Wednesday, September 21, 2016

urban fingerprints series continues . . .

hmmmm ... you think so 

the latest back to my orangutans .... working off some photos i had taken a while back ... he had just turned towards me and looked back at me with that expression ...

love creating this series ... something about getting the hands dirty helping to feel connected to both the work and the subject ... despite its been a few years since i had the pleasure of observing these great primates ..


Tuesday, September 20, 2016

fini . . .


THE DOODLE DOD BOARD (BLUE)


first time creating a board with out knowing how it would be used ... or whom it would end up with.  liked the raw board and charcoal in the previous post but the grain of the wood was too orange on the skull so added acrylics to the skull .... and then to the reverse side for the effect of continuity.  lots of fun working on this board ... lots of ideas to try out on other boards.

have had a little run in with the sealer ... it was so hot in the sun that they melted ...learning experience ... but hand sanding and respraying seems to have helped ... just more texture and nicks ...embracing the scratches of boarding and life .... more traces of the process of the creative process than having to recreate imperfections.




Sunday, July 10, 2016

mo' skateboards ....

at work on another board ....just one of the ideas bouncing around in my head ....mostly charcoal ....a little lift off technique with both the eraser and some rubbing alcohol.   adding some ballpoint pen and color pencil while setting layers with fixative for now.  was going to be a glaze and lift off only on the skull ... like i did on my gorillas but haven't decided if i want to leave it raw or not.....


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

'hidden tig' huntington beach artwalk demo




one of the studio mates checking out the beginnings


'hidden tig" became the next work and the smallest in the fingerprint series ... 8" x 24" ...it was started with charcoal and a spray bottle (filled with water of course!) during the huntington beach artwalk in july 2015... i was at the rainwater gallery where my art was currently on exhibit ...

 being a tiger with much more distinct stripes ....and loving some of the textures created i decided to add a little ballpoint pen ... i ended up loving it .....and was quite satisfied with the way i preserve some of the textures i created .... as you can see from the working pics i use a multitude of layers to give my work depth ...the works seem to be lacking if i do not ...




 

'RHiNo'

is the largest and last (to date) in the series... he was finished in january 2016 the night before show entries were due .... no ballpoint .... this work is 36" x 48 " .... lots and lots of charcoal .....




a mosart studios blog announcement !!!

so to try to become a better blogger i started doing my entries from my tablet ....but it doesn't let me be as creative with my photo placement .....so until I take time on a computer to fix you will be dealing with a multitude of 'continuations' or stacked photos .... can you tell which blogs have been edited ?  yes, sarcastic i know ....

plus my creative partner who loves to write may be making entries for me .....you can easily tell whom is writing just from the capital letters as well as excellent grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary !! 

just FYi .... if you care ....(smile)

Saturday, June 18, 2016

urban fingerpirnts

the latest and newest collection .... i have missed being out at chalk festivals and i have been having little urges to do murals as well as street art !!!  so using the usual suspects ... charcoal and stucco ..... so i created the feel of a mason wall or a pillar under a roadway giving way to the name 'urban' ... on canvas ....worked with my hands ....scraps of cardboard ....added one color ....dripped .....and titanium white without no brushes therefore we get the name 'fingerprints'.... so very much a drawing ...very much mo'.


first in the series is 'regal' ....






 



next was my snow leopard ... i loved observing this guy on several occasions....but working mostly from memory i found a lot of similarities as i drew to a pair of siberian lynxes that i have drawn on a multitude of occasions.  of course they are wildcats .... therefore the title of the work ...'wildcat'...which actually could reflect his moods of pacing and growling.

 


 


so the third piece in the series is 'sir serval' ... a little tighter work both due to canvas size and subject matter ... the serval's expression reminds me a lot of old turn of the century portraits ... not 2000 more like 1900s or 1800s ... he has become one of my favorite works ... the technique remained the same except for the addition of the liquetex medium natural sand .....

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

mo' boards

2015    THE 'DANGER' BOARD


the only request was for a lion or a tiger roaring .... so i gave him both with growls.  this one was made for the younger gboy whose middle name really is 'danger'.   the fun thing is being able to share the boards progress and get approval as well as input along the way. 

the original plan was to do a traditional danger logo on the front.  but then big brothers board has skulls ... so a lion skull became danger's monster skull.  

but the need to share that middle name played a big part in the design .... i designed a multitude of fonts .... sent two sets of 5 different fonts .... he happened to pick the same font both times.

clear grip tape was added to each letter and black to the black ... mom says he needs it !!!  danger picked a dark red truck and deep coal black wheels .... pretty styling !!!



2016    THE 'DOODLE SKULL' BOARD


this was in the back of the brain while the littlest g was in utero. this board should make the rounds of a few shows before passing it on because it should be another year before the little g-girl is ready to get on board. for fi i wanted to do something a little more girlie but still skulls so i came up with a skull bird based on a hummingbird skeleton.

the use of ballpoint pen, acrylic and color pencils brought this board to life.  in the beginning it looked more polished and like the work of many black and white artist/illustrators i like but this is a mo' board so layering become the key.

the flowers are were where my oval doodles ended up this past winter so to make it a different type of floral they were used.  lots of hours and love went into this board.  in the process of layering and giving it the worn look there were actually a few times i took sand paper to the work i had already spent lots of time on .... and a few time i even poured rubbing alcohol on it but wiped it off fairly quickly as not to lose everything.



this was the early stages of bringing my doodles to life


i'm baaack

so during the time of hiatus from art ... so to speak ... i joined the huntington beach art council to stay connected, to meet those in the art community of the oc and have some kind of creative outlet.  upon my return i begun several projects and a couple new collections ...

first the return to creating art on skateboards ....



THE NEWEST SKATEBOARDs :


left to right ..... 2015, 2015 and just completed 2016


2015   the 'morilla skull' board



so first the name .... maybe a little obvious
once you know this board was created for me !! the artiste !!!!  'mo' for mo and the 'rilla' for the gorillas.  

this board main medium is charcoal with acrylics (and not pure white though it does photograph that way) .... and glazes of umber .... and pebeo paints.  first the whites are a mixture of white, parchment and naples yellow.  of course there are some blues and alizarin in the shadows with traces of the umber glazes.  

on the top side there is a grip-tape type texture it almost looks burnt ... since the board was designed for me to commute on and do a little PR of my talent i made this texture instead of hiding the art behind tape.  it is an ultra matte gel acrylic stucco and charcoal.

after attending a demo at the art supply warehouse and winning a few samples of pebeo mixed media paints ... they found their way to the board. why not?  so the silvers are pebeo which are to be used and moved around on smooth surfaces but we broke that rule with pleasing results !!!

the back side or bottom of the board which i do not see myself doing any rails with... are two gorillas with attitude.  both are charcoal with a few umber glazes on top.  the face details were pulled off with q-tips, brushes and rags ... some when still when then others with water, rubbing alcohol or scratching. oh and the skull on front is like on jax's board (late 2013) ... my adaption of a gorilla monster skull.

the font was fun .... wanting to design my own i mixed the points of horns and my drips .... after all drips can be found on the majority of current works.  the outline is a mix of three layers (there i go layering again ... well it is my board) ... umber, charcoal and alizarin.


close ups of the stucco texture and the pebeo paints



NOTE:   the next two boards will be covered in the next post ... i rewrote this twice already .. having trouble with my internet communication i guess !!!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

a painting remount

before my little hiatus a few works had been accepted to the first annual zoonitas show in encinitas, california.  a great wildlife exhibit featuring local artists and aiding a local animal rescue.  

the exhibit hung for a couple months in the library at the civic center. all works were requested to be framed or a gallery-wrap canvas.  'ocd gorilla' was a favorite so the search begun for a frame.  not one frame was found to suite my gorilla not even ones close to 1000.00. my solution was to mount the work on canvas and if i failed and damaged the work .... a bit unnerving.   i used pastels and stucco trying to match color and feel to surround the paper work on a 1/2" thick wrapped canvas.  a tricky thing to do since it was 2014 and ocd gorilla was created in 2011 during the oceanside days of art festival.  

well ... i ended up loving the results. 'ocd gorilla' is still on the mosart studios wall and with each passing ... she is still loved.






'mangabey' from the works collection was also mounted on a wood panel.  but to date photos have not turned out right with the glare.  hope to post the remount on dark umber wood with layers of alizarin and sap green as well as stucco which adds to the original observation of him hiding with in the shrubs. hopefully a good pic of the wood panel can be posted soon .... until then ... here is... and he can be seen in the back on the wall in the gallery pic from the previous post ! (ok scavenger hunt !!!)



original pastel and acrylic glazes on watercolor paper
'mangabey'

Sunday, March 6, 2016

'elle study'

CENTERPIECE OF  'oh .... you do animals' show



                             

'elle study' was/is a charcoal study glazed with acrylics.  since the featured artist show i added more yellow light behind the trunk ... creating more movement. when i observed her she was playing with another elephant and the original sketch had two trunks dancing but this is where i ended up !!            

below are 3 pics showing close-ups of the texture.  the tusks pic is a little dark ... it was the only way i could capture the textures and colors in the white.  





hanging at the huntington beach art center 2015 centered on the center show



hanging in huntington beach at the rainwater gallery with 'lion jovi'
the way i imagined both as room dividers so to speak.


'lion jovi'

THE TRANSFORMATION OF ROCK STAR INTO ...


lion jovi
the usual:  charcoal, acrylic, stucco

so in the beginning there was 'lion study' which was renamed 'rock star' by some of it's admirers.  that name along with 'lion jovi' variations were being thrown around.  it was a simple charcoal drawing with acrylic glazes on top.  he was mostly created from the imagination but from having done so many lions ... i was not a fan of this pic but it was well received.  and upon hanging it in the corner it impressed me more.                                                                                                                                 
'rock star' is visible in the featured artist show pic (and current blog background) off in the corner.  i was in love with the oranges and the mix of charcoal/graphite showing through but in the process of bringing the pic home and temporary storage in high heat (it was hitting the 100s F) the glossy finish was still too sticky and tore part of the muzzle area.  being the center of the drawing and glazed there was a small problem keeping that initial drawing look.  especially since with each layer of glaze the darker the work gets.                                                                                                                                   so first tried whites and drawing on top of the nose ... but with the initial drawing having it's own flare there was no way to keep it honest ... pure ... ? ... at least to me.  so i went to town with white ... layering and textures came in to play.  but loving the playfulness and curls of the charcoal lines in the mane was the one element i did not want to lose so my brain found a solution with sewing thread.  all added by hand with matte medium and at different times during the glazing process since with each layer the thicker the thread would get. the bravest step is throwing white on top of hours of work.  though this was not the first time i have done it ...


stages of 'the fix' .... and the thread


pleased with the end product ... and it ended up hanging in a gallery with elle study in downtown huntington beach ... never expected that.