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