A little bit of drawing

As the rain has been falling the last few days (or close to a week), I have found myself taking advantage of getting some of the mundane things done that an artists needs to do. From filing paperwork to finding out which paints I am running out of, it has been a productive stretch that has also been very relaxing. Sometimes it is a little difficult to find a few minutes with such a busy schedule, but really enjoy these down times. I have also been able to sit and think about some of my own work that I want to do that doesn't relate to a show or a client which is a nice change of pace as well. Of those, I have really come to enjoy a little area that I drive by every day and decided to do a quick study of the space. It really has a nice mix of twigs, rocks, and such to create a great textured painting in the near future. Until then, this study will have to suffice and keep my attention. Maybe this weekend I will get into a full size painting if the time permits.

Illustration Friday - Captain

Well here is my Illustration Friday rendering of the word Captain. As you can see I am taking a children's book approach to this one. Hope you like!

A break of sorts

Having worked night and day the last two weeks on a huge illustration project, i can finally say it is in the hands of the client and I am in the process of straigtening out the studio for the next one. As I work on more and more of these, it is amazing how fast the time goes and when you look back it is almost a blur. I have found that the steady work has done wonders for the process in that everything seems to flow faster, from the sketches to the finished illustrations. I guess when you know what needs to be done and you just go for it you naturally find quicker ways to do the same work. Or maybe, I am just taking less time thinking about it and going thru and doing it. I don't know, but I like it. Hopefully I can take the energy that I am currently on and transfer it to the other work that is looking at me now.

Another thing that I have been aware of lately is documentation of my work. As more and more artwork is getting produced and sent out, I have found that it gets difficult sometimes to properly document something before it leaves. Fortunately, I have a great scanner and digital camera that can always be used to keep up to date, but then there is the backup of the digital archives and such that seem to get lost sometimes (or backlogged). In any case, I am excited that thru the course of this summer, things have been on a nice steady pace and one that leads me to think that a day job may not be needed in the not so distant future. One can always hope that art alone will be the source of all I may need, but that is just my thoughts now that things are a little happier. The better time I suppose to ask these questions is when it is slow and the same bills come due!

In other news not related to my ramblings, I have followed thru on a few juried art show entries that I have been meaning to get out. With any luck, I hope to hear back from those in the next month. So, off to clean up the rest of my studio and then start back in on the paintings tomorrow. Ohh, by the way, the image above is a charcoal piece that I did a couple of years ago of Buddy Guy. I have been listening all night to some blues music and thought it would be fitting to throw up an image that was of the same subject matter.

Illustration Friday: Emergency

Well Friday is here and there is another topic from Illustration Friday. This weeks word is "Emergency". With creating this image I wanted to illustrate what would be after an emergency rather than the emergency itself. It is colored ink on a linoleum block with pen and ink. Hope you like!

A peek into 2008

As I near the middle of August and in the midst of a large project, it is sometimes hard to think too far into the future. But the past few days have reminded me that I must think ahead to keep things rolling. If I keep tabs only on the now, then it will be an awfully slow rest of the year and next. The good thing though is that I have been keeping an eye on what's upcoming and next year is already starting to turn into a good one. With another exhibition scheduled now in Sept. 2008 at the Owatonna Art Center, that gets two exhibitions up and running with the other one being in June at Homewood Studios. There are some other opportunities with showing work that are in the process of coming to light, but will have to wait a little while to officially get it out there. Another great opportunity that is going to be happening is a workshop that I will be teaching over at the Richeson School of Art in Wisconsin that will be focused around Illustration in October of next year. So, with those three events already scheduled, it looks as though 2008 is starting to look pretty interesting. I just hope I can keep things coming in from here until there!

On another note, Cynthia Guajardo has a great post about some much needed paperwork for artists on her blog. I would definitely recommend checking out her post to get the paperwork that will make keeping track of all your work so much easier.

With that, have a great rest of the week and will be back in a few days with another Illustration Friday entry!

Drawing in the park

Update: Thought I would include this picture from one our first classes in July. I just got it in this afternoon and is courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

One of the great events that I have been able to be a part of this summer is the Drawing in the Parks at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. When asked if I would like to teach the class, I knew right away that this was going to be a blast and didn't want to miss it. So, starting on July 8th, we held open classes in the Fair Oaks Park in the front of the museum from 1-4 on Sundays. The best part of these classes was it was a free drop-in drawing class with all of the materials provided. It doesn't get any better than a free class with free materials.

Over the last five weeks, it has been amazing to see all of the people that have come by claiming the ability to draw stick figures and end up with a great drawing. Of course, some of the most exciting works have been by the children that stop by. It is really fun to see how engaged the students (no matter what age) become in the process of drawing nature. Another surprising stat so far is the number of people that come back week after week to continue on their piece or try their next challenge. With that, we had almost 60 people out there drawing yesterday and am looking forward to the family day they are holding this coming weekend with a 100-150 possibly expected. I hope that if any of you, or anyone you know, would like to come by, it would be great to see you out there. We are looking for the next three weeks to be as fruitful and fun as the last five. For more information on the class at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, just click on their name and you can get directions from there. And remember, it is absolutely FREE!!!!!

Illustration Friday - Missing

Hello everyone. Well the weekend is here and I have a bunch of illustrations to get done. I am really looking forward to getting to some of the final illustrations on a project that I have been working on all week. To kick off that work, I am posting a quick illustration I did for the Illustration Friday. Illustration Friday is a place where illustrators get a new topic each Friday to illustrate and come up with their own version of that topic. Since I don't have alot of free time at the moment, I am keeping mine pretty loose in nature, but fun at the same time. This weeks topic is "Missing". I am sure this one is a hard one to figure out. Anyways, hope everyone is off to a great start on your own weekend and will be back with some more thoughts soon.

Thoughts and prayers

Not very often will I stray from the usual rantings and mentions of my art, but tonights events here in Minneapolis warrant it. As most of you probably have seen over the news stations tonight, the main interstate bridge crossing over the Mississippi river collapsed tonight. As a bridge that I have used on an everyday basis for years, it was so surreal to look at the television and know that i was just there a day ago. What else can I say other than my thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and people involved.

Let the work begin....

Happy Monday to everyone. I hope all has been well lately. Things here in Otsego have been going pretty good lately with lots of illustration work coming in the last few days. Its great having work come in, but will be pretty swamped the next couple of weeks with sketching, faxing, finalizing and finishing the illustrations for three different projects. I find it quite strange how things tend to go in streaks with a dry period and then a rush, dry period and then a rush. Wouldn't it be nice if things were on more of a steady pace? The good thing so far is that all of the dry spells seem to be getting smaller in length and the busy spells are naturally getting longer. As long as it continues that way, I can't complain at all.

Another fun activity that has been happening lately is the classes that I am teaching in the park across from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It has been received well by the public and there have been numerous people that have come back week after week to keep trying their hand at drawing. Hopefully I will be able to post some pics of the fun that we are having, but have to get the museums and the patrons permission first. We will see how that works out! Until then, I will leave you with this image of an illustration that I did for the book titled "On the Other Side of the Ocean" by Ruth Elisabeth Schoch. As I was going through some images recently for the Children's Book Illustrators new website that is being produced, I ran across this image and thought how great would it be to be outside in this heat and just be playing around in the water again as a child. I still remember those days of running through the sprinkler and all. Just think what the neighbors would think if I did the same today!!! What a sight it would be!

A chance find

One of the great things that I have really enjoyed about the blogging world in the brief 6 months that I have been here is the people you just happen to come across. This past week, I had one of those chance findings when I came across an artist by the name of Tracy Helgeson. When I came upon her site from somewhere I don't quite remember, I was struck by how beautiful her landscapes were and the use of color that were in them. To my surprise, I saw today that she had mentioned my blog on her site and also her time she had spent at MCAD. As a fellow MCAD alum, it is always fun to see how other artists' experiences of art school were and where they have gone from there. I would definitely recomment you guys visiting her site and checking out her work. It is a real treat that is a nice way to end the week.
As for the piece above, it is a painting that I had almost forgotten about until I ran into the person who bought it a number of years ago. To reconnect with her was alot of fun and to see how happy she still was to have it in her house was a nice compliment. Often when a piece leaves the studio, you never get to know what happened to it over time. But with this week, it seems that the past is coming back in more ways that one! Hope everyone has a great weekend and will be back in the next couple of days!

The start of my Etsy shop

Well, after much debate and thought, I have decided to start the Studio McCann Etsy Shop. It will be a marketplace to pick up such items of mine as prints, signed books and original artwork. I know at first things will be a little slim in the pickings, but rest assured that I will be adding more pieces on there in the upcoming days and weeks. I guess I have to start somewhere, right? The reason for my doing this is the success that I have been seeing from such fellow bloggers as Janet Nelson and Cynthia's Colorado Art Studio. So with that I will be getting some photos ready to put up on my site and start selling!

In other news, I will be attending a panel meeting this Thursday for the City of Minneapolis's Arts commission to watch the process unfold for the Call for Artists. They will be reviewing all of the proposals that were submitted for the Hiawatha Maintenance Facility Public Art request. It looks as thought there were 21 applicants and we are sandwiched in the middle of the meeting. It will be fun to see how a panel discusses and chooses the finalists for a project such as this. Hopefully, come Friday or Monday, I will be able to post that we were chosen, fingers crossed! If nothing else comes of it other than watching, it will definitely prepare Mike and I for the upcoming projects that we apply for.

Help!

As most of you know by now, I often will work in a variety of styles and media. This time however, I am reaching out to you guys to help me find a solution to a project that I am working on. The project consists of finding some sort of media that can be used on concrete walkway that will give the effects of a pastel painting and would stand up to the elements here in Minnesota. That includes everything from; foot traffic, rain, snow, snow blowers, salt and all other fun elemental properties. I recently just came across a polymer outdoor paint called FolkArt Outdoor, but am curious if anyone has found a product themselves or has worked with anything. I have a photo that I have attached here to give you an idea of the space. It is the front of a great restaurant that needs to have the same great looking feeling as it does inside. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

The application is in...

As I had mentioned in a previous post a while back, Mike McCann and I have been working on an application for a public arts commission in Minneapolis for the Hiawatha Maintenance Facility. I can officially say that we submitted our first public arts entry and are relieved that the initial process is over. One thing that I have learned is that there is alot of information and details that have to go into a public arts proposal application. From the preparation of images to be viewed on a large screen to the narrative that has to be less than 2 pages in length, yet tell them how you would be the best artistic team to use $135,000. How can one convince a panel and a group of reviewers in 2 pages or less the entire scope and ideology behind what and how you want to do something. It was worth it though. The process gave Mike and I the opportunity to review our individual artistic accomplishments up to this point and also the start of more collaborative opportunities to come. If any of you get the chance to go thru this process yourselves, I would definitely recommend it. Make sure though that you start plenty early and don't get caught up in the overwhelming paperwork that must be in place. To that, I hope that Mike and I were successful in what we submitted and anxiously await to hear what the reviewing committees have to say with the selection of the finalists.

ArtWatch 2007

Another great event has come and gone. I can't tell you how much fun I have had over the last 4 days at ArtWatch. Being able to work around so many other artists and friends was truly a treat. Especially with fellow bloggers Janet Nelson and Terry Howell Stanley. The artist who was on my left side was a nice surprise as well with fellow MIA employee Mike Judy. And to make things better, my parents came in from North Dakota to check out the gala event last night as well! Overall the atmosphere was one of intense creativity and lots of exciting and varied styles of art. The piece that I tackled for the event was a image of the Minnesota State Fair. I wanted a piece that would keep me occupied and challenged throughout and was very pleased with the effort for only having worked on it for 8 hours. I had a little more time than that, but it was to easy to wander around and check out the other great art being worked on. So with Artwatch done now, today I am off to teach the drawing class today at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It should be a good time with beautiful weather and all. Have a great rest of Sunday and hope you guys enjoy the following pics.

This was the space we were given over the course of ArtWatch. It was a little tight for space, but fun to work with so many creative people.

Here's Janet Working hard on her Fish images


And here is the Final piece. It is a 32" x 40" acrylic painting of the Minnesota State Fair. I really like the energy and excitement that the composition had and found it to be a challenge to get done in the short amount of time given. Overall though, I am please with the effort and look forward to next years event!

Off to Art Watch at White Bear Art Center

Well, the time has come to go off to Art Watch at the White Bear Art Center. Tomorrow is the checkin and setup of the studio spaces and Thursday and Friday will be the actually making of the art to be auctioned off on Saturday. It is going to be a blast and am really looking forward to seeing the other artists that I haven't seen in a while. I will definitely be posting some good pics come the end of the week from all of the activities. If any of you are in or around White Bear Lake, make sure you stop by and say hi for a little while.

As for the image below. It is of Superstition Mountain that I painted a few months ago as it looks in its new frame. I just picked it up from the shop this afternoon and am really liking the texture of the frame and how it plays with the texture throughout the painting. But I will only get to enjoy it for a couple of days and then it will be off to Richeson Art Gallery over by Green Bay in Wisconsin.

Beale Street cont.

Managed to get a little more work done on Beale street. Most of the time the last couple of days has been spent on getting the application materials ready for a huge public arts commission here in Minneapolis. Hopefully tomorrow will get a little more painting in.

Beale Street and outdoor drawing

So Saturday is here and the heat outside has been a great enticement to stay inside and work in the comforts of the studio. After spending the morning cleaning things up, I was finally able to see some of my work space again. I took advantage of that newly found space to fill it up with more crap that was sitting on the floor. The good thing is I still have a few areas that I could work at if I needed it. As for the Beale Street painting, I starting sketching it out, and am liking the direction it is going. I have another one that I will be sketching out tomorrow morning, but for now, it will be getting things straightened out on this one.



In other news, tomorrow I start a drawing class that I will be teaching for the next 8 weeks at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It is going to be so fun to have a drop in drawing class that will allow people of all ages and abilities the opportunity to try their hand at landscape drawing. The reason for this class is to coincide with the show Mirror of Nature: Nordic Landscape Painting 1840-1910 going on in the museum. I definitely recommend anyone who loves landscape paintings to check out these beautiful pieces.

Also, this week is the start ofArt Watch at the White Bear Art Center in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. There will be about 40 schooled artists setting up temporary studios to work while the public is invited to watch or visit with the artists. It should be another great time and am really looking forward to seeing alot of friends that I haven't seen in a while. Stay tuned for a complete schedule of times and places to be to come and check it out for yourself!

Getting some paintings started

As most of you know, I am a person who loves the blues. When I recently found out that my sister and her fiance were headed to Memphis for a month, you can imagine how jealous I was. But then I realized that I now had a photographer in my sister to get some new content for some paintings. I know it isn't the same as being there myself, but by painting the images that capture my imagination from her, I can feel like I am there already! So with a large number of photos to look thru, I have come across some that really feel like some of my other work that I had done with Uptown here in Minneapolis and the New York paintings.

Book wise, lately I have been really fascinated by a book that I came across titled "The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings". To get a view into a masters mind before he completed some of his most famous paintings has been a real treat. For me, the process is sometimes more fascinating that the actual completed work. Here is a crayon and scratchwork on Gillot paper entitled "Windmill at Zaandem, 1883". Hope you enjoy and am anxious to start showing you some progress on the paintings of Memphis that I am working on.

PS. I am happy to say that after a short six months with my blog up and running, I have made it over 5000 page views. I know it isn't much, but it is a good start and am anxious to see the progress after a year!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Happy 4th of July to everyone. I hope you have had a great day and are getting to enjoy the fireworks that are going on tonight. Things here have been great with a pool party at my cousins and a really kickin' barbeque as well. Now tomorrow will be back to business as usual!

Getting ready for some upcoming exhibits

Hey everyone. Sorry it has been a few days since the last posting, but I have been catching up on all of the mundane things that piled up since the mural began. Now, I am back to a more normal schedule and will be taking a number of pieces over tomorrow to be framed. Some will go to the show at the Edina Art Center in July and the others will head over to Kimberly, WI to Richeson Art Gallery. I will be sure to post some images of the pieces in the frames when they come back. In other news, Mike McCann and I are in the midst of putting an application together for the city of Minneapolis for a huge art commission that they have available. Chances of getting it are slim, but you will never get it unless you try. So you will have to wish us luck in that venture. Until then, have a great rest of the week and will be back early next week to fill you in on other news as it comes.

THE MURAL IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!

After 15 days and many, many, many hours I am happy to announce that the Vast Enterprise Mural is complete. I will get you a full picture with all of the pavers and other add ons that Andy and Steve are working as soon as they are done putting the stuff together around the mural. I hope you guys have enjoyed watching the process and it was definitely worth the time and effort. It really is great when you get to work with fun people and Mike, Andy, Steve, and George were all of that. So, now it will be back to smaller stuff on the blog (even though there might be something "big" coming soon). More details to follow. Have a great weekend everybody!

Second to last day

Hi everyone. So after two weeks on the mural, Mike and I come down to the last day tomorrow (Wed) at Vast Enterprise. All that is left is the highlights on the three bushes and the final details on the grass. For Mike it is a matter of finishing the last few bricks on the driveway and we turn it over to the Steve and Andy at Vast to finish the display. Hopefully within a week we will have a full photo with everything laid out in the show room. Until then, here are a couple of pics to show you todays view.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers day to all of you who qualify. Things here in the cities was kept at a quick pace again today with another 13 hour day at Vast Enterprise. Things are really taking shape now with some of the detail work getting done. Usually I don't show the progress pictures out of order, but wanted to show you the first two to give you a better image of what this thing is starting to look like. I am really liking the way it is starting to interact with the natural products like the deck and pergula. If all goes well, the mural has potential to be done tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest. So with that, I am off to get a few things done and will start the week on a great note hopefully.

Busy Saturday at Vast

Well Saturday was a busy one at Vast Enterprise. There was a group of carpenters that joined in on the fun from Outdoor spaces. Their goal was to build a deck and pergula that would attach to the house. While they were doing that, I spent alot of the day working on detailing the garage and also the landscape a little more. After they left, I started working on the door and window a little more to get it prepped for tomorrow. As always, there is alot more work ahead for tomorrow and am coming down to the final few days before it is all complete. Can't wait to show you guys what the final images look like.

The garage roof has arrived

After a break yesterday to take care of some meetings and such, was back in action at Vast Enterprise today. The one thing I learned today was the fact that even though the garage area was alot smaller, the detail work on it was so involved and took a lot more time that the house roof. The good thing is that all the shading and stuff is pretty much done, now it will be the highlights that get put on next. So, with that, the weekend will arrive tomorrow and the work will go on at a great clip, I hope! Check back soon with ever more exciting photos.

The roof is on "fire"

Ok, the roof isn't really on fire, but it did get worked on quite a bit over at Vast Enterprise today. The main issue was making sure that they kept in line with what a slate roof would feel like. You'll notice by the images that I managed to get the main colors painted in and also the shadows that really gave the roof some weight. Now tomorrow I will be able to go in with some highlights a little more to give them a more natural feel.