One Done Overnight

I've had a bit of trouble sleeping in the past few weeks. I won't get into why as it's not that thrilling of a reason, pretty normal for this day and age I would guess. So, in spite of my bouts of insomnia, I decided that it would be prudent of me to do something productive with my extra hours. Instead of pacing around the house and having conversations with the cats and dogs, I painted this piece. It's a triceratops skull (I know you know, we've all seen "The Land Before Time", or at the very least, "Jurassic Park") with the important bits labeled in old-timey handwriting. I then "stained" the paper with watercolors to give it that parchment paper look. I may end up going back over some of the lines to make it pop out a little more, and add some white highlights for the sake of separating the skull from the neutral tone of the paper. That's all for now :)

Anatomy of a Triceratops' Skull

12" x 18"

Watercolor and Ink

on Watercolor Paper

Three New Paintings in the "Colors" Series

Here are three new paintings in the "Colors" series. Each one is 12" x 18" on watercolor paper, done in watercolor and ink (and colored pencil on the Deer Skull piece). Visit the link to see which ones are still available on Etsy :)

Two New Paintings. Starting the "Colors" Series

These paintings are new as of this week and are the second and third paintings in a series called "Colors". The first was "Retro Joe", which has already sold. These two paintings are now up for sale on Etsy :)

Butterfly Eyes

12" x 18"

Watercolor, Pencil, and Ink

on Watercolor Paper

"People are naturally organic just like Butterflies. We are all essentially the same at birth, but throughout our lives we develop our own personal tastes and characteristics, like butterfly wings."

Self Portrait 

12" x 18"

Watercolor, Pencil, and Ink

on Watercolor Paper

"It's imperative, every so often, to create something completely out of spontaneity. This piece had no plan except that it should be a portrait. Only through experimentation and quick thinking were the fundamentals of art considered and implemented."

Retro Joe

New Painting! Woo-Hoo!!

I'm calling it "Retro Joe" because I based this off of a photo of a man who's identity is still unknown to me.
The painting is watercolor and ink on paper, which measures 12 inches x 18 inches. I really like the look of the motorcycle racers from the early 1900s through the early 1950s. The clothes and gear were typically handmade, and not many racers were sponsored by high-dollar companies, most did the prep work themselves in barns or sheds with their friends. If a bike broke down on the side of the road during a race, then the rider would pull out his tool kit and try to fix the bike before the other racers could pass (it was okay if they did, because chances are they would break down at some point too).

It's because of men like the one in this picture, and the work of himself and others like him, that modern motorcycles are more powerful and efficient than they have ever been, and that we as riders have better protective and safety equipment than ever.

Brake Line Kit

Got a Galfer Superbike brake line kit in the mail the other day. They lines are easy enough to install on the bottom side where they meet the calipers. I still don't have a master cylinder or bars yet, so I'll have to get back to that before I can say it's easy or hard. (Looking at the instructions though, it seems pretty straightforward).

Painting the Fender - Part 2

After spraying a clear coat over the fender I had to start over. The clear paint I was using was incompatible with the black paint, so once it dried it turned white and looked really cloudy. I ran my finger across it and in came off like dust in some spots. So I sanded it off and began again.

Here's the cloudy fender after the clear coat had dried...

I sanded the fender, cleaned it off with mild detergent and rinsed it with water. I started spraying it again with a semi-flat black (just a hair less glossy than the satin I started with) and eventually after a few coats it came out looking like this...

And here it is mounted on the front end that will eventually go on the SV...

I'm happy with the end result. This was the first time that I had painted anything larger than a small piece of metal, and the texture is relatively smooth and pretty uniform throughout. All in all I'll call that a win, and a small step forward towards making my little Suzuki a bit more attractive :)

Painting my Fender - Part 1

So today I got a little bored and with the lack of finances to go buy every cool motorcycle part under the sun, I decided instead to paint my GSXR fender, which has been in need of some refreshing since I rescued it from Ebay.

I forgot to snap a photo of the fender before I started, but here it is after a light scuff.

Satin Black is a nice color. It also just so happens to be one of the fullest cans in the garage, so it works out nicely :) Krylon is awesome, and this paint is specifically for plastics which helps in the adhesion process and will hopefully wear a bit more gracefully over time. (Yes the picture is upside-down... I know... just turn your head to read the can, or pick up a small child by their ankles and have them read it to you)

One thing about the Krylon Fusion paint I really like is that you can do dust coats and it dries in just a few minutes. So after three dust coats with about 15 minutes of dry in between each one, I finally sprayed on one thicker coat (really it's a light or light-medium thick coat) and it's currently drying in the sun.

So now I'm going to check it again and if it's dry then it's getting wet sanded. Be back in a bit with more of that.