The early morning sun was blaring through the windows when I snapped these photos. The sun actually hung around for the whole day too which I think helped a lot for getting people up and into the sale.

Just incase you didn't get to see my booth in the morning, here it was.

People still really love the mini paintings, which was good to hear because I havn't made any in awhile and this motivated me to start again. But even more, it definitely motivated me to start working on some bigger pieces. So hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some cool new really big paintings to be posting!

So thanks again to everyone for motivating, supporting, and making us artists feel loved!

CCAD Art Sale is THIS SATURDAY!

So I feel like the art sale kind of snuck up on me this year, I can't believe it's already that time of year. I wanted to make something new for this sale, something a little more suited to christmas and the spirit of giving and all. I came up with a fun idea I think; I've been making cards with just some simple illustrations on the front, then a quote on the inside. All the quotes are some of my favorites, so of course they all are somewhat nature related, about simplifying and the likes. Here is one of the most simple cards.

The quote on the inside is "An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day" from Henry David Thoreau.

All of the illustrations aren't as simple as that one though, this one below has a bit more detail and color, but the scene itself is pretty simplified. I let a ton more of the wash underneath show through than I usually do as a way of making it seem a bit unfinished, or letting you fill in the rest yourself.

The quote in this one says "To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders." One of my most favorite taoist quotes from Lao Tzu. Then of course I have a little bit more from Mr. Henry David Thoreau, the one below says "Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" I love that quote because he makes such a great insight into the idea of making art, even though he most likely was thinking about something completely different. So I will be selling all these fun little guys at the sale, plus a whole bunch of winter and christmas type landscapes. So if you have nothing else to do this saturday between 10 and 2 come hang out with me at CCAD!

I Miss Robots

One of my one on one students has really been wanting to try sculpting lately, so this week we finally broke out the clay. I havn't sculpted in awhile so I decided to let her choose what to try an sculpt, best decision ever. She wanted to make robots, I don't think there could have been a better choice.

We had our class and she managed to crank out a pretty cool head and body for hers, and I had just finished the head for mine. Time ran out so we decided to keep working on hers next time. I on the other hand was wayyy to into making my robot to stop. When my lessons were done for the day I quickly took out my half finished robot and went to work. Finally hunger stopped me and I had to go home, but I managed to crank this little guy out.

He says " 'Ello from robot land, and I hope everyone out there had a fantastically filling turkey day."

Watercolor Paintings from class

Last week we played with watercolors in my Paint like the masters class. The kids all really seem to like watercolor painting more than anything else so far which was fun for me. They actually sat and focused for the whole time and made some cool paintings. The only requirements were that it had to be a nature scene, and preferably something with water in it. These were two of the paintings the kids came up with.

I painted with the kids too, because there were a few of them missing so they were a little easier to handle than normal. I wanted to try something similar to a piece I did in college where there was a coy fish swimming beneath some lilly pads. That piece had been done in collage and I can still vividly remember how much of a pain it was to cut out so many scales and paste them on. I think the count was over a hundred of them by the time I was done. So needless to say, the watercolor version was much easier and much more enjoyable. This week were drawing a still life, should be fun!

"Being Coy Again"

12" x 12"

Watercolor

Oops it's been awhile

I am still alive.

Sorry about the long delay in posts but things have been pretty busy lately in the world of Quinn. First off I moved into a new house! It's really nice, but it's a bit of a fixer upper so i've had my hands full with that. I just finished painting the living room and the kitchen cupboards and drawers. We built a coffee table last night, and we are in the process of making a saloon style door to get to the basement. Next up for painting is the kitchen walls, then the ground floor will be done enough to start working on finishing the basement! Theres a lot of things I am excited for with this new place, most importantly SO much more space! I can start doing some really big paintings and get away from the tiny 2" and 3" ones I've been doing for a bit.

But with this almost month away from posting I have accrued quite a bit of things to post about, I wont dump it all out on one post but here is a quick fun one. My dad home brewed some Honey Porter this year, and he is hopefully bottling it soon. He went with the classy name, Harry Porter, can't go wrong with that. Here is what I came up with.

The last beer my dad made was pretty good so hopefully this ones even better, but with a name like harry porter how could it be bad.

In other news, my after school classes have been going really well, and that'll most likely be what I post about next so stayed tuned yall's!

Upside-Down Cat is Done

Mr. Upside down is finished and in good hands. It turns out the auction isn't until January, so I've got some waiting to do to see if he does as well as the last one. The previous cat drawing I donated went for over 1500 dollars! All of which went to helping the wayne county humane society grow and become a better shelter. Hopefully this years kitty goes for even more. Cheers.

Artists Row!

What a fun festival! The few days before it were busy, but I got tons of work done and had everything ready once the big day came along. I really enjoyed the whole day, the set up went well, the people were nice, and we were right near the music stage where there were some really great jazz musicians playing all day. And the best part of the whole thing; I won best in show! I got to go up one stage and everything!

Here was the set up in the morning, the weather was perfect and I got to wear my favorite Plaid as I fine tuned all the spots for my paintings.

People also really liked the little paintings again, as well as the big seascape. In the middle of the table you can just about see the first mini vertical trio I've done. Also on the far left you can make out the mini winter scene where instead of three square canvases in a row, I threw in a vertical one in the middle. Small changes to what I was doing before but I thought they were fun ideas.

Close to the end of the day I got the big surprise, I got to go on stage in the middle of the festival and receive the award from Maria Friske, whom the award is named after. It was really exciting, but then they told me to say something into the microphone, and I'm definitely not a big public speaker, so I just said thank you. Hopefully that was enough.

So overall the weekend was a success, plus the Bills won and are 2-0 now, what a year its turning out to be.

Preparation for Artists Row

Artist Row is fast approaching, this sunday is looking to be perfect weather in rochester and I'm getting excited for the festival. I've been slacking on the posts lately because of all the work I have been doing in getting ready for the show. in the past two weeks I have finished about 16 paintings, if my maths right thats over one a day. This is a quick taste of some of the new stuff.

Lately the paintings have become more like illustrations I think, I've been wanting to call them the illustrative landscapes. I think it was all those illustration classes, I can't help but make up stories for each painting as I work on it. I've also started to make a few that are more design orientated by taking the cloud shapes and turning them into something a bit more.

I will probably have one more post before the show, once I get all these little guys framed up and I have all my stuff together. wee

Lots of new stuff on the way

There's a new company opening up here in Columbus, it's called Colors & Bottles. The concept is pretty simple; an artist brings in a painting and teaches people how to paint it. And since it's geared for adults and a party type of theme, its BYOB, so that should be a good time. The painting below is the one I will be teaching, and if all still goes according to plan, I should be teaching a whole group of people all my secrets of painting in a few weeks.

Also I will be doing the Artist Row art festival in a few weeks! It was kind of late notice on their part, but it will be sept. 18th, yup thats next sunday. So instead of relaxing for a couple weeks and climbing every weekend, looks like its time to paint my face off and do some serious CCAD fashion last minute work.

Spirals in the sky

16" x 20"

Acrylic