Plein Air Saturday

If you were passing by Cup A Joe in the Short North, you may have seen a distinguished, silver haired gentleman painting a scene on the west side of Hight Street. That would not have been me. You may have also seen a dude in a sock hat with paint all over his jacket making a freak show on canvas. That would have been me. 

I've always claimed that everyone's an artist, it's simply a matter of finding your amuse, and following it. Yep, simple...sounds like I'm making jokes, But what else would you call it? If you've experienced art, up close and messy, when you're doing it to the best of you're ability, it sure feels simple. I've maintained that the only thing to do to let it out is to get the F out of the way. 

That's what I witnessed on this excursion, on this thing another friend calls Plein Air Painting. This thing I would have much preferred to experience in CBus when it was warmer...or on a beach in the Caribbean. But, the experience is part of the art, right? My friend and I had made a deal; he'll teach me to play guitar, and I'll do whatever I did...I'm not gonna call it teaching; let's call it getting out of the way.  

A lot of folk I talk to had an art class at one time or another. My friend, whom I'll just call DG,since he's got no idea I'm posting about him, is typical in that regard. What is atypical is that he is another engineer, besides being a musician. Two so called left brained types making art in the street, one who's been doing this as long as he can remember, the other, basically, changing instruments, and getting the F out of the way...

I am going to show you his painting so far, with out his permission, hop I don't get sued. Just keep in mind that neither piece is complete. So, DG's progress:

Nicely done, DG...shows a fine eye. A good start at perspective. Great use of color. 

Then, the freak show:

'Nuff said... Maybe I'm a better teacher than I am a painter.

To be continued...

Studies and styles

I went to see the George Bellows exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art. mr. b is not only a Columbus product, but a New York artist as well. In every sense an extremely technical, polished painter and drawer. Amazing show, but that's not what this post is about.

I've been going back to my roots over the last few paintings. I had an art teacher in College, Babette duSang Jones, who taught  introduction to Painting. She had us pick up oil sticks and we would work them on newsprint. Mostly forgettable paintings, from me, anyway, but she would pile up desks, tables, whatever she had in the studio, and we would do our still life sketches and paintings. I recently decided to do some still life studies of my own. Wild flowers from my yard, arranged in a cool vase, resting on my messy sculpting bench. 

I'm not gonna lie, I am not crazy about either one of these paintings, but they did their job, there are usually many lessons in going down memory lane, but this one was about painting curvy glass, making actual straight lines, and painting the light

The first one, I managed one out of three, maybe two:

I'm going to call the next one a success, I've finally seen the light:

Spinning wheels

I've been struggling of late with what is worth posting. Not that I'm not being productive, mind, but maybe too productive...I've been on site for the AMA Hall of Fame Museum Motorcycle days, I've been in the bronzecasting studio twice a week, painting and sculpting at home, and getting out in the local arts scene; most recently at Urban Scrawl. That is a must see event if you haven't checked it out, and 400WestRich is going to be huge.

I'm working on a million pieces, and I've shown some level of progress on this site for a lot of them. Progress on an art piece can be so incremental, at times, that I'm hard pressed to see it from one set of progress photos to another. So, I've procrastinated posting them. I've decided to break down the wall, to some extent, anyway, and show you the mess my studio is in at the moment. I hope you enjoy it as much as I making this mess:

Looser or more refined

I would typically say that my sculpting and painting has been a celebration of loose, colorful, or sketchy, even. For my latest sculpture, "Seated", I am exploring how refined I can actually make a sculpture, and then, whether I actually feel its fit to show.  

This first photo is pretty close to the beginning. I won't actually Showa sculpture sooner than this level of completion anymore...they can change too radically;

This next photo was around the 50% stage for the face. Rockin' the dreads, but still needing some finihing;

This last photo, the face is close, the figure maybe 40%, but you may see the change, already;

Next time i post this sculpture will be right before I make the moulds for the bronze. 

Now this is progress...

 I've been digging in the yard and moving rocks for ta little while now, and it's a beautiful thing. Not only am I still semi upright, but I'm making real actual progress...

I had started reworking the pavers in the yard several years ago, trying to move towards having actual outdoor studio and chillout spaces back there, so I could sculpt while I had the grill goin'. I also started an organic garden project in the yard almost two years ago, with containers. There are pavers under the grill and stuff in the back.

Seemed like a good idea at the time... Did I mention that the yard is land locked, and I've got to bring everything down the long side of house? Bags of dirt, sand, gravel...great workout. As of today, I've got the pavers done, grill together, and I'm just trying to figure out yard furniture, while waiting for a contractor to run some power for the outdoor studio. Here's what we have to deal with:

Not too long before I can weld and sculpt in that yard...by the way, anyone want some plastic furniture?

The cycle of art

The last month has found me trying to finish up the yard, for my outdoor studio, as well as starting numerous other projects. Several paintings and sculptures, which I'll tease here:

APR sunset progress 06212013 

Female figure progress: 

I do have a lot of sketches right now, and these are rough as well.

More soon

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Had the privilege of hangin' out with one of my oldest homies the other day. We went to eat, then I took him to the show at the AMA Museum. If I keep this up, I have made up stories for all the pieces I don't know anything about. We came back an hung out in my studio/living room and talked for a while. I was playing with wax while we talked,, and a small kneeling figure came out of it. Had a great ime with my dude, and had no idea why I made that figure.

The next day, I'm looking at it. It had a pious ET kinda vide, so I just started with that, refining it, making the proportions better. Spent a lot of time doing stuff that adds little to the vibe of the piece  ...just because. The Muse said so.

Memorial Day. Today, I woke up and went through the usual morning stuff, after sleeping in, then sleeping some more. I slept till 8:00 am...After breakfast, on my second cup of coffee, I found myself working on the figure some more. Long story short, this piece came out of it.