Push Push

It's been a good week. I've been spending my studio time wisely, but I need to be writing more. Seems like I when I have the time to write I never feel like it (read as: tired, uninspired, inebriated). I need to carry over my studio work ethic into my writing. I never was much of a writer to begin with so it's been hard at times keeping up a good momentum/schedule. But this has become important not just to me but to my work as well. Seems like it's less real if I don't write about it now.

I got great news yesterday. I've made it as a finalist for the Art EMC contest that EMC Insurance holds yearly. I think it's a great project and not just because I made it. The company purchases work from the finalists and those pieces go on display in the company's buildings. I think the businesses that populate our city would do well to invest more in local/regional Art instead of spending money on some print from Art.com or something like that. Too many times I've visited office buildings only to see the same crap on the walls. A shame really when there's a wealth of great art right here in our back yard.

Which segues into my work on the DSM Art Festival Mural Project. I submitted a pack of images last week. Met with my contact from the DSM Art Center and went over some notes a couple of days later. I'm back to the drawing board and have been plugging away at charcoal/sharpie composition studies and have moved into working with some oil/chalk pastels for color studies. I'll start posting images from that when we've landed on a final, approved image (hint: if you're on FaceBook friend me and you'll get to see all of my developmental work thus far!)
Until then I'll leave you with some pics from the studio...
Meet my palette (top). It's heavy with paint and more than a little worn. Broken in like a pair of good shoes.
And here's me in the depths of a painting fugue. I don't usually post pics of myself because... well, I'm not all that fond of the photos I take, but in this case I'd set up a camera to catch my work in progress with a series of timed shots. I caught myself a couple of times and thought I'd share. When I'm painting, for some reason, I compulsively run my hands through my hair, close my eyes, and fidget a lot. My hair has a tendency to stick out in all directions anyway when left to its own devices, but the compulsive hair-tugging doesn't help. By the end of the night I've got this great Wolverine-thing going on. I'm pretty sure I scared the little one with it last week. Good times.

Wishing you all a good week.


Cheers,

R