Illustration Friday: "The Blues"

This is a piece I did a few months ago for a blues poster competition. It is a digital illustration.

Getting some needed things done

Well I wish I could be posting a new painting or illustration for your viewing but I have been busy the last few nights with paperwork and a visit to a children's book Illustration class. The class itself was one that was at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and was a blast to visit with them and talk to them about being an illustrator after college. They had alot of great questions and it was refreshing to be back in the classroom and knowing that I wasn't going to be getting an assignment when I left! The other portion of the time has been creating some proposals for some book projects and getting my portfolio prepared for the fall Minnesota Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. It should be alot of fun and very good to talk with more people in the industry and listen to some amazing guest lecturers.

Since I don't have a new piece of art to show you, I will show you a pic of the book that I am currently reading. It is a fascinating book about the artists that were creating work around 1900 and the huge change in process and styles thereafter. It is from Abrams publishing and is titled "1900 Art at the Crossroads"

So with that I will keep plugging away at my pile of paperwork and have promised myself that I will get back into the studio tomorrow some more.

Illustration Friday: "Juggle"

"Juggling" finale?

So many roads, so many trains to ride!

As I am staring at my studio space here and listening to some blues music, a song came on and just struck a cord. That song was "So many roads, So many trains to ride!" I have been contemplating all night which one of my areas of art was needing to be worked on first. I know that I have a number of paintings that are needing to get done by this November, but also realize that I need to revamp my children's illustration portfolio for a conference that is coming up in three weeks. And then, I was realizing that my paperwork was starting to get out of hand as well. The good thing is that some of my promotional material had come in with my business cards, a small postcard and an oversized postcard of my painting titled "Superstition Mountain". I had been needing to get some new postcards out there to hand out that had my new information on there and have decided to only have my cell phone number instead of address so that I can use them even if I move. People can still get my full address on the web, so I think this will work out even better. Out of the two postcards, I definitely think that the oversized one looks the best cause it can show the detail of the painting more. But as with everything, bigger means more expensive. Well worth the investment though. I am already thinking I might order some more to have on hand. So with all that thought and no work, I will be off to work on my painting tonight. Maybe tomorrow I will get to the illustration work.

Fun with color

As you can see by the post tonight, I was having some more fun with a limited palette. After my board meeting this evening I had a few minutes and thought I would do a quick study of some houses I have been meaning to get on canvas. This is a little oil painting on a 9 x 12 canvas. I have a larger version of these that I have yet to finish, partly because I haven't decided on the final color scheme yet. So this is tonights work and will probably try another way tomorrow. We will see what I think of it in the morning. In a way I almost like the stark color of the houses against the muted sky.

Illustration Friday: "Wedding"

A little walk on the wild side! Thought I would try a different look and feel to it as well with the mix of digital and scanned texture.

Pushing the paint

Friday is near and I am anxious to spend some more time in the studio pushing paint around. As I am looking at the calendar I am seeing alot of opoortunities for exhibiting and such with the fine art. The only problem is that I need more paintings to display, so I will be in production mode the next couple of months and am really enjoying the thought of getting back into the paintings a little more. Tonight I was playing around with the oils and came up with this little 9 x 12 piece. Rough I know but it was good to get the smell of oil paints in the air. Ohh, and a new Illustration Friday topic comes out tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what the next image is going to be! You'll have to come back soon to check it out.

Exhibits and showings

Well, I thought I better get some information out there before everything has come and gone. This month and next will be a busy one with class visits and some fun events at US Bank, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and The Richeson School of Art and Gallery. The first event is a show that is happening at the downtown St. Cloud Us Bank Building where a juried competition is going to open tomorrow and run thru Oct. 18th. I was fortunate to get a piece in and look forward to seeing the other pieces as well. Then starting Sept. 19th at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a piece of mine will be hanging for 10 days before the big Art Perchance benefit on Sept. 28 for the Friends of the Institute. It will be a fun evening of games and "spirits" and should be another great showing of art and hopefully raise alot of money for the museum. Last but not least is the Richeson 75: Landscape Juried show that will be opening up Oct. 27 at the Richeson Art Gallery where I had a piece excepted into. So to say the least, it will be a busy upcoming month and a half and am looking forward to having some fun at the openings.

Illustration Friday - Momentum

With the change in temps and labor day over, how can you not think about what's to come!

The signs are complete

So the last two nights of work has been focused around some signs that I was asked to do for a Benefit of the Children's Defense Fund. The challenge was to create out of chalk the logo and image of the benefit on a children's little play easel. One of the first things I noticed was that the surface was a very smooth and non gripping surface that really made it hard to allow the chalk pastel to grab. It just "fell" off most of the time. Over a little bit of time though it seemed to finally hang in there and think the final pieces turned out pretty well for only having two evenings worth of time on them. Its too bad though that after the event they will be wiped away and be as if they never were even there. Guess it is for the moment and the night. Now lets hope that I can get the easels to the event tomorrow afternoon without smudging the image!

Getting into Beale Street again

Detail of Beale Street painting

I can't tell you how great it was last night to dig into the Beale Street painting again. After a few weeks away from the oil painting, I was back at it and looking forward to hopfully finishing this painting by middle of next week. We will see how it actually goes though. I also will be working on some entry pieces of art for a benefit for the Children's Defense Fund of Minnesota. So other than that, it will be a busy couple of days here and am looking forward to the upcoming weekend to get some other tasks done as well.

The end of a great week and weekend

One of the things over the last week that I have come to miss is the artwork that was being done in the studio before this week long odyssey of concerts and time at the lake. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast and it was a much needed break. But it felt good to get back home tonight and will feel even better tomorrow when I get into the studio to slap some paint around! If you read in the previous posts, I had a few concerts that were unbelievable. It all started on Tuesday night with Robert Randolph and the Family Band opening up for the Allman Brothers at the Minnesota State Fair. With this concert I was very impressed not only with the performance that Robert gave in the opening act but the guitar work that was done in the Allman Brothers show. I was really blown away! But that was nothing compared to the lineup that a number of friends and I saw on Thursday night at the fair. It was headlined by Etta James, Al Green and BB King. If there was ever a concert that was to die for, it was this one. It lasted for over four hours and left everyone in a state of hapiness. It is amazing that the fair people were able to put together such a lineup for a single concert. Below you will find a picture of my friends Micah on the left, Jun in the middle, with yours truly on the right. I will definitely be remembering that concert for a long time.



After the concerts it was out to the lake in central Minnesota to celebrate my parents 30th anniversary. We had a small gathering of relatives and had a great time with grilling out, playing games outside and then enjoying the lake. One of the games ended up with my cousins shoes, another cousin himself, a volleyball, and a football up in a tree after they got stuck all at the same time, don't ask how they got up there!! So with that, we left the lake this afternoon and came back to a more normal setting and a studio that desperately needs some attention. I can't believe that the summer has come and gone so fast. Seeing the fields plowed on the way back definitely solidified that thought. But with that comes a great time in fall and all that comes with the changing of the season. I look forward to trying to capture some of that in the near future. Have a great night and will be back again soon.