Magical Thinking, Continued.

There is a prevalent notion in a certain collective and uniformed mind that painting is the greatest form of "real art," and as much as I know this is a crock, it made me say, "Hey, I can f***ing paint!" Just because I was too poor in college to afford the stuff doesn't mean I am stuck with india ink and glue sticks for the rest of my life, as much as I do love them. So, about two months ago, I started painting with acrylics. Holy crap, it's like drawing but times 28,093 million.  So I start thinking weird things like, "Man, I hope my hands don't fall off because I really like this a lot."  Just in case they do, I'm cramming as much painting into my life as I can. If I need to I can paint with the brush between my teeth. Some people really do do that.

Ever since seeing the movie Hugo (probably the best and most purposeful use of 3D yet), watching George Melies movies, The Prestige (David Bowie as Nicola Tesla!), and looking at magic books and turn of the century magic posters... I'm turning these magicians into my own personal charms for creativity, little portraits of my muses, if you will...  Yet another turn on the art is magic is mind is life notion.

These paintings are teeny 5x7s with images drawn/manipulated from old black and white photos. Enjoy!

Magical Thinking.

 I have a lot to show and tell. Been putting off updating for the sake of creating... and learning the hard way that that doesn't work, because project after project keep piling up! I will lay them all out soon soon, in the mean time here is my Valentine to you. I hope this creates enough intrigue for you to follow what will be coming up... more collage, bus doodles, and more paintings. :)

Frame it Up

In an interview I saw with Dick Dale yesterday at the Experience Music Project, he said that the idea for Pulp Fiction began with Tarantino's obsession with his song Miserlou. Brilliant freakin song, and supposedly the narrative was constructed around it. But that's strange, right? The idea of this reverse creativity, of starting with the soundtrack, struck a note in me. 

Since I got a job at a frame shop, and helping artists and layfolk with framing designs, my creative process has recently been taking a similar backwards approach. There were three beautiful long red frames that I wanted, I wanted so bad! I pictured them in my mind's eye, and in one go, I came up with these three collages. Afterwards, I brought the frames home and I think they work beautifully. 

 In process...

 In frames...

 

A couple of other pieces I stuck in frames.

In my roller coaster world of artistic learning, this is just another lesson: framing is as important as anything else in the creative process. So is photography, which as you can tell, I suck at, but that's a lesson for another day.

These Little Worlds

What I do All Day... Working obsessively on collages... Watch out for the 2012 calendar... Prints will be available on my etsy hopefully soon...

Real Scissors/ Paper Scissors

Adorable

Some of the books I got from St. Vincent De Paul

Brain Container

The fine gentlemen in Monogamy Party asked me to draw their beloved buck skull, named Denise, who had accompanied them in the van on tour, to supplement the album art. I started drawing, from a normal perspective but eventually really messed that up. I decided the right-side-up skulls are boring, so I drew it from underneath. The resulting view looks a little strange, like a creepy smiling mask or something. I hope they like it.

Warmup: initial loose drawing in india ink, this photo was taken before I really messed it up by adding a buttload more ink everywhere.

Cosmo left his footprints my original, so I had to make a carbon copy of the outline on a fresh sheet. I threatened to eat Cosmo for dinner, but I'll give him another chance.

 

final drawing!

Been Diggin Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Pen and Ink, August 2011

 

Rock Paper Scissors

A while ago my friend Katie suggested we both submit pieces to a show with singular prompt of "Rock Paper Scissors." I got super stoked when the idea of making a pop-up book of the people's playing hands popped into my brain. I'd made a semi-pop-up moving hands book a few years earlier. Ever intrigued by the intricate muscles and movement of the hands, I will never get enough looking drawing them. My chubby, bitten fingers are a particular point of embarassment, but it's balanced by how proud I am of what I can do with them. Useful tools are not the prettiest.

So, I had to learn to make a real book. For anyone interested, this is a particularly good site : http://www.mothteeth.com/bookmaking/

As I was sewing and stitching and measuring and gluing, I got to thinking of my friend Brant, who is a book mending apprentice at the library. The process is an intimate and beautiful thing. The grain, the warping, all of the pieces and parts that must go in the correct order, patience (the hardest one for me), and exposed sections you didn't want exposed. You know, like getting dressed in the morning!

Well, I didn't have time to finish the book by the deadline, plus I wasn't excited about paying a $25 submittable fee, so it will not be showing at the show. I thought I'd show you what I came up with so far... Each page is printed with a linoleum block that supposed to look like beach rock, but I don't know if it does. I intend to make it incredibly doper. I'm going to add a story line, some collage, whatever else I want...