:repeating loop:

This is getting ridiculous. I need a new place or I shall never be able to create on a regular basis. I feel like I'm living in a college dorm at times, though the people here are allegedly adults. I wouldn't care if I didn't hear them, but the walls and floors here are way too thin for this many people to be living this close together.

ANY leads on a quiet place in the Boston area (I'm having no luck with craigslist) would be greatly appreciated. I just don't know where to look. Too many bad realtor websites online (if I could design websites that'd be my market, they need HELP), scant few listings in papers, where else can I look??

:i've got idea man:

Getting a strange surge of ideas lately, hoping to ride this wave and create most if not all this year; like I said in a previous post, last year's "productivity" was pathetic. If I can get at least one new piece a month (January's half over, we'll see, excuses excuses), I'll know I'm on the right track.

Just going to note them down here for my own purposes. It probably won't make any sense to you.

- cactus
- angler
- pause
- Kali
- waitress
- H Girl
- Siamese twins
- Goreyphone

:new year new hopes:

Guess I'll start off the first post of 2011 by informing you that six of the Homunculi (spooky dolls) are now on display AND for sale at Bewitched in Salem, should you find yourself in Salem, MA. Here are a few in the front window:

So: the new year usually means resolutions, and while I don't usually share mine publicly, the creativity issue is an important one and one reason for the existence of this blog. I only created three major art pieces last year. THREE. That's my worst year yet, even though two of them ended up being sold. This cannot stand. I know it's still because of my living situation, so the search for a better place still continues. But I can't sit and wait until that happens and just let my creativity die. Still need to: finish learning Adobe CS3, almost done learning Photoshop. Practice more on the drawing tablet. Learn more about photography, somehow get a digital SLR camera and dare I hope, a studio. Just have to stay f o c u s e d. I've already started drawing on one of work breaks instead of reading. Just a 15 minute brain dump. Who knows what will come out. Stay tuned?

:krampus:

Here's the latest artwork I've done - it's for an upcoming art show in Salem (details below), and was done entirely in Painter and with a Wacom tablet, which is still new to me, and I feel that I am improving with each piece. I decided to keep it in just black and white this time. With all the snow, it kinda made sense to me.


Update: this piece was bought at opening night!!

- -

It's that time of year again!

Join us for the opening night of our 2nd annual KRAMPUS Group Art Show! One fearsome, furry theme - many talented artists! Saturday December 4th from 8-10 PM. Meet the artists behind the artwork! Delight in the musical talents of DJ Zombi! Who knows --Krampus might even make an apperance!!

Not familiar with the legend of Krampus? Go to the following link to find out more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krampus

Can't make it to the opening night shindig? Don't fret! The artwork will be available for viewing all month in our Red Room Gallery.

Fool's Mansion
127 Essex Street
Salem, MA 01970

:sluggish:

A long time between posts, a sure sign that I've fallen in productivity again, despite October being a month of much exposure, and the piece that I showed the creation of in a previous post, "Blood Memory," was actually sold! I wonder if it was the price that was part of it (a lot lower than the rest of the art on display), and if it's time to raise them a bit for next time. I was also concerned that the piece in question wasn't finished, but apparently whoever bought it didn't feel that way.

I also had a doll on display this past weekend, good exposure if not a sale. Gotta look for more shows to enter into.

Also visited an open studios event, which still gives me mixed emotions, mainly how I can't manage to find such a space for myself, and to be blunt, I often wonder how some of the people who do have studios manage to get them. More have been offered by the BRA, again listed as "affordable," but if they're only for sale or if the rent is over $1000, it's not affordable in my (check) book.

There's another art show opening in Salem next month. There's absolutely no reason why I can't make something by then.

:Art-tober:

As hinted elsewhere, October is shaping up to be a good month for me even before it starts, art-wise:

- artwork in the show "Trick or Treat" at Fool's Mansion in Salem, MA, Oct. 2 - 31, opening this Saturday night.

- spooky doll "Ostia" will be on display in the Inside Out Gallery, which is what they're calling that front window of CVS in Davis Square, Somerville, MA, Oct. 1 - 31.

- I will be showing and selling artwork at "Jaded" in Lowell, MA on Oct. 9th. Come see me at Ceremony this Monday night (when I'm not in the DJ booth, naturally), I have passes for $2 off admission.

- I also have two photos in an exhibit of employee art where I work, but I doubt any of you can see that unless you suddenly start working there.

:the process:

I recently completed new artwork for a Halloween show at Fool's Mansion, and kept track of the process (click on pictures for larger views).

I started by drawing in my sketchbooks, for some reason this woman with bloody hands and mouth came to mind. Don't ask me to explain why, I'm just glad that ANY images come out some days. I had originally planned to do it digitally, but the fastly-approaching deadline and lack of confidence with a digital tablet made me decide to do it in pencils, which I have not done in years, so it'd be interesitng to see if I still could.

 

First the basic outline in pencil, then shading in the flesh and hair. I use pencils the way I imagine I would use paint if I was any good with it, in layers, with H pencils first then getting darker with B pencils.

Then the clothes and starting in on the blood. I used some reference to make sure the blood looked "right," but I soon got a feel for it without depending on other pics for too long.

Then the bloody hands and clothes, and overall darkening, though I don't think you can see the subtle changes in these shots.

And the final result. At least I'm considering it such for now, I'm not sure of a background or even if it needs one. I'll decide after it comes home from the show after Halloween. I'm not sure of her story yet either, other than she's done something awful but can't quite recall what, which I hope I got across with her expression. Earlier ideas were less subtle, with spectres all around her or a victim beneath her. I'd like people to think up some ideas of their own, perhaps.