Saturday, December 30, 2006

A walk in the woods.


A walk in the woods down the trail; it's nice to see the world for what it is as we go down the hill.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Ukiyo-e inspired

I really love images from "the floating world" (Ukiyo-e). great japanese wood block prints. anyways. i was inspired and tried to draw one in style. someday i'll start collecting prints. did you know you can buy them on ebay real cheap? (probably cheap fakes)


Friday, December 22, 2006

Summer. What a dream. Seems like so far away. As always I long for the light translucent green leaves to bud and flicker in the warm sun.























Bicycles. mmm, I love 'em. Drew this one for Pops (as he loves all things victorian).


Thursday, December 14, 2006

just some rambles on art

Whispers in his ear
Asking why
There’s no voices inside.

Blankly staring at the wall he decides to pour a glass of whiskey. His belief that a gulp of that fine drink, rightfully called "the water of life" in Gaelic, would make his right side brain (the creative / intuitive / spiritual side) simply click ON, didn’t always happen.
An attempt to justify a life of laziness and absurd thoughts he calls himself an artist and makes marks in notebooks. Everyone knows the life of an artist is one of insanity. This does not mean that anyone classified as insane is a bonefide artist. Although some pompous asshole might question that stating that art is about conception. It’s about the thought process, it’s about the idea. The final image is but a detached image of the artist's vision. Imagine the thought process of a completely insane man. If we could visualize his thoughts that would be a work of art. Indeed it’s about seeing things differently from a different perspective.

A swig of whistey from that square-looking glass . He’s decided to start writing again. Like a journal, like a place to just write whatever comes to mind. Its fun, he always has these great thoughts that he never remembers. Sometimes he thinks he’s some kind of prodigy thinking about the sublimity of Caspar David Friedrich’s landscapes or about how most of what makes a good picture is just a lighting issue. The composition isn’t necessarily important to make a beautiful image. Once the lighting is thought of, the “blocks” of the composition must be laid. Filling up the classic rectangle in an exciting way (this can sound easy but really isn’t). Then lastly comes the actual image of whatever it is your painting (keep in mind certain images are connected to emotions and other references; consider this when you want to portray certain emotions).

The watercolor paper is still stacked away in a brown folder made of old grocery bags under the couch. If that paper were in front of his face he wouldn’t know what to draw, yet when that paper is in that brown folder he’s got a million ideas. Maybe it is just about the thoughts, he’ll never have to take out any paper at all and still make great masterpieces in his mind. And what good is the life of an artist if all he can do is think things up.

Craftsmanship must be worked on. Practicing drawings only to make more little scribbles of time wasting doodles doesn’t make much sense. Every work of art is a doodle. It’s a thought created and attempt to recreate it on paper. You cant practice that, you can only just do it. That’s all there is. You make some lines with a pen, however it turns out is all there is to it. It’s about that emission of creativity with the curiosity to find out what happens. What happens? Well, that’s just Art.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

newer stuff

little sketches. mostly ink and watercolour pencils; the exception is the last one with the tree stump done with straight watercolours. havent use straight water colours in years...