The Hidden Gallery

I've been watching really good tv. I finished all 5 seasons of HBO's The Wire and the miniseries John Adams.

The Wire is epic television. It is a commentary on what is happening in our world and has left me with so many questions and some despair.  What an education I got from watching that show.  Season 4 and 1 are tied for my favorite, then season 3.

John Adams is a really great miniseries 7 episodes long with embellishments on one of the Founding Fathers of the US.  who was also their 2nd President. The show is so steam punk.  Very Cool.  And really interesting. I found the world history during that period fascinating. I wish historical television shows would mention that these dramas are very loosely based on historical events. I am watching The Tudors now which is an embellishment of King Henry the 8th's rein. Also  loosely based on historical events.  I will say that it does make me read more about history to see how accurate shows are and how much they go off track from real history.

I finished reading Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game.  I  enjoyed the book and the fictional account of the Glass Bead Game was something I wondered on. I read somewhere that Hesse imagined his story was set around the 25th century. Whoa. Because I used to play piano, I really appreciated and admired the way Music is described and respected in this book. Anyway, I'm still have to read the last part of the book which consists of poetry and short stories.

Okay, now art pimp:

Click to see whole painting.



Monarch Butterfly Fairy

16 in x 12 in

acrylics on cotton canvas sheet

It's finished!!!  And the colours are so much more brilliant than this terrible and low quality scan.
My favourite thing about this painting is how the mermaid's expression came out so serene...

Thank you to the wonderful and talented Judy Boardman, who is otherwise known as artsygoddess, for her wonderful mermaid drawing!  It's been a pleasure and an honour to have worked with you on a beautiful piece of artwork.  Thank you Judy!!!

I hope you enjoyed looking at her as much as I enjoyed painting her!

Phew!  I can now go read journals without feeling guilty about not posting art!

Okay, I guess I got carried away and forgot to make a scan before it got to this point...These are the very first layers of watercolour paint.  Things look flat at this point.  The colours, the shapes, everything.  I've started shading with cobalt blue and highlighting with some rose dore for the mermaid's skin then washed over everything with yellow ocher.  I've also started indicating some of the background elements with more defined shapes.  Whatever bleed I was losing my mind over has now been resolved.  I've incorporated the bleeding ink into the watery paint.  Thank goodness!  Judy's art looks even more amazing with colours added!

Working through the email i've neglected over the past couple weeks.   I'm down to 56 emails.  wo'hoo... back on track soon I think hope.

Part VI and the finished painting next!

OMG... is all I could think when I touched wet brush to paper... I must have been on crack when I was at the art store because I didn't buy a waterproof black marker.  D'OH!

I almost cried...then remembered all the brown ink was indeed done with waterproof ink and felt a tremendous relief!!!  phew!!!  After that, I just decided to work with the bleeding.  It's an underwater illustration anyway so a little watery-ness won't be too bad, right?  That's all I could hope for at this point.  I almost had a heart attack because I thought I ruined the Judy's art!!

OMG!  Raptors took the Nets 106-69!   o____O  wo'hoo!

Next...part V!

Phew!! No major mistakes!  I'm so relieved!  In fact I am almost pleased with the results!  There is no way I could have inked this well if it was not for Judy's gorgeous drawing and her skillz.  Her body proportions are so accurate and the mermaid's pose so graceful.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate that! 

I think I am often guilty of "manga"-ing my illustrated characters.  It's a style I suppose I've developed, however, it has turned into a very bad habit.  I think that was one of the things that really rubbed my life drawing teacher the wrong way.  I mean, not like the time he screamed, "YOU WRECKED YOUR DRAWING!!!!" at me then angrily stomped away kind of "rubbed the wrong way", but still this bad habit of mine must have troubled him quite a bit.  And no wonder.  It has certainly become a curse at times and at others, quite a lovely accident... But I'd still prefer it if I did do life drawing accurately and not so stylized sometimes....

That's what practice is for, right?

Well, now that I'm a little too far away from Toronto School of Art for open Life Drawing, I'm going to have to find another studio or skool that I can maybe bike to.  Has to be less than $10 a session.  Otherwise I might have to resort to doing life drawing self-portraits in the mirror and jeezzz... i sure don't want to have to resort to that...i already don't like posing for reference photos and i don't like painting or drawing from photos...

Our high dollar...oh how it has been a blessing and a curse!  My whole business structure must now re-adapt...

We don't have cable...I didn't care until the Raptors started playing again!!!  Here's the cracked out part...  since when the hells did I start caring about NBA basketball?!?

Next... part IV

I had to think long and hard about what I wanted to with Judy's drawing.  Because she used really heavy paper with lots of tooth, I considered using a more water-downed acrylic paint and try to use it like I do with my paintings on canvas.  But after some thinking, I thought that it would not be a good idea because I tend to layer quite heavily.  With many heavy layers, I wasn't sure if the paper could handle it and I wasn't about to find out.  Instead I went for the good ol' panned watercolours.  I figured the paper could take a lot of layering and the washes may be more brilliant with so many layers.

Painting this with watercolours means inking the drawing as well.  Of all the things related to art, I think inking is the most challenging for me.  I do tend to mess up and I've ruined many a potential painting with my lousy inking skills.  And of course, this also meant I had to pick an inking instrument.  Do I dare go old skool and use the dip pen and an open bottle of ink on this textured paper?  Too risky, I thought.  So I thought a marker would be better.

It didn't take me long to decide how I wanted to ink this painting.  I thought I would go art nouveau with brown and black marker.  So, I started with the brown sakura.  I always start inking on the minor elements of the artwork so I can find my pacing for smooth lines before attempting the figure or the main focus.  I decided to outline in black, but my black marker had died...

One of the most bestest things about my new location is that the art store is just down the street!!!  I can walk there or bike there anytime I want!  No more TTC downtown just to buy something like a black marker!  I also picked up some blank cards and an eraser.  Art supply shopping is about the only shopping I don't really mind too much...phew!

Part III next...

Sorry if I depressed you with my last post.  We are now returning to our regular programming.


Recently, I participated in a teamwork challenge!  It was very cool.  A group of mermaid artists joined up for artistic collaborations.  One person would do a drawing and another person would colour and paint it.  The results have been wonderful!  It is really cool to see how each artist's style emerges from the art!

Well, I did a drawing and inked some of it.  Then I mailed it over to geckoartist who then painted (and what an improvement!) it.


This was my original drawing.  bah!



This is my drawing enhanced and beautifully painted by the talented Aubry Chapman!



I think she really improved the face.  I like her expression so much more after Aubry painted it.  I love it!  It's gorgeous!  I secretly procrastinated on mailing her my sketch because I was so dissatisfied with it.  WOW!  I think it's beautiful now!

Go visit Aubry's website!

Then you can go check out the art of the Sea Gods group here!

I thought I would try the theme and composition of this aceo again.  But bigger.



5 x 7 watercolours and ink

Been busy because of some good news!  I just can't say until I am 100% sure. :)

The original is much more vibrant with color in real life.  Enjoy this scan anyway!


Enjoy!

"Hello" Original 4 x 6 Watercolor Painting