DubbleWhammy...

What a weekend! I'm sorry that there is no picture this week, but these last few days have really taken it out of me... Our bathroom remodel is behind schedule, we are living at a friends house, my wife has a broken foot, and my studio is full of drywall...(the wedding and pirate party were lovely, thank you very much!)

But all is not lost! I am currently working on purses (yes purses) for Hukilau, and I fully anticipate being back in the swing of things by this time next week (I will have to, seeing as I leave for Hukilau in 14 days!)

Until then, please, enjoy the toilet you have, and watch your step!

Calm between storms

So this past weekend might go down in the books for me...I had an opening, saw two movies, (Shrek the third, 28 weeks later) a blowout bachelor party, and closed down Art-o-Matic...Wait till you hear about this weekend!

One of my final acts during Art-o-Matic was to distribute the redesigned Art in Heat cards:

Whaddyathink of the redesign? I think landscape helps make the panda look more appetising!

So the opening went well, no sales, but I don't think that the WPAC crowd really gets where I am coming from...they all seemed pretty serious about their art (not that one shouldn't be serious about their art, lord knows I am, but one should not take oneself too seriously) In any event, all of the pieces are still for sale, so get them now, before they leave for Hukilau!
Over the weekend I started toying with doing some more monkey paintings...this is kinda a fork in the road for me, I feel I have lots to say with these monkeys, but I need to make more tiki themed work for Hukilau...so I need to start finding ways to incorporate more obvious tikiness with these monkeys...so I will share a sketch I am working on, of monkeys on a vespa (I feel that vespas are very "mid century" but not necessarily tiki, but I might put a tiki amulet around one of the monkeys, to hammer home the point)

Sketch for Monkey Vespa painting

So on Saturday I attended a very wild bachelor party. I got really twisted and had to spend the whole next day running away from a hangover...So there was appropriate self loathing for not getting more work done. You see, I have about two good work weeks before Hukilau, and I don't have time for hangovers! (this is also the time my wife and I have decided {actually our contractor decided} to remodel our bathroom. What were we thinking?) I don't have a minute to spare between now and when I load up the airstream and head south! Be forewarned, I will be doing very short BtT entries over the next few weeks, please don't take it personally...

On Monday I attended the preliminary production meeting for Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat, an Arlington Players production that I am the granted service for. (if you are experiencing deja vu, it is because I did the same show last summer at Imagination Stage) It seems like the director wants to go in a direction I will enjoy, but I just don't know about how much time I have to devote to it between now and July.

Speaking of not enough time, Trixie has started to rope me into helping decorate for the one year anniversary of the opening of the Palace of Wonders...looks like I will be getting to do that valance after all!

This weekend will be a crazy one too...tonight we have the rehearsal dinner, tomorrow the wedding, our bathroom will be demolished all weekend, I'm going to set up for making some Hukilau screenprints, Mark is having a "pirate" themed birthday party, and Dan wants to BBQ, and I am scheduling myself to make half a dozen monkey paintings...no rest for the wicked...and I have apparently been very wicked....

WPAC 9x10 Opening this FRIDAY!

So this past week has really been a kick in the pants. I went into high gear trying to paint (and cut) at least four of my "Sea Monkey" paintings, as I outlined in my previous post. Well, as it seems to happen in many painting projects, we didn't end up exactly where we expected. What really happened was that I was cutting out monkeys, and then pasting down the "positive" to a canvas board, and pasting the "negative" to black paper. I didn't want to go blindly into the paintings, so I started doing "color studies" in pastel pencil and color pencil...In the end, I wound up with six color drawings, and no paintings to show. I am, however, very happy with the result, and I hope that these are great starts on a whole new vein of work for me. So, without further adieu, these are the six drawings in the 9x10 show:

Shore Leave
Color Pencil on Cut Paper, 11"x14"


Periscope
Pastel on Cut Paper, 8"x10"


Sonar
Pastel on Cut Paper, 8"x10"


Smashed
Color Pencil on Cut Paper, 8"x10"


Coconut Monkey
Color Pencil on Cut Paper, 8"x10"


The Diplomat
Color Pencil on Cut Paper, 11"x14"

Please let me know what you think of this new direction, and please come out to see the work in person! You can get more info about the show here.

On the Academic front, Here is the final photo of the last pose in Academic portrait painting:

Academic Portrait painting
Third model, final state

Mai Tais and semester bye byes

What do a Pineapple, Green Drink Monkey and a disembodied tongue have in common?

Well, dear BTT readers, are getting a sneak peek at the next big thing in kitchen decor...Stay tuned for the grand unveiling! (Needless to say, much of my week has been taken up with this thing!)

Friday was "Meet the Artist" night at ArtoMatic. Aloha to everyone who attended. I understand that, in a very unscientific poll, the Mai Tai was named as best free beverage...EVER! In the crush of art aficionados, I was able to expound on my art theory, and why it is that I am drawn to painting Bears and Monkeys...I even sold a painting that didn't even have any monkeys or bears. (Frog prince, for those who are counting, has a frog and a tiki...)

On Saturday, most of my day was taken up with setting up and tearing down the mobile stage for the Gin Blossoms. I didn't see the show, so don't ask. I was a bit grumpy because when I said I would be there for strike, I didn't know that I would be missing the Mayweather Vs. De La Hoya fight...Turns out, I was able to catch the last four rounds standing on my tip-toes looking into an Ethiopian restaurant on 28th St, at 12:30 at night...so at least I can say I saw some of it...

On Monday, I attended my final classes for this semester at the Corcoran. The critique of 14 paintings went fairly well, but the class didn't seem to have much experience with the crit experience...so it was kinda a "lead by the nose" sort of morning...
In Academic portrait painting, I went in with the idea that I didn't have much to do, and that I might even paint a one session study, however, I wound up changing the background, and therefore most everything else...I don't have a picture this week, so I will try to remember to post it next time!

And now I really need to swing into action to make enough new work for the install of the WPAC 9x10 show on Monday! I have four monkey paintings planned. (with their accompanying drawings) They will all be based on the "Sea Monkey" theme that I discussed a few weeks ago. The first will be of the monkeys in the sub, Second will be the monkeys in a car on the way to the bar (they rented one for the duration of their shore leave), Third will be of them in the tiki bar brawling, and fourth will be of them in the brig...It should be very cute, if I can pull it off between now and Monday! By this time next week, I will be posting pictures of them...installed!

Meet the Artist night at Artomatic THIS FRIDAY!

This has been one wacky week for art. As the title of the post implies, (actually it downright tells) this Friday is Meet the Artist Night at AOM. So come on down and have a teeny-tiny mai tai on me (well, they might be bigger if no one shows up...either way, you wont get any if you don't show) and talk about the art. You wont really have much to choose from if you were planning to purchase something, however (all of the monkey themed work is gone, for example) This week has seen a lot of work sold. Here's a list of what sold, just this week!

The Spy, Pastel on Cut paper
The Projectionist, Pastel on Cut paper (the original buyer never emailed back...but it resold fast!)
Backyard BBQ Bears, Acrylic and cut paper on board
Mythological Tiki, Cut paper on board (there is confusion about this one...but I'm pretty sure its this one)
and the Big Tiki, Luan cutout

So, in short, there are not many things left...so come and get a gander, before they are all gone!

This past weekend was a really great weekend for the DC art scene in general. On Friday I went to see the ArtDC show at the convention center. It did not blow my socks off, but it was a really good first attempt at a DC art fair. Hopefully they can keep the ball rolling.
Over at the Warehouse they had two shows of abstract works...and the news that the Rupert's have a really high tax bill...There was a "performance" piece (emphasis on "") where some dude cut off his foreskin, and stuck it to the wall...Hey buddy, been there done that, get a therapist not an art audience...
On Saturday I had some pieces up at the Rock and Roll Hotel on H St. for the Big Art Show. It was similar to the Dr Dremo's event that posted about in January, except this time it was over at 2am and they let the bands play while the art was up.
Just down the block, at the Palace of Wonders, our friend Amy was matriculating, onstage. She did her graduate performance for the Burlesque University...Congrats Amy!

The only other piece of news is that I think that my super secret magnet project may just be able to be produced for Hukilau...so stay tuned for further details! (working on a secret project is part of why I don't have many pictures to show....)

This will be the last 14 paintings...painting that I will show, seeing as we will be discussing the semesters work in the last class next week. So, Steven's instructions were to simply paint something you were inspired by. I have a hard time being inspired at 8:30 on a Monday morning, so I went with a film noir theme...I realize that the proportions are off, but I was painting in oil, so it is very hard to correct BLACK...It did open up a very good discussion with Steven about whether or not abstract painters should draw more...and how much of their work is inspired by the observed world...

Last Painting, 14 paintings in14 weeks

In Academic portrait painting, I have found myself in the position of being pretty much done with this sitter, and I still have one more session to go...I don't know if I can do anything more than minor tweaks at this point

Academic Portrait Painting, Third Model, third sitting