Bluejay on Old Opera Music Sheet

Bluejay

Bluejay

Bluejay
9″ x 12″ on vintage music sheet
Gouache, India Ink and Micron Pen

— February 17th, 2012

Excerpt From “Code of Ethics For Original Printmaking”

The Issue of Accepting Prints as Works of Art
Printmaking is one of the rare artistic practices that is involved with updating specific terminology and developing guidelines so that artists will be able to use standardized procedures to identify their works. But why the necessity for a Code of ethics for Original Printmaking? The norms for authenticating prints that are currently practiced appeared gradually throughout history, and were sometimes initiated by artists who found various identification solutions to counteract forgers or indicate their techniques and the logic of their creative process. But it was more often publishers who imposed such norms so that prints would be recognized as works of art and would interest new collectors. Some applications have stimulated lively debate, and today, modifications that must be applied in answer to the evolution of the practice still provoke discussion among interested parties of differing opinions. It is important to understand that some artists will always be slightly in advance of the rules, and that their works will constantly pose the necessity for revising the code of ethics so that it can be applied to the most innovative work. In creative fields, freedom reigns and modes of experimentation are in no way circumscribed, which is why the most avant-garde works regularly break down the codes of identification and the borders between genres. A static code of ethics would ultimately not correspond to the practice of the art.

Continue Reading »

— November 17th, 2011

The Cool Has Set In

Silk Screens

Silk Screens

The silkscreen aftermath of the next couple LP album covers. I will show the prints some other time.

— September 7th, 2011

So Lush Process

Today was a great day so I thought I could share a little preview of something I have been working on. Below is a 12×12 theme I’ve initiated recently by illustrating a few 12″ x 12″ “album covers”. I gathered the influence for this project from all the great LP album covers that are out there. I wanted to try making a few and this is a glance at the first.

Silk Screen

Silk Screen

Water color and Screen print

Water color and Screen print

So Lush, So Deadly
Watercolor and Screen Print on Bristol Paper
12″ x 12″

The black, keyline illustration is the screen printed layer, and the rest was hand colored with water colors. I am playing around with a few color options by going through a few iterations of this on bristol paper. Eventually I will print and paint a final version on some finer art paper.

— September 5th, 2011

Tattoo Design

Bird Illustrations

Bird Illustrations

These are some illustrations I created for a tattoo design. The first one is a pencil sketch, followed by a pentel brush illustration, then a micron pen illustration, and finally micron and watercolor illustration.

— September 1st, 2011

Austin HOPE Mural Wall Closing

Chronicle Article

Chronicle Article

“No Trespassing” signs and yellow barrier tape have gone up around the multicolored abandoned condo project at 11th and Baylor streets. Officially, the site is known as the Local to Global Outdoor Gallery Project, organized and curated by the HOPE campaign, a local nonprofit, with support from the property’s owners, Dick Clark Architecture and Castle Hill Partners. Until last Tuesday, however, the walls just west of Lamar were better known unofficially as a great place for artists to paste or paint to their heart’s content, rules be damned. It’s this clashing – aesthetically, artistically and spatially – that has led to the clampdown along Baylor Street and has revealed a larger change in Austin’s accepted aesthetic citywide.

End of the Road for Baylor Street Art Wall? (The Austin Chronicle)

— August 15th, 2011

HOPE Campaign Mural

In April 2011 I volunteered to work on a mural for the HOPE Campaign Castle Wall project in Austin, Texas. The wall space measures approximately 30 feet in length and 17 feet at it’s highest. The city of Austin has promised this wall space to the HOPE Campaign for at least 3 years.

Wall

Wall Space

Since I have a printmaking background and access to equipment, I decided to approach this project in a familiar form.

Silk Screen with Burned Image

Silk Screen with Burned Images

I begun by screen printing repeatable patterns onto 19″ x 25″ white paper. The actual graphic measures 17″ x 23″, so the paper will need to be trimmed by an inch all the way around so the patterns bleed off the edge of the paper. The result is seamless tiles. This paper should also be light and thin enough to paste up. Below are some shots of the actual screen prints. Some are 2 colors and some only one.

Paper Stack

Paper Stack

Actual images of the screenprints.

Paper Patterns

Paper Patterns

Aside from the patterns, I created this 4 foot by 6 foot portrait of a woman to adorn the right side of the mural. The process for creating her began as a small hand drawing, which I scanned and altered in Illustrator. I printed the black and white graphic out on a laser jet in four, 2 foot by 3 foot sections, and then hand painted each section to give it some color.

Process

Process

Painting Patterns

Painting Patterns

The pasting part of the project took about 12 hours spread across 6 days. That does not including the preparation time for creating the materials used. Below are the pictures of the final work.

Day 02

Day 2 Progress

HOPE Campaign Mural

HOPE Campaign Mural

Day 06

Day 06

About the HOPE Campaign

The HOPE (Helping Other People Everywhere) Campaign a project of HOPE Events Inc. an energy conscious 501(c)3 non-profit focused on involving artists and their contributions in campaigns, programs and events to support existing social projects that promote education and peace around the world.

— July 10th, 2011