Inktober Day 3 - Norman Bates

Norman's BAIT - inktober2019 day 3 - Bait
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

Ok... so I decided to do at least 1 from Jake's prompt list and I couldn't resist this one, bait.
Right.... it is October which means Halloween so it immediately popped into my head, but not too obvious, and is really right inline with many of my previous marker sketches.

Nice play on words. Stark seemed to work.

Inktober Day 2

Industrial Landscape - inktober2019 day 2
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

No slug like day 1 although it was tempting .
This marker sketch of a favorite subject. I don't do any pencil layout on these. Just uncap the marker and draw. Great practice for that skill.

Inktober Eruption

Slug - inktober2019
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

The volcano is erupting again albeit just a little.
I slugged out this quick little sketch earlier this evening for the challenge.

Stay tuned to this blog Avid Art2, my Instagram or Avid Art for more throughout the month of October for more inks hijinx.

Dormant like a volcano but still smokin'. Lava Dog 363, The Savage Garden and yes even The Rabid Rabbit.
I should get a post up here... soon.

Coaster Show (now) at Gallery 30 South

"Lava Dog 363"
"The Savage Garden (Callow)"
4" x 4" (10.16 cm x 10.16 cm)
Watercolor/gouache/colored pencil

It's great to be back in The Coaster Show again which now has a new home in Pasadena California at Gallery 30 South.
The show features art drawn, painted, sculpted(non 3-D this year) or analog photography on 4'x4" beer coasters. The show hangs October 4-28th 2018.

I am always anxious to see the wide variety of work on 1000 or so coasters from so many great artists.
My two accepted are from my Savage Garden series and the random Lava Dog 363 which began digitally on the iPad. My Savage Garden series is still in its infancy but I have some ideas rolling around as to what it will be.

Cheers...

The Savage Garden -slice- at The Coaster Show

"The Savage Garden (Slice)"
ballpoint pen on paper, 2017
4" x 4' (10.16cm x 10.16cm)

This little drawing will be in The 5th Annual Coaster Show at the La Luz De Jesus Gallery here in Los Angeles California. The show opens to the public tonight Friday September 1st.

I am really happy it was accepted and have it hanging among so many great artists. Artists who have been doing 'this' much longer than I have. Lowbrow.
The Savage Garden, a series that has been rolling around in my head for too long. Time to work it out and this show is a good start for me.

If you are wondering the show is based around art drawn, painted, sculpted, printed, mounted on a beer coaster.30

The Savage Garden Series

"The Savage Garden (Tweaked) "
ballpoint pen on paper, 2017
4" x 4' (10.16cm x 10.16cm)

Ok, the beginning of a series. I am a ways away from really seeing anything serious but you have to start somewhere.
A couple of small paintings, mostly drawings in ballpoint pen, ink, marker. Some here, others I might post.
The idea has been percolating in my head for some time. Time to start fleshing  it out.
Hit this link to see the few others here on Avid Art 2.

Next post you will see why I should really get something a little more concrete down in paint. Well, I guess some studies first but getting it out of my head and down visually.29

Another LavaDog363 in progress

"LavaDog363-A"
Digital, work-in-progress


OK- found something. One from the iPad Brushes app. A work-in-progress. That should put the pressure on to finish it. Or maybe not. Avid Art 2 is so informal I don't have to do anything, I think.

I had decided to do another version of LavaDog 363 form an earlier post. This designated as  -A.
Digital makes it easy to do other versions from saved ones. We'll see where this one goes. I certainly don't know as of now.

I'll try to get this finished sooner than later and start posting on a regular basis here again.28

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I should probably paste, staple or nail up a new post. It has been too long. Although blogs are not frequented much these days... I'll take a look at what I have. I'm sure I've got something laying around.

The Savage Garden - deranged

"The Savage Garden (deranged sketch)"
ballpoint pen and marker on paper, 2016
sketchbook 6" x 8' (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Another sketch of a non-pretty flower.
I am thinking of a series titled "The Savage Garden".
At this point I don't even know what that will mean but then Avid Art 2 is anything from the misfits that would be cast out of 'my real blog 'Avid Art, meandering, ideas I may or may not have time to 'flesh out' and turn into something, random sketching, tradition and digital painting, to whatever is in (my artistic mind) there somewhere.

Will I make a painting out of this one like the others? I don't know yet.27

iPad Landscape Comp

Landscape comp
digital, iPad, Brushes app

I really need to get more up here on  AA2  this year... starting with this one from earlier in the year, a comp I was working on before my iPad went kaput.
It still works technically but it charges really slow, uses the battery up fast and my computer no longer recognizes it.

I'll have to get a new iPad sometime this year. I miss the painting apps and the digital fun I was just getting the hang of before the pad went bad.26

Oh, BTW... Happy New Year !!!

Wasteland Sketch

Industrial Wasteland
digital, iPad, Brushes app

I better get something up here!
11 days into Art-A-Fair so Im working on oils over on Avid Art. Here's an imaginary industrial wasteland sketch done a short while ago on the iPad Brushes app.25

Iteration

AvidRabbit7
digital, Brushes app

Iteration, from this post... I decided to toss the "re-"... so here is another iteration.

I don't know why he is green, or at least this particular green, I just don't.24

The Mad Cat is Back!

"Jobin D2"
Digital, Brushes app

There is a lot I don't like about this Jobin iteration. It's been sitting on the pad and I only recently went back into it experimenting with textures mostly. It may be I am trying too hard to hold on to the original sketch or the original painting. No matter, it is only one. I brought it along as far as I'm willing and I don't hate it so here it is... no real point going any further with it. If I still want more from it I would start fresh.

Many of these I started and they lay dormant on the pad because I was still struggling with just how to use the app... (and you should see how many of those suffered the demise of the DELETE button!).23

LavaDog363

"LavaDog363"
Digital, Brushes app

Just playing here. Started with shapes until I saw some suggestion of form and idea(?).
From there it morphed into a dog, a rock dog. I ran with it and ended here.
It was a good exercise in allowing my brain to play without constraints or formality.

It can be hard to retrain our brains to think another way we are not used to (in our usual work).
This is a good way for me.

I am not liking the lava streams. I worked on them over and over trying different approaches, even studying lava photos. Eventually I simplified it back down. I know it can be better. But as I have said I consider these iPad paintings as works in progress. Maybe I'll keep working it and re-post.22

Goodbye Old Header

Change is in the air.
As I said in my first post Avid Art 2 is completely open to change so goodbye old header.

Later I will do a post on the various headers once I have gone through several in case you collect blog headers instead of stamps or tea cups or something. ; ) 21

Rabbit Reiterated (again)

AvidRabbit6
Digital, Brushes app

OK... as I work on Art-A-Fair paintings, submissions for shows, even a wall graphic etc, I will be posting more iPad art. This is because I am not posting work for shows until notification or in the case of Art-A-Fair not until the show draws closer. Even then most I will not post until the show starts.
... maybe a teaser on my Avid Art blog at some point?

I have been getting more quality time with the Brushes app, both 1 & 2. I am actually comfortable enough with it now that I am finally enjoying it.
Enjoying it is important because it does give me a break from working on all the projects with specific goals or intentions in mind. With these I do anything and everything that comes to mind. I can just let it flow and it has a way of clearing my head which is artistically healthy. As you can see it is very different from my work on Avid Art.20

Just to Reiterate...

5

4

AvidRabbit4
AvidRabbit5
Digital, Brushes app

As I may have said I needed some place to put my artistic ramblings, the stuff that passes through my head but does not quite fit on my (real) blog. That is why I started this one, a dusty little corner somewhere in my brain.
The best part is no pressure, no pressure to impress or earn so it's more akin to a sketchbook.

Here are digital iteration's of AvidRabbit (or would they qualify as re-reiteration's since there are now at least 5 versions not counting the original ballpoint pen sketch? I really don't know. How many re-'s are we allowed? Does anyone know?).

What I like about the digital medium is the ability to make variations of the original painting or sketch without losing it. Just hit duplicate at any point and start going left with it. Don't like it? DELETE, go back, try again. Part way through a painting? Don't want to risk screwing it up but you want to try something out? There is of course the undo button but if you are a ways down the road already that is too many taps. Duplicate and full speed ahead. The saved version is safely tucked away.18,19

Happy Easter!

AvidRabbit3 (top)
AvidRabbit2 (bottom)
Digital, Brushes app

AvidRabbit will be making appearances in various manifestations from time to time.
The top one, 3, is one of the first paintings I imported the from the first version of Brushes into the second version to work on it.
It took me awhile to get familiar with the more basic earlier version before I could tackle the second slightly more advanced one, which is still a far cry from Photoshop and the like.
Still really basic considering what's out there.

Anyway... Happy Easter if it's all the same to you.16,17

The Lookout, Digital Painting and Playback

"The Lookout"
Digital, Brushes app

This was originally posted to my other blog, Avid Art, but without the video playback.15,V2

Straw

"Straw"
digital, Brushes App

I figured I had better start posting more here. Nothing serious, just meanderings. An April Fool.
With the iPad I really allow myself to do anything that comes to mind. No pressure to earn. Totally random. Relaxing, when it is not frustrating... just like golf.14

Industrial Garden

"Industrial Garden 1"
digital, Brushes app

Industrial meets the garden, sort of.

This blog will feature more of my random artistic musings and that means more iPad art.
I use the iPad for experimenting, trying out new idea's.

It's certainly cheaper than wasting paint so I like it for that.

Trying out new idea's means for me I am never really finished with any one iPad drawing/painting. They are all works in progress so I just reach a point and stop. Sometimes posted as is, other times I may rework one and repost.

It is a bit crude (unrefined) but again the only digital tool I have is the iPad with the Brushes app and I am still in the digital learning curve. Bear with me as I take it for a ride, think Driver's Ed.

Like this one above. It simply is at this current state. Will I go any further on it? I don't know.
I got the idea down visually and that is what counts. It is a beginning. I don't want to work it to death. I want it to remain fresh like a sketch. It would serve me better to just do another, and besides I will get better which each one, so move on.

Lately I have had fusion on my mind, part of the reason for a new blog. I like the idea of combining two things opposite or two things, one of which I like (industrial) with another I don't like or at least, don't normally do (floral, bunnies, kittens) . 

Many of these will also serve as studies for paintings or drawings in traditional mediums.13

OH DAMN IT!

"Vampire Flower"
oil on panel, 2014
5" x 3.5" (12.7cm x 8.89cm)


Ever had a bad morning?

This started as a simple flower (see previous post) then when I moved into the painting I decided to make it a vampire flower that stayed up too late, a sort of OOPS! moment for it.

Here comes the sunrise and now it's too late.

Gives new meaning to sun damage.

Yep,  "The Savage Garden".12

Pretty L'il Floral

Still finding my way here. The anti-floral.
Ballpoint pen sketchbook drawing.

Doing this, I am having the feeling, maybe a series loosely titled 'The Savage Garden'.

Stay tuned for the painting. I will post it in the next few days.11

?

I know, I know, I need to get another post up here.

Face Off Sketch

"Face Off"
iPad Sketch, 2014
Brushes App

Here's a quick digital sketch for fun.10

FEAR

Painting:    SOLD
"Fear"
oil on panel, 2013
5" x 3.5" (12.7cm x 8.89cm)

Drawing:
sketchbook page, 2013
drawing approximately 3" x 2.75" (7.62cm x 6.985cm)
NFS

Fear, one of our most basic emotions.
With that in mind I kept it simple.
I will for search something as I do these. It may not be some big concept but at the very least I want it to have some kind of quality to it.
I immediately noticed in the drawing it took on a childlike quality. I wasn't even going for that but now it exudes childhood fear, an irrational fear or primal fear? It did not even have to be dark in tone or color. It did not have to be overt in its depiction, there are no looming shadows, the source of the fear is not shown, it's the reaction, the facial expression is enough.

From the drawing I made subtle changes in the painting. A slight tilt to the head made it better express the fear. Same with the white halo.
I do prefer the leaves in the drawing though, especially the one coming towards. It comes forward better (has better depth) and is scaled to the flower better.

The diagonals in the drawing are the ghost images of the next page.8,9

fish

Sketchbook drawings of fish in ballpoint pen. Imaginary of course.7

KLUD

A drawing from a sketchbook. Just letting it spill out onto the page. I didn't know what else to call it. It just looked like a klud, which is nothing. There is no such word.6

RISE PUMPKIN RISE!

This post is copied from my other blog Avid Art.

It was done just before Halloween 2013.

Although each is meant to be different it is one that fits both blogs Avid Art & Avid Art 2.

Industrial subjects are big over there on Avid Art but since it has that lively edge to it he easily made the migration here and settled right in. 

"Smilin' Jack"    SOLD

oil on panel, 2013

5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

I can't think of anything that says Halloween better than painted steel and asphalt, can you? ; )

At least in my version.

I could paint actual pumpkins but there are enough of those.

Every year the Phillips 66 refinery in Wilmington California paints one of their oil tanks, shaped like a pumpkin, for Halloween.

It takes more than 100 gallons of orange, white and black paint to cover the 3 million gallon tank, known as "Smilin' Jack". (update-correction : it is orange all year long and takes 100 gallons of white and black paint...)

In the spirit of Halloween I couldn't resist having some fun with it by churning up the sky and bringing the Jack-o-lantern to life rather than doing a more straight forward approach.

Even this view suggests he is rising from behind the asphalt berm.

"Smilin' Jack"

The seething cauldron begins its boil

Toward Halloween He starts his toil

His rise each season is his knack

For all who seek a holiday snack

What lies ahead is why He smiles

Ask those who have fallen for His wiles

His invite just might be a trap

If true, for you, will be your hap

-David J Teter-

Have fun sleeping tonight!5