WFYI online auction selection!

click this link to read up on a group of my pieces that are part of WFYI's annual online auction: LINK!

and by clicking this sentence you can read more about the auction itself!

the clock winds...

being hella busy getting OTHER things done requires my studio time to be cut by about 2/3. but i figured i would at least open the door for critique of some works in progress:

dark, sliding shapes - a song by Collasamite was the ignition of an untitled piece from february, and a lot of people liked it, so i am doing some more of them.




doing a little bit of dry bush color work always helps the head feel a little less murky. or does it have the opposite effect? combine some black ink and some shapes reminiscent of teeny-tiny graffiti i see around the city.




and then of course there is the early failure of a grey series i started when i was feeling all dumpy and sad. the fact that it is a failure i can see early on makes me feel like ive learned something from those things that make me feel dumpy and sad. too picture within the picture and not enough thought. i may return to these when i want to, but right now they go into the pile.




and then there are these two little cuties i made one night playing around with some artist's pastels. smaller paper, bigger shapes, better music (im pretty sure it was disc 2 of In Rainbows). if i could rock about 20 of these out i think they would look awesome stacked up salon style with 1" black frames. dunno when that'll happen though....





ive got to go look at rings now. oh, did i mention im poor? i mean, i cant even afford a private studio....

new thin fevers song/ return to the figure?

here is the new one from TF, a little fast and sorry for the lighting change in the middle - it was hot in there, and i dont just mean because i was there....



in works on paper news...
i got a bug in me and started with some very physical lines which turned into very people parts looking shapes which turned into a very sexual, abstract pair of works still being honed down into tighter shapes and forms. i still want to incorporate the use of "refused line choices" but when it comes to the figure you get into blood memory, muscle reactions, and stepping back and not liking it - the later makes the line work fun because of the build up of process, the history within a line (choices of erasing, destruction, weight and other formal issues.)

it seems the most tenuous part of this is just thinking about it while awake. i had it all figured out around 5 am, but i pretty comfortable with my eyes closed, dreaming of rolling down a soft hill.
pics of the process soon.

new, smaller series and questions of workers intent.

the last few days ive been looking for part-time stuff like crazy, but that didnt keep me from making a small table for a stereo in the studio. from that construction ive started a new series of the ink drips on smaller sheets of 100# productolith paper. the paper has the shine of commercial stock which plays well with the matte black of the ink.

at the start of the "saturday night" series it was more about gestures and control of not thinking. as things have progressed, my focus turns back to the figure. i am not so much choosing to define figurative shapes as i am using the same mark-making choices ive used in the past. there is still a struggle in the line (that i hope to god comes through in the piece) and maybe that has more to do with my concern about my tools than it does my execution. 

with the addition of a proper stereo to the space, the wall on which i work has shrunken, as well as the ceiling. another tool i am unsure of. and playing mix tapes from the late 90's only makes my heart do a slow burn. 

my primary brush is a nylon W&N #2. made for acrylics, it serves as a  fantastic ink-giver when loaded up. but my abuse/use of this one brush is taking its toll. i  whip the thing around for effects, then try to tame my own nervous energy when the sweeter, thoughtless application begins. as much as i would love a handful of bamboo brushes with the best of horse tail, dripping with some Suni as black as Russian coal, i must go with the cheap alternative of whats in the bucket. 

i need more ink. i need more brushes. i want to try this on heavier paper. huge paper is out of the question right now. too ambitious right now. im comfortable with the size right now. these things are accessible, frame ready, would look fantastic pasted on mailboxes or on doors of abandoned buildings (the second Liberty series is both rejecting and embracing street art, but more on those when theyre more done.)

i dont think just going big for the sake of scale is worth it. i need a bigger wall, anyway.

oh - primaries. how i wish it mattered. one new 25x38 piece is called "a mountain of delegates." im pretty happy my girlfriend listens to the rules and speculation and BS going on. american politics is the dirtiest, most catty-wompass, out-dated system in the world. thank god for cable? thank god for piles of paper.