Mid-Week #11: An Odd Assemblage

So this week I had several thoughts on what to show for the mid-week post.  I finally decided to not decide and include a little of all of it. There's a bit of wire, a boredom sketch, and a work-in-progress.
First up: the wire-work. So there's a very short back story for this one. Like most great stories, it starts with a trip to the grocery store.  After doing the shopping I was waiting in line for the self-checkout.  While waiting in the aforementioned line I spotted something shiny on the floor.  If I see something shiny, I investigate. In this way I am much like a toddler...or maybe a raccoon. Either way, I picked up the object and found it to be a silver plastic-coated twist-tie. I removed the plastic and began to work the wire into shape. Since the wire was only a couple of inches long, this process was quite short. What emerged was the first ever MicroZeke! In case you have no idea what that is, it's a tiny version of this guy. So when I got home I took some pictures with a penny for size reference. Here they are.

Here's the boredom sketch.  As you can see it's a balloon with jagged sharp teeth and a survival knife.  I thought "How could a balloon be in any way threatening?" Question answered.  I also gave it the gift of speech to imply some degree of intelligence. If it has the ability to think it could potentially have malevolent intent. Yeah...that's about it...

 As an artist I am begrudged to show any unfinished work, but I thought posting this one might encourage me to go ahead and finish it. It's a large humanoid bat creature that popped into my head (or should I say popped out of my head) while I was on a break at work one day.  I will definitely post the final product at some point in the (hopefully near) future. Who knows? Maybe this will start off a new series of Works-in-Progress Wednesdays to give you an idea of the process that goes into making a finished drawing.

There's another week inside my mind.  It may be a place of chaos, but it's my chaos.  More paintings are coming Sunday, so check back then.  Also, my thoughts and prayers also go out to those affected by Hurricane Isaac as it moves across the Gulf Coast. Stay safe everybody, no matter where you are and of course...

Stay creative,

AH!

The Menagerie Amasses

It's the beginning of the week again (sort of), so in case yours is off to a bad start (or not) here are a couple of animal paintings to brighten your day.

First up is a monkey.  Usually I'd be more specific with the monkey's species name, but for the life of me I can't remember what this one is.  I worked from a photograph on this, so I know it is an actual species... Anyway, I painted it because I like monkeys.  Add to that the fact that for some reason this particularly bizarre little monkey was chewing on a piece of volcanic glass, and it was practically screaming (to me at least) to be painted. Some day I'll find just the right place in my house to hang this one. Since he's apparently hungry enough to eat volcanic glass, maybe over the kitchen table would be appropriate. Definitely not the bathroom, though. I don't think anyone would want to have a wide-eyed monkey staring at them as they step out of the shower. Well, maybe some people...weirdos...

This next little guy is a scarlet ibis.  I tried a different painting technique than I usually use on this.  As opposed to most paintings where I start with a solid white canvas, on this one I painted the whole canvas black first (for other examples of this method, run an Google image search for "velvet Elvis").  The desired effect (which was achieved) was to give the ibis a stronger sense of chiaroscuro, or light and dark and, in doing so, gives the subject a stronger sense of three-dimensionality. A similar effect could have been achieved by using the "standard " method and painting tones and shades of the bird's natural bright scarlet by adding white, black, or even small amounts of green paint to it while mixing. That method, however, can easily make vibrant red into muddy pinks and dull reds if not done correctly.

There you have it, Sund...er...Monday's post. Hopefully I'll be able to get back onto some kind of normal posting schedule this week.  Don't forget: Comments are always greatly appreciated. Let me know what you think about my art and/or blog.
Stay creative,
AH!

Mid-Week #10: An Epic Battle... of Decoupage!

So for this mid-week post I decided to share some of my art of a different medium.  These are a pair of decoupage pictures. They aren't traditional decoupage, since I didn't use any complete pictures instead opting to use the pictures of textures and colors to form new pictures.  These started as an assignment for a mixed-media class in college. I had never done any decoupage before this, but took to it like a duck takes to water...or like a fish takes to swimming...or like a bull takes to trampling through the streets of Pamplona, Spain...anyway, you get the idea. I began with the wolf while in class, and enjoyed that so much that I came home and started the lion.  I threw in individual images and detail close-ups of the faces to give a better idea of what sort of texture images form the animals and background.

Well, as you probably noticed, I also made a few cosmetic changes to the blog this week. The biggest of these being the addition of a new header.  As time goes by, I'm going to try to update the logo using the styles of some of the artists that inspire me. After going through many different variations, I settled (with a little help from a couple of friends) on the design below.  The design is a tribute to the late, great Jack Kirby who co-created such characters as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and the X-Men, among others. His artistic style is among my all-time favorites. The background of the caption bubble is my attempt at replicating one of his most famous techniques known as the Kirby krackle (one of the few times I'm okay with a word being intentionally misspelled).

I can only hope that my art will some day be even one-millionth of the inspiration to others that Mr. Kirby's art is to me and artists worldwide. Until Sunday...

Stay creative,

AH!

Woohoo! Fall's Just Around the Corner!

So, after a crazy week, I've come to the painful realization that I simply won't be able to post every Sunday and Wednesday. That being said, I vow to make every effort to miss as few of those days as possible.  I have grown to enjoy this whole blogging process quite a lot since I started and miss it when I don't get a chance to post. Anyway, without further ado, here is the Sunday post.

Since I'm posting paintings for a few weeks, I thought some simple landscapes would be a good starting point. Most of the paintings I'll post in the coming weeks were painted during my time in college, but hopefully as time progresses, I'll produce even more to share with you.

These are both landscapes painted from photographs of Arkansas.  From very early childhood my family has taken camping vacations in various places throughout the southern United States.  Arkansas, specifically the Albert Pike Recreational Area in the Ouachita National Forest, has always been a family favorite spot. The period at the beginning of fall, when the leaves are just starting to turn is a nature-loving artist's dream come true.  Between these two paintings, I'm a bit partial to the first one. It features one of the more shallow spots in the Little Missouri River. Artistically, I like the way that the background trees going up the side of the mountain turned out. It was my first attempt at aerial or atmospheric perspective, where the contrast between the landscape features decreases as the distance from the observer increases. That's all just a kind of fancy way of saying that the stuff that's far away is less clear than the stuff that's close up. I opted for less detail and more of an abstract take for this one, almost going to the point of being impressionistic.

 This next one is of one of the many winding mountain roads that lead to and through the Ouachita National Forest.  I went even more abstract with this one, which gives it less depth. I also used more strong fall colors that really illicit great childhood memories for me. While the painting above gives a morning or early in the day feeling, this one has more of an afternoon or early evening feel. Were I to paint it again I would probably include a bit more tree shadow on the road, but given the more abstract overall feel of it, I guess they aren't that missed.

Well, there you go. There will of course be more paintings next week, so stay tuned for that. Wednesday, I'll try to get my regular post up, but barring any unforeseen obstacles I will be debuting the new blog page header. I hope you're enjoying the painting posts so far. Since I haven't mentioned it in a while, feel free to post any comments or suggestions in the section below, or send them to me by email. Hope you all have a terrific week! See you (figuratively speaking...er...typing) Wednesday.
Stay creative,
AH!

My Apologies for the Slight Delay

Due to a pretty crazy day today, and likely much of the same tomorrow, the usual Wednesday post will probably go up either late tomorrow or sometime Friday evening... or maybe Saturday... or maybe I'll count this mid-week post a loss. Hmmm... Whichever it ends up being, thanks in advance for your patience.
-AH!

Here Come the Paintings!

Wow! Those posts last week were the best EVER, right?!...
Wait...don't tell me the space aliens got to them again! Greedy aliens. It's so frustrating when they do that. I guess I'll post them again this week so you all can see them too.
So here are a few paintings I was commissioned to do by a friend at church. They aren't really indicative of my normal style, but they are the only three that I've had a chance to get good pictures of. She basically gave me only 3 criteria to fulfill. First, she wanted a specific color set to go with her furniture and other decor. Second, she had a series of words to be included (specifically the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit as described in Paul's Letter to the Galatians chapter 5 verses 22-23 in the Christian Bible). And finally, I was to include my own interpretations of nine eastern Asian inspired images that she had chosen. I don't by any means profess to be an expert when it comes to the creation of objective abstract art. That being established, I finally finished the triptych and she liked it, so I suppose I accomplished my mission. Here they are, both individually and in what I consider to be their optimal wall arrangement.
As a side note, I feel like it's worth pointing out that regardless of your personal beliefs, if we all took on even some of these nine traits it would be beneficial to mankind as a whole. Our world has quite enough negativity, but could easily stand to be a little more patient, gentle, kind, loving, etc,.

There you have them, hopefully safe from extraterrestrial interference this time.  As usual (well usually, as usual) check back Wednesday to see what's else I've got in store for your viewing enjoyment.  Until then, let's all make this oft-too-crazy world we live in a happier place any way we can. And of course...
Stay creative,
AH!

Mid-Week #9: Wired Wednesday Lucky 7

Welcome to what may or may not be the final Wired Wednesday for a while! Since I'm so late posting and sharing masks again, I might as well go with Theatrical Thursday.  If only science had been able to grasp the elusive secret to faster than light travel, I might even have been able to post it Wednesday night on Thursday morning...Moving on...

First up is a mask that I'm hesitant to call complete.  It is loosely based on Balinese masks of the lion-like king of spirits, Barong, the leader of the forces of good.  I really like the extremely expressive masks of both Barong and his evil nemesis Rangda (a mask of whom will also be constructed at some point).  They are recognizable by their exaggerated eyes and mouths.  I will likely add more of a frame to this eventually and give it a nice mane and beard, also made of wire, of course.

 Next is a more Egyptian inspired mask. In case you've missed the context clues throughout my blog, I enjoy the mythologies of various cultures throughout the world.  This, as I said, is a mask of any of the variety of hawk or falcon headed gods of ancient Egypt.  Like the Barong mask above, I will probably add more to this one in the future, but for now I'm happy with it hanging on my wall as it is. I really like the way the feathers turned out in this one. While ideally I could have a three-dimensional image you could rotate to see all the different angles, you at least can get a better view of the feathers from the profile shot I also included.

Finally is one that has a much less mythological inspiration.  It's a goat.  I suppose one could argue that there are several instances of goats in various world mythologies, but this is your basic run-of-the-mill goat. I think goats get a bad reputation from their (admittedly creepy) horizontal slit pupils. In fact, they share that genetic trait with deer, cattle, most horses, and many sheep species all of which benefit with greater peripheral depth perception. The primary difference being that goats have lighter colored irises, so the strange shape stands out more.  You may be thinking "None of that has to do with art or wire," but remember that any artistic reproduction you make with the desire to accurately depict reality must begin with close observation of the aforementioned reality.  Plus, creepy factor aside, their eyes look kind of cool.

Thus ends (maybe) the saga that has been Wired Wednesday. Changes lie ahead for the Hey Mr. H! blog. Starting Sunday, the first of the week posts will now periodically be featuring some of my paintings, so be sure to check back in for that. And don't forget, if you like what you see on this or any other post, share it with a friend. Blogger supports a variety of social media (twitter, Facebook, etc.,) In any case, I hope you have a wonder-filled second half of the week. Until next time.

Stay creative,

AH!