Skully

Oil on MDF

8x8

This painting is available for sale in the shop.

Bargain books

If you're so inclined, Drawn and Quarterly is having its annual online sale. Although I'm pinching pennies these days, I couldn't resist picking up a copy of R.O. Blechman's Talking Lines. Sale's on until the 27th.

Harvey Pekar

This one marks the passing (belated) of Harvey Pekar, American comic book writer. I must admit, I didn't know much about him before the American Splendor movie came out in 2003. Since then I've picked up a few collections of his books. His first book was self-published in the 1960s and illustrated by Robert Crumb, another fav of mine. What's nice about his series is that he always had a wide variety of artists working for him... you never knew what styles you'd see from issue to issue.

This painting was a bit of a quickie... which is how I want to do them these days.

I've been really inspired by Karin Jurick's ongoing "100 Faces" series. Great stuff. I'd love to be able to paint like that one day. This one's on a small canvas but I recently gessoed 10 or so 8"x 8" hardboards. The plan is to practice portraits.

The Hendrix stoke

Fish fossil

I've been wanting to play around with various acrylic mediums for a while so I finally purchased a few items. The above piece is a cartoonish fish fossil made with Golden Coarse Pumas Gel. It's neat stuff! I wonder though if the same effect can be achieved with a simple blend of sand with gel medium and/or paint. It would certainly be a lot cheaper.

So, at this point, the piece is only halfway there. The plan is to do the background with Golden Crackle Paste. Then coat the whole thing with matte medium, wash it with some colour and varnish. At left is a test of the Crackle Paste.

Making this doesn't really feel like painting per se... more like sculpting. But it sure is fun!

Lonely cloud

A little practice painting from last night. Posted in honour of our rare blast of sunshine here on Newfoundland's Avalon today.

Gardening

So I went out in the garden to try and take some bird photos. The place is maggoty with them. Little junkos, I think. I'm pretty sure they were messing with me. Every time I'd aim and zoom, they'd take off. So I had to settle for a few pix of the veggie garden. They were more cooperative subjects.

At top, the potatoes giving it their all. Below that, the beans having a good stretch. At right, a birds-eye-view of a cucumber, enjoying the warmth of the greenhouse.

New banner

I've finally gotten around to ditching my ugly old banner at Doodlepalooza and replaced it with some new fanciness. See above. Much improved, I think. Based on the detective lino I did a few weeks back.

Body snatchers

I stumbled across the lair of these alien creatures yesterday. I'm fairly certain they will take over my body if I fall asleep. Either that or they're fiddleheads. If that's the case, I'll probably eat them.

Edgar Allan Poe linocut

This is a proof of a very little (2.5" x 2.75") lino I've been picking at this week. The colour background was actually printed about six or eight years ago on parchment paper. I did a whole pile of blended colour squares and poked them away. Found them recently so I thought I'd put them to use.

The second impression (black) is Poe. It was a tough one. With such a small image area, there was little room for detail. I wasn't happy with the outcome; I lost the resemblance somewhere along the way. I might start again with a larger plate. Or, I might make some equally small Poe-related icons and print a little series using those squares.

Demolition

After a slew of contractor nightmares these past few years, I've decided to hire this Maple tree to take down my sun deck.

New twit on the block

So I joined Twitter the other day to see what the hubbub's all about. Although I'm enjoying following a few people, I don't see the allure yet.

Started following Kevin Smith but had to immediately block him... I was overwhelmed. No wonder he's got so few movies on the go these days:  he's too busy entertaining his legion of followers.

However, I was glad to find cartoonist Tom Gauld and illustrator Mattias Adolfsson. Two of my favs.

The sketchbook doodle above illustrates my first impression. But the jury's still out. If your so inclined, I'm @doodlepalooza.

Old Burroughs linocut

This is a linocut print from 6 years ago.

Detective final

Finished a small set of prints with the Detective lino: four in total with a little watercolour zest. Available in the shop.

Gardening tomorrow... don't care if winter has another sneak-attack planned. I'll work in the greenhouse if I have to.

Detective

Image: 4" x 6"

Paper: 6" x 8"

linocut

Detective

This is my contribution for Illustration Friday this week ("Detective" theme). It's my first linocut in a few months; I was happy that I was able to turn it around in a single sitting. Pleased with it overall but, as is the way with linos, there are always a few cuts I regret. I'm too tired to do any serious printing with it right now... I just knocked off a couple of quick prints to see what I had.

No great story behind the subject I'm afraid... just some anonymous Victorian guy I found on the interweb. Although he does have a bit of a Watson thing going on.

Detective

4" x 6"

linocut