Flake.

So. Another month almost over, and all kinds of art going on.

My main focus, understandably, is the Metal Flake series. At the moment there are 11 of them in various stages of completion:

The four along the top are done; three of them sold. All kinds of big plans in store for the ones on the bottom. Hints: the red one will be titled "Cherry Bomb", the middle one "Power Trio".

And of course, "Bubblegum Rock" is finished:

And that's where it all stands at the moment. Should be prepping wood panels for four more of these in the next day or so. I'm starting to run out of room for them.

Shaggin'.

Wanted to share a rough sketch I did yesterday. As an impressionable young man in the late 1970s, I loved custom vans. Chopped tops, metalflake, shag-carpeted interiors - pure 70s eye candy. And while the fad didn't last long, it never really went away, either. It's still an unfulfilled goal of mine to own a shaggin' wagon someday.

(An aside: I remember, back in the day, my Uncle Geoff first using the term "Shaggin' Wagon" in front of me. I drew a van with that name displayed rather prominently on the side, and promptly got in shit from my parents. I had no idea that "shaggin'" was a euphemism.)

Anyhow, an online friend who's seen a lot of my automotive work contacted me about a possible commission - her husband owns a Dodge van he's in the process of customizing, and she thought a picture of it would be a nice gift. So yesterday I sat down to do a quick thumbnail of it, but I got a bit carried away:

Hope she agrees to go ahead with this. I'm pretty psyched now.

Artists and Social Media.

So hey, I wrote a little guest-blog thing for Lori McNee's Fine Art & Tips website.

Five Hundred Days. Or, Halfway There.

Well, today was an auspicious occasion - my 500th consecutive day of drawing and/or painting. I worked on ten paintings today to mark the event.

Here's the scene early in the day, before the paint started to fly:

A bit more glazing, more Liquid Mirror and more black lava gel, and the metalflake paintings started to look more like this:

(Still a ways to go yet, of course. And I also laid the base coats for three more of these babies. They still look kinda boring at this point, though.)

Then I got to work on the hot pink metalflake triptych you might've seen recently - my tribute to bubblegum rock. Here's a rough idea of what it'll look like:

After that, I started the process of adding that linework to the actual painting. The middle panel of the three has just been applied:

Hoping to finish this one in the next couple days. By now the masking/painting process for these is fairly simple and uneventful.

And that was my 500th day. What'd you do today?

Hello Again.

So here we are with another installment of "what I'm working on lately." Been working my ass off the past couple weeks (ah, the life of a freelancer), but the art is still happening. Don't think I could stop now if I tried, to be honest.

What's also been occupying my time, of course, is the Game. Or hockey, as you non-Canadians might know it. The Canucks have been having quite an action-packed time of it, so in honour of their recent success, I've done this piece:

That's gonna be printed on metallic paper, 24x20 inches. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I've also got a handful of new pieces underway - three that'll use the acrylic transfer method, and three more metalflake paintings. Trying to use a lot more bold, over-the-top colour these days:

In other news, Sunday will be day 500 of the 1000 Days Project. Still dunno what I'm gonna do that day, but obviously it needs to be something big. Possibly a pinup girl - haven't drawn any cheesecake in a looong time.

Oh, and I should be starting on a brand-new commission any day now. Key words: shaggin' wagon.

The Big Show and Other Stories.

Just a quick report: the show with Mojave was a smashing success. Sold all but one of the pieces I had for sale, and sold them in the first half hour or so. Had a nice talk with the owner, and it looks like I'll be putting more art up for display/sale there in the near future. And I still want to put on a full-fledged gallery-type show before the end of the summer, and it should be possible to book the room we used last weekend for that very purpose.

Based on the responses I've been getting to my art lately, I want to explore three very specific directions for my painting. To that end I started six new paintings today, though there's not really anything to show at the moment.

I also ponied up the hundred bucks to buy a platinum membership at Imagekind. That gives me added galleries, a custom storefront (which I'm still tweaking), and most importantly a lot more info on sales - detailed figures, and info on where the buyers are and what they bought. Turns out I've made a pretty decent chunk of cash over the last year and a half with Imagekind.

I'm pretty pleased with Redbubble, too. I've recently added t-shirts to my online merchandise, and those are slowly starting to move. Thinking about postcards next.

There's probably more stuff I'm forgetting, but it's late. So I'll just leave you with this recently-completed commission:

Bret
Vancouver, BC
May, 2011

P.S. Special thanks to Lisa & Paul, Dan Udey, Susan Burzynski and Mario Loubert.