Gray Matter/Red Meat

I started trying out Acrylics, with VERY mixed results. I’ve been using cheap paint and worse “canvas”. By canvas, I’ve been painting on “upcycled” packing materials: Like cardboard and worse. I’ve made my own faux “Gesso” with leftover acrylic house paint, plaster of Paris & white glue...which kinda works. Note: Allegedly, Rothko used house paint; maybe/maybe not. This little gem kinda delaminated WHILE I was painting it. Great! I think when it is fully dry it will get flat again. I have an aversion to using anything “valuable” for my crappy little hobbies. I’m very NOT precious about what I make: I like process more than finished product, and that be a good thing since the bin is always an option for “gallery space” when things go really wrong. Which happens a good bit. Cronk! [ ˈkräŋk, ˈkrȯŋk \ plural -s Definition of cronk: a hoarse croak (as of a raven) or honk (as of a wild goose) ] 

Corona McSkullface

Surface embellishment: Yet another variation on the amazingly useful Blanket Stitch, aka: Buttonhole Stitch. Sewing and embroidery is a weird offshoot of my fascination with knots, lashing and ropes....like survival stuff! Survival Embroidery? WTF! It turns out to be very handy. News Bulletin: This is stitch is on a rayon velvet  sample swatch that was laying around. Now I know why natural fiber velvet like cotton, silk & mohair is so much hardier. The rayon is shiny & pretty, but kinda ‘crunchy’ and fragile so it breaks down easily: Basically 100% decorative, just so you know!   

Bamboo Joinery: I grow’d it and I lashed it. Thanks again, Youtube! I have an endless supply of bamboo culms [Bambusa oldhamii, known as giant timber bamboo or Oldham's bamboo] growing in my yard. One does need a saw, drill and some drill bits...some holes to fish the twine through...and twine, duh. Bamboo is actually REALLY easy to drill. The next morning, I made a prettier, more symmetrical one...which you can see a bit of wet Elmer’s glue still drying. Glue is “extra credit” and not really necessary, but it holds everything in place...sorta like hairspray now that I think of it. There is a smaller, unseen  piece of bamboo stuck through a drilled hole in the uncut piece...then the 2 cross pieces just slide over it, and are lashed down. The “T” shaped one has a “Fish Mouth”...my half ass version thereof...and a bamboo “thru post” to secure tensioned lashing. I kept adding stuff so I’d guess you’d say it’s “over-lashed”, but I LOVE knots, lashing and ropes in general, so “overlashed” is a bit “overkill” I suppose, but I like seeing how things go together. Now a mo’better fish mouth, with “dowels”...actually more like twigs from the plum trees. And some common whipping to tighten the thing up. And then, a hybrid with whole bunch of bamboo connections and kooky lashings I scavenged off the intrernetz.

Mitred Box with tenons at corners: Things Youtube showed me I can do with that table saw and old wood in the garage. Who knew?

Wally liked this seascape watercolor I painted, so it was his. He had it pinned to his bulletin board at work, so I had him bring it home and made frame for it out of old (like REALLY old)  10″ wide heart redwood boards...used for fences in the 1940s...which my neighbor was tossing. As a native Californian I’ve had a lifelong respect the Redwood tree, for so many reasons. Not to be all “namaste” about it, but I think they should be respected, and if one gets some of the wood donated by these trees, it needs to be well used. And...I have about 30 of these boards in my garage!  I bought the glass at Lowe’s for $2, and the already cut (yeah!) matte was free scrap because it was probably somebody else’s mistake. Namaste! ;-)

More Subtractive Graphite Sketching: General’s Kimberly 6B stick, rubbed in Graphite Dust form lead pointer, Design Ebony Jet Black Extra Smooth, chamois, electric eraser...or whatever seems handy.

This particular drawing would probably be more effective with harder charcoal. I was trying out some mystery pencils, the green and grey paper wrapped charcoal pencils, and THEY are soft. The charcoal is extremely fragile. I think the best combo is start with a “hard’ (HB) charcoal, the go up to 2B or 4B for the very darkest blacks...and DO NOT BRUSH THE DUST AWAY, no matter how delicate the brush. Any brushing creates a “wash” effect...which is good to know about and may be useful, but not for an “unblended” drawing. OK for subratives. Hmmm.  

Gel Pen, Papaver Orientale, something new...added: pastel + CP. I gotta figure out how to keep the paper from looking a mess, other than “matting” it with Chinese Newspaper. Even though I like Chinese Newspaper from an arty/crafty standpoint. Hmmm

Sketch Bearded Iris w/Pentel Energel BL110 1.0, and late, Detailed Iris with Gel & CP wash 

Bearded Iris (Subtractive) Graphite on 100 LB Bristol Vellum Strathmore 6″ x 6″, HB & 6B pencils

Vintage Pencils: So I’m going down the typical internet rabbit hole...about Soy Sauce, duh...(like “How do they make it...”History of...”and on...”and on) so I draw me an old soy sauce barrel (bucket?) with the pencils I just found at the 2nd hand store: American Pencil Co New York - Venus - Drawing, 2 6Bs & 1 5B.  So I’m thinking...THIS pencil is AWESOME!!!!! I gotta get me more!!!! So I google, and I find some....in the Smithsonian. OK, “Awesome Pencil” is a lot older than me....a lot....and still awesome! You can get really black...with almost NO shine. WTF???

Shocking! Another Bearded Iris. CP + Watercolor...conte crayon highlights.

“Made-up” Pinecones: One in Burnt Unber and Black ink and one real, and one more in Charcoal/Vine Charcoal & white conte crayon, on El Cheapo green (vintage) rough (soft) construction paper [like the kind they used to cut up and paste into Christmas chain garland in elementary school, so probably NOT ‘archival’ but it does have a lot of tooth! Ha!] Made-up means: “from memory”. I try to learn to draw real things...study what makes them look like they do, then draw them “made-up” and see if I can to look somewhat like the real thing. Practice-Practice-Practice

Iris Pastel on Del’Arte Tinted Paper...then later, another Iris on a scrap of Bienfang Watercolor 90 LB paper, started with Colored Pencil sketch, then Watercolor washes, then finished with colored pencil. The great thing about Irises is that they come in so many colors so they seem like the perfect subject for mixed media trial and error.And later still: Another! I tinted the same WC paper with acrylic (Purple, very watered down) then pastels: Maybe I should sketchy-paint the entire background (at least the leaves and crap)  with WCs then pastel over the whole mess? Pastel will usually cover anything behind them...except sometimes other pastels. The leaves look kinda sucky and it’s hard to do foreground/background with pastels: They are so soft and easily mush together. I think the subject (flower) should be prominent. Hmmm