The "Expressive" Series Part 5

Expressive Continued

This piece started out not included in this series. I had the color work on this piece becoming quite the struggle. It was becoming frustrating because I could not find a solution that I was happy with. So, I put the piece "away" for a couple of months. When I started to specifically work on ideas for this series, this painting came to mind. I incorporated the specific effects (that I have used on all artwork in this series thus far) into the work and came up with the result you now see. Some work will come easily to me, this one was a struggle. Every once in a while, I need this struggle because it makes me go outside my comfort zone and try new ideas or use ideas from previous successes and experiment.

Next post I may be taking a break from this series and show some "progress" pictures of a mural I am currently working on in my home. We shall see.

Cheers

The "Expressive" Series Part 4

"Expressive As Well"

This piece uses the four "colors" I most commonly begin with when I start the "color" process in my work. I should state these are my favorite colors. Specifically, Teal/Turquoise, a Warm Red, a Yellow Ochre, and a Black/dark Grey. Once these colors are composed, I'll work with hues and shades of each to further the piece along. Now that the colors have been worked, the next step is using the "effects" In this piece, I strictly used the "liquefy" effect to establish pattern and direction. A lot of experimenting that took a bit of time to finally get what I wanted with this piece. Fortunately, I can create copies of the main layer and use these copies without losing the original piece. Once the experimenting stage is completed, that particular copy is saved as the final piece.

Now that the "technical" aspect has been talked about, let's look at the mental process. You know, better I stay away from that aspect. I'm having a tough time getting followers as it is!! LOL

So enjoy this piece and look for another posting in about a week. Cheers

The "Expressive" Series Part 3

Expressive Also

I had a specific starting point in this piece. I wanted to use the three primary colors (the colors that I was taught in color theory, not RGB or CYM, that reign now as the color terminology with all the computer use) Good old fashioned real, messy, get all over yourself, COLOR. I first did a painting of the colors I wanted to use to get an idea of what the piece would look like and what shades and hues I could create naturally. For me, this helps in the thought process but can be dangerous because it also creates alot of additional paths that I want to follow. Subsequent work may actually include scanning the painting and working from there. Could be very interesting. (this is one of those "paths" mentioned!)

Again, this piece expresses movement of color and what can happen when two colors meet. Enjoy and Cheers!!

The "Expressive" Series pt 2

So, here is number 2 of the series.

"Expressive Again"

Get use to these titles. I did not want to name the pieces "Expressive No. 1", "Expressive No. 2" and so on. Seems that numbering each work was without imagination and would not compliment the pieces. So I am going with "words" to describe each successive piece. With this particular piece, I played heavily with the effects options on each of the layers before "flattening" the piece. This turned out to be quite fun and I came up with some interesting color combinations during the early stages. I have been keeping notes as to what I have been doing so I can work these ideas on upcoming paintings. If the ideas and thoughts keep producing at the level that I have enjoyed thus far with this series, it may be a while before I finish it.

The "Expressive" Series

Starting with this piece, I will be featuring artwork from the digital painting series "Expressive"

These works are about movement. Not a chosen path for you to follow, but a path for you to make up on your own while viewing. Color is used as a tool to help view. The work is abstract and contains no subject matter. Simply an expression of color and movement. Enjoy

The first piece is entitled "Expressive". This piece was done two years ago and is the catalyst for this series. It is also the piece that I have taken the title for the series from. (obvious, huh?) I was listening to music while "painting" this piece and letting my hand do the talking and my eyes the listening. Experimenting has a strong presence in this piece. I tried to keep going on this piece because I did not want to finish it The ideas kept coming while going through the process of this creation and there were becoming too many paths to follow.

It came to me that one had to finish sometime but I could continue with new works., thus the series was born. more to come...

Intro and a little about moi

Greetings to all that have taken the time to read and view!! I am hoping that you will be back again and again as time passes by. If you do come back, be sure to bookmark the URL because it is a long address to type out again and again!

I have been drawing since I was a rather small wee baby. Well, at least as long as I could first hold a pencil or crayon and used paper instead of the walls. I do remember practicing with the Sunday Comics. Back then I would draw Peanuts, Tumbleweeds, and Hagar and as I got a bit older, I would draw Bloom County and Calvin. In between, or during the week. I would create my own characters and place them in situations that I saw, experienced, and how others interpreted the world around us. My work became a reflection of life as it was happening, never taken seriously, both the world and the art, and drawing whenever the mood fit me. This continued for the better part of my pre-teen and teenage years.

By the time I joined the Navy, I was drawing very little or not as much as I should have been. I had developed a desire to be a weatherman. The Navy offered me the perfect opportunity for school and a job that I did for the next ten years. It was during this time that I truly grew, physically that is. Mentally, I developed my work ethic and discipline (still working on the patience part).

( I'm still told that I act like a five year old. I'm also told this is a good thing!)

So for 10 years I was a weather observer and loved it. I did not know it at the time, but weather would become a theme for work produced and still produced to this day. I did do a bit of graphic design and logo work while I was in the Navy. One of my logo designs was "officially" accepted (I've still got the letter!) as the unit "emblem" that I was attached to while serving in Japan.

After leaving the Navy and immigrating to Canada, I finally attended "formal" art classes at ACAD in Calgary, Alberta. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. With the formal training, I could get answers and help on the technical aspects of my art. I learned a new discipline (Fibre Arts) and I learned how to talk about my artwork. During my first year at school, my artwork became therapeutic because I was going through some personal issues and I used my artwork to help vent, heal and forgive. It can be very refreshing to release pent up emotion and let the artwork be the receiving end of that energy. Plus it produces some frickin' awesome art! (I got great marks on that artwork produced during that stretch of time!)

For the past decade or so, I have been producing my work digitally for the most part. (I still do traditional paintings and a bit of cloth dyeing) I find this tool (computer, wacom tablet, and photoshop) to be very satisfying because it lets me experiment without the mess that comes with my acrylic painting and cloth dyeing. By mess I mean paint/dye on the walls, on my clothes and the dog (if I had one) nor is there a huge cost with digital By cost I mean cleaning the walls, buying new clothes, and therapy for the dog (if I had one)

Really though, I am able to really let my creative brain go on these works, without worrying about the cost to make it. There is room for error, if I don't like something, just hit the "undo" and try it again. I still love to PHYSICALLY paint and/or dye . And by physical, I mean doing it LIVE, Full Body Movements, plugged in and singing (or wailing as some have interpreted my singing capabilities) along with Metallica. Of course, I do this when I'm alone and in the basement. Picture this and you'll know where the "He can act like a 5 year old" comment comes from.

I have two quotes that I take to heart and try to live every day:

"I don't suffer from Insanity. I enjoy every second of it"

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, We grow old because we stop playing"

So, with that being said, and alot of it by looking back over this for spelling errors, the artwork in this blog will be whatever I choose or motivates me at that particular time. It could be digital, acrylic, fibre, sketch, or a work in progress, whatever. I will try to post at least once a week. I'll also try to explain what was going through this head of mine while creating said piece. (this may or may not be a good idea!)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy what you see and please leave me a comment about your experience this particular time that you visited. I welcome critiques about the work should you feel inclined. (and I hope you do!)

Tony