Work song.

Martha Miller was kind enough to share a bit of the music that she listens to while creating her wonderful work so, I thought I would follow suit and post something that get my creative juices flowing. Also, it's a rainy day here.




Enjoy.

Brad

Art Book

As I have said before, I decided at the age of 51 on a course of pursuing a college degree. Not that I haven't been working on one over the years, I just didn't settle in for the long haul previously. I stayed with it this time, seven years. I think some of the students that came and went thought I was just part of the landscape. I will write more about my time at school in future posts. I am posting today an art book that was an assignment in a two dimensional design class. It is an accordion book. The cover is gold leaf on Canson paper. The pages are cut outs glued to Bristol. I based it on William Blakes, Tyger.

Now, to the computer for a few hours of grinding away in Cad, drawing sections and plans. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Brad

Male Nude

A drawing of a figure in charcoal on newsprint.

And, an airbrush watercolor sketch based on it.

I don't draw enough. I find that drawings that I do and put away for a while become resource material for my other work and the practice should be pursued. I really liked drawing in a class setting with a model. I've thought about starting a monthly figure drawing Salon and inviting local artists to join me for drawing and some chat, charging  a fee to pay the model but, it seems like a lot of work for a little bit of drawing time. I'm not much for working in a sketchbook; I like to do it but can't seem to make a habit of it. I'm working on some drafting now; in Cad and am planning some more pieces in my sprayed series. (See Windprayer and Crossroad) I'm also working on plates for engravings and hopefully with the weather improving I will be able to move along with those projects.

Brad

Temperance

On a day when I am having trouble uploading files to Blogger, I will make a short post with a drawing.

Brad

Manhattan

This is a portrait that I executed in tempera (poster paint). The background is a transfer of the Martian landscape (Marscape?) transfered via acrylic medium skin. The tempera is glazed with oil.

Brad

Car Sleeping

A linocut print about life under duress. Sometimes life forces us to live in manners that we don't want to have happen to us. A question for artistic research, 'Do we have a concept of what a life should be? And, as we get older do we find ourselves farther and farther from that concept and surprised by how absurdly different life really is.

Just asking.

Brad

Harbingers

We are nearing spring, I can tell because here is the first jonaquil.

The forsythia is also getting into the act too.

For you who are looking at snow and cold I'm sure we will have more cold weather here but, take heart, spring is on the way.

Brad

Linocut Print

This is a print I did based on my Great-Great Grandpa, Santafee Gailey. I tried to capture the flavor of prints found in books when I was a kid in the nineteen fifties.

My Grandpa Santafee was a circuit riding Methodist Preacher. He would ride his mule through the Appalachian mountains of North Georgia to his various churches. He served in the Army of Tennessee, CSA, Brown's Boys, later the 43rd Georgia Volunteers. The 43rd defended Vicksburg and was decimated at Baker's Creek after which there weren't enough left for a brigage and they were combined with the 40th . After Vicksburg they returned to Tennessee to defend Chattanooga and then Atlanta. They fought a holding action to Jonesboro, Ga, the home of the fictional Tara, and then withdrew into the Carolinas.

I don't know much about his travels as a circuit preacher but would like to study the church minutes of the congregations on his circuit. By far the more interesting facet of his life.

Bradley

Some Fun

Here's something fun for a Tuesday.



I haven't thought about this movie for quite a while but I added it to my favorite list and thought I'd add this clip for a diversion. Enjoy.

Brad

New Paintings

Two paintings I finished this past week. They are sprayed, Krylon on Arches Cover with oil over-painting, 11x14. The first image, a reworking of this by now familiar image, is Wind Prayer.

The second painting is Crossroad, and has been selected for a gallery exhibition. The crossroads, holy of holies for us drifters and wanderers. Where you can go to find God, or Satan, or yourself. Where all decisions can be made, to go right , left, your own way or take the road back home.

I'm playing with a compositional style I have found in Impressionist paintings of an image done in a duotone style with great splashes of bold color brushed over with some gusto. Spraying in cool temperatures led to some faults in the paint but I kept them as part of the composition.

Brad 

My pal Scooter

This my pal Scooter, or 'Scoot' for short. He's fourteen years old, is pretty good health even though the arthritis is beginning to slow him a little and the cataracts have diminished his night vision some. This is he and his mom enjoying a moment at Dick's Creek on a bike riding trip.

I have been working at home the past few years and it seems that he is always close by, hanging out with me as I work. We take three or four walks a day though as we get older they get shorter.
Saturday is his day. Mom and dad are both home and he can really relax knowing everyone important to him is close at hand. It's nine AM, we got up at seven and went out, he ate a bite and went back to bed and is still there until he will get up a little later and survey the day to decide where he will nap.

The weather is nice here, warm and sunny and Scoot feels good, like a puppy.

Brad

Spring fever

It's a beautiful day here today, gives one a bit of spring fever. I thought I would continue the mood with some warm weather photos. the first is the view across Charlotte Bay on our way to Cabbage Key a resort near Captiva Island that is accessible only by boat.

Having a drink at the resort at Cabbage Key. Yes, that's money, sign your name, a sentiment and where you are from; staple it to the wall.

Laura relaxing in the pool at my brother-in-law's house in Punta Gorda.

We drive down to Punta Gorda, spend a few days, then stop at Jekyll Island for some bicycling on the way back. We also sometimes stop over at Savannah.

The river and marsh at Jekyll Island near the landing at the Jekyll Island Club. The Jekyll Island Club is the cluster of homes built by the American elite such as the Rockerfellers, Carnegies, etc. The homes are preserved for tours and the area is developed as a park and resort with the clubhouse refurbished and functioning as a hotel.

Those of you who are snowbound, you have my sympathy. I myself am in the sunshine and warm, dreaming of Summer.

Brad

Counterpoint to Wolf

Wolf, Canis Lupus, was executed in a class I took on Scientific Illustration. As I have stated before I decided to get a degree at fifty, and did. The class was a priviledge. The local university has an anatomy lab for the use of the nursing school and for a while the art department offered an emphasis in SI. Thus, we were able to use the cadavers for drawings, pretty cool. This wolf is executed on acetate, painted on the back and detailed with a pen on the front with liquid acrylic paint. The background is on Yupo and attached by hinges. Pardon the lettering, there was a short deadline and I had no press-on letters. The two wolves, this and the abstract wolf from my previous post were both parts of the same assignment. I am planning at a future date to work more in the style of the abstract wolf because of my interest in aboriginal and prehistoric art.

If anyone is interested I will relate from time to time some of my impressions of being a fifty plus university student; let me know in the comments.

Brad

Something fun on Monday.

Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

1967

A movie's opening titles, fun for a Monday. I checked and of the five bloggers that had this movie listed in their favorites I'm the only one outside the UK. Probably, one of the few that remembers it in the US, reckon? But I did find this on YouTube. It's quintessential 'Sixties. For you who missed the Sixties, I'm sorry. I was a teenager, a true Boomer. And when I say the 'Sixties, I mean what I consider the Sixties that everyone refers to as the Sixties, beginning in 1963 with the Beatles and ending with Jimmy Carter in 1976.

The clip is great fun. The music by Steve Winwood and Traffic. The movie has a great sound track from Traffic and The Spencer Davis Group. It is also the first movie in which I remember seeing Judy Geeson.

Brad