Tree

This is a pen and ink tree from my sketchbook coloured in Photoshop. It looks like a faux silk screen image. I might need to break down soon and buy a silk screening starter kit... I've been wanting to do it for quite some time.

Get it India

A little still life present for my buddy who turned forty recently. Happy birthday, Johnny!

These turned out okay for my first attempt at painting bottles but they were a bit flat. I'm thinking about trying some more with the same subject/lighting.

As they say, "paint what you know."

(I'm not actually sure if "they" say that or not.)

IF: Expired

Illustration Friday's theme word this week is "expired". And this is where my brain went. Sad but true.

Still Life: Oranges

I picked up a couple of small canvases on sale the other day and thought I'd have a go at some smaller pieces. Managed to finish this one in two sittings; about 3 hours in total.

I'm not pleased with the reproduction on the blog here. I've been trying to shoot everything with either our little point-and-shoot (very limited manual settings) or scanning them. I'm afraid I can't get an accurate shot of this -- or any of the oils -- with either device.

I've been threatening to get a new camera for a while now... might be time. Can anyone suggest anything? I'm thinking a small mid-range (not pro) Nikon or Canon SLR under $500. Something that can supply trustworthy colour and fully manual control. Rebel? EOS? Hmm.

My no-longer-trusty Sony Cybershot is now nine years old... not a bad run for a digital camera. I miss my old K-1000 but I can't handle the darkroom chemicals anymore.

Oranges

oil on canvas

10" x 8”
SOLD

GOLD!

Yay!

Johnny Cash

Cash

oil on canvas

12" x 24"

In progress

Here's a painting I've been picking at in the last few weeks. I'm hoping to finish by the weekend. I'm not pleased with the likeness (it's supposed to be Johnny Cash) but I'm happy with bits and pieces. We'll see what becomes of it. Regardless of how it turns out, I'm enjoying getting back at the oil paints.

Still off the smokes. Seven weeks and counting. Twenty-nine more to beat my previous record.

Adrift

Perturbed

Have I mentioned I haven't had a cigarette in five weeks?

Mmm... nicotine gum. It's not bad but I can only fit nine pieces in my mouth at a time.

I'd pay good money if the makers of Nicorette and the makers of Hubba-Bubba could get together and have a baby: a sugary slab of gum the size of a matchbox with a 12-smoke dose. A single sleeve of gum would be the size of an iPad.

Not that I miss smoking or anything crazy like that.

Is there such a thing as organic tobacco? I'd hang in the field all day like a junkie cow frantically chewin' my nico-cud. Make angry moo sounds if anyone got too close my stash.

That can't be as bad for you as smoking. Can it?

Organic. Nuff said.

(Remind me to trademark "Nico-cud". And check domain usage.)

I quit every year with varying results. Though now that I think about it, the result has actually been pretty consistent: failure. I think my record is nine months. This time, I'm tracking my financial savings and poking them away in an account. It'll be interesting to see how much I can squirrel away before I eventually cave by the end of the year.

Thank god for Nicorette.

MOOO!

Young Doctors In Love CD

I don't normally use this space to promote my freelance work but this is a special case.

My buddy Clay, one of my oldest friends, will be releasing a CD next month with his band Young Doctors In Love. I had the pleasure to work on the design with him so I though I'd share it and give people a chance to visit their MySpace page to hear a few tracks. They've got a fantastic pop-rock sound... very catchy stuff!

Merlin

Clumsy

Based on recent art news.

In progress

How did 10 days lapse since the last post?

I started this piece the other night. It's not finished, but it's close. It's a 40" x 32" acrylic -- the biggest painting I've tackled so far.

I needed a break from oils. Oils are a whole different game. I tend to work very slowly with them. When I'm working with acrylic I feel like I can have more fun. I suppose it's the quick drying time.

Anyway, this piece is an exercise in fun... cracking open the paints, slathering them on by the knife-full, throwing them, smearing them with rags, fingers, etc. I needed to let loose and not worry about composition and subject matter so much. I think when this piece is done, I'm going to try some smaller pieces with simple subjects so I can sign off on them within a couple of hours. It's too easy to lose your groove when a piece takes weeks to finish.

Gotta get my groove back.

* * *

On a related note, I was disappointed to learn that Karin Jurick is taking an extended break from hosting the Different Strokes challenge. She's got a show in the spring and needs a few months to concentrate on her work.

Although I did discover she's got new painting videos available. Check'em out if you're so inclined.

And if you haven't already seen it, watch Newfoundland artist Helen Gregory making a piece for her latest show in this time-lapse video.

Illustration Friday

Fueled by the wild applause at the Johnston birthday party, Eugene allowed those imaginary walls to get a little too close.

NL Blogroll

I wasn't going to even mention this (my blog isn't exactly a high-traffic zone) but I'm in the running for a "People's Choice" award at the Newfoundland and Labrador Blogroll. Host Stephen Harris was kind enough to make me a blog-o-the-week earlier last year which automatically qualified me with 23 other blogs for the 1st annual competition.

Is it really a competition though? Aren't we all winners? I reinforce that point because I expect to be dead last. Hehe.

But that's okay. I've been having a great blogging experience so far. My blog's a little over a year old now and this is my 100th post. I didn't really believe I'd last that long... a lot of blogs don't. My traffic is not at all heavy but I find fascinating to see it steadily grow. And I love getting immediate feedback on my work.

I've already decided to focus more on art creation this year. My goal is to cut back on freelance design work and use that spare time for painting. I'd also like to submit more regularly to Illustration Friday and get back into painting for Different Strokes.

Anyway, the competition has definitely spiked my traffic so I thought the least I could do is say thanks to Stephen for keeping the NL Blogroll in motion this past year and hope that some of the people who check out my blog will go cast a vote. If you cast a vote via comment, it's worth two votes. Count 'em. Two. And apparently you can vote once a day (although didn't see that on Stephen's blog).

There are some great blogs in the list.

Some of my regular haunts include:

• Townie Bastard
• John Gushue
• Illustrated Life
• Rock Recipes

So go poke through the Tickle Trunk and discover some great bloggers!