Mess of Blues…and Greens, Yellows, Reds…

Crayons, watercolor sticks, colored pencils, watercolors, oil pastels.

Ok, preparing for a one man show featuring all new work does take a lot of time! Luckily I started planning months ago. But some things stay undone, or get messier. Like cleaning up the studio and working space. Especially when you start using many different kinds of media, and even adding some new ones! So there are pencils, paints, crayons and brushes all over the place. And papers too.

Just in case you didn’t know, my show called “Naked Came I” opens Nov. 5 and continues to the Friday after Thanksgiving. TGW@497 Gallery.

The announcement card:

A few more studio shots:

A pile of rejected drawings and failed experiments:

All the artwork for the show is done now and soon will be packed into my car, ready for hanging at the Gallery tomorrow morning!

Oh, almost forgot! Thanks to everyone who voted on the frame, post below! I went with the darker frame and the drawing looked great. I was so busy drawing for my show that I didn’t have time for an update sooner!

Frame Up!

My drawing, Frank 2, will be part of the Buffalo Society of Artists 118th Fall Catalogue Exhibition, opening on Friday, September 12 at Hi-Temp Fabrications, 79 Perry St., Buffalo.

I have to frame and deliver the drawing in a few days, but haven’t decided which frame to use. I can use the walnut one or the natural, unfinished frame. Which do you like?

Throwback Thursday!

Picking up on the current Facebook fad of “Throwback Thursdays,” I’m posting some photos of my show of paintings at Lyman-Eyer Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts, from August 2011. Not too far of a throw!

But this gives me a chance to mention that I am having a solo show at TGW@497 Gallery in Buffalo, NY in November 2014. Opening is “First Friday,” November 7.

I work with naked people all day long.

I work with naked people all day long.

Several people have asked me if I have a “real” job in addition to making art. I sort of thought that everyone knew, but of course, that’s not true. By day, I am a licensed massage therapist. I became a therapist about 20 years ago after spending 25 years in the advertising business as an artist and writer.

As a licensed massage therapist I work with the human body hands-on. My role as a health care provider obligates me to use my skills of observation and analysis, with detachment. This is a private and confidential experience shared only between me and my client. When I paint or draw the figure, I’m exploring and relating to the figure in a different way. I use my skills of observation but this time with involvement…emotional, visceral and visual. And this time my experience is not private nor confidential; it’s not to be kept secret but instead I can present it to the world.

Some of my models become my massage clients and some of my massage clients become my models. The model pictured above is actually posing in my massage studio…see the medical charts on the wall on the right?

It was definite a case of deja vu when I was in massage school, studying about the muscles and bones in the body, having had been in art school many years before, learning the same material, but for a very different reason!

Wash Day!

Since I work with water soluble pencils and crayons, and sometimes watercolors, I find myself often doing this! If I don’t like the way a drawing is turning out, I’ll just wash it in the sink! Although this isn’t the drawing below, I did the same thing to it.

This is how the drawing started out. Basic laying out and finding the figure.

Adding some color ideas and refining the drawing. I liked the big graphic look of the model’s shadow, so I included that.

Continuing work on it, fixing the drawing still, as I go along. I started to think that the shadow was going to draw attention away from the figure…

…so I started to add some layers of crayon to lessen the impact of the shadow. I kept working, adding more crayon all over, but wasn’t happy with the results. Time for a dunk in the sink!

After the washing in the sink, I let the drawing dry out, and then went back to work it it some more with pencils and crayons. I liked the kind of weathered look it has and was happy with the result. So there we have “I Saw Him Standing There.”

Every color there is...?

Three times as many caran d’ache crayons as when I started.

And a big, really big set of water soluble pencils!

Ok, it’s like an addiction. I liked what I could do with my first set of crayons and pencils, so I had to get more. And considering these have become my main choice of media for the past year and a half (except for portrait commissions when I switch to acrylic on canvas), the investment in these tools was worth it. I hope to do a show consisting of new work, only done with these crayons and pencils.

Oh, wait, I forgot the water color sticks…!

Better than the big box of 64!

They’re here! My first set of Caran d’Ache! Notice I said first set. Also got a set of 36 Inktense colored pencils, which are water soluble too.

Back to crayons?

Drawing by Larry Stanton

The Art of Man, #12
(P.S. My work was featured
in issue #3.)

I am a copy editor for The Art of Man Quarterly. When issue #12 came to be read, I discovered, or rediscovered, one of my favorite artists from years ago, Larry Stanton. I had completely forgotten all about him. I liked his bright colors and spontaneous drawings. I noticed that he worked with caran d’ache, a wax crayon which is water soluble, so when you wet the drawing with water, it transforms into watercolor. For the past four years, I only did acrylic on canvas works. Never thought about “drawing.” But that was about to change.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

I work mostly with the image of the human figure. My emphasis is on the male figure and contemporary portraits. These images frequently feature the person or people in some unguarded or relaxed moment. I often choose non-realistic colors to produce a “realistic” representation and sometimes work with the space surrounding the figure to produce a merging figure/space relationship.

In my work life I’m also a licensed massage therapist.

I have a BFA in drawing and a BA in Art History from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

I have worked in advertising design and writing for 25 years and as a Licensed Massage Therapist for the last 19 years. During the past six years, I have returned to painting and drawing after many years of intermittent work.

I am available for commissioned work. You may e-mail me here. All works are for sale.