Friday Evening

Good evening friend,

On a Friday evening I thought I would tell you that if I hadn't started my art career so late in life I would certainly think about carving marble as my primary medium. At my age though, the amount of work involved daunts me. I might use it as a diversionary medium as I do love the tactile sensation of working the marble.

The photos are of a marble sketch, my first experience with cutting stone, I executed for a 3D class. I had a small piece of marble for the sketch and a limited time to work on the piece so, I decided to base my design on references such as the Elgin Marbles, fragments of classical stone carvings that could look finished with a minimum of effort. It still required several hours of effort.

Anyway, I thought I would share my love of the medium on this lovely, rain-free, yehh-h, evening.

Brad

The Sunday Prints

Dear friend,

On a lovely fallish Sunday afternoon I'm posting a couple of experimental prints. The first is a version of what I call gasoline prints. The plate is made by engraving the image with sand paper. I inked the plate with black Akua Intaglio ink and then rolled the plate with gray intaglio ink. The image is from a still from Casablanca, when Rick is at the airport at the end of the movie.

The second is a sugar lift print with aquatint. The plate was inked in green and then rolled with gray.

Well, just a quick post for A Sunday. Have an exciting start to the new week.

Brad

Copper Pots

Dear Friend,

On a late summer afternoon, a time when the long rays of the summer sun are tending more to a fall-like sensuality, I have a post with a tactile sensibility. First is a detail of one of my paintings that showcases a copper vase that pleased me more than a little when I completed it. It is purely a mental fabrication based on a copper canister from our kitchen. 

1670 (detail) acrylic on paper with transfers

A drawing of the canister gives a sense of the surface quality of the spun metal. It is a quality that can be copied and transfered to a credible facsimile of an entirely different vessel.

Copper Canister graphite drawing on Arches paper

Have a lovely weekend.

Brad

Labor Day Labors

For Labor Day I decided to prepare a southern treat, muscadine jelly. Muscadine grapes, Vitis rotundifolia, is a wild grape that grows throughout the southeast. It is probably the grape that prompted the Norse to call North America, 'Vineland,' my guess as the grapes are quite prolific in the South.

On the vine.

The grapes have a lovely musky flavor, and quite tough hulls. The Country Store at Callaway Gardens sells wonderful preserves made from the muscadines grown in the gardens. They serve them in season with buttered biscuits for the breakfast menu in season.

Black beauties hanging in the sun.

And in the bucket.

The juice being stirred before adding the sugar.

And the final product. I've picked enough to make six more 12 oz. jars and we have begun sharing them around the neighborhood. It's a wonderful if somewhat laborous tradition of the season.

Hoping you have an exciting week.

Brad

Self Portraits

My Friend,

How have you been doing since my last post? As the summer winds down, I find myself no less busy and my posts remain infrequent. For a Saturday morning I am posting a couple of self-portrait sketches.

The first is an airbrush sketch and one of our Yorkshires, the late Obie, standing in front of a mantle. It was quickly executed to experiment with techniques of masking and portraiture.


While preping the image for posting I pushed the image toward the sepia and liked the result. I thought that the photograph in the background, in its abstraction, turned out quite well, yet, I haven't tried to replicate it in any form.

I've also included an exploratory sketch print that is engraving printed over a xylene-xerox transfer. The transfer was of a xerox copy of an architectural image placed face down against the print and then the back is brushed with xylene or a Chart-Pak blender. The area where the engraving will be is masked in this case. Then the engraving is printed. The plate is an acrylic plate cut with engraving tools. I found that the acrylic cut much too easily and the line get quite bold unless care is taken.

I'm finding not much interest or practitioners of contemporary engraving, wood or metal plate. I like the look of engraving and am making a study of it in an effort to do more. Luckily money is excellent work to study. I am using what I learn to influence my painting also. I like the power of the contours to infer volume.

I have prattled on too long and will close now. Have a lovely Saturday.

Brad 

Friday Afternoon

Looking Out My Front Door.

Looking Out My Back Door.

Dear Friend,

It's late summer here in Georgia. You could tell that even if you didn't know the date. The air is thick and tropical. It's hot when you get up and hot when you go to bed. I love it, even if it is wearing. It has a certain texture to it. It's Southern. It brings to mind music from summers ago. It brings back thoughts of being young, of barefoot days and front porch evenings, baseball on the radio or Rock and Roll on the clear channel AM stations, waving in and out, fading when your favorite song comes on.

Thought I would share and reminisce a bit. Have a lovely weekend.

Brad

Something Small for Wednesday

Green Earrings, Airbrush and pen on Yupo

Dear Friend,

I just wanted to make a quick post to let you know I am alive and kicking. I have added a portrait I executed in comic style using airbrush, pen and liquid acrylic paint. I like comic art and am drawn to the exaggerated drama. I have tried to incorporate the style in my oil and tempera compositions.

I am wrestling with the direction that my art is taking. I don't want to go away from figurative/portrait work, trouble is I'm interested in so many things that my ADD makes it difficult to focus. I'm not keen on the storytelling facet of images but more on technique and the visual impact of the image. Thus, I am trying to focus on the techniques and tools I am using to produce a more cohesive series and then branching out from there. It sounds rather comic when I read it back, so I guess this line of thought needs some work also.

Have an adventurous Wednesday.

Brad