Returning...

Two weeks at the JC down.
The group in Etching is so exciting. The vibe is lovely. Diversity in art and experience, but everyone is enthusiastic and engaged. Loving it.

We started with a drypoint on copper. Totally new to me. A self-portrait. Oh heavens.
Challenging, but fantastic.
My first proof looked like my mom. Freaky. Haha.
I'll try to get one home to scan next week.

We'll be scraping it out and doing a plein-air on campus... trees.
Gotta love those oaks.

At home, we're overhauling the 'office' so that it will actually be functional. Novel idea.

on the shoulders of...

Acrylic continued...

Magritte's Umbrella
on canvas
Magritte's 'Hegel's Holiday' with a Northern California Twist

Diebenkorn Remix
on bristol
A JC project to re-color Diebenkorn's 'Window'

Shoulder
on bristol
thumbnail copy of Morisot's 'Lady at her Toilette' seen below

JC work galore. Ha.

Transit
on unstretched canvas
referenced from a photograph I took on SR citybus...

My second home. :D

All acrylic paint.

Toes
on canvas
she popped into my head while watching TV and I had to get her out

Thunder
on canvas
inspired by tattoo cloud designs

Peony
on canvas
I was studying the ukiyo-e books at the library

Hikari
on bristol
JC project referenced from the Whale sculpture on the 4th floor of the library

Peacock
on canvas
Kim Jaejoong of TVXQ

Most beautiful man I've ever seen. Good voice, too. ^^

catharsis

Abstraction is restorative. Especially with paint. All of these are from high school or just after. I was on a really abstract kick for a while.

Aqua
acrylic on canvas

Sugar
acrylic on bristol

The Girls
acrylic on cardboard
this was a collaboration with a number of girls in art class, Junior year

Tir (land, in gaelic)
acrylic on wood panel

anthem
acrylic on wood panel

The bottom two were from a project. I had four sets in total, four panels each. Two sets were sandwiched together and attached with clear vinyl strips to create a giant 'Jacob's Ladder' toy. One of them was sitting at Chop's for a while.

oily

I love oils. They blend like butter. They stay juicy and workable much longer than acrylics. They shine on the wall.
But, my friends, oils are nasty. The chemicals involved, the smell, and the mess are a major turn-off for me. A class at the JC pretty much contained all the work I've ever done with oils. This one was a 'master' copy. My choice was Mondrian's 'Ginger Pot'. Mondrian did those paintings that everyone knows... all black lines and geometry and squares of bright primary colors. He did a lot of other stuff before that, including still-lifes that were increasingly abstracted.


This was a massive challenge for me. It never felt finished, but as the years pass... I don't mind it so much.

arid.2

Continuing...

wine bottle still life
graphite pencil

Stovetop
bristol paper with a layer of acrylic paint for color
b/w prismacolor pencil for the drawing

Sushi Bro
similar process with acrylic paint to the above
b/w conté crayon for the drawing

arid

As much as I enjoy painting, dry materials also strike my fancy. Blackened fingers give soap and water a lovely challenge.

Matisse's 'Laurette in a White Turban'
graphite pencil

fruit still life
vine charcoal

Beach. Figure drawing class project
Conté crayon

JC prop closet still life
graphite pencil
(sorry for the bad picture quality)

abalone shell and branches still life
graphite pencil

copypasta

For a change of pace...

Editing pictures falls into the category of meticulous fun. I love me some Photoshop.

Combining pictures...

Cleaning up damage...

And good clean fun...

washy

More pen and ink.


Some odd geometry while I was bored between classes. This pre-dates the new Doyle Library.

A feather.



Northern California much?

A still life that was set up at school. The guitars were over-sized props made of wood and other junk.

LP/FM

Diving headlong into another fandom. Linkin Park.

The first is ooold. I stole images from Hybrid Theory, Meteora, etc. This is all acrylic on canvas.


I made this for the Fort Minor show I went to in 2006. Same process as the one above. Most of the designs are Mike Shinoda's from the album artwork. I was lucky enough to attend the meet & greet. Mike signed in the middle. Holly Brook is nearby. Takbir and Cheapshot are top left. Bobo from Cypress Hill is bottom right. Great show. One of the best nights of my life.


In 2005 the Linkin Park Underground had a collage contest. This was my entry. Mike chose it as the winner. I got to thank him at the show I mentioned above... hence the 'great work' with his siggy. Sweet dude. Mike is good people. I couldn't even list the materials that are in this one. I'll just say mixed media.

inky

A couple of pen and ink pieces. Both student work.


^ This is a copy of another artist's work. I have no idea who. Shame on me.


^ I call this piece 'ancient'. It's a still life, drawn as it sat in front of me. I had never done that with ink before. The shadows of the cord, papers, pen, and cap still make me happy. I didn't expect it to work like it does.

meticulous

I suppose most artists have a tendency towards OCD. I certainly do. I live for tedium. Zoning out in a field of gradation is my idea of bliss. Cheap ballpoint pens are completely awesome. I didn't know about biro art until recently. I started doing these in 2005. They're crazy fun, but you go through a lot of pens.

This is Miyavi. He is a guitarist of Japanese Rock fame, in a genre referred to as Visual-Kei. I enjoy the energy of his music. I enjoy that he is such a spaz. Strange as it sounds, of all the sets of tattoos I've seen, his are my favorite.


We might as well stay in the same genre for these two. Above: Aoi-san is the rhythm guitarist of a band called the GazettE （ガゼット）. He's decked out in kimono here. All of these use photo references, by the way. Below: Yoshiki-san is the percussionist of the legendary jrock band X-Japan. This piece was my entry for a contest at jrockrevolution.com. I won it, which surprised me to no end. 　



From Japanese Rock we hop over to Korean Pop. I got into TVXQ (5-member boyband) in 2007. This drawing is one of the members, Xiah Junsu. I cried uncontrollably the first time I watched him sing 'Beautiful Thing' in a youtube vid. Been obsessed with the group ever since. Figured I ought to draw him.
Both Junsu and Yoshiki are drawn with mechanical pencils.

let's get digital

For years, I used a mouse to work in Photoshop. It was painstaking, but I was accustomed to it. Then I got a Wacom Tablet and my world changed. There is no way I could go back to a mouse now.


Above is my first whack at the Tablet. Got a feel for it with a little self-portrait.


Summer heat-induced boredom.


A quirky work in progress during a time when I got rather excited about obnoxious colors.


And finally, taking MarbleBlast Ultra far too seriously on my Xbox360. Once a nerd, always a nerd. Geek4life, yo!

munny see : munny do

We will begin with Munny dearest. This is Reggie Munnoda Jr. He began as a white vinyl customizable toy from the oh-so-addictive kidrobot.com. This was years ago. Nowadays, the site is brimming with DIY toys. The challenge now is to not go broke buying all of them.

A bit of sanding and acrylic paint goes a long way to make one of these little guys really shine.
Working on a curvy 3-dimensional surface was new to me, so it was mostly experimental. If I ever get around to making him a companion... well, we'll see. ^^

it's time

I am in need of a place to post artwork in a format like this.
Here we are.
Art spam will commence soon. From time to time, there will be little ramblings in Japanese or rants about my various geekdoms.

This hole I've been worming in for 14 years needs a little redecoration.

Life in progression begins now.

*blowsraspberry*