100th Post!

I am always feeling like I havn't posted anything on here for a long time, but I've made it up to a whole hundred so I suppose that's something. So this is a good time I thought to post about some of the stuff I will be doing a lot of this year. I framed one of the little 2"x3" paintings a few days ago and I am really happy with my new "fridge art". We put a magnet on the back as well as a sawtooth hanger, so you can put it on your wall or on the fridge. The frame is made of one recessed black strip, with a hardwood frame around that. I like seeing my art on my parents fridge again, it feels like I got an A on a test in school. So here it is, the first fridge art piece of many.

The little paintings have been what I do when I need a break from my still life. I've just about finished it now, it's the first real colored pencil piece I've finished in a while so it was good to dust off the cobwebs. My goal was to finish two still life pieces for the CPSA competition this year, and with two or so months left till the deadline I might be able to get even more done. Here is the still life though, it's still untitled, I wanna think of something silly, like "Rats, I've lost my marbles again." Any other idea's?

So this is a little sneak peak into what a lot of 2011 is going to hold for me, painting, drawing, and peddling my wares. Weee

More Wee Paintings

I finished some more wee little paintings these past few days. The one on the left may be my new favorite. These were all from pictures I took on my cross country road trip. I have a fun idea of how to present them now too, which I will have some pictures of once I finish up a few of them. Im going to frame them in the same style I have been making for my bigger paintings, them put a little magnet on the back, and a sawtooth hanger. That way people can put them on their fridge just like regular magnets, or they can hang them up on the wall.

Oh yeah, and the still life is coming along well, it's close to about half way now maybe. Weee.

New Little Paintings

These have been a fun little side project for me lately. They are all either 2"x3" and are done in acrylics because I am currently oil paintless. I've found small paintings are fun because its really nice to just start and finish a painting in one sitting, it's a good change of pace from my new colored pencil still life I've been doing, which is super tedious. I'll have pictures of that once it's done, but It's gonna be one of a couple I am going to make to send to the CPSA competition this year. Wee

Photos from the Southwest

So unfortunately the trip has come to an early end, but we made it about two and a half months out in the Southwest, climbing, hiking, and adventuring every day so I have no complaints at all. The top two photos were taken at a mountain top near Prescott, Arizona, it was an amazing view.

I have so many landscape pictures that I cant wait to put down on canvas now. the land is so flat in the southwest and you can see for so many miles that pretty much everywhere I went, it felt like there was inspiration for painting. One of my favorite photos I took during the trip was the one below. It was just before sunset on our last day, and the colors in the sky were amazing. They shifted from purple blues to orange to yellow. It is close to a full 360 view of the place we were camping at. I can't wait to head out west again.

Roxy's Rockin' Ribs!

I've just about finished the character on this one, just have to add a wee bit more color and do the lettering. The person commissioning it decided "I Farted" wasn't going on the bib, sorry Dave, I tried. I changed the head shape a bit too, making it a little wider and goofy looking, and put one of the paws up holding the rib.

Also today starts the four day countdown to my rock climbing road trip across the country! I am bringing a bunch of canvases and doing paintings in some sweet places hopefully too. We will be heading to Kentucky first, then out to the east coast. After that we head south and west, stopping to climb in Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, and some other places. Then finally getting to california and staying there for a couple of months before we head back. So I might not be able to update as much, but hopefully I will have some nice new paintings to put up here. Weee.

Roxy's Rockin' BBQ Rub

A dog that really likes BBQ. Any Ideas for what should be on his bib? Dave I know you can think of something funny.

Paintings

With all the free time I've had before I leave on my trip, I've been able to get out and do some plein air painting again. This one was done a few weeks ago about a half an hour south of Columbus. The wheat fields were all turning golden orange and they were spread out for miles and miles, it was quite the sight.

Then a few days ago I wanted to mess around with adding a bunch of texture to a similar painting. There aren't quite storms like this in ohio, but it was fun to make it up. The texture worked out alright, but I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do the storm clouds yet so some of it feels out of place I think. Next time I will start with the composition in mind when adding the texture.

I also did a few smaller 5" x 5" paintings, and I think I am going to try and bring a bunch on my trip so I can do quick paintings all across the country.

The Triclops

Yes, I am looking into being a professional pumpkin carver

Boo! more pumpkins

One of these I actually carved, can you guess which one?

Happy October!

A Sheep!

Boy has it been awhile.

So it's been quite some time since I've put anything on here, mostly because I have been taking an extended vacation up here in the Adirondacks. I have been rock climbing quite a bit, and I actually started another blog of all the stuff I'm doing with that, you can find that here.

But I havn't stopped making art while I've been up here. I've mostly been sketching and doodling things from the clouds, which are always amazing up here. Yesterday though, I got out with my travel easel to a lake about half an hour north of Long Lake.

I did a little painting on a 5 x 7 canvas, it was a fun way to try and get back into the flow of painting. I tried to put down the paint as fast as possible, thinking not as much about all the little details, but just getting the idea of the lake down. I have more of these little canvases so hopefully I'll have another post in a little less time than it took to get this one here.

Howdy there real world

So school is done. Forever. Graduation was last saturday and I still don't think it's hit me quite yet. Still, I suppose it's time for me to put on my grownup pants and start making it on my own. And after graduating with a major in illustration, what's my first job? I've been glassblowing about six hours a day all week, and were working for about another month. I'm on a team of four people all making different sized glasses. I havn't been able to count exactly how many we are making a day, but if I had to guess I'd say its around 100 or so. It's definitely fun though, its hot and a lot of work, but fun. And every friday we get time to make whatever we want, so hopefully I'll be able to make a couple more fun pieces before I leave CCAD forever.

I'm still doodling here and there though, and I think I want to do some more colored pencil still life work like my peppers on tinfoil piece. Its been awhile since I've done anything like that and I think it's well overdue to try again. Anywho, this is a little golden lab puppy who found his way into a big delicious bag of food.

More glass stuff

Here are some things I did in glass blowing this year. The roses are some of my favorite things to make, because they take such little time to make once you practice a bunch, and they come out real nice. I did some reduction on the  green one so its actually green, gold, and white. That one was the hardest to make but definitely the coolest looking I think. 

Also I updated my website the other day with a bunch more of my glass blowing and ceramics stuff, as well as some Illustration work. Check it out here yo.

More Ceramics

Some nice pictures a friend of mine took for me of a couple of my better ceramics pieces I did this semester. I still have a couple more things waiting to get out of the kiln so there's still a wee bit of good possibilities for updates soon. And today is my last class...     Forever! wow, four years done, but it still feels like freshman year for some reason. 

Silly Glass

So this is one of my favorite glass pieces I made this semester. I did it by first blowing just the top and bottom pieces of the glass, then making a long piece for the center. Then I took the long piece and cut it at various angles then glued it all back together. It took awhile but I think it was worth it.

Kitty Ceramics

So this is by far my favorite piece I have ever made in ceramics, I bet you can guess why.

Almost done

I cant believe it's been over a month since I've posted. But don't worry, I'm still alive, and even more exciting, I'll be graduating in just a few short weeks. I have been busy doing some fun things in my ceramics class lately, and glass blowing too, but due to lack of camera those fun things will have to wait to get posted. Until then it's more sketches for you, this is how the life of a butterfly goes.. from happy caterpillar, to sleepy cocoon, to high flyin' risk taker.

Wee Lil Landscapes

So these are just a few of the plethora of wee landscapes I have been cranking out in my painting class. They are all either 2 1/2" by 3" or 3" square, the small size has let me be able to try all sorts of variations. I just got back from a rock climbing trip in kentucky and alabama, which was an amazing time, but it also set off a whole new bunch of ideas for these things. Just as I was getting bored of making them I am ready to start again. Also I just started on two of their large counterparts, much larger, the one is about 2 feet by 6 feet and the other is pretty close to that. They are all going to be on sale at the spring art sale here at CCAD, which is steadily approaching I believe, a month away maybe? So if you enjoy them you can nab one there.

Micah's EP Cover

So I finished up that cover for my friends EP. It's decently silly so I like it, you should be able to find it on I-tunes in a few days or weeks or so. Check his music out here.