Ah, the Europeans :)

The Motorcycle Series paintings are still getting a little attention, which I did not know, but am pretty thrilled about :)

I was poking around the web and found a pretty cool Italian blog called boldorbikers.blogspot.com that had posted up five of the original ten paintings...

Sweet, I have swarms of fans in Italy :)

Maybe not, but I can dream lol

Back from the Drawing Board

The Yamaha has been sitting in the garage, not really getting any love lately. I threw away the old handlebars, seatpan, headlight ears, and speedo mount. Starting to rework the bike again and do a new body for it. Should be interesting...

... mysterious picture...

Blah Blah Blah

Been feeling like I'm walking through a thick fog the last few weeks. I haven't much felt like painting or working, or doing very much of anything really. I want to actually, but I can't seem to get myself up and go.

Finally started to get back intot he garage today though. I wanted to work and get something done, even if I wasn't in the mood. So I cut off the rear section of the frame on my Yamaha and the crossbars that went underneath the stock seat. Made one new crossbar, ground down the old welds, and spot welded in my new one. I got tired of dealing with the noise so I went back to the skateboard I've been working on and outlined around the racing stripes I had stained onto the wood.

Went to visit a friend today and hung out for a little bit, went to run errands and such, then had dinner with the family. Not a bad day really, now I'm getting ready to go paint for a little bit and hopefully get somewhere with the Helmet and Gloves. I'm not sure if it's worth completing at this point.

Gonna be a long night, pictures tomorrow of the bike and board.
Anybody heard of a local art gallery in Frederick? There's a few, dragonfly and blue elephant are worth checking out, but so is another one not too far from there. Can't remember the name though, but there was a nice gentleman named Walter Bartman who is a great artist and a pleasure to talk to.

Alrighty then, painting time...

Idea

Maybe a painting or two of comic book styled illustrations, but done as oil on canvas? We'll see... Work on Helmet and Glove painting tomorrow, maybe stripe the next skateboard a little more, then play with the Yamaha... Need more art things to do for fun and for practice, less going through the motions.

Figure it out tomorrow. Just needed to get ideas somewhere to look at for later.

Art and Stuff and Such

I finished mixing up 20 color swatches Tuesday night for class on Wednesday. We didn't get a chance to check back with them and see how we did but the general consensus was that everybody in the class had some difficulty with a few colors, but I think we all did fairly well. Also, we had a little demonstration as far as beginning to add color over top of an underpainting.

An Underpainting is a technique used in "Indirect Painting". It's the way that the old Masters would have painted, starting first with a value study. For instance, a black and white or a sepia photograph would be an example of a finished underpainting. The darkest values are a very deep brown while the whites and highlights would be something close to a very yellowish brown color. You get the idea...

After the underpainting is completed, color goes on top. Dark areas get treated with paint that is very thin, that way the color shows true and the value of the brown underneath pops through as well and creates a very dynamic color field. The lighter areas get thicker paint to cover up the browns underneath. The contrast between the two, dark/thin paint and light/thick paint, look really goofy when they're freashly applied. Taking a dry brush and blending the two areas together creates the midtones and the illusion of volume. It's something that I tried to get to tonight because I was excited to try a new method of painting but couldn't quite get to it in time before we shut down for the night.

I have a painting going right now of a Motorcycle Helmet with Goggles and Gloves. Once the underpainting is fixed up a bit I'll post pictures and log the color application, and the color swatches to with a brief explanation.

Time for bed, TTFN

To Do List...

A few years ago I had the bright idea to start making skateboards again using the old Bozi Board designs that had been leftovers and sitting in the garage. One of these boards was the "Cruiser" model, handmade from birch plywood and now has the tattoo graphic on it. I also grabbed one of the "Mad Bomber II" models that were made and had a local wood shop template the shape for me. The MB.II was a concaved board made from 11 or 13 ply maple depending on preference, and then later turned into a third model made with maple and a ply of "M-core", a material commonly found in snowboards. The skateboards that I had produced were a simple combination of the first and second models, flat with no concave, but possessing the updated shape of the MB.II.

Within the next few weeks I plan on having these skateboards done and up for sale on Etsy, with the rest of my work. Along with a few more paintings for the Motorcycle Series hopefully.

Going back to school has really impacted the way that I see color, forms, space, etc... Same as what I wrote about last time. So tonight I'm going to be going through some magazines and finding colors to mix up just for practice, and it's surprisingly more involved than I thought. Should be a fun evening.

College, Motorcycles, and Artists

I've been going back to school, and so far it's been going pretty well. I tried to paint something for class that was a little beyond me at first but the more I get into it, the better it seems to be. That's what I get for listening to the teacher, better. Which is fine by me. I love art. Something about it just never ceases to amaze me.

The Motorcycle Series that I started doing is something that was stopped to get ready for the bike show in Timonium last month. I need to get back into that again. The paintings really helped me get ready for school and I think that after some of the material being covered that school is helping me get even more in depth with my paintings and other artworks.

To make sure that I kick off the restart the right way, there is one motorcycle builder that has had a really big impact on both my Dad and myself. I wrote him a letter and asked to do a painting of his current project, to which he had replied "Yes". I was thrilled, the bike builder in particular I'll keep a secret for now in case I go mad and this painting drives me insane. I'm excited though, I would love to send a painting to his shop, I'd be happy knowing that I could send a gift from one art guy to one moto guy.

The art though, something about it I can't explain. The process maybe? It's calming, it relaxes me, it's borderline therapeutic and I can't do enough of it. I'm 23 years old which of course means that I've spent a bit of time screwing around and being a derelict. I've had jobs in different fields and made a few friends that I'll hang with for a good long time to come. I've made a lot of people angry with me and vice versa too, but we don't talk so it's fine. Through all the years that I've been trying to figure out what to do with myself, being completely boggled by everything that normal people find trivial, somehow I never stray to far from Art.

It is the one thing in my little blip of an existence that makes me feel like me. It excites me, gets me thinking about problems on canvas, makes me want to learn, and somehow at the same time gets me to relax, drown out everything that is wrong with myself, my situation, the rest of the world. When I do something with Art, everything stops until I get done. I don't concentrate on anything else until I'm satisfied, and it helps me. The last few paintings I've done somehow I managed to start doing in kind of a funk but then when I was done with them had this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and contentment.

I know I'm being all touchy feely and not a lot of people go for that. Art is just the thing for me, I don't know anybody that can really say "I do what I love and it loves me back," but that's how it feels when I'm practicing Art. I'll continue to practice it until I get to old to see, or if my arms get bitten off by sharks, but I don't see that happening anytime soon (knock on wood).

Faithful and Steadfast Longboard

The Faithful and Steadfast Longboard is now FOR SALE on my Etsy site. It's handmade, with the graphics drawn freehand in ink pen and colored pencil. The words in the banner read "Fidelis et Constans" which is Latin for "Faithful and Steadfast", thanks to Matt B. for letting me know, it's on the bottom of his Mom's family crest :-)

The bottom of the board, the graphic side (pictured below) has been clear coated using a Lacquer clear, then wet-sanded, buffed, and polished. The finish on the board is very smooth and has a fairly high gloss. The top side of the board (not pictured) was stained the same as the bottom, and sealed with a light clear coat over it.

There should be a few more of these coming soon, but the decks I currently have in stock all need a bit of prep work. If there are any interested buyers, please see the Etsy store for a more detailed description. Also, if there are any questions or if you would like to see additional photos, feel free to send me an email at zenangel13@gmail.com

Enjoy!