The Outpouring Sea

All and all I think this one turned out ok.  I am really happy with the pegasus and think there are some nice things going on all the way around (I am also giving myself two points for remembering to include driftwood and some cockles shells).

A Death of Pegasus

I almost completely ignored my own advice about using a background, but I did use the whole space and I think it turned out fairly well.  I used a slightly blueish coat to kind of tone down everything but the innards, which I think worked out fairly well.

One thing I am a little concerned about is the sort of iconic or schematic look of this one.  I was getting ok at creating a whole scene which I thought was good, but seem to have lost that a bit.  Oh well, next time.

Please Hold On

Man, I was looking over the past few weeks of work and I realized I was getting stuck on little areas and not looking at the entire space.  I am not saying this drawing is excellently composed, but at least it has some more compositional elements.

Sometimes with this narrativeish work it is easy to forget about the drawing as a whole and focus in on the little things you know you want to draw.  Figures need backgrounds, and if backgrounds are implied, they must be implied in interesting ways.  Relationships.

The Tearing

This is a lot more fun than the last one, well not for the foxes, but for me.  I think I am going to continue on with the sort of double exposure technique.  It is fun to tell a straight story, but I sort of feel like trying some more pure visual things.

Bad Game

Well, I am not too sure about this one.  But I know I like the way the red looks.  Hurrah for red!  I think a good joke to play on one of your serious abstract painter friends is to look at one of their labored canvases and say “I am not sure why, but red makes me angry.”  They might punch you in the face, so be ready.

I also think clapping a little bit in front of a painting is a good way to get hit, and if not it should be.

The Weight Of.

I must admit that I am enjoying these fox and bird paintings, and I was happy with how easily I could fit them into the usual surroundings.  I really like the colors in this one, it has a nice look.

These are loosely based on the old Fox and Crow fable.  I didn’t like how my crows looked so I have more a goose type bird, and completely abandoned the story.  Even though I have fond memories of enjoying fables, I don’t really care for them as individual stories.

Possible Disaster in Lower and Upper Left Hand Corner

Here  is another one that I think turned out pretty well.  I am still not sure about the scribbles for leaves but I just couldn’t think of how to draw leaves at that scale.  Still it was a nice chance to see what works and what doesn’t.  I was really happy with the fox and birds, and I like the yellow background.  I will have to see how I feel about this one the next time I look at it.

Greek Horses

This painting is a bit of a departure but I think it is a good development.  The first thing you might notice is a lack of faces on the trees.  This is a fairly major change so I feel I need to give a little background.

The last two books I read were; The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky followed by Song for Night by Chris Abani.  These two books together are a literary recipe for depression, and I must admit I was feeling quite low.  So in order to cheer myself up tried to read Susanna Clarke’s Ladies of Grace Adieu.  When that didn’t take I knew I was in serious trouble.  So went back to the basics and picked up a copy of Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths.

I think I was eleven the last time I read this book and it was great to catch up with the Olympians.  The illustrations are great.  I made it to about page 50 or so and was inspired to base a painting on the cover.  I am not sure if I will continue in this vein, but when I finish this book I should be back in the regular fiction saddle.

When? Why?

I am just in a writing about painting funk. I can’t think of anything to say. I still get really excited about painting, and still paint when I should be doing other things, and still really like to post them on the blog, but I still am having trouble thinking of things to write about. I cannot tell if that is something I should be concerned about. From an academic perspective it certainly seems like a problem. I should be able to articulate some of the things I have been thinking about or hoping to accomplish.

Some in Their Beds

I think there is something nice going on here. I think I would like to do another more dramatic river, but that might be beyond my drawing skills. I am pretty happy with this one.