Painting studies

Did another painting study as I work on leaning more about the program Painter.  This series really seems to lend itself well to this treatment.  Need to figure out how to add some more splatter like strokes in there but I have not figured out drips yet.

Really enjoying it.

..So I got that going for me.

Bill freaking Murray

The very thing that makes Bill Murray, well, Bill Murray is what makes sitting down with him such an unpredictable enterprise. Bill Murray crashes parties, ditches promotional appearances, clashes with his friends, his collaborators, and his enemies. If you—movie director, journalist, dentist—want to speak to him, you don't go through any gatekeeper. You leave a message on an 800 number. If Bill Murray wants to speak with you, he'll call you back. If his three and a half decades in the public sphere have taught us anything about the 59-year-old actor, it's that he simply does not give a good goddamn.

And that he is eleventy billion times cooler then we could ever be.

Harvey Pekar - October 8, 1939 – July 12, 2010

Harvey Pekar has passed away this morning.

Some pretty weak news that someone else will no doubt write a better tribute about. Harvey Pekar, of American Splendor fame was found dead in his Ohio home early this morning. Many will remember the 2003 movie starring Paul Giamatti based on his life and work. My Uncle was an avid collector of his when I was a kid, so I got to appreciate his work as I grew up. For fans of the non-hero comic genre, this is a dark day. His well documented battle with prostate cancer, as well as recent bouts with depression have taken it's toll. Check the link for the full story, I just wanted to say thanks for all the great work. Farewell Harvey, you really knew how to make us laugh. The author of American Splendor found dead at 70.

Book photo for art project.

Jason Leisge just finished a art project for Parking Block Publishing where he used a book as a sketch book. You'll have to wait for the inside pics. Me no post sneaky pics of it for you.

You can check out the blog behind Parking Block at Such Luck, quite a nice Chicago-centric blog on art, skateboarding and food.

Shot this with some awesome Dedolights, which are crack for any still life shooter. These puppies are a whole lot of fun to use. Thanks goes out to Hill Street Studios for doing a work swap for these.

I'm tired and need more coffee.... and I'm grumpy... Bah.

Silver Falls Painting

Here is a painting I worked on yesterday based upon This shot of North Falls. I have been messing with Painter for about 6 months but I still do not really have a good take on it. This is inspired by the painter Gerhard Richter.

I did some test prints on canvas but I am not to thrilled with the blacks right now but I plan on trying some varnishes to see what those do. The idea of working with oil paints and mediums again is kind of exciting, hoping to get this moving forward.

New art print.

New art print available, printed this at 12 by 40 and that seems to be the perfect size for it. Black border like back in the cibachrome days. The macros were shot on a G9 and the tree moss on a 1ds M2. It was a fun series I was doing about a year ago though I never laid them all out into one print like this.

Scott Davis

Upon returning to California after his studies in New Mexico, Davis took the unique moods of the desert and applied them with deftness to urban settings. By nature, Davis is a loner and seeks settings that can be as much one place as any other anonymous spot on a street or lost highway. His saturated nightscapes are composed with a single existing source whose light hugs and frames elements in the subject matter. This effect yields work that is luminescent in a manner that evokes night as much as day. You can feel the heat and lingering effects of drenching sunshine imbuing the streets, pavements, parking lots, buildings, valleys and billboards. Moreover, in his latest work he explores by taking pictures of buildings specifically on San Fernando Road. This focused survey has brought his work to a new plane that culminates his vision and training. In 713 N. Victory Boulevard, Davis captures a desolate corner that makes a viewer look twice because its richness and depth evoke a tangible painterly sensibility that makes one look back for confirmation that it is a photograph, rather than a hyper-real painting. There is no trace of Hollywood glamour; solitude is palpable and LA takes on a majesty unlike its actual, sprawling self. One can imagine if Edward Hopper were a photographer these are the pictures he would have taken.

Scott Davis, another fine photographer at Hous Projects.

Marian Drew

Drew sets her deceased on kitchen tables amidst fruit and fauna in a manner that evokes Renaissance still-life painting. In particular, reference and parallels are found in the vanitas genre, which were constructions by painters to warn of the bouquet of hubris man weaves. The senselessness of death for Drew’s subjects is poignant even more so with the realization that these animals will not be consumed as the fish and fowl shown in classic still life. Sport is cruel; careless discard is unforgivable. Rather than bucolic examples of a landowner’s fortunes or flexed exertions of man’s control over the natural world, Drew’s tables are dressed to implicate the disregard humanity has for the wild animal. The warmth of home, sweet home’s family gathering to share a meal is tainted when barriers are removed between the beasts and us.

Marian Drew, photos. Nice stuff. I am a fan of this look.

New Word Illustrations Project

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So here are some new Illustrations I did for a personal project. I made the image of Charles Bukowski using the text from one of his best poems, "The Genius if the Crowd".

The other is the one and only Bob Dylan made out of lyrics form "Like Rolling Stone" and if you don't know the lyrics well, you have bigger problems.

Shaping all the text and sizing it to fit crashed Photoshop and Illustrator about 10 millions times. Printed out at 24x17 these look amazing I must add.

Hope you like.

The Genius Of The Crowd Charles Bukowski

there is enough treachery, hatred violence absurdity in the average
human being to supply any given army on any given day

and the best at murder are those who preach against it
and the best at hate are those who preach love
and the best at war finally are those who preach peace

those who preach god, need god
those who preach peace do not have peace
those who preach peace do not have love

beware the preachers
beware the knowers
beware those who are always reading books
beware those who either detest poverty
or are proud of it
beware those quick to praise
for they need praise in return
beware those who are quick to censor
they are afraid of what they do not know
beware those who seek constant crowds for
they are nothing alone
beware the average man the average woman
beware their love, their love is average
seeks average

but there is genius in their hatred
there is enough genius in their hatred to kill you
to kill anybody
not wanting solitude
not understanding solitude
they will attempt to destroy anything
that differs from their own
not being able to create art
they will not understand art
they will consider their failure as creators
only as a failure of the world
not being able to love fully
they will believe your love incomplete
and then they will hate you
and their hatred will be perfect

like a shining diamond
like a knife
like a mountain
like a tiger
like hemlock

their finest art

Copy Paste copy paste copy copy

Similarities - a set on Flickr

Albert Einstein once said, “The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The pairs of images in this "Similarities" set are similar visually in one way or another. They are presented without judgement as to the motives of their creators. The viewers of the pieces can form their own opinion(s) about what they see.