Day 13: Coagulation

Sometimes, when I have a little extra paint at the end of an evening, I grab a blank canvas from the box and swaggle it around. I look at the shapes and see what I see. The shapes in orange suggested dribbling blood to me. A couple of days later, this is what evolved from it. It's kind of a zen exercise to look at essentially nothing and while actively trying to find "Inspiration." The active part is actively forcing myself to not be active. In other words, I give my brain a nudge and then relax and let my subconscious do its thing.

Yes, this one kinda creeps me out too, but I think it’s kinda cool.

I wish you could see them up close. The colors are much better in person.

Day 12: Smiley Slacker

Went to the beach with the wife and friends J&G. I had been up late the night before (painting) and had to get up early (6 or 8:30 or something. I’m not conscious at that point until noon most days) When we arrived, the wife and J’s wife stormed down to the beach; J and I collapsed in the hotel room with our dogs.

One thing I brought on the trip was some fruit juice that had fermented in our kitchen. Usually when this happens, it smells like sulphur and I can’t wait to pour it down the sink. Once in a while, some really fancy, high-falutin’ mix of yeast and bacteria settle in and make it happy juice. By taste test I’d say it’s 2-2.5% alcohol and a Mexican friend told me that this is a common drink in her native Mexico: they put cloth over (usually pineapple) juice overnight and the next day, it’s bubbly and tangy.

Well, by the time J and I woke up, the sun was heading down, the girls phoned and were on their way back from the beach, so I had a big cup of my happy juice and went out to walk the dog. I knew I didn’t want to spend the night painting because we were on holiday, and I was kinda tipsy. So I collected some dirt and and sand and lawn clippings to help my painting take shape.

So whereas the beach gave me less time to paint, there is a little bit of beach in this work.

Day 11: Skull and Crossbunny

This one will be on a T-shirt soon (drop me a line at AwfulCute.com if you’re interested, with your T-shirt size) I may have to clean it up for T-shirt use, but I have to figure out the best way to do this: probably heat press.

Other ideas I cast off from the same session, were a clown skull with cross-chickens and a hooker skull with cross (bones)

Day 10: I Will Finish What I …

I imagine those with an artistic mind, overachievers, people with ADD/ADHD, and parents should know this feeling/anxiety. How this came about: I was flipping through sketchbooks looking for inspiration for today’s painting and I found this rough idea scrawled in a margin. I finished filling that sketchbook in 1996. I thought it was funny then, and I think it’s funny now. What’s funnier is the idea remained in a sketchbook for over 13 years!

It was particularly fun to use paint to create a chalkboard. I worked a lot with the wet paint and studied a number of reference photos to get that mostly-erased look on the background, which came out way more trompe l’oeil than I expected. I’ve been learning a bit with masks in Photoshop of late and I’m seeing that masking tape is the primitive form of that technique. It’s pretty awesome in both the analog and digital worlds. Photoshop enables much more complex masking, but even just a straight strip of tape can create delightful results.

Day 9: Punk'd

Larger idea = larger canvas. This is a 12”x9”

I’ve always loved Spiderman. I think of all the superheroes, he’s the most likely to be embarrassed in this way. The reason Spiderman has been so popular -- apart from having cool powers, a cool uniform, and he shoots freakin’ webs out of his hands – is that he is human. Not a caricature of a human, but real problems. Bullied at school, misunderstood, can’t pay his rent, his boss is a jerk, and nobody really knows how awesome he is because he hides it. He’s a hero with low self-esteem and a fantasy life that isn’t a fantasy.

But he’s still prone to being pantsed by green goblins.

An artist friend critiqued some of my work yesterday, for which I’m thankful because I’ve seen her work and know she has a good eye … she pointed at this one and indicated some minor compositional issues. I have a good sense for focal points, but if I’m not going to break an edge with an object, I should steer clear of that edge. Spiderman (and his shadow) are a bit low by about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. Not awful, but a good tip to hear about early in my project and something I'll definitely keep in mind.

It makes me happy to be at a point in my development where I can admit I don’t know it all. I spent many years not wanting advice because it might show I was – I don’t know, incompetent? – and now I realize if you say, “I don’t know,” many people are happy to teach. Some even know what they're talking about, but I find the BS artists can also be a source of inspiration.

I can’t say I’m completely without ego about my art – I really do like my stuff -- but it’s liberating to know I can always improve myself and others are willing to help me do so.

Day 8: Uncensored

OK, I love women. I really love women. I would say I like women naked, but that wouldn’t be art. I like them nude. That’s art. Since this is art, it’s OK if the kiddies see it. This is a cultural experience.

This painting represents, well, my love of cartooning, the female form, and my hatred of the Puritanical censorship that masquerades as “protecting the children.” Whereas I think children should be remain safe from life-altering trauma, I don’t think seeing a titty is among them. Especially since science is pointing more and more toward breast feeding as an almost magical experience, nutritionally, immunologically, physiologically and psychologically.

It may be an unpopular view among those who think the world is only 527 years old, but WE ARE MONKEYS! Monkeys play with their naughty bits and fling poo. We’re not that different, we just pretend we are. Take away our electricity and our internal combustion engine, give it two weeks and we’ll be doing the same thing. Only we’ll have guns. I’d much rather have poo flung at me than get shot.

But I digress. Janet Jackson’s titty at the 2004 Super Bowl? I think it’s obscene that it became news. It’s obscene that children saw their parents over-react and dump heaps of shame over the human body, the one that our Creator has given to us. Fig leaves? Shame? That’s sooo 496 years ago! Let it go, and (I dare say) evolve!

day 7: I Drive a Babe Magnet

My beloved 1994 Toyota Corolla wagon. Leaks oil, transmission slips. Dinged, dented, what's left of the rear struts rattles around like Harvey Fierstein with bronchitis ... but it still gets 30-34 mpg loaded up with junk.

It's on its last legs and I intend to drive it into the ground, but I just received word from my mechanic that the struts are completely gone and will cost $650 to replace, and probably will need an alignment. So I know I'm going to have to shop for a new car.

I'm hard on my cars on the inside but I try to maintain the motor. But the missing hubcaps (and recently I covered it with band-aid shaped bumper stickers) say I don't really care to be struttin' around in a Beemer.

So $650 to put it on hospice is overkill. I know it'll die soon so I'm going to slowly find a good used Toyota/Honda with under 100,000 miles. (wish SUVs didn't replace wagons in this country). Unfortunately, the other day, I ran over a nail. I patched the tire, but it inflated weird (it started to look like Jabba the Hut with a goiter) so I had to buy a new tire. The cheapest I could find was 60 bucks, gol ding it! I paid, since donuts aren't supposed to last more than 100 miles, then it's borrowed time, and the wife expressed concern that I was planning on borrowing that time. My mechanic corroborated, stating that the donut is made of a different type of rubber and is designed for getting you from the side of the road to the auto shop.

In any case, I painted this one up before all this came down. Just a tribute to an old friend and an acknowledgment that I know I'm not going to impress the ladies in this beloved pile of junk.

I want to revisit painting another car at some point ... I know I can do better, but it isn't a strength. I have been working on perspective, but that's one of those things you get in art school which I chose to run away from. Plus, I prefer organic shapes with fewer straight lines. Curse you Greek mathematicians with your straight lines and Platonic ideals!

Day 6: Nerd Starter Kit

Well, I'm not normally a realism guy, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. Normally, I like to make some sort of statement or story with my work, even if it's a study of some sort.

This day was different. I wanted to find something to paint and looked down at a couple of objects I'd left on the table after work: a Uniball pen and my fake glasses.

About halfway through, I realized there was still a bit of a statement behind this: kind of a self-portrait through my tools of the trade: nerd glasses and a good sketching pen. I had fun trying to work out the shadows. I probably did them wrong, but Adolf "Harpo" Marx died thinking he needed harp lessons and Van Gogh died practicing, essentially, Art 101, thinking he'd failed. I hope not to kick myself and just enjoy the learning process.

Day 5 - Man's Best Friend

I love beer.

I mean I really love beer. Not in an alcoholic "This Bud's for you" sort of way, but as someone who's lived in Germany AND Belgium, I've come to appreciate beer as a vinophile might snoot about wine.

This was the night of the party. Sister-In-Law had requested I help her select the good beers (she's a wine lover but respects my beer choices, or at least she humors me convincingly.) I love Hoegaarden, though I've found in the USA, it doesn't taste quite right out of the bottles. I believe it doesn't travel well from its native Brussels. Leffe on the other hand, mwah! We also got some of the Unibroue brewery's champagne-bottled beers (with the cork) (Le Fin du Monde and Maudite are faves). My wife made me stop filling the shopping cart. It's a good thing we didn't go to the GOOD beer store across town. I would've put up more of a fight.

In any case, well, I got drunk and passed out, woke up at about 3:30am and had to paint. Part of the process is to figure out what to paint. Fortunately I had inspiration all around me.

The "Beer Yum Yum" was a bit of a copout, but I was drunk, it works, and it kind of captures the moment.

Day 4: Yellowbeard

Still not having a system for deciding on what I will paint and when, I kind of fly by the seat of my pants. Also, I was still at the Sister-In-Law's house, still without a routine built in. I had to pull myself away from watching cable TV with the nephew and his college chum (a rare treat since we never got a digital converter box for our squirrel-powered TV at home).

I play an online game (variations of the game of Risk, played over days, weeks, or months with other Internet dorks at warfish.net.) Some other user's avatar kept jumping out at me: a cropped movie still from Yellowbeard. It's a compelling photo because of the intense crazy in Graham Chapman's eyes. I don't think I captured his particular crazy, but I'm still happy with the results, even if he looks a little like Aquaman from his angry years.

It's interesting to me since I don't really write a journal or keep a diary or anything, but whenever I look at old sketchbooks, I remember what I was feeling when I drew things, and often the surrounding circumstances of that day. I'm not sure I would remember quite as much from this trip to New Jersey if I hadn't painted these things while there.

Side note: since I painted this, I haven't been haunted by the avatar.

Day 3: Ketchup Tigra

This was a big test to the project: I was supposed to go to a gathering of internet dorks in Toronto, but logistics (and expenses) were unjustifiable. My income's been low this year due to the economic downturn and frivolously spending $600-$800 for a weekend seemed irresponsible.

Instead, I drove 4 hours to New Jersey to help my wife and Sister-In-Law plan SIL's most recent 39th birthday party. The test? Can I paint while away from my home studio? Amid the craziness of party planning and then during an actual party?

When I arrived, they weren't there, but my college-aged nephew let me in and I looked around for the cats, whom I like to torment (in a friendly, loving way). The new one I found under the bed. I asked the Nephew what the cat's name was and he said, "Ketchup." Later, when SIL got home from a Broadway show with my wife, I mentioned "Ketchup" and she looked perturbed. "His name is Tigra!"

Apparently I'd been a pawn in a small point of contention between a mom and her wily Sophomoric son, who giggled. "Tigra," by the way, is Russian for "Tiger" (he's striped, obviously). I married into a family of ex-Soviets. In any case, I had taken a photo of this cat, painted him after everyone went to bed (my favorite time for work). I knew I needed sleep, so I picked a subject, style and composition I could whip out quickly. (an artist friend referred to that as "desperation pieces" ... I disagree. We'll see what I consider a "desperation piece" as time goes on)

At SIL's birthday party, as a special gift, I sold her this painting :0).

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it before I framed it. The framing was a good exercise though: it's a 7"x5" piece, which fit into the frame of 7 1/4"x5 1/4" ... which meant the frame swallowed part of the cat. A twig and a Swiss army knife came to the rescue and there's a small piece of her yard debris inside the frame. From this I learned to keep a bit of a gutter around the edges for frames to eat up.

Side note: Day 3 refers to the day of the painting. I'm posting with a time lag, I hope to catch up soon.

Day 2: Daddy Issues

My first post didn't really talk much about the actual painting (entitled, "Thing," which I'll do here.

The first painting, yesterday, was pulled out of my sketchbook. I used to looooove the Addams Family and have made it a mission to learn to draw hands. Hands are often thought by artists as difficult to render. I agree. For a long time, I squiggled my way through hands with the excuse "I'm a cartoonist; I don't need to draw them right." until I was traveling in Germany in 1992 and really noticed Uderzo's Asterix: beautifully rendered throughout, but the hands were anatomically accurate. Five fingered hands -- none of this Disneyized four-fingered crap.

(for more on that subject, there's an awesome graphic novel by Rich Koslowski named Three Fingers)

This current painting was another browse-through-sketchbooks (I have 20 years' worth of random scrawls) ... Anyone who grew up with a dad or a mom (or who is a dad or a mom) probably knows this situation. It's not specifically autobiographical (though my dad had a set of lungs and a temper to fuel it) but actually more inspired by a loudmouthed friend of mine who recently has become a father.

Since it's the second painting in the series, I'm still finding my hand, it's still a fresh project, and since I hadn't painted really in 2 years, kind of shaky still. But I'm happy with the results. One particular thing that really enthralled me was the colors through the glass to give that translucent effect. I'd never done that before. I think I did it well.

Day 1: My paintings. First Post! Blogging virgin no more!

This blog will document the 365 paintings I will be doing before July 6, 2010. I'm starting this blog on August 18, 2009 and hope to catch up, but the purpose is to discuss the pictures which will take additional (unplanned) time.

First off, if you're just here for the pretty pictures, I give you permission to skip around. I'm writing text in long-form for those who want to know more about my process. The highest compliment I seek is "You have inspired me to create art."

I didn't invent the 365 idea, but I'm taking credit for my hard work.

I first heard about "Thing-A-Day" projects from a guy I met at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland in 2006. He had written a comic book with 365 panels and I thought the idea was brilliant. I said, "I want to do something like that."

Along the way, I'd seen Jonathan Coulton, an excellent Nerd-Era songwriter had done a 52 songs in 52 weeks, and I saw a couple of exhibitors at Artomatic (guerilla art show in Washington DC) who had done "thing-a-day" projects. There was also a guy on ebay a couple years ago selling his thing-a-day paintings. (a well-rendered fork here; a well-rendered salt-shaker there)

I missed most of Artomatic this year, only making it for the last 2 1/2 hours of closing day ... as I was running around, trying to absorb as much as possible, there were people taking their artwork down from the walls. One guy was about to tear down a sign, just as I panted by and I said, "wait! I need 20 seconds to look at your exhibit!" I'm not sure if he was smiling from amusement or annoyance, (social cues? not my forté) but the sign in his hand read, "These are some paintings from my thing-a-day project." As always I said, "some day I want to do that."

Fast forward to two days later. The wife's out of town for her sister's birthday week, I'm sitting on the sofa, bonding with the dog (who thinks the wife smells better), and I say, "I am going to paint 365 paintings now." Did I mention I have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder? Projects like this are difficult for folks like me.

What I hope to get out of this project is:

• better self-discipline
• A structure to my day around which I can build better habits
  
• learning about art (dropped out of art school in 1986)
  
• self-expression
• finishing old ideas
• I make my living with my body, which is aging, and I'll want to make a living with lower-impact endeavors
• a better portfolio
• fun!
• sell my artwork (but not all of it!)
  
• make friends, contacts, and business connections

Thank you for visiting! I welcome you to visit again and again as I forge ahead with the project.

(view my commentary on this painting in Day 2's post. I didn't want to inundate you)