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

A Visitor

Biking on Jekyll Island

Dear Friend,

It has been a while since I posted and I wanted to post to assure you that I am still alive, well and kicking. I have been buried in work here recently yet fret not for me, I need the money after the past couple of very lean years. 

Of interest, I have had a visitor in the past few days. I have posted a video of him here. He came to visit three days in a row. He was a juvenile just on the verge of flying. He would come walking around the neighbors house to our front porch where he would relax and drink water from Laura's little fountain. He would stay about three hours and then mosey of on foot.

We have a mirrored sunscreen film on the front storm door. He would admire the lovely bird he saw there. My dog Scooter would bark at him and I guess he marveled at the talent of his new found friend to sound like a dog. Do you suppose he came for the company? I of course was able to sit behind the door and take pictures and video.

He came first on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he startled the FedEx driver. He visited on Thursday. On Friday, he learned to fly.

I will end my missive now. Take care and I will write soon.

Brad

Midsummers Day

Wishing you all the best. Listen, it's the First Day of Summer.

Brad

Thursday Sketch

This is a brainstorming sketch I put together for  some illustrations I'm producing for promotional materials. I used photographs of the Spanish Steps for the model.

The image is produced in watercolor with pen and ink details. Have a lovely Thursday.

Brad

Saturday Drawings

A couple of sketches for a Saturday post.

Iris Aquerelle pencils in sketchbook

Fig Leaf Pencil rubbing and spray paint sketch.

Have a nice holiday weekend.

Brad

Tuesday Sketches

Thank you to all of you who come by and check my blog even though I've been sporadic with my postings. I'm still feeling a little under the weather and struggling with 300 tons of concrete embeds and lintels to draw.

There is a family of crows that live in our neighborhood and has for years, raising family after family. I like to watch them and how their lives unfold throughout the year. For the comfort they give me in having their presence in my life I let them enjoy all the figs that they want in the late summer when the figs ripen even though it distresses my wife. So, here are sketches of crows.

Have a kind and gentle Tuesday.

Brad

Fridaycetera

It's been a lon-nnng week. A couple of sketches to wrap it all up.

Iris spray paint sketch.


Cockfight Oil pastel and conte sketch.

And a little music for Friday. Am I really this old.

Have an eventful Friday evening.

Brad

Doodles

Today I'm posting a couple of doodles I did when I started playing with collage and mixed media. They are somewhat planned. the materials are of course newsprint on a support with pencil drawing.

I apologize, I'm not clever enough to add subtext or hidden meaning in the content of the media. If you find some there, serendipity.

Have a restful and quiet Thursday evening.

Brad

Monday Paintings

Two paintings from my early work.

Caladiums, Acrylic on panel.

Cathedral, Acrylic on canvas. As a draftsman I like to work with three point perspective. This is an early experiment exaggerating the perspective and adding some of the characteristics of technical drawing that can be very attractive.

Have an interesting Monday.

Brad

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all. Here is a photograph of my Mom and her twin sister circa 1917. Mom is on the right.

This is a photo of Mom and me circa 1950.

Enjoy your mother on this Mother;s Day.

Brad

King Tut

A quick post today in tribute to my wife Laura who, today, will bravely accompany 300 seventh graders on a field trip to the Carlos Museum's King Tut exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center. The Carlos Museum's exhibit is an expanded version of the exhibit that has been on tour in the United States over the past couple of years.

She will come home tired. Have a lovely Thursday.

Brad

Early and Late

My apologies for not posting but, I have been a little under the weather for the past week. I will make a quick post today. First a drawing from my teenage years. My first car, Das Hindenberg.

And a more recent drawing on kraft paper in charcoal and pastel.

Although I haven't been posting I have been reading and following. I loved the posts by Martha Miller from The Artist Studio. Have a lovely Saturday.

Brad

Black Velvet

I'm tired so, a quick post for a Friday evening. A drawing.

Martha Miller, whose work I do admire, is involved in an exhibit that deals with painting on velvet and I thought I would post a video for her.

Have a lovely Friday evening.

Brad

Bits and Pieces

I was going through some of my work and sorting it when I ran across these two drawings of the same model. One is on kraft paper and the other is on newsprint. I like drawing on kraft and this is executed in charcoal and pastel.

This drawing is charcoal or conte on newsprint. I like the way tones are easily invoked on both papers. I'm also a nut for defining the space my subject occupies. I like to push the perspective even though it isn't evident in this drawing but can be seen in the drawing I posted last week of buildings on the Dahlonega square. Comes from my drafting side. I read somewhere that it is 'good to exagerate, better to exagerate too much than not enough,' I've taken that to heart.

I'm feeling a little nostalgic for the 1960's so, here are a couple of pieces of music from that decade. The first from 1962.

Then a little country music from 1967.

Have a good Wednesday, er-r-r Earth Day?

Brad

Favorite Artists

Today, four artists whose work I admire and influence me. First Cheryl Goldsleger subtle work based on architectural design drawings. They are a combination of encaustic and parts formed by computer aided machining devices. Combining one of the oldest techniques and one of the newest she has executed a composition that bridges the gap between sculpture and painting and softens the technicality of the medium and the subject.

Cheryl Goldsleger   Higher Secondary School II for Girls, Chandigarh, India   Encaustic and CNC formed resin

Next Tamara de Limpicka, the epitome of Art Deco. Enough said.

Tamara de Limpicka   Saint Moritz   Oil on canvas

Tamara de Limpicka   Portrait of Arlette Boucard   Oil on canvas

Audrey Flack's airbrushed works on canvas are some of the finest examples of photo-realistic work from the 1970's.

Audrey Flack   Golden Banana Split Sundae  Acrylic on canvas

Finally a detail from a work by Marilyn Minter.

A detail of a painting by Marilyn Minter.

Have a lovely Tuesday evening.

Brad

Details

As I stated in a recent post, I am trying to find some focus in my work, trying to narrow what I am doing to raise my output and not be all over the place. I consider what is best about my work is my brushwork and my color selection. To this end I am planning work that will let me explore these affects. I have assembled some details from work that I have posted for this reason.

The brushwork in the pepper executed in the tempera painting above is a style that I find quite natural. It is a more sculptural style in that I push the paint around and shape it like clay. This suites my A.D.D. more than a more considered style.

 

Oils I treat a bit differently in that there is an under-painting but the fat is laid on in a more sculptural manner.

The tempera painting here is another example of defining the volume by pushing the paint around, mixing it on the canvas.

And again an oil with a lean under-painting then, laying the paint over to add a sculptural sensibility to the garment. Over all else the beauty of the paint itself.

I would like to know how you focus your work, writers and artists. How do you decide what is valuable to focus on? How do you go about discovering the aspects of your work that is exceptional but maybe you don't realize yourself. 

I imagine that working in a community of artists that you can consult on a continual basis helps greatly with this, but until I can surround myself with such I will have to struggle on and beg your indulgences my friends.

Have a fruitful and happy Monday.

Brad  

Friday Afternoon

Odds and ends for a Friday afternoon. First a drawing so there is some artwork.

Then a photograph. This is the ruin of a house on Jekyll Island. The construction is a local variety of construction called 'Tabby.' It is a type of concrete made of shells and lime made from burning shells. Oh, how I would like to be at Jekyll this weekend.

The movie State of Play opens this weekend and seems from the trailers to be a run of the mill conspiracy thriller and then they up the ante with Helen Mirren. What are you going to do? A little clip from 1980. No tittering or reading something into it.

Julita was kind enough to mention my blog in her writing so, for her I am adding a piece by sculptor David smith that inspired me to paint with spray paint.

Have a good Friday evening.

Brad

My Little Town.

A quick post today of a perspective drawing of the north side of the Dahlonega Square. Dahlonega is a tourist town with a great deal of history, primarily the gold rush of the eighteen thirties. There is also minor history such as Bill Miner, the old west train robber portrayed in the movie The Grey Fox was captured here in the Dahlonega Hotel.

The following is from the Dahlonega Bluegrass Festival. The musicians are playing on the square.

Have a lovely Thursday.

Brad