Another Special Order Finished

I couple months ago I recieved  a fan mail from someone who had been admiring a painting in a gallery that represents me. After thinking about it for some time he noticed it missing one day when he stopped in. I thought he was joking when he wrote to see if I had that painting available, as I just the DAY BEFORE received a check for it. -He was hoping the gallery had returned it after having it for a while and was suffering some buyers remorse.

I said I wold be happy to work with some of the elements that really drew him to the painting in the first place. We agreed I would do three sketches and and he could choose his favorite for me to work from for the finished work. It was kind of fun, and I ended up liking all three. (ok maybe one more than the others but I won't tell)

 A bit hard to tell in these photos but hopefully you get the idea. Basically working with a gold leaf circle large foreground/background split, and a very soulful face that wasn't to kooky.

The finished piece. I like how it came out. Waiting for the paint to dry, but the customer loved the photo.

Give Away and New Paintings

Happy summer everyone! To celebrate and offer my continued thanks to you all here is a little give away for you. The below sketch is a pencil drawing from my sketchbook that I hand colored with pencils. If you are interested just say hi (and a name please) in the comment section below and you will be entered for a random drawing. I will ship to the winner at the end of July.

Getting some new ready work for upcoming shows. I have a few new galleries I will let you know about soon but thought I would include a few paintings with their original inspirations to show you a bit of the process.

 The white pencil sketch was just a mindless thing that happened but I liked it enough and decided to make it into one of my small paintings on board.

 I seem to have a thing for these old fashioned phones and like the symbolism behind the communication aspect of them too.

 This above shot is sadly out of focus but it gives you the idea. It is one of my paper bag drawings that I added just a hint of color to. I loved how it came out and the painting ended up having quite a different feeling but hopefully lovable as well.

 Thank you to you all and enjoy the sweetness of summer. -Chris

Art And Thought Lab Part 4-Headaches

Here is a batch of pieces that were homework. I was asked to address the issue of my headaches. I ended up one week making a whole illustrated book (which I will add soon). But early on it was just a bunch of images. After a while I got tired of focusing on headaches as a theme as they already take so much time out of my life. Maria Lucia asked If I could do some that were about headaches but where I am not the subject. (see the last three images below.)difficult to see is the little guy on a ladder reaching up to help me hold this heavy head.

The below guy came first and didn't seem to have an expression that really showed enough suffering so next came the drawing above.

Art And Thought Lab Part 3

A selection of some more Art and Thought Lab pieces. In between classes there has been a trip to see my friend Kate in Ann Arbor and Jim and I went back east to my parents for a week to experience their heat wave.....

Since it's been a while I wanted to post a few odds and ends here. I can't always recall what the image was in response to. (The assignment or 'prompt') Where possible I'll try to explain.
This was one of those pick a newspaper headline or image out of a hat that Maria Lucia provides and work with it. I think this one was "someone guarding the gate" or something like that. Of course it ended up looking up like the inner critic images I made so you can read it as me being the blue guy.....
This I came across on one of my class pages illustrating my difficulty paying attention when there is much talking going on. I've been given the go ahead to feel free to doodle whenever my brain is starting to wander. (If only this would have worked all those years in school).
"Greater than the sum of her parts" is the above image from a headline I pulled out of the box of tricks. Quickie thing done in class.
This had something to do with letting the inner child out to play/ out of the box.....I did the above (and below figures) one after the other and then cut them all out. I chose my favorites, glued them onto brown paper and painted with gouache and color pencil.

My inner critic......
This above image was a in class quickie and I'm afraid I don't recall what the assignment was. Only that I liked the type to face inward so the person's body could read it from the inside.
This was to fully flesh out and me and my inner child in a safe place/box.

I made us out of quick drying clay and then sewed some little dresses. It is like half of these things unfinished but eventually I was hoping to paint faces on them and decorate the inside of the box a bit more.

Random Post

I found this book yesterday at Bart's Books our local used book store. It now actually has some brand spankin' new books and this was one of them. I've always liked Lynda Barry's cartoons and this book seemed to be chocked full of just random playing on paper to inspire...........It reminds me any dorky little doodle or scribble can grow into a playful artful thing.

Just some images from the vault. I have been working away almost exclusively on my Art and Thought Lab class assignments. - Most I deem to be rather un-postworthy but I may put them up here anyhow. The latest batch has to do with my inner critic and so are full of my icky inner thoughts. (Oh my god she's insecure and questions herself all the time! How unusual).
I am constantly searching for good recycled brown paper. I have a notebook I like. Paper bags are also good. I love this color and the little bits of flecks that sometimes lead my brain to find something in the picture.

A Few New Sketchy Things

These were little sketches I just liked. This first one was actually a simple sketch I did as a book signing. When I give a gallery books of mine to sell I usually sign them with a quick something. In this case I liked the little critter so much I scanned him before I sent it off then colored it in and added the 'walker' and a bit of string as the leash. It was fun.

Trying out my new recycled brown paper. I love the color of it.
This is one I like and haven't had a chance to color in. I'm thinking of just trying to keep it simple. One or two colors. We'll see if I can keep to my own assignment.

Winter sketches

Here are some sketches that were my favorites from over the past few months that I think I will working into paintings somehow. The 8th annual Spring Open Studio is coming up May 1 & 2 so I'm working towards that. This year Carmen Abelleira will be my guest artist. (along with the garden looking quite good after the rain and I'm hoping two tiny new baby chicks)-More on all that soon. I just haven't posted in a while and wanted to share what's in the works

Sketches

I'm trying to continually get myself to keep in the sketching habit. Here are a couple I liked and colored in. I will try and list these on the Etsy site or just email me for a price. Best Wishes everyone. Chris