11.29.2011

The (not so) Daily Doodle

I will probably only realistically upload random sketches and doodles once a week but I really like the alliteration in "Daily Doodle" so I'm gonna go with that anyway.

Here's some drawn goodness for your consumption, some older and some from my recent car ride to Savannah:
Future painting or print...not really sure yet.

Another doodling from my Moe's and Joe's days that I just found.

Just found this, a doodling from my Moe's and Joe's days.

The brother, me and my sister.  Also for our new project.

For a project I'm a bout to start with my siblings.

Best dance moves ever...yeah I got it.

While Listening to the Strokes.

For another project with an organization I just got involved with. One of many sketches but my favorite of the bunch.

Not really sure what this is about.  Future painting or print probably.

11.27.2011

"Alchemy" Triangle Process

So I spent a long time trying to decide what to do for the four, rather small, triangles I got for the Beep Beep Show "Alchemy".  I had some ideas I really liked but that ended up not executing well and what I really wanted was to be able to do my type of figure work, but since the pieces were so small I didn't think that would work well either.  I wasn't sure if I should address the fact that the work would be on triangles or that the show was called "Alchemy" or what.  In the end I decided to go with a process I'd used before (mostly for fun) which involves taking all the random excess scraps and proofs from printing and cutting and piecing them together abstractly.  I am not fond of working abstractly.  To me, I never know when it's done.  I feel like I'm not skilled at focusing an image without something figurative or representational.

But I went with it anyway.  I took pictures along the way and thought I'd share the process a bit:
The naked triangles.
With the first layer-duramount and Japanese papers.

The cut up scraps before I duramounted them.
Duramounting!
Stacks of duramounted color! 


These are the triangles, along with he one at the top, before the final ink I added. If you want to see the final triangles then come to the show on December 3rd:

11.24.2011

Yeah Big! Tiny Print Pop Up Club- Store Open!

The Store at Stumptown Printers is now loaded with the 2x3 inch prints from the show.  Check 'em out and buy one as they are limited edition prints that come with a nifty little folding frame!

<=That's mine.  The colors are a little brighter than in the actual print, and you can't see some of the layers but that's it!  It's a 5 run silkscreen.  The main disappointment was that although I used as much trans base as I had for each color, it's still really hard to make out some of the bottom layers which include a printed "X" and "O" which is where I got the name for the print.  I originally had some more plans for the print but realized while printing that such a small print might get too busy with my intentions.  I'm not used to working this small so it was an interesting challenge.  I was also, apparently, the only one who chose not to cut the edges of my prints.  I like the way they look hand torn but maybe I should have trimmed them?

11.23.2011

More pictures from Yea Big! Tiny Pop Up Print Club:

No images of each print or a link to the store where you can buy prints but here are some images of the display from the show...can you find my print?  If you know my style it should be easy (image courtesy of Stumptown Printers Flickr Stream):
Hint: It's in this picture!
Hint: It's not in this picture!
Hint: It's barely in this picture!

"Alchemy" December show at Beep Beep

Hell yes.
The announcement for the December group show, "Alechemy" at Beep Beep went out yesterday on the face book.  Yippee: my name is listed next to some very well established Atlantan artists.  I am both nervous and excited.  Nervous because, after much personal debate, I decided to do something very different, and not really related to print (although I could theoretically take another step with them in that direction, we will see) with my little wooden triangles and I really have no idea how that will go over plus I really have no idea what any of the other artists are doing, alas.  Excited because I'll probably get to meet a lot of really neat people at Beep Beep and this is a part of Ponce Crush so it should be an really excellent evening.

I'll post pics of the triangles when I'm done, which better be before Sunday since that's when I have to turn them in.  Aack.  I'll be working on them all week while I'm in Savannah for Turkey day.  Hope my brother and sister and law don't mind me arting up their apartment.

Go to the show if you've got nothing to do.  Hell, if you've got something to do, reschedule it and go to the show anyway!

11.21.2011

Stumptown Printers: Yeah Big! Tiny Pop-Up Print club! (Show last Thursday!)

 Just some random news:
Stumptown Printers: Yeah Big! Tiny Pop-Up Print club!  (Show last Thursday!) about a week ago.  The prints had to be 2x3 inches, which for me is insanely small, and I had about a week to do them.  I didn;t snap any pictures before I sent them off but Stumptown Printers should be posting photos of the prints on their Flickr photo stream.
If you're in the Portland area you should check out the show and maybe buy a print which includes a nifty little frame for only $15!

Fun little project for me, hope they liked my prints! (I personally was a little disappointed in the outcome, mostly I could have used another night to work on them-but that's on me for procrastinating).  I'll post an image of my print once Stumptown puts 'em up on Flickr.

11.08.2011

Wholly Georgia Opening Reception at Mint Gallery This Friday!


Forgot to post about this:
Holy crap I got into something!  Ha ha...show info follows:

Wholly Georgia: A Look at the Effects of Southern Religious Culture
"Wholly Georgia will showcase artworks that shed light on how societal norms bred from religious culture and how living deep in the 'Bible Belt' affect the lives of both religious and secular-minded southerners. Viewed from a variety of perspectives, artists critique religious traditions with both lighthearted humor and somber reflection, while others highlight the fulfilling role that religion can plays in their lives."

Opening Reception is this Friday!
Friday at 7:00pm - November 12 at 12:00am
MINT Gallery
145 B Sampson Street

And it's at Mint! I've never been there but apparently the space is small and the group selected 3 of my huge prints from 2008 (each one is 30 X 44 inches) so this could prove very interesting.  I'm strangely embarrassed to be showing prints from 2008 but I figure something is better than nothing.  Also, they are these really personal prints that I feel, although I adore them, are a bit immature.  I don't know.  I guess any press is good press, right?  I'm excited though.  It's kind of like a birthday gift for me since mine is the day before.

Here's one of the prints:

Project Research: Disaster and Fear


I ordered some books about a week ago to do some reading and research for a new project idea I've been concocting dealing with fear and reactions to trauma and disasters (I really am a happy person, I'm not sure why I'm always focusing on this type of thing).  Only one arrived thus far, last Saturday, titled "The Unthinkable: Who survives when Disaster strikes-and why" and I've already devoured it.  It was a lot more anecdotal than I anticipated but the interviews are interesting and captivating.  The stories are all first hand accounts of different major disasters and horrific events, all pretty much within the last 20 years.  Most is supported by whatever scientific research can be found concerning the subject and I think it was actually a really great first read for the project.  The project itself is still young in my mind, but I'm probably going to make (gasp) small prints for once for several different reasons but as per usual, mostly due to low funds.

Some of my favorite bits from the book:

"'I tell people if it's in the news, don't worry about it.  The very definition of 'news' is 'something that hardly ever happens',' writes security expert Bruce Schneier.  'It's when something isn't in the news, when it's so common that it;s no longer news- car crashes, domestic violence- that you should start worrying.'"

"Words have less emotional salience than images.  So it's much healthier to read the newspaper than watch TV."

"The time to let your emotions run free is when you can't get good data.  Long ago, that would have been all the time.  You would have needed to rely on your emotions every minute of every day. 'If you're back in time before books and statistical research, and you need to know which mushrooms are poisonous, going by rumor and hearsay is a good strategy,' says Gerd Gigerenzer, director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin.  But when data are available- and they are now more available than any time before-there is no better complement to raw emotion."

Also the stories about Grand Bayou, a community that completely escaped the death tolls of Katrina simply because that had such a strong network and bond that no one left anyone else and they all evacuated early, and Langi, a community of 800 that also escaped the death tolls of the 2004 Tsunami in southeast Asia because they had a strong enough tradition of response and action to event the slight possibility of a disaster.

ED: I completely forgot this one section as well, anyone who knows me would easily guess why this bit appeals strongly to me.  I am, always have been, and probably always will be a person who relies intensely on and embraces my emotions:
"The more Damasio learned, the more he came to appreciate so called irrational sentiments.  Emotions and feelings were not impediments to reason; they were integral. 'Reason may not be as pure as most of us think it is or wish it were,' he wrote. 'At their best, feelings point us in the proper direction, take us to the appropriate place in a decision making space, where we may put the instruments of logic to good use.'
Once we factor in emotion, then, the human risk equation is actually more sophisticated, not less.  Damasio's discoveries convinced me that the way for people to get better at judging risk is not to avoid emotion-or wish it away- but to capitalize upon it.  Dread, properly tapped, can save our lives."