Pushing Chalk...

Some images from the newly resumed SVA Alumni Drawing class I sometimes attend... just to keep the old hand moving.

 

Some decent work... mostly just workmanlike renderings.  The last time I saw this model I was able to get more.  Actually got a decent portrait sketch in under 15 minutes or so...

Check it out

I hope to have finished images of the Poseidon piece soon... cross your fingers...

Reflection

August 14th...

My Father would have been 70 today.

This day always sort of sneaks up on me every year...  and I'm never really sure what to do or how to behave in order to mark the occasion.

He and I only found common ground in the few years before his sudden death in 2004... before then he was both the rock AND hard place of my life; my greatest idol and most savage adversary in one.
I struggled to step from within his giant shadow and forge my own identity... in spite of what sometimes seemed to be his best efforts to stymie me.

Those dark times, strangely enough, were perhaps his greatest gift.
 Coupled with every curse I muttered under my breath was a secret desire to make him proud.

I thought that every mile I put between us was another brick in the wall that would keep me protected from his disappointment at my failures... his furious incomprehension of my chosen vocation.
I built that wall strong and high... at that time it was probably the only thing I did with complete confidence and clear purpose.
It took a lot of patience to do it... a careful respect for process and an organized plan for construction.
As the time passed, I was less concerned about the thing itself and more centered on how shocked he would be when he realized what I had accomplished.

I'd show him.

It took almost 30 years to live up to those words.
And all it took was a simple phonecall to knock down a wall that took most of my lifetime to build.

You see... the very strength and resistant resolution of my fortifications were mortared with everything he'd ever taught me.  Through his challenges to my calling... his unflinching demands for integrity and achievement... he had inadvertently engineered my drive for success.  Surely he had wanted an easier time for me, a more elevated career perhaps... but in spite of his heavy-handed efforts and my willful disobedience...  he had successfully molded me into a responsible adult.

He said to me that he'd always thought I'd come home with my tail between my legs... asking for his help... and that when those things never came to pass he finally knew me as a man instead of just his oldest son.

I wish I'd had the forethought then to tell him that my Father taught me better than that.


I miss him.

G

8/14/2012

"JOSHUA-SAURUS REX"

 

Just finished a private client version of my "Sculpt-A-Saurus" class I usually teach at The American Museum of Natural History... with tremendous results!

The kids I teach for the Museum's after-school program run the gamut of High School

ages... roughly 13 to 18 years of age. 

 

This boy is a 10 year old.
 

He built and painted this Tyrannosaurus Rex with his own hands... I only gave instructional pointers and made the occasional stupid voice and goofy face to keep him focused;-)

The work itself says far more than I could in the 

 space provided here.

This is why I do this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the books...

Another workshop at the Art Students League is over...

This one was the class I wanted to teach from the beginning.
It felt closest to what I once daydreamed I might do while looking out from my bedroom window at the winding curve of Aspen trail in Austin, Texas as a 14 year old boy...

It was awkward and clumsy... but it was the best I've felt about myself in many years.
I believe this is that one thing.  You know, that thing that your parents told you about when you said you weren't sure what you wanted to be when you grew up...

I don't think I've ever felt so sated after a class before... so accomplished.
This felt very right to me.

 More things brewing beneath the surface... both good and bad... only time will tell which rises to the top.

Cusp...

Things are in flux...
I've got a few things balanced on an uncertain precipice... waiting for results that have no certain arrival.

This sort of waiting can be literally paralyzing... creatively at least.

It won't last for long... but it is at these times when my resolve is the weakest.
It almost seems as though I have to come to a solid stumbling block before I can really make any real creative progress... or at least that has been my justification in the past.  Things only finally rumble forward after great disappointment.  Hopefully, all will fall true to form and I can look forward to a small personal renaissance ahead.

Keep your fingers crossed...

Two 30 second sketches... one 3 minute... and three 15 minute drawings.
Stiff... but at least serviceable.

Keeping afloat...

More creative troubles brewing on the horizon... striving to stay positive.
I suppose that I can't agonize over things I cannot directly control... just need to roll with it and try to turn it all into a learning experience.

Still... some good news for a change would certainly be welcome.

Some sketches from last weeks session at SVA... great model (and, as it turns out, a talented & prolific street artist to boot).  Some various drawings... 3 to 15 minutes.

Shitstorm

Some unforeseen delays and mishaps have my graphic novel publication in a potentially permanent stall... so I'm trying to keep distracted as to not fall into despair creatively.

Infuriating as all this is, perhaps it will galvanize me into artistic action...

Here's hoping...

In the meantime, here's some 10 and 15 minute sketches from a recent male model at SVA... along with a quick 3 minute sketch of gal from last week.

Reinvention...

A good day, all in all...

Spoke with a few talented young artists at The Art Students League this afternoon before the SVA Alumnus Drawing class...

I went for a few supplies and odds and ends... and got an earful of fresh insight. With all my recent isolation trying to finish my graphic novel project, I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to learn how others see you from the outside... very enlightening. I am truly grateful for their observations.

 I find my self energized and set to new purpose. Maybe the workshops I teach there are truly more than a simple foot in the door for the future. Self-aggrandizement aside... perhaps through this simple beginning I can build something worthwhile for those that share my simple passion for capturing human vitality on paper... or at least the struggle to do so;-)

Whatever it is I'm doing... it feels good to have it recognized on some level. For better or worse, even a sinking stone is grateful for the ripples that mark its passing...

A new beginning...

Some sketches from the first SVA drawing session in 2012...
A few 2 minutes, a 5, a couple 10s, and one 15 minute sketch...
I almost killed the 15 minute sketch by working on it after the session was finished... bleh.

It appears that I can still catch a likeness, regardless of how rusty I am... whew.
I'm always worried that as I get older, my facility and flexibility will began to wane as my eyesight slowly diminishes.

Not yet, I guess.
I'm crossing my fingers!

Resuming progress...

More progress on the Mythological series of paintings I had to put on the back-burner while finishing my recent graphic novel...

Trying to lay in Neptune now... MAN... am I out of practice!!!
After a few hours of frustration, he's beginning to come into focus now.

Wrestling with fine details in oil paint using weathered old brushes is turning out to be a real lesson in patience... but it is part of the process. If I can't be as "noodley" as usual with fine detail brushes, I find my strokes are more expressive and loose (as evident by the background sky). This is moving my hand away from my professional Illustrator's tight perspective and closer to the less restricted fine art hand of my younger days.

These shots are more contrasty than the actual piece, but they give a general impression... wish me luck on the finish!

Back in the saddle...

After a bit of a hiatus... I'm back to work.

These were a tough few months, but I've rededicated myself to my goals and am now working steadily forward. Here's hoping that the new year ahead holds more promise and unique opportunities for me!

Still waiting on news regarding my story from Heavy Metal... just stack another item on my already towering pile of stress... Hmmf... I can hardly feel it anymore;-)


More to come...

In the meantime, here are a few semi-recent 5 ,10, and 15 minute life drawings...

"Junk-a-saurus"

More poop from the SVA Alumnus drawing class... GADS, I'm out of practice.
Still... I'll only get my hand back if I keep after it and push through the rough patches.

Two 15 minute sketches I ended the class with. Not much else happened of any consequence;-)

Dropped off the book for my letterer to peruse this afternoon after many hours of preliminary bubble placement talks...
Scaaary.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

Sketchdump Redux

Another group of sketches from a life drawing class I visit once a week... not all are successful, but they each show something a little different. Just trying to keep the hand moving between Photoshop sessions;-)

Hideously rusty is what I am though... yoink.

First is a 1 minute... followed by a couple of 3 minutes... and the rest are 10 to 15 minute sketches.












The last two are the only ones I have any intention of keeping. Something halfway slavagable in the gestures... might reuse the poses for a painting. Although I must admit, I wish I'd had more time on that 1 minute pose pictured first... who knows what might have come of it...