Done Traveling...

My epic European bicycle tour is done and I've been back in the States for a few months now. With trying to acclimate, find work, and settling into the new home, my creative flow has suffered. Hoping to get back on the horse soon. In the meantime, here is the finished painting I did for my good friend Brian for Christmas last year

Nametags

calligraphy, one of my earliest loves

Acrylic on wood...in process

The continuing work on the painting in my last post. Eventually, the story will be a large tattoo on her back. I'm still getting the hang of Acrylics, as gouache is my medium of choice...




Above photo for perspective on the size 12x12. The headdress has been a bitch with details

A little some some...

My buddy Brian has a tattoo idea based off the story of Phalaris, with the noted quote "the due reward of your wondrous art: let the music-master be the first to play." Basically it's a lovely bedtime story about a torture device for burning people alive in a giant bull, and their wails are transformed through piping to sound like music to the non crispified spectators.

So this story, albeit morbid, is by my standards, pretty dope. I'm attempting to paint a lady with a bull headdress, and a large back piece tattoo depicting the scene of the story. Fingers crossed I can do it justice, and find the motivation to work on it

(messy desk, with hodgepodge projects and a cup of Belladonna for good measure)

Wedding portraits, the Bridial edition

Mixed media, pen, color pencil, graphite. My drawings always border on sloppy, I've never been one for ultra smooth lines or perfect blending, but I do what I can. I could never be a tattoo artist, not having the ability to erase my lines would kill me

I'm pretty happy with the one of Trish, but drawing women are more my speed...


I spent the same amount of time on Kyle's as I did on hers, but I am just no good at drawing dudes, and as such, he looks less than complete.


and here they are framed.

The bride is a good friend of mine, having known her from the So Cal days, and then living with her while in Seattle. She's a good example of taping into your friends for resources, and as such, she's got a great organizer(Anna), a custom pastor(Brian), and custom hair pieces, and bouquet.

The one on the left is the original design for her. The one on the right is a spare I quickly whipped up last minute as a back up...just in case.

I initially found a link to a DIY brooch bouquet, and found it very helpful, but for the sake of anyone interested in doing one themselves, here's some extra tips:
1. Start buying brooches far in advance to get enough to do a sizable bouquet
2. This shits get heavy. That's not a tip, but still a valuable fact
3. 22 gauge wire, and the paper floral tape worked best
4. Silk or fake flowers are great for filler underneath and between the brooches. However, since the bride was on a budget, and I couldn't find a fake flower I liked, I made all the rosettes from ribbon. Cost was less than$10 for 3 spools of satin ribbon
5. Patience, you'll need a load of it
6. Crystal beads add a nice added touch of sparkle
7. I recommend sewing the ribbon on the handle in place to ensure no slippage or unraveling

So, in all, I put a good amount of hours in that fucker, but in all honesty, it was fun and I'm extremely happy with it. I would do it again if someone wanted one, but I would charge a shit ton of money-not lying; like $300-400 at least.

Wedding portrait-Bride

working on this little number for a good friend. The pencil portion is almost done, and I will go over it with some hints of water color shading and India Ink the back ground black. Should be done tonight-fingers crossed.

Hoping to jam on the Groom's portrait tonight as well.

Leather work progress

Started working on the leather that will become the top tube protector on my bicycle rebuild. I am way out of practice, but I'm remember how fun it is to do art on dead skin