Quickly...

I know it's not much but there is big news coming from Paintmonkey Studios very soon. I can't divulge much but it does involve this little guy from the last post.



I've also figured out how to clean up a little in Photoshop and Illustrator. More to come soon!

It's A Planning Stages Kind of Month...

So I've got LOTS of sketches but not much finished product. Here's a couple of practice pages I did from my trip tot he zoo in preparation for my upcoming children's book project...





And here's a little guy I designed for work...(even though I know I will not be paid for this one in any way)...



Sometimes you just have to keep giving YOURSELF work to keep the old art chops up.

Art Collecting

Yet again, I did not get anything finished for my update. The distractions of a full time job...oh well. HOWEVER...I get to discuss one of my favorite things today which is collecting of the art.

Our lesson today is always be on the lookout for art. Keep an eye open just in case. You never know when something may pop up. On Friday, I had to go to Franklin, NC to attend a gem and mineral wholesale show for work. Most of the day is full of schlepping rocks and fossils from their tent to our van. The latter part of the day is the rest of our party going through all the jewelry vendors. This is NOT the part for me, so I kind of wandered from table to table looking for anything that caught my eye. Lo and behold, there WAS something.

At this one guy's table were a collection of old prints and lithographs. As I am sifting through them, he says "oh, those that are all stuck in that bag are 4 dollars apiece". I grabbed the bag and opened it and I came out with a handful of mostly uninspiring prints of the old book illustrating variety. Not really my cup of tea. But I found a few that I really did like. And for 4 bucks a pop, why not?

This one was my least favorite but I still found something intangibly appealing.




I liked how detailed the hair and the figure are contrasted with the slap-dash nature of the alms bowl.




Who WOULDN'T like an engraved musketeer? (Or whatever this next guy is.) He does have the only name I recognize readily though. At the bottom it states this is a Franz Hals print.




I enjoyed this next one because of the looseness of the engraving style but also because it is A) a really neat example of the artist starting with one idea and changing his mind mid-engraving or B) a haunted print. Look on the wall behind the figure and you can see ghostly images start to come out of the lines. Super creepy and I love it!



And finally here is my favorite one. I wonder why?




My main point today is this: go out and find yourself some art. Old or new. Prints, painting, sculptures. Don't buy something because you think it will be "valuable" one day. The only way art is valuable is if it speaks to your soul and sensibilities. Otherwise it's just crap on the wall. Enjoy!