Illustration Friday: Lova (Happy New Year from DREGstudios!)

This week's theme at Illustration Friday is "Resolutions."  My entry for this week is from my Random Acts of Vibrance series (which will be in progress until next year.)  All the works under this theme have central figures with either lightbulb heads or lampshade heads who "turn themselves on" and "get an idea" so to speak.  Each creates and captures a moment of inspiration.

New Year's resolutions are our ultimate acts of inspiration.  Whether they are forced spontaneously or planned for months, they are your deal with the universal spirit to accomplish something.  Seize the inspiration and live it and believe it.  Live your dream and the dream is real... just realize it may be here and you not see it.  You have to be it before you consciously realize it.  We don't become masters of our crafts, purposes, and dreams overnight. The Secret to the Universe is positive visualization.  Write your goals down and see what you want.  We have to see it with our mind's eye in order to achieve it and take that next step in the evolutionary chain... get that next link locked in your journey.  See something for yourself today and believe in it... for real.

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries) 

Here are my top two personal resolutions for next year...

1.  Launch iLLAMENTARY as an online publication to create interest in and allow access to Pop Surrealist and Low Brow arts in the South...  Tha dirty needs a rag, we're gonna get it!

2.  Turn a profit.  This will be just the third year I've filed taxes as a professional artist and haven't achieved this.  I'm not saying I didn't make money, I just spent a lot more than I made!  It's a good thing I promise, I look at it like pulling back the sling-shot... it can only go back so far before we go sailing much much further and much faster the other direction.  This is an ongoing goal since I made the same one last year.  My earnings did increase around 500% this year so I'm optimistic.

See you in 2011!  Much love and adoration from DREGstudios!

What are your resolutions for 2011?

Illustration Friday: The Downsized Skeleton

inks on paper / 2007

Here is my first entry for a neat site I just got turned on to called Illustration Friday.  Every week they present a different theme for artists to post work around.  My entry for this week's theme, "Winter," is from a series which I've toyed around with the past couple of years called Ballad of the Skeletons.  These are based on the poem of the same name by Allen Ginsberg.  I can't give him enough love this week after watching Howl (see my review from earlier this week.) Every skeleton in the poem has a line of dialog...

Said the downsized skeleton,

Robot's got my job.  

For the meantime I've put this series on the back-burner since I got tangled up in some other projects.  I want to make much more intricate works with the remaining skeletons I have to illustrate. The themes of this poem stand the test of time and are all still relevant today.  I drew this is 2007 but pulling it back up for this online exhibit, it struck me how much more the image hits home after the financial problems we've all had this year.  Folks are falling on hard times not only because of technology but now from outsourcing work to foreign countries.  The guy at the top makes more as the poor schmucks at the bottom lose their jobs to employees who don't require as much pay or benefits.  The American worker is left out in the cold with little notice and/or severance.

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries) 

Top 10 Movie Picks of 2010

Making your pick is tough work sometimes...

Anyone who is acquainted with me knows I'm a movie hound.  Movies move me and often inspire themes in my work.  I hate television... been completely unplugged from it for six years now and I don't miss a thing but I couldn't live without the joy of cinema.  I feel it is one of our highest art forms now, having developed from the exploits and exploration of 70's film to the visual feasts constructed today.  A good movie can change your perception of life and the world through various means, whether it be the story, the acting, or even just the cinematography. I love the idea of list-making, which probably stems from me reading High Fidelity as a teenager and I was compelled to compile my Top 10 list after seeing what I feel is the best movie of the year just last night.  However, we have to countdown to it so here we go...
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The Doodles (You Caught Me!)

Drawing has always been a nervous habit for me.  My dad got called to school when I was in the fifth grade to discuss this compulsion and its "interruption of my learning" even though I had practically straight A's.  The problem was I was (and am) scatter-brained and have to channel the voices so to speak.  Teacher thinks I don't listen because I doodle and draw.  My notebooks in school would contain illustrations and scribbles throughout.  I would often turn in my homework and worksheets with things sketched all over them.  This has continued throughout every job I have ever had.  If there is paper around and my hands aren't occupied, art happens.  My current job involves a lot of talking on the phone and monitoring my employees on their phone calls.  During my execution of such managerial marketing duties, idle hands find re-purposed office supplies.

Here is something I brought home from last week...

ball point pen and dry erase markers on chipboard backing from a scratch pad of paper (5in x 3in)

When I first started the job a few years back, I had a bad habit of drawing on sticky notes.  Usually, now it's incorporated into my notes and thrown away but sometimes I put to use the cardboard scrap such as is used above.  I did have a little stack of the stickies going though and what resulted was this work from my solo exhibit, "Scraps & Motives" at Cafe Coco in 2008...

"The Sticky Incident"  Inks on Sticky Notes (2007-08)

ART HAPPENS!

What do you like to doodle on?

01/27/2011

Here's a newer doodle of note (pardon the pun) from this past week.

04/09/11 Ball Point Pen and Highlighter on scrap Chipboard

04/18/11 Ball Point Pen on scrap Chipboard

05/11/11 Ball Point Pen and Highlighter on scrap Chipboard

05/28/11 Ball Point Pen and Dry Erase Marker on Card Stock

06/16/11  Gel Ink Pen on Chipboard

08/06/2011 Hotel Preston (Nashville)

08/16/11 Ball Point pens on Chipboard, taking over a doodle from Cameron McKnight, a co-worker.

09/01-02/2011

09/19/2011 Topsy-Turvy

09/21/2011

10/04/11 Gel Ink Pen on Scrap Printed Card Stock for Titleblocks

10/29/2011

11/09/2011

12/01/2011

12/27/2011

12/28/2011

01/20-22/2012

Gel Ink on Card Stock / 01/27/12

Several months back, we were out of town in a hotel and I put down a couple of doodles which we gave to my wife's friend.  To my surprise, she scanned them and used one as the image on her new debit card!

02/01/2012

Topsy-Turvy 02/04/2012

Topsy-Turvy 02/08/2012

02/09/2012

02/09/2012

02/10/2012

02/10/2012

02/12/2012

02/13/2012

02/14/2012

02/16/2012

02/17/2012

February 2012

03/06/2012

03/08/2012

03/10/2012

03/12/2012

03/13/2012

03/15/2012

03/16/2012

The Gift of Art

A Portrait of Nick Wood in three stages for his Mother

I'm winding down today from the hoopla of another Christmas with friends, family, and guests as well as our first White Christmas in Tennessee since I was 13 years old!

As each year goes by and art becomes a larger part of my life and social setting, it also becomes a bigger part of the holidays as well.  My creations make a unique gift and I was fortunate to ship dozens of prints and books all over the country which I ran specials on through the internet.  I also held some contests on the Facebook Fan Page to give away some free prints to random folks who participated (and I do this from time to time anyhow, so get your LIKE on by clicking the link above if you haven't already!)  The last portrait commission I took this year was of one of my oldest friends, Nick.  He wanted to give a portrait to his Mom for Christmas and gave me a few reference photos to get started a few weeks back.  He was wanting a young and older version of himself as the picture.  We were both really pleased with the final result and Jen at Hobby Lobby was gracious enough to pull some strings and get it framed for us just a couple of days before Christmas... thanks hon, you guys are the best!

My wife and I spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with her family.  Friday morning we headed down to my old stomping grounds of Tennessee Ridge.  Last year about this time, I showed you the portrait of my Grandfather which I gave to my Grandma for Christmas last year. For her gift this year, I turned out another portrait, this time of her parents. She recognized them straight away, which is my best (and sometimes only) indicator of success with my likenesses...

Portrait of my Great Grandparents, Paul and Clemmie Frey

Functional art by Paul Lancette / Pic by Aurora Hardin

The sleet scared us out of Houston County and back home Friday night.  I scored a pretty sweet tabletop easel from my father to use at art fairs next year.  He always manages to sneak in something of use to my passion. Here is one of the more charming memories we took from this year's Hardin Christmas...

We are all artists with ample time, motivation, and sometimes boredom, which apparently my sister's boyfriend was chalked full of staying in such a rural area after living in Phoenix the past few years.  Mom's reindeer got put in some compromising positions with his new found ingenuity.

We headed out Saturday morning for Nashville to my sister-in-law, Rozita's house.  We didn't get far when my good friend, Mike called me in a ruckus.  The poor guy got in late Christmas Eve from Columbus and thought he could at least get into Wally World to take care of getting mama that something special for Christmas.  The only places open in town were Walgreens and the Chinese restaurants.  I have a feeling mom wasn't expecting an earwax removal kit or take-out Kung Pao shrimp.  Fine art to the rescue! I couldn't leave the guy hanging so we pointed our direction back home to parlay.  I had my reservations about his choice of this work from my Topsy-Turvy series but he called later to tell me she loved it and already had it on the wall...

"Topsy-Turvy:  Faces" (inks on bristol / 2008)

Down in Nashville, Aurora had chosen four prints for her nephews and lay them out upside down so they could randomly choose which they would get...

Art is cool and colorful but you can't really play with it.. Good thing they got stockings filled with a variety of candy to wind them up so they could get busy with their new toys!  We gave them each items their mother was sure to love including jumping beans and farting gak (which kept us entertained the duration of our visit!)

It's amazing!  You stick your fingers in it to make a symphony of farting noises AND you can take it out of the jar for other endless possibilities!

Merry Christmas!