Happy Birthday, Vincent van Gogh!

Today is the  birthday of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh.  This is pretty exciting, because although I have been reading the latest biography on van Gogh, his birthday, like many people's birthdays, slip my mind.  And, I am going to the van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art tomorrow. Very exciting.  So, here is some biographical information on the man himself, as well as a link to "My Gallery" of van Gogh works through the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, ^[1][2] he died at the age of 37 from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted (although no gun was ever found).^{[3][note 2]} His work was then known to only a handful of people and appreciated by fewer still (from Wikipedia).

Dan Clowes Video

Compliments of The NY Times.

Sea Monster Print Now Available

In my continuing effort to produce finished products of art and illustration, I decided to take my "C" shaped Sea Monster and turn it into a print.  Signed and matted for your convenience.  Check it out.  Click on the pic to see it at the Etsy shop.

The Red Monastery (Video from The Met)

Thanks again to The Met for having great art videos you can embed.

From The Met Website:"In conjunction with the exhibition Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition (on view March 14 through July 8, 2012), art historian Elizabeth Bolman introduces the Red Monastery project."

My Sea ("C") Monster, Because Monsters are Cool!

If you haven't heard, monsters are all the rage.  If you are like me and grew up watching Jim Henson shows, you've always known that monsters are pretty awesome.  In recent times, I am not sure what has sparked the regained interest.  Is it Guillermo del Toro's monstrous creations in his movies?

Great Monsters in History

Is the the leaps and bounds that CGI has made with regards to bringing monsters to life? Regardless, I have jumped on the monster train.  Holy shit!  Movie idea: "Monster Train."  That will have to be another post.  Anyway, my girlfriend has also knitted monsters to give as gifts. They have monster hats, monster stuffed animals, monster shirts, monsters everywhere.

My girlfriend's knitted monster

As for me, I decided to go back to my pen and ink roots with my monster.  Below is my sketchbook sketch.  Clearly inspired by the hammerhead shark, but different.  I put a huge mouth on this guy, gave him glow head antennae thingys like those deap sea crazy monster fish, and a ray-like barbed tail.  I also wanted to stick to my artistic basics, namely establishing some perspective.  When you draw someone or something in three-quarter view, whatever is in the background, even slightly in the background, will be slightly smaller than what is in the foreground, so the eye, the socket, that side of the fish body all have to be slightly smaller.  I also wanted one of the eye-lamp stalks to pass in front of the dorsal fin to further establish some depth to this deep-sea dweller.  Here is my original thumbnail drawing.

Now here is the pencils and light ink wash to simulate the ocean.

Here is the same piece with some black inks.

Here is draft 3.

Here is the piece completely done.

Click the pic to larger / better version

I have to say that finishing a piece like this is a shot to the ego.  Not really "tooting my own horn," rather its more like knowing that if I set my mind to something, I can have it come out just like I want it.  I have never really used multiple colors or ink wash plush marker and pen to make a finished piece.  The water looks like I wanted it look, the sea monster looks like I wanted it to look.  In my mind it is a finished piece and came out looking exactly as I pictured it.  And I finished it in one night, which is important, too.  It this piece languished over days, it would end up taking me weeks to really finish it.  Be on the look-out for this piece to be a print available online, and I would like to sell the original art if anyone wants it.  And below are the tools I used.  And "mad props" go to Justin Stewart @Justin3000 who recommended the Uni-Ball double sided pocket brush pen, made Mitsubishi, available through JetPens.  I test any brush pen I can get my hands on, and this one has great resistance and push to it.  I like it.

Happy Birthday Juan Gris!

Opening up my web browser to Google I find that today is the birthday of Juan Gris.  Don't know who he is?  Well, he was one of the prominent artists of the Cubism movement (who was not Pablo Picasso).  Yes!  Picasso was not the only Cubist artist!  Surprised?  You should get to more art museums.

Here is a little bit about Juan Gris from Wikipedia:

José Victoriano (Carmelo Carlos) González-Pérez (March 23, 1887 – May 11, 1927), better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life. His works, which are closely connected to the emergence of an innovative artistic genre—Cubism—are among the movement's most distinctive. [READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE]

I have put together the works of Juan Gris from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and their "My Gallery" feature.  Only a handful of these works are on display at the museum, but you can also see some awesome examples of the Cubist movement and maybe stick around or the van Gogh exhibit. Click on the image below to visit "My Gallery" of Juan Gris works.

Happy Birthday, Juan!

Furry Fantasy

No, No, No!  This post is not about furry fetish people in plush costumes, I swear!  This is my first foray into using Storify to show the process of how I stumbled upon a cool artist.  Once Upon a Time....There was this thing called Twitter...


And here are the videos:



Want to learn more about Jerome Jacinto? Check out his Deviant Art page [http://chichapie.deviantart.com/] and his YouTube Channel [http://www.youtube.com/user/sinto]

Poetry in Clay

I feel kind of spoiled by The Met.  They place some pretty darn interesting videos of lectures and introductions on their websites, and they allow for embedding on other websites, which is great.  Below is one on Japanese ceramics.

From The Met website: In conjunction with the exhibition Poetry in Clay: Korean Buncheong Ceramics from Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art (on view April 7–August 14, 2011), exhibition curator Soyoung Lee explores the history of buncheong ceramics and explains how buncheong idioms impacted Edo-period Japanese ceramics and why this art form is still relevant today.  Recorded on April 15, 2011

Victorian House Blank Card now on Etsy

Hot on the heels of my black and white gargoyle print, I have placed a kinder, gentler piece of art up on the Etsy shop.  If you recall my post featuring the made-up Victorian house I created for my girlfriend, I figured it could make a nifty blank card.  I decided to go green, printing green ink on white paper, with a original paisley kind of design in the background, printed on very nice matte paper.  Blank on the inside, with the Ink Puddle Press seal of approval on the backside.

Click on the image to see it in the Etsy shop

I would like to do this same card in blue or red/pink, because I have blue and red colored envelopes that will fit that size card.  I will probably do a black and white as well, but that does sound a bit boring.  Have any suggestions for art prints or card designs?  Give me some ideas!

Ink Puddle Art for Sale

Since The Ink Puddle Art Blog is not owned by a consortium of wealthy philanthropists, we must do some things to make ends meet, and selling stuff is one of them.  I just opened up an Etsy shop and I will be placing some original art, some signed limited edition prints, greeting cards, and other doo-dads in case anyone would like to help support the blog and its efforts to discuss, review, and explain the artistic process.

Up first is my black and white linoleum cut print of a gargoyle head.  It's a limited edition,so order today!  Or don't.  Anyway, be on the look-out for more Ink Puddle stuff soon.

Newest (and youngest!) Contributor to Ink Puddle

This is a piece of mail I received from a friend of mine who now lives in Texas.  He has also distinguished himself as being the youngest contributor to the Ink Puddle Art Blog.  The card he and his family sent had a cute picture of a Pug dog on it, just like their own dog named Rocky.

And the superb coloring job was done by John himself.  Like myself, he seems to be in his "brown" phase of artwork at the moment.  And to show you how much I also like dinosaurs, I thought I would re-run a video that has appeared on this blog perviously, one of Bruce Blitz the cartoonist drawing a dinosaur.  Thanks again, John, and I hope to see you soon!

American Wing Galleries at The Met

Here is another lazy post for me.  Thank The Met for having informative videos on their site that allow for embedding!


  Morrison H. Heckscher, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman of the American Wing, provides commentary on a brief tour through the New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts.

Happy Birthday, Howard Pyle!

Today is the birthday of Howard Pyle, American author and illustrator.  Known for his art and his famous students (namely, N.C. Wyeth and Jessie Wilcox Smith) later named The Brandywine School.  When you think of adventure stories, you should think of Howard Pyle.  His illustrations for numerous books on pirates, Robin Hood, and King Arthur and the knights of the round table inspired countless youth to read and make art.  My girlfriend Elizabeth and I got to view the Howard Pyle exhibit at the Delaware Art Museum and also had a chance to see the works of Howard's younger sister Katharine Pyle.  It was a great exhibit.  You could see what pieces were heavily influenced by big brother Howard and which seemed to be more of her own.  Elizabeth and I both agreed that kid sis Katharine had a better knack for black and white book illustrations.

Have a favorite Howard Pyle book?  Leave a comment!

 

How to Draw The Lorax

Hello, all.  Did you know that today, March 2nd, is Dr. Seuss's birthday?  Well, it is.  Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on this day in 1904.  I remember having a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and of course, watching the animated TV version, but I never really got into the whole Dr. Seuss thing as a kid.  However, I actually own several copies of original PM daily newspaper issues in which his WWII political cartoons appear.   You can read more about his war-related art in the book Dr. Seuss Goes to War.  Thinking about going to see The Lorax movie?  Check out this scathing review over at io9.com first.

In the spirit of Dr. Seuss and art instruction, here is the video I found on MLive.com, a Michigan news website that stresses the fundamentals of starting off with accurate geometrical shapes before delving into details (I approve!). Enjoy.

Grand Haven's own Corinne Roberts shows how to draw The Lorax.