Brandon

Brandon Monotype, Monotype Print, 14' x 16"

"A man's friendships
are one of the best measures of his worth."
~ Charles Darwin

Looking contemplative, that is my buddy Brandon.

A soft print, but I went back into his hair and shirt with a wash to strengthen things up. 

Ashlyn

Ashlyn, Monotype Print, 14" x 16"

More with the monotyping portraits of my friends. I am so happy to create one-of-a-kind prints of my one-of-a-kind friends.

This is Ashlyn, our local cat girl and my go-to person when I need to clean areas of my house.

This is a pretty good Monotype. I like how clean her features came out and there is quite a good likeness.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. 

Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try.”

 ~ Dr. Seuss

Chris

Chris, Monotype Print, 11" x 14"

"True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends,
but in their worth and choice."
~ Samuel Johnson

Again in this series of my friends.

This is Chris, even clad with a key around his neck.

This print came out awesome. It's really clean and sharp. I think it came out great.

Justin

Justin, Monotype Print, 11" x 16"

So a little while ago I worked a series of portraits of my friends.

This one is my buddy Justin.

I really like how the scratched away areas float on the surface of the print. I took a wash and covered the background. It made a nice flat tone. The features were a little distorted in the pressing, It almost ends up looking like a Picasso portrait.

Danielle's Mom

So Danielle's Mom died last week Wednesday. This weekend I am going with her to Kauai for the memorial service. She asked me to do a few drawings for the memorial. It was a rough activity. I never met the woman before. I had been meaning to, but we kept missing each other.

As I looked through the pictures I tried to think about this woman.


I did my three drawings.

Mom with Dog, Oil Pastels on Paper, 2' x 3'

Fisher Family, Oil Pastels on Paper, 2' x 3'

Mother-Daughter, Oil Pastels on Paper, 4' x 5'

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future."
~ Corrie ten Boom

Student Sitting on a Chair

Student Sitting on a Chair, Watercolor on Paper, 11" x 14"

"We live amid surfaces, and the true art is to skate well on them."
 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yesterday I was subbing over at Kailua Intermediate. This is a drawing of one of the students in the classroom I was in.

There is a spontaneity with this watercolor I really like. It also has a remarkable likeness to the student.

Rosemarie

Rosemarie, Watercolor on Paper, 11" x 14"

"Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind.
There's no other definition of it."
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

So this is a portrait of a co-worker, Rosemarie.

It is regrettable she looks so serious in this picture, as normally she is so bubbly and full of joy. I happened to sketch this while she was reviewing some paperwork. Perhaps that was the reason for the dour look on her face.

I have been using a Goldenrod, oops it's called Spanish Orange, pencil to do the initial sketches. I really like how the yellow is leaking through in the highlights. I think it creates a neat effect.

Girl at Starbucks

"Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words,
the exquisite care of execution." ~ Theophile Gautier

I pulled this one together after doing a quick sketch at a local Starbucks.

The recent rain effected cable service making my home wireless spotty at best. So taking the opportunity, I did this sketch.

I do like some things about this painting. I was trying to show the face being lit by her computer screen while her whole form is back lit from the window behind her. I debate whether or not this worked.

I really like how I made the cup and specifically the reflection or refraction of her arm through the plastic cup.

Danielle Awakening

"The most potent muse of all is our own inner child."
~ Stephen Nachmanovitch

So this is one of many watercolors I hope to put up today. The weather out in here has been dreary and rainy. So much so it was hard to get a good images of these particular art works.

So there looks to be a proportion problem with the head and the body, but both are rendered well so I am unsure if it is very noticeable. It may also just be the perspective.

Monotype Profile: Matthew

Odd Fellow Meeting

"A work of art is a corner of creation seen through a temperament." ~ Emilé Zola

So tonight is a meeting of the Independent Order of OddFellows here in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii... As with any meeting in paradise, I took the opportunity to make a few drawings. Armed with a pair of ball point pens I began to sketch. Here are the products.

Erica #2

"Both body and earth are sacred." ~ Mathew Fox

So this was a drawing of Erica. This for a while was one of the opening drawings in my portfolio. I have since changed it. There is a real crispness to this drawing that I like.

Sumi Landscape

"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery." ~ Anais Nin

So, this is a Sumi landscape, the art style is a tribute to my Japanese heritage. I sort of based this picture on the image of a wall scroll in my room.

Bamboo #1

So getting in touch with the Asian part of me.

In high school I took a few classes in Sumi painting it is difficult and takes an extremely high degree of skill to make thing look perfectly. There are just so many things that could go wrong on these. So after filling the house with these paintings. I have a few that were very good. Here is one.

The stamp at the bottom is a katakana name stamp from 8th grade we made from an eraser. heh

Drawing Class Portraits

SO here are 3 quick portraits from a drawing class I took. The first is Jonathan Busse one of the instructors at WCC. I posted a link to some of his works. A lot of landscapes and watercolors, very neat stuff. The bottom two were two students at WCC.

Religious Icons

"It is certain that if you would have the whole secret of a people, you must enter into the intimacy of their religion." ~ Edgar Quinet

So being Catholic, I have been fascinated by religious images for most of my life. Their stylized look at the divine is kind of quaint and interesting. There is a sacred symmetry and formality to it all. So I have attempted to create prints of my own religious icons.

On the recommendation of a fellow printer, I decided to do a multiple press series on this one. Each of the above prints is three prints of each separate color. With the second being the second ghost print of the image. So for each color I made the print, printed the first one then went on to make a second print. I specifically avoided the color black, to avoid it dominating the image.

The image below is an angel I tried to make in the same iconic style. It is also three consecutive prints with each adding a color. The red and blue dominate this print a little, but overall it's pretty neat:

My Sketchbook 03/10 - 07/10

"Life is not a support system for art. It is the other way around." ~ Stephen King

So here is some material from one of my more recent sketch books. It is actually kind of an amazing one, with a lot of satisfying drawings in it. I obviously had a pen and ink crave. I also took some serious time to go to my two favorite drawing places, Starbucks and Borders.

It's very clear I was attempting to make completed drawings with background and setting taken into account for most of these. I also really was playing with what I could do with pen and ink. I think the end results are pretty impressive.

Daniel

"All art is communication of the artist’s ideas, sounds, thoughts."
~ Lionel Hampton

So this is Daniel, he was a model and a fellow student during my undergraduate program.

This drawing actually won me an award from a local art studio. Best in Drawing for the Community College Art Exhibition.

Erica #1 - Truth Beauty

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
~ John Keats

This is one of the more regular models over at WCC, Erica. I have been going through my sketch books and have found quite a few drawings of her. This drawing was in the juried "College Art" show.

Luck Bamboo #4

"Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that no science can match." ~ Ingrid Bengis

I think this is my favorite of this series.

I decided to focus on the bamboo in this last print really defining the stalk and the leaves carefully, This was also the last in the series on the plate, so the yellow ink I layered out over the plate let the colors from the previous prints come through. This created such a neat effect with the green and purple coming through as I made the image.

I added the smoky after image on the left part of the print with color pencil. Playing with the textures of the monotype. I did also clean the upper portion with watercolor in a effort to focus the subject a little more.

Luck Bamboo #3

"The more you reason the less you create." ~ Raymond Chandler

So I tried for a simpler print in this one, focusing just on the light dark contrast. I debated with myself how successful this print is. I really like the upper leaves and how despite its simplicity it still shows perspective and the layers of the bamboo stalks. I'm not sure if I like the ceramic vase at the bottom, but its growing on me.

This print came out very nice. I used watercolor to focus the dark in the background a bit more.

Luck Bamboo #2

"Setbacks have an upside: They fuel new dreams." ~ Dara Torres

So when life gives you lemons...

This print began with trouble, I let the ink sit on the plate a little too long and got a really light print. I then reapplied ink and tried again. I ended up with a mess.

I then reworked the print. Drawing the pot and strengthening some of the leaves with ink. The end result is this. I really like the "order from chaos" feel of this. The random shapes of the print come together to form the simple bamboo.

Luck Bamboo #1

"Good luck has its storms." ~ George Lucas

Sitting on the coffee table in my living room there is a small ceramic vase with a few stalks of bamboo growing from it. I often hear people call it "Lucky Bamboo." In Hawaii, many people have them; on their cubical desk, near the cash registers, and teachers seem to love them.

In an effort to make a short series of prints, I decided to make a series of prints on this simple subject. I think the breadth of these prints are interesting.

This first print is rather straight forward. It is a print of the bamboo and pot. I went back into the print with watercolor on the table an the top right corner. It was a journey to see what I could do with this.

Nalani Awakening

Nalani Awakening, Oil on Paper, 3' x 5'

"Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. 
Treat it with care."
~ The Buddha

So this was in the series of paintings on paper I did in the art school at the University of Hawaii Manoa.

Nalani was the model in this drawing. She was a fellow student and often modeled for our classes.

This is oil on paper and there is a really beautiful sheen the oil paints give off on the paper. I know it is not the most archival way of working, but we had a very nice end product.

Male Nude

Nude Contortionist, Acrylic on Paper, 3' x 6'

"Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere."
~ Gilbert K Chesterton

So I am now working on getting a number of my older pieces onto this website.

This nude acylic is in a series of paintings on paper. This started as a drawing I did a few years prior to doing the painting.

I remember this model particularly for the really unconfortable poses he would get himself into. Almost a sadomasochistic thing. This pose sort of reminded me of Anthony Hopkins in the Picasso movie, Surviving Picasso, with the cruel things he would do to the models. This guy put himself in a really uncomfortable position. A real contortionist, he is holding his left leg behind his back and resting with his forehead on the wooden ground.

I specifically remember my instructor Snowden Hodges asking the model if he would like a pillow and his response was, "No I'm fine."

Portrait of A Girl #2

 
So this oil painting is one of my first portraits and is still in my room at home. It sort of looks like my little sister. Eh? You paint what you know.

"Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced."

 ~ Ned Rorem

Portrait of A Girl #1

"The world of imagination is boundless." ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This is a pretty straight forward portrait. I really like the over shirt she is wearing.

Still life with Uliuli

"There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in."
~ Leonard Cohen

So this was one of my first oil paintings.

It actually came out pretty nice, although I think it was rushed in certain places. We are our own worse critics.

The bronze head in this piece is one of my favorite things. Looking close there is a really cool red reflected light on it from the red ‘uli‘uli.

Legs

Dark Portrait of Mickey

So this is my friend Mickey O'Phalen. I actually have quite a number of pictures of her. She has muscular dystrophy and bound to a wheel chair.

She is an amazing photographer.

So I was really into baroque portraits and Lucien Freud when I painted this. One can kinda see the influence.

"I'm working in my mind." ~ Jasper Johns