Bottles: Part I.

Ugh.

Sometimes I will just put some marks (or objects) down on a canvas to serve as a starting/departure point to facilitate diving into working on a piece -to kind of jump start the process.  It's almost like seeing shapes in clouds as they drift overhead.  Just a few marks can help generate an idea for where I can take the piece.

Unless the piece in question is Bottles -in which case the objects on the surface have stumped me.  Since no direction immediately suggested itself, I set Bottles off to the side and pursued other projects (one of the benefits of working on multiple pieces simultaneously).  Just recently have a I had a few glimmers of inspiration on how to proceed.

As the image exists right now, I will have some long expanses of unbroken color.  From past experience(s) I know this is not an optimal situation for my base layer.  I need to paint in some colors, and then I will add these three faces on top after everything dries...

...or maybe I'll add something underneath of the bands...?

Let's get some color in there.

Going back to that part about adding something underneath...

A few more lines!

You may note that I added arrows to that band instead of those faces.  I think I will save them for a different layer (or maybe even a different piece).

Let's see what this piece looks like with some more color added.

Time for the color wash layer...

Next time we look at Bottles, I'll be starting the second layer of imagery, and hopefully will have developed a catchier title.

A Grab Bag of Progress: Vol. XVII

Recent happenings in the studio...

In no particular order.

With minimal text to interrupt your viewing pleasure...

Going into the homestretch...

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Point of Contact

I'm nearly done working on Point of Contact.

Here are some images from the various stages of development...

The idea started with a hook I removed from the back of another piece.

I jotted it down in the form of a quick doodle in the 'notes' section of my phone so I wouldn't forget it.

As soon as I could, I committed it to one of my sketchbooks so I wouldn't lose it.

A few weeks later, I started its actual fabrication...

I laid out the cardboard shapes and noted how thick I wanted to make each individual piece (that's what the numbers one each section mean).

Then I cut them out and started to cover each individual section with fabric.

I adhered the sections in their proper configuration using a picture I took of the initial layout.

I primed them with several coats of paint and then finally applied oil paint to get nearer to my desired final result.

This is pretty close what I want as a finished piece.  Just a few color additions and some slight tweaking and I think Point of Contact will be officially completed.

I did have a second hook from that initial piece.  Perhaps someday I will make a version 2.0...?