A Ceiling! For My Studio

Well I had another busy weekend with hardly a moment to relax.  I worked all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday (I usually only work Tuesday through Friday since I teach classes most evenings it's about full time in 4 days... plus sometimes I end up working weekend days.)  Saturday and Monday was spent with Mat and his dad, Xelle, putting a ceiling in my studio!  This was desperately needed for two reasons: heat and poo.  We've been in such a heat wave that the AC window unit in the studio was pretty much useless.  It was like trying to air condition a tent.  It was HOT in here.  If I had work I could bring in the house, I did to get out of the unbearable heat.  I really needed insulation in the ceiling which is apparently where 70 - 80% of the cool air escapes.  And the second reason.... poo.  There were rats in the ceiling.  I never saw any, but when we moved in we had to vacuum up plenty of poo.  And as time went on I would notice little pellets of poo that had dropped on my tables and stuff.  Of course I couldn't just poison the poor little guys trying to make a living, just like me, so I just waited until we put a ceiling up.  Now I shouldn't have to worry about heat or poo!  Thanks Mat and Xelle!!!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I will be painting the ceiling white at some point hopefully in the near future.

Here is Xelle working on the electric stuff for my track lighting.

 That's right... I said TRACK LIGHTING!

Walls will happen eventually, too, but I can't work Mat and Xelle too hard too often.

So what did I do Sunday?  Ugh I worked in Destin doing portraits.  Well, trying to anyway.  I have been watching a kiosk for Deano, a great characature artist, several times over the past few months.  I have been setting up to do "normal" portraits to try to make some money.  Many people come up, wanting a characature and I tell them, "Well, I'm a guest artist and I do a more realistic portrait."  I show them a couple examples most just make a face and then say, "Oh... I wanted the funny one" and then walk off.  Yesterday I worked a 9 hour shift, and drove an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back.  I hardly made any money and wasted an entire Sunday.  Boo!

Here is one of the few portraits I drew that day:

The Secret... REVEALED

For those of you who have been checking the blog lately you know that I have been mentioning a secret commission.  It has consumed my life for the past 7 weeks but I was not allowed to tell people about it.  NOW I can tell you!  Or better yet... I will show you:

PAPER FLOWERS.  Over 300 of them.

The Visual Arts Center's summer exhibit is 'StoryMaker's Art' which consists of Florida Illustrator's artworks for children's books.  The VAC's director thought that paper flowers would compliment the show and help liven up the gallery, so I was hired to created hundreds of them.  And so I did.  I also installed all of the flowers myself.  I have many new calluses and the knowledge of how to make a new craft.  I'm not even sure if I know how to make anything else anymore. Well, here are some more photos of what is called, "The Paper Garden."

The flowers took over my studio.  There was no surface that was not covered and layered with flowers.  There were many many more that I could not fit into the photo.

Well there you have it, the secret's out.  If you live near Panama City, I suggest you check out the show at The Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida.  The other exhibits are amazing: "StoryMaker's Art" and in the lower galleries, the artwork of Atlanta artist, Linda Mitchell.  Admission is $5 for adults and all children 12 and under get in free.

I will probably be creating more paper flowers, still.  I will also probably teach a class or two at the VAC on creating paper flowers.  I think I'm living, breathing, and sweating paper flowers now.

Portrait Gift

Last week my awesome friend Jessi got married.  We've been close friends since the 6th grade.  We even moved to Florida together.  I had the honor of being her maid of honor.  I wanted to give her and Drew something special, so I gave them this drawing:

Their wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast.  I'm so happy for both of them.  I hope they enjoy their gift!

Oh, and this has little to do with an art blog but I am IN LOVE with this picture of all of us!  We wanted to do a cheesy emo CD cover shot and the photographer, Andrew Wardlow, made it even more amazing than I had imagined it could be!

Well, that's all I've got for now because I've been swamped with the secret commission.  But don't worry, the secret shall be revealed soon!

Weird Watercolors

I don't have time to be posting this blog!  But oh well here are some watercolors from last night's Figure Drawing Class at Studio b:

So on this one (above) I painted the watercolor first, decided it was wrong, and then tried to save it by adding pen on top.  The watercolor was already off enough that the pen mostly followed the mistakes.  However, it was pointed out to me that this looks purposeful!  Now it looks kind of cartoon-ish.

So then I decided I'm more of a draftsman than a painter so I'd better draw it in pencil first.  Much better.  I was liking this one but unfortunately time ran out (15 minutes) before I had a good chance to muck it up.

And then he held a big frame.

Well, that's all I've got to share since I'm still working hard on my top-secret commission.  Aren't you just so curious???

Welcome to My New Studio

That's right, folks.  I now have a FOR REALS studio.  No more working in the tiny corner of the bedroom with my art and supplies stored all over the house and shed.  A real life studio... How do you ask?  WE BOUGHT A HOUSE.  How the Hell do an artist and a coffee roaster afford to do THAT, you ask?  Because my parents are AWESOME and they helped us out with the down payment.  And this perfect little house just so happened to have a perfect separate building in the back yard just perfect for an art studio.


Welcome to my studio...

But beware... For it is guarded by a fierce cat and dog team.

Some time soon we will be finishing the studio: insulated the walls and ceiling, adding paneling, painting said walls and ceiling, and painting the floor.



So the move is partially why I haven't blogged in a couple weeks.  The other reason is I have been working on a commission but I can't share the progress because it's a secret... Sshh...  But it won't always be so I will share once I can.

And oh yeah!  Here is my final for silkscreen class that I spent forever on, made a silly little mistake, and didn't turn out very well...

And here is the progress on the PC painting...

Well, I really shouldn't be blogging right now because I have a LOT of work to do on the secret commission, so off I go!

More on the PC Painting Progress

After showing the painting progress to Elizabeth, she decided she thought the girl was too much of a focal point.  I offered to paint her out and have a bunch of people far in the distance, and she liked that idea.  So that is what I did!

 Before:

After:

Aaaah, colors and mess.

Still more progress to be made on this painting, and you know I'll post the final product right here, so stay tuned.

In other news, I am struggling with my final for silkscreen class.  I made a simple mistake that caused my colors to not line up.  I couldn't figure out why until I woke up at 2am.  I realized what had happened, and stayed awake for hours mad at myself for possibly screwing up my final print!  Yesterday, I made strides to cover up my mistakes which... kind of worked.  It's not great but it's better.  At least I have learned and won't make that same mistake again... I would think.  I should be printing my last color tomorrow!

Visitor's Map Cover

I have been painting the cover of the Panama City Visitor's Map for four years and the cover of the Panama City Beach Map for two years.  It's a pretty sweet gig.  The latest Beach map came out recently.  Here it is!

That means my painting is featured in most restaurants and shops in Panama City and Panama City Beach.  In the map there is even an "about the cover artist" section with a short paragraph and my website.  Oddly enough, I have never had anybody contact me who found me through the map... WTF?  But in this latest edition my email address is included, so perhaps that will change!