I just painted for a whole 10 minutes on my lunch break....that's about all the painting that I've had time for as of late. Oh well I guess every little bit counts.

I had a painting win a purchase award at the Greenville Arts Council! I'm humbled and flattered! It'll be in the permanent collection at E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center. The painting is going to a good home.

Crayons
oil on canvas, mounted to panel
2011

Atari painting

The world has been conspiring against me to not get any painting done! If I'm lucky I have about two hours to paint at night from 8:30-10:30pm. But lately, we've had so many numerous projects going on, I've been just totally wiped out. But I have had time to work on one painting in particular. The blogger Pacalin was gracious enough to send me some Atari gear to paint. So I've been working on an Atari painting. It looks much different from what I'm used to doing. But I like that! Hopefully I'll have it finished up here in about a week or two. I might even try and make prints of it.

Ready for Take Off

This was a painting I did back in 2010. My friend Michael let me borrow a ton of Star Wars figures. He had the figure and ship...so I set it down on the carpet in the living room in front of the door and got a good shot of it with the light coming in. The geeks will be quick to notice that I put a B-Wing pilot in the cockpit of a Y-Wing fighter....haha. Ooops. Maybe they were running a skeleton crew that day and somebody had to cover somebody else's shift.

I am commandeering this blog. Haven't posted in over a year. I used to post just Art history related stuff. I'll still do that somewhat. Now I want to focus more on my art. I hope that's cool?

many moons

I haven't posted on here in forever! Should I use this blog for my artwork?

Another Day, Another Dollar (100 million of them)

I'm glad to know in the midst of an economic depression, there are still people out there willing to drop a tenth of a billion dollars on some Picasso painting. “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," a painting from 1932, recently set yet another record–$106.5 million to be exact. Chump change you say!!?? The painting had been holed up for decades. Never even been reproduced in color in any publication. I'm surpised that's the case, but then again Picasso was pretty prolific, there are bound to be many of his pieces that manage to slip between the cracks.

The New York Times had a pretty drab outlook on the whole auction too. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/arts/06cotter.html?src=mv

Fairly funny read. They're kinda bored with the whole overly-inflated market.

lazy bones

I've been very bad about posting lately. Nothing will kill a blog quicker than not posting. But, I'm not exactly Clement Greenberg here, so there aren't people beating down the digital door eagerly waiting a new blog post...heheh. Now that I'm finished (for the time being) or atleast caught up on all my artistic endeavors maybe I can resume blahging...more to come!

Walk Like an Egyptian

CNN posted an interesting article about a recent scientific discovery regarding famous mummy King Tut. Scientists now think that King Tut, who ruled during the 18th Dynasty, from 1336 B.C. to 1327 B.C., died of malaria and complications from a leg fracture. He was only 17-19 years old. I guess it also didn't help matters that he was apparently inbred from generations of keeping it in the fam. He suffered from a grocery list of possible health complications...And he married his sister!!! EWWWW.

excerpt from AP article:

"When researchers scanned Tut's mummy, they found he not only had severe kyphoscoliosis, or curvature of the spine, but also suffered from a toe malformation known as oligodactyly. The condition made his left foot swell, and it would have caused excruciating pain when he walked."

... "In his tomb, we also found 100 walking sticks. Originally we thought they represented power. But they were ancient crutches that he obviously used. He could barely stand."

Above is a picture of what King Tut would've looked like based on a recreation sponsored by National Geographic. Considering King Tut was inbred he looks fairly normal considering he could've come out looking like the boy banjo player from Deliverance!

Arnolfini Wedding, Perspective Lines

Arnolfini Wedding is such an amazing painting. It still evokes curiosity and debate from scholars with regards of how it was painted and the symbolism portrayed. It's a shame however, that it suffers from some perspective flaws. Still, it adds to the character of the painting. Afterall, Jan van Eyck was one of the first people to start painting in oil. I made this visual to show some of the perspective lines since I couldn't find a good hi-res version on the internet. Enjoy!!

Jan van Eyck
Arnolfini Wedding (Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife)
Oil on oak panel of 3 vertical boards
32.4 in × 23.6 in
1434
National Gallery, London

Self-Portraits by Pablo Picasso

Here's a neat little montage I created of Self-Portraits by Picasso throughout the years. It's interesting to note his versatility as an artist of Realism and Abstraction!

Detail of globe, The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein The Younger

The Ambassadors
Hans Holbein The Younger
Oil and tempera on panel
National Gallery, London, U.K.
1533

Real Life Van Gogh

Is this what Van Gogh really would've looked like? If it is...then I'm a little freaked out!!! His face has been burned onto my brain! He looks a little too intense for my liking.

Anywho, I found this image on some random blog. They based the image on one of his most famous self-portraits...aptly tited Self-Portrait. Unfortunately, no photos exist of Van Gogh after his teens, so nobody really knows what he looked like as a man.

Kids these days...

As many of you know, I've been painting alot of toys lately. They are so fun and revitalizing. There's something about toys, unlike any other objects, that captivate people. The toy paintings evoke memories and emotions. I want to make people feel good about what I paint....So in my daily cruising around on the intranets I found this amazing William Merrit Chase toy painting on an art history blog website of some girls playing with a ring toss! I'd never seen the painting before.

It's really interesting to note what kept kids entertained in the 1800s...and then what it takes to keep a kid entertained in the 2000s!! To the later; quite a bit! Kids now have playstations, and ipods, and youtube, and amazing interactive, sound making, light emitting doodads. My little nephew has amassed probably the equivalent of half a toysrus store worth of toys. Even I had quite a bit of fun things to play with growing up. But think about all those poor souls who lived before the 20th century who had all but a circle with a stick to play with...

William Merritt Chase
Ring Toss
1896
Oil on canvas
40 3/8 x 35 1/8 in. (102.6 x 89.2 cm).
Collection of Marie and Hugh Halff

Explosion in a shingle factory!! Nude Descending a Staircase, No. II (hi-res)

Marcel Duchamp
Nude Descending a Staircase, No. II
oil on canvas
1912
57 7/8 x 35 1/2 in
Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Last Supper freshly painted.

Using a computer program, a group of Italian scientists/specialists recreated what the Last Supper possibly looked like back when it was painted in 1495-1497. They based the new image on master copies created by many artists through the years before The Last Supper was too far gone. And also on sketches of the Last Supper by da Vinci himself. There is question as to what exactly Christ's feet looked like considering, well, there's a big door cut into them! Oh the Humanity!

Soon after The Last Supper was created, it started spoiling almost immediately because of da Vinci's experimental medium he used. (When attempting a huge commission it's best not to re-invent the wheel!)

It looks nothing like I had expected. Its...so...clean....and perfect. I guess being overly-saturated with the deteriorated view for so long, its hard to think of a flawless Last Supper.

Part of the appeal of The Last Supper is the mystery surrounding its creation. Knowing very little about it coupled with the deterioration, leaves people always questioning, always thinking.


Mastercopies by Renaissance artists
Last Supper image copyright of leonardo3.net

Is this a long-lost Michelangelo sculpture?

I just recently read an article in the latest edition of ARTnews about a piece of sculpture being a long-lost sculpture by Michelangelo. The sculpture in question is titled "Little Archer" and has been tucked away in a French embassy unnoticed and unappreciated for years. He's missing his arms and lower legs. But from what's left, some critics seriously think Michelangelo sculpted this...and to up the ante a little more, some think he carved it at the age of 15! I was drawing crude pictures of Led Zeppelin on school desks with colored pencils at age 15...geez...makes me feel under accomplished.

But anyway, there are qualities about it that resemble his other work like the twisting motion of movement and the style of the hair seem to point at Michelangelo. While others completely reject this notion. After some crafty googling I came across a funny article about how this sculpture doesn't pass the "Testicle test." I'll spare you the details but in a nutshell, the sculpture is lacking in it's anatomical accuracy apparently.

The plot thickens and the mystery deepens.

Who knows if it really is or isn't.

Here is a high-res picture just for kicks. Enjoy!

Jeanne-Claude, June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009

Jeanne-Claude died, aged 74, on November 18, 2009, from complications of a brain aneurysm. Tis sad. I wonder how Christo will carry on. Jeanne-Claude very much seemed to run the show. Every interview I've ever seen with them, Jeanne-Claude does all the talking and even cuts off Christo to finish his sentences...

Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (Hi-Res)

Hannah Höch
Schnitt mit dem Küchenmesser Dada durch die letzte Weimarer Bierbauchkulturepoche Deutschlands
(Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany)
1919-20
photomontage and collage with watercolor
44 7/8 x 35 7/16 in
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie

Little Orphan Annie Liebovitz

CNN posted a story about Annie Liebovitz. Apparently she's about to lose custody of her entire life's photographic work, real estate, and assets because of mounting debt of upwards of $24 freakin MILLION dollars if she doesn't pay back a loan! Geez. How in the world, as an artist, does she have that much debt? What is she buying? Is she using gold leaf as toilet paper? I could produce work for the rest of my life for just $1 mil....easy...which is a steal. Where do I sign up?

As a famous artist (photographer) you are supposed to be MAKING money. I could understand if she is a no-name, struggling artist who has a little bit of debt. But her case is entirely different. Liebovitz is famous for photographing everyone from The Rolling Stones to John Lennon to the controversial preggers Demi Moore and lately the awkward tweeny-bopper Miley Cyrus scantily clad...ew.

She better get busy making some prints or something.