Yikes

Tonight's Figure Drawing Session

I never felt completely in the groove. This is likely because I was over anticipating a good time.

I did learn something however.
Sarah Burns, who was sitting to my right, was occasionally twisting her body away from her drawing and mechanically twitching. I thought, at first, that she had a piece of something in her eye. Then I thought Sarah was applying makeup because she was peering into a compact mirror. But it turned out that the twitching was because of the minute adjustments required to see her drawing and the model at the same time, in reverse, in a mirror the size of a sand dollar.
When I tried this device on my own drawing, I crumpled. In the future, I will always carry a small mirror to help my proportions.

Pencilexicon, Part 3 (with some gaps to fill)

Nodes

Ohshit

Pareidolia (2009)

Signature

Throne

Venus

Weed Waves

Zygomatic

syllogism

+

+

=

Mary Addison Hackett

Flashback Friday, Special Guest Edition

Todd Johnson circa 1997

"I took a break from painting for uhh. . . wow almost a decade. Took up another obsessive time sucker; raced Ironman Triathlons for quite a bit. That's done. I went to MOMA a few months back and upon entering the room where all of our heroes are I broke down and cried. Freaky shit but it reminded me where my home is."
"the first two are large scale (6' x 6' and 6' x 5' , on panel and on canvas respectively) All are oil and oil enamel."
"The black and yellow one is smaller ( 32 x 48") and is on aluminum."
"None of these are titled. Statement? Please. Memories? I remember being very comfortable /confident with mark making at the time and was almost at the point where these were beginning to approach the visage in my "i can see what I want in my mind, kinda" thing. I remember going to sleep during this time in my loft and every night I would fall asleep to this screeching clanging black noise cacophony thing going on inside my head. These remind me of that sound. I still try to capture that noise."

"so there I was in Hollywood in the late morning. i had just left some sort of eating/drinking establishment and we were collecting ourselves outside. i look up over my shoulder to find a massive billboard. "steve larose is proudly using facebook". had a little picture of you as well. I'm thinkin' damn this looks expensive! And then you come out of the same place i just left except it seems as if you are really hungover or off to an early start. I suggest we go back inside and talk about your advertisement. we sit at a booth. I can't figure out what to order, some girl sitting next to me has a ginormous purse that seems to take priority over everything else on my side of the bench. i look aver and you and your friends are eating macaroni and cheese! then i woke up."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Todd has started painting again. His furniture design web site can be found by clicking here.

Mobile Revolution

Christopher Jagers recently posted his two part interview with Dean Terry over at the Glasstire blog. Dean was nice enough to mention me by name as an example of someone who is considered a "traditional artist" and yet is fascinated by new media. I don't have an iPhone, however, my wife does and I covet it. I've got a couple video ideas, but who has the time for that? Facebook is like trying to catch a butterfly. I have stopped working on my web page (which has been down for months) because it is so boring. Obviously, blogging comes naturally. And I don't do it for the reasons that I suspected. I don't see the blogging as a way to become connected to more people. My visitor count is a testament to this.But I was never motivated to reach a huge audience in the first place. The stat watching is simply a fascinating by-product. Sort of like the wake of boat. My point is, contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the new media has gotten me in touch with a dizzying array of people. If anything, it has allowed a small community of like-minded people to interact. To play. A common complaint I hear about blogging is that like-minded souls cluster together and re-enforce their own agenda. Personally, I am finding that the elite audience is more valuable to me than nameless numbers.
Occasionally I have spikes in the stats that intrigue me. Even this week, someone from a usfca.edu computer is likely getting carpal tunnel damage from clicking through this blog's archives.
I thank them. I will likely never know who they are. But it does reinforce that the medium has been worth spending time with. Still, it is the old model, isn't it? I post things, people look at them. It is not very interactive or collaborative, except in the comments section or when shared themes are pursued. I've dabbled in co-blogging with various people and under various umbrellas but they didn't last on my end because I always felt stretched too thin. I guess I am wondering how much things have really changed? Blogging doesn't seem that "new" or different. Now, this whole augmented reality thing has got me interested. Maybe it can truly be revolutionary and help us to see the world in a new and better way.

Our Trinity

We live with three other mammals. Ole Man Jake is into his 16th year as a cat. The crafty devil's teeth may be hurtin' and he is constantly being challenged by the kitten, but he is certainly wise to the ways of the world.

Jake's new favorite mid-morning nap spot is on a Groovy Girl bed. He may be in heaven, but I'm thinking YARD SALE. I haven't seen my daughter play with dolls in quite some time. I'm thinking she needs the bookshelf space.

Jake is the king.
Jake had to deal with the introduction of Miso, the Chocolate Lab. Miso. Me so brown. Me so chocolaty. Me so sexy, mellow, and food driven.

Miso does not chase balls with that whacked out passion that some dogs do. She'll retrieve, for a price. She has created a relationship with ticks that I take personally. Her best friend is Omeed.
Miso and Omeed share many characteristics. Youth? Omeed is certainly the Jester of the House. Imagine being a 16 year old cat being pounced upon by a goofball.

"Balance" is obviously a good word when you have binary operations, but what is the language for a three-way balance?

Pencilexicon, Part 2

Impana

Jester Gestures

Kirby & Goliath

Land(e)scape

Mame Bonsai

Pencilexicon, Part 1

Abstraction

Bartolommeo Blowin' a Trumpet

Callisto

Disney

Egg

Frank Frazetta

Globs

Hurter's Hunter

Flashback Friday, 1988

It was a month ago when Carla Knopp posted the first Flashback Friday (click here to see). The next week, Mary Addison Hackett joined in (click here to see). I was sure that the exercise would be sweeping the nation by now.

I painted the image below in 1988 with acrylic paint on canvas. The dimensions are 68 x 48 inches. It occurs to me that I painted with a palette knife much earlier than I have been willing to admit.
It also occurs to me that my first job out of college, painting sets for the Seattle Repertory Theater, had a profound effect on me. But what strikes me as most interesting are those little buggers that are spilling in from stage left and stage right. They are orange-cream stone spirits converging to control the water flow. If you look closely you can even see some spirits caught in an in between state. Some of the rocks look like tadpoles. Some of the spirits are solidifying.

I think this might be the only sincere self portrait I have ever done (dramatically a 96 x 48 inches):
In 1988 I was certainly in between yellow and blue. That celadon complexion is a perfect in between green. Do I look thoughtfully serious or clownishly blubbering? Either way, I was using rattle cans then. I wonder when my interest in graffiti subsided?

I also painted one of my few portraits in 1988. This 38 x 53 inch acrylic painting on paper is of Jeff Hansel.
Jeff was painting on these cruciform canvases back then. They were actually a fascinating feat of craftsmanship. Imagine stretching a canvas shaped like +. Although Jeff still Paints, it has had to share some of its charm with extreme climbing (click here to see).


Below is a 42 x 53 inch painting that I wish I still owned.
I don't remember ever thinking of myself as a palette knife painter, but check that out. I must have learned this controlled accident thing at the theater because I certainly didn't learn it at Whitman (my undergraduate alma mater). And I might as well milk the whole "in between" thing because wasn't the crux of this painting based on what is happening off stage?

And another
42 x 36 inches of tiki inspired totems dedicated to the fire gods.

Last, but not least, a 42 x 53 inch gem. I wonder where this is? It looks great below, as a jpg.