Android Custom "Tree Swing" NYCC 2012

I realized that I didn't have much of this little guy in the last post so I wanted to rectify that - I didn't really get a lot of choice shots of this fella but there really is a lot to see! So here are some shots of all the bits and pieces that make up that sculpture - enjoy :)

This is the finished piece in the dome from the last post

Undomed!

Happy swinging flannel Android

Android squirrel!

I water colored both sides of sheets of pale tinted paper with fall colors, then stamped out several sizes of leaf shapes, then spritzed the cut pieces with water and rolled them in my hands to make them twist and curl like dead leaves.  Each leaf was then individually adhered to the branches.

Android feets! Jus' swinging, nbd.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot - to other possibilities instead of the wood swing was a tire swing (SO cute but the item came too late) or a kite to be tangled in the tree and for him to dangle from.  I made the kite with a wax and tissue decoupage  .  Both cute ideas I think but the swing won over through simplicity!

A scaled model tractor tire - would have been so adorable but arrived in the mail a day late.  Next time!

NYCC 2013 - Custom Vinyl

A quick overview! 5 custom vinyl toys for the good folks at My Plastic Heart for NYCC 2013
Here's a mix of some final shots and a making of peek! Enjoy :)

Photo by My Plastic Heart at the NYCC Booth

Android Tree Swing - "Swing Low"

Munny custom -"Tiiimmber"

 

 

 

Raffy Custom - "Fallsies"

Raffy Custom 2 - "Brantlers"

Android custom - "Honey Bee"

 

And now for some MAKING OF! 

Welcome little toys

These guys were pretty excited about this part of the process

Sketch sketch... It all starts here, brainstorms

Finding solutions! I knew I needed a LOT of leaves for my concepts and had very little time to make them.  I found some old tooling aluminum from a previous project and made my own "cookie cutters"! They weren't perfect but they worked great in a pinch

Some tiny sculpts - accessories and antlers

The Boneyard! All piece sculpted and primered and ready for paint

Getting set up to paint - Yay color!

Painting!

That's all for now, thanks for looking! Go see the originals at NYCC :D

My Life as an Artist as Rocky Balboa

At first a new project or opportunity arises - yay!

"Woo hoo I'm gonna do ALL THIS STUFF!"

Then - reality sets in.

"Oh sh*t. Perhaps I've over committed..."

Go to the mattresses.

"Well, let's get to it.  I didn't get all greased up for nothing"

And then - take the beating of your life.

"ouch."

Alakazam wuuh? Yay again!?...

 Yes YAY!

"Duhn nuuh nuuuuuh duhn nuh nuuuuh dunuhduuunduhduhnuaaa da ddaaaaaaaa dadadadaaaaaa!"

Yup folks, that about sums it up.  Sometimes making art is just walking into a ring to take a monumental beating. Either way, just gotta keep at it. And who knows, maybe someday I'll get to buy my kid a robot.  The end.

15 Beats Mural in the Making

As I said in the previous post about the  15 Beats of My Plastic Heart at Bunnycutlet Gallery - I created an 8ft x 8ft mural to compliment the 15 beats theme.  Below are the pencil sketches, digital sketches, WIP shots and final mural shots that I promised!  Maybe I can get Bunncutlet to let me do murals for their upcoming "I HEART NEW DORK" or perhaps for "Too Art for TV 7"... Yay!

Now for the mural flicks!

Look at this crappy image! This is why I need a scanner :P A very loose sketch photographed with my 1st edition iPhone  anyway you get the idea....

I then brought that sketch into Illustrator and did a vector trace.  The original sketch being only somewhere around 5 x 5 inches and the final mural size being around 8 ft x 8 ft, I needed a medium I could expand without losing information. I did it in black and white first and then did a bunch of color studies.  This is the one I landed on.

 

 

 

Montage! >Insert Cyndi Lauper song< No way I could have done this all without help from the lovely ladies of Bunnycutlet :)

Finished mural at entrance of Bunnycutlet Gallery

 And here's some super blown out & grainy detail shots :D I hope someone with a better camera got better flicks before this gets painted over!

15 Beats - MyPlasticHeart guest curates at Bunnycutlet Gallery

Update: The show 15 Beats of My Plastic Heart at Bunnycutlet Gallery opened on June 21st with terrific success!  With artists like Kano, Leontine, and Scott C. pretty much selling out before the show had barely opened. I'm partially to blame - had to get my hands on a Scott C. original finally.  I bought "Puffs".  It's two ghosts smoking pipes - I mean COME ON! This guy kills me :)  If you missed the opening, you have until July 19th to go check it out! It's quite an abundance of goodness.

Scott C - "Puffs" 15 Beats of My Plastic Heart at Bunnycutlet Gallery June 21- July 19th

In addition to the 2 paintings I created for the show, I also created an 8ft x 8ft mural to compliment the 15 beats theme.  It was my first large work as well as my first mural and I had an AWESOME time doing it.  I hope to be able to tackle this challenge a lot more often in the future.  There are some pencil sketches, digital sketches, WIP shots and final mural shots on my blog here in the 15 Beats Mural in the Making post

So time for full reveals of the final paintings! Here they be :) (I still don't have a scanner so I apologize for the graininess of the photos)

"Pushing Daisies" 11x14 Acrylic on Wood Panel available here

"Bouquethead" 11x14 Acrylic on Wood Panel available here 

"Pushing Daisies" Detail

"Pushing Daisies" Detail

"Bouquethead" Detail

"Bouquethead" Detail

"Bouquethead" Detail

"Bouquethead" Detail

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MyPlasticHeart guest curates at Bunnycutlet Gallery "15 Beats" opens June 21st in Brooklyn, NY.  The 15 artist line-up is a lovely collection of talent hand-picked by the folks at MyPlasticHeart - I'm excited to be a part of it!  

So far I've just been doing some sketches and color studies for possible images in the show.  Yes I'm very behind and will be painting my tOOsh off the next couple days! But I'm happy and excited to do it :P  Not sure what images I'll land on for the final paintings but thought I'd include folks in the process.  I've been focusing on this spring season and the idea that the show opens on the Summer Solstice.  Having fun with earth, flowers, mushrooms, and mud :) So far we have...

UPDATE! Adding this color study for Pushing Daisies - I've started a background wash for this on an 11 x 14 board so I'm pretty committed right now! 

Bouquethead or Unfurled - figure in full bloom

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - moving heaven and earth

Pushing Daisies

Mud bath, mushrooms, mud puddle

 Below are some color studies for the first sketch - I'm torn between more earthy colors vs more vibrant florals.  I'm sure the piece itself will dictate the final colors but it's always good to have a starting point.

These look super rainbow-esque but it's just because they are all together, I'm hoping for a much simpler result in the end.  Also depends on the color choices for the second piece which I have also not decided on yet.  It really is gonna be a lots-of-coffee-paint-sugar-and-no-sleep kinda week!  

Here is a list of the CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS (wow!):

Andrew Bell
Scott C.
Kelly Denato
Leontine Greenberg
kaNO
Aya Kakeda
Andrea Kang
Jeremiah Ketner
Abe Lincoln Jr.
Brent Nolasco
Lou Pimentel
Shawnimals
Matt Siren
Naoko Stoop
Tatiana Suarez

And here is a lovely write up from the gallery: http://bunnycutlet.com/15BeatsTheArtistsofMPH.html