also in the sketchbook...

Truly a sketchbook page: I don't know if I want to seperate this permanently. At first I just wanted to do the crow in a 4x4 and be done with it. But the more I looked at it the more I thought this would be a good compostition as a whole.

On the crow theme, there are notes on the left side of the page. This is either going to be the Crow for Sting or the pun.... or maybe it will be more. I found this crow shape in a photograph and, true to art you have to make it your own.... the birds beak and some of the wing feathers are nibs of a fountain pen. But what am I going to do with it now? I have had a few ideas but nothing really solid and concrete.

As a growth exercise, I learned a lot about patience when dealing with this medium. And a lot about how the brushes need to work to make textures. While everything was still wet the crow looked horrible. It worried me. Once it dried it looked great.

From the Sketchbook of...

Inspired by my own projects with www.moo.com I started working on some more watercolors. They turned out way better than previous experience told me they would. So I have been living with my sketchbook at my side 24/7.

I liked the way that the cacao pod photographed. And that is the color scheme I wanted to stick with. For the last year or so I've been thinking that I need to change up the motif. But really, to keep it fresh all I needed to do was change up the colors. I've been in the orange, red, yellow with a hint o green for years. So now I'm into the Summer colors with lots of blue and green balancing the reds.

The only thing with this sketch is the vase. The structure is totally off. Can you say "outta practice"? Boy I can. Still... I like how vibrant this is. And I am really happy with the technique. It is a lot less controlled than the way that I usually do watercolor. I think this means that I an loosening up.

A Crow for Sting

I got up today thinking that I had to work because I always work on Wednesday. And I was a good little cog in the machine and covered shifts in an emergency so I thought that I would still work with a few hours of over time as my reward. Imagine my surprise when I got to work and found out that I wasn't supposed to be there. Not unusual for things to change and people not tell me. I am after all I am a good little cog in a not so vast corporate machine. But still...

Not complaining at all. I like surprises like that. It's just that rather than work til I hit my 40 the big cogs and the control arms decided to short me 6 hours on my schedule. Now the upside is that my " further any big picture" paycheck is only short 3 hours since I did get paid for 3 hours of overtime last week. So in the grand scheme I am not really too far behind in earnings. And I do have a day for me and my projects that no one knows about. Which means no one can commandeer my free time with demands of their own. And it feels like rain.

It has been so incredibly hot that this cool 68 degree morning feels like a breathe of Heaven. It is the perfect day for painting watercolors at my favorite cafe table with a small collection of my favorite Schlagerkunstlern (German pop music artists). And it is the perfect day for working on the motif that has been in my head before the real fall weather gets here.

Crows.
Not just any old run of the mill "Nevermore" spouting crows or counting crows. But the whimsical "make it your own" stuff that I am leaning to these days. A crow with a pun... ya know cause it bugs the Jeebus out of Old Uncle Willie*. A crow with that "gypsy soothe-sayer familiar" kind of familiarity that may or may not end up wearing a Mr. Clean ear piercing. A crow with uncharacteristic "Don't shoot the messenger" contrition. And a crow for Sting.

So since I skipped all sorts of headaches in learning figure drawing I had to find reference material. And I did. Oodles and oodles of reference material. And I accidentally found the blog most recently added to the list: junipurr. Please go have a look. This is a spectacular print making blog. And I wonder why this person is not designing rubber stamps. I would love to have some of her work to create with. But that is for another post.

So I have decided that the crow theme either means I am looking forward to Fall or feeling murderous... I think I will let the augury tell me which.

In Progress

As much as I love what cafepress offers for me. I think I found a better company for what I want to do with my artwork. While traipsing through the blogosphere today I found some artwork that sang to me. So I did a little digging around and found that it was printed by a company called MOO. And here's the think, unlike cafepress, MOO will print multiple images in a pack. AND I do not have to buy special software to convert my images. They have an uploader and I can edit the stuff in THEIR house. Not mine!!! I am so excited. I can't wait to make stuff.

But now I also have to ask myself if that means that I have to go schlepp my work myself. Cafepress will manage my store for me. Now I wonder if MOO will do that too. These are two great resources. Now to merge them. How does that happen?

I need to do this. It could be the easiest thing in the world to do. And the most profitable. Well... of to research.

How Cool is This?



I was doing a bit of research for another project and discovered

this which jarred my memory.

I lifted this from a wikipedia article. The cylinder is a rolling stone stamp. The rectangle is a piece of clay that was stamped with the roller. This particular example is in the Louvre.

I'm thinking a lot of things right now. 1. There really is nothing new. This art form is thousands of years old. And while the article doesn't say it specifically I'm thinking that if you want to do a frieze or a border around a central figure and don't have a lot of time to do it because some Babylonian overlord with a whip is being an asshole about finishing a temple.... this is how you are going to get the job done. Slap a layer of wet clay over the substrate and roll for a ll you're worth. Granted the story is only going to be as long as the cylinder is in circumference. But if you are going to hit the highlights and have a great artistic design.... what more do you need?

2. I'm thinking that what I love to do with a passion was high art back in the day (3500 B.C.E) and now is relegated to puffery.

3. We are unimaginative idiots to think that someone almost 6000 years ago stood out in the hot sun and carved these things with crude tools on the wall surface. Why would you not build task specific tools to do your work? I mean holy carp Anne Bagby carves her own rubber stamps to do the same kind of thing in her artwork. Why do we think that ancient people wouldn't do the same? There is a uniformity in the work back then that defies the many hands concept of construction. Sure... Dale Chihuly teaches his apprentices his techniques and they build the pieces he designs. It would be insane to think that one guy can blow all that glass by himself. Just like its insane to thing that one guy carved all those walls. He built the tools that the workers used to decorate the walls they built.... I think.

4. Most importantly and positively in this pondering : We rubber stampers come from a long and proud and awesome tradition. Yea us!

Theobroma

from the artist's sketchbook

It is the latin for chocolate and its literal translation is "Food of the Gods." After doing a little research a few years back, learning how it grows and is harvested, I have a greater appreciation for this luxury.

The cacao pod at the left was supposed to be a quick sketch... a colorful doodle at lunch. But it ended up being an hour and a half at the coffee shop. It isn't even 3 inches tall. Just a little something to keep me in the art groove while I am sorting out  some personal issues.

Promise Made Promise Kept: a picture

Original ink drawing by Sherry Crocker
commemorating the 2011 Matthias Reim concert
series that she will regrettably miss due to lack of
funding.

I mentioned this was in the works a while back. And  then I mentioned that it was done. Then I promised that I would post a pic. And how many months ago was that?

Let's not look. There have been technical difficulties a-plenty.

This is so totally and completely me. Which is great since this is going to be a totally and completely one-of-a-kind shirt. I was going to wear this to a concert when I went to James' wedding. But I think the intention makes it perfectly clear that I never made it there. Stupid job! Stupid people who have rotator cuff surgery at inopportune times! [sigh] But what can you do? Gripe.
Been there. Been doing that. Got me nothing but this t-shirt design. Which is still something pretty cool.

I am so geeked about this. It is in black and white. The coloring is an accident of photography. I took everything out onto the porch in mid afternoon light and this is just what happens when you play with settings. But it has me thinking.

When I make this a t-shirt. [And I will] do I want to do a gradient on white like this? Or do I want to do this in metallic on black? Or shall I color it in with greens, golden yellow, some burnt sienna, red and a dash of violet? I do not know. I like it as it is. But I think I would like it a couple of other ways.

Its on Bristol board so I will be able to make some crisp copies and play with it before rendering my final verdict.