Big Art Weekend.

It's finally summer here in the GVRD*. And what better way to spend a summer weekend than being immersed in art?

Friday night, bring a proud, card-carrying member of the Vancouver Art gallery, I attended the Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters opening. I honestly had no idea Matisse was so prolific, much less in so many mediums. His pen-and-ink work in particular really caught my eye - the linework was beautiful, and so fluid.

It was nice to see another Van Gogh and another Renoir, too. I feel a real kinship for Vincent in particular.

Saturday was mostly spent outside in the park, barbecuing and soaking up the sun with friends. That night we moved the festivities back to my buddy Mike's place for drinks and general good times, before closing the night at the Dover Arms. While we were all at Mike's, I whipped up a couple more Sketchbook Diary entries, including this ashtray:

And today (Sunday) I've been working on the playlist for next month's Metalflake Remix show. I haven't sorted all the details yet, but it'll be taking place the night of Saturday, June 16, and I'll be creating live art all night (expect an official announcement very soon).

In other art news, potential new painting concepts seem to be popping into my head on a daily basis now. Here's a couple to tantalize you:

Hope everybody else's summer is off to a great start.

*Greater Vancouver Regional District.

Dinosaur-a-Day Project, Day 01/29.

Yeah yeah, I know. The shotglass project isn't done. But I was chomping at the bit to draw a dinosaur, so I started that project already:

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 17/31.

And another:

Go Habs!

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 15-16/31.

Playing catchup again, so this post will be a two-fer:

 

Ink, coloured pencil, gouache.

Pencil, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 13/31.

I seem to have fallen behind on this project again. Catching up, one step at a time:

Ink, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 11/31.

Just a quick drive-by post. Stressed out to the max about arrangements for the art sale on Saturday, and nothing else seems to be calming me down any, so I figured maybe drawing Stewie Griffin would help.

The verdict is still out.

Ink and watercolour.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 08/31.

Anybody who knows me knows how much I like Jack Daniel's. And a few of you keep asking when I'm gonna draw a Jack glass, so without further ado:

Ink, china marker, gouache, Photoshop.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 06/31.

For tonight's entertainment, I proudly present with:

Ink, watercolour, coloured pencil.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 05/31.

Not much in the way of commentary to go with this one:

Ink on paper.

Shotglass-a-Day Project, Day 02/31.

I'm probably late with shotglass number two, given that the holidays are over. But here it is anyway:

Coloured pencil, ink, watercolour, gouache.

(Got this particular glass from my folks, if I remember correctly. I've probably only got about 60 or 70 shotglasses, so I guess that for this project to go beyond that point, I'll have to either invent some shotglass designs or buy more.)

Best New Products of 2011.

As you may or may not have noticed, Liquitex makes a few products that really float my boat. I'd be lost without their Pouring Medium (I've probably gone through three gallons of it so far this year), and they make the best palette knives I've ever had the pleasure to use.

But recently they're stepped up their game in a couple areas. For one, they've got a new line of brushes aimed (primarily) at street artists called Liquitex Freestyle. As you can see from the link these are divided into two groups, the large-scale brushes and the more traditionally-sized ones. The first group is particularly innovative, and obviously the result of listening to what painters actually want. The paddle brush and the splatter brush are my faves so far.

The other product shown in the photo is Acrylic Inks. I'm doing a lot of glazing these days, and the inks are amazing in this capacity. Beyond that, they behave a lot like watercolours, but have the permanence and lightfastness of acrylics. That's a winning combo in my book.

Now I just need to paint something huge...

Self-Portraits, Cheap Brushes, and Finding My Groove.

Well kids, this has been a revelatory weekend. As I've mentioned in the past (Shaky, for instance), linework has often been a tricky issue for me, particularly if I'm inking with a brush.

So yesterday I sat down to ink a commission for a client, and when I was looking through my brushes I found a cheapie that I picked up at Home Depot a few years back. Well, it turned out to be the best inking brush I've ever used. Put all my Windsor & Newtons to shame.

And armed with this trusty weapon, I cranked out the commission last night, and today I wanted to do more. I wanted something simple, 'cause the main point of the exercise was just to play with ink.

Anyhow, I finally decided upon a self-portrait:

Think I finally found my groove as an inker.