We all just do the best with the tools and resources that we have. It’s nice to have a plan and there’s usually adjustments to be made. I’ve always wanted the bumper sticker that says “Plan on improvising”.  I do a lot of planning before the paint hits the panel; then I’m just winging it, really. I enjoy all of the different elements involved and the layering can be a memory exercise. I’m going to share some of my steps here, because it’s not always easy to explain verbally. The final painting is 100% acrylic paint on mahogany plywood panel. My techniques are influenced by reduction woodblock printing, silkscreen printing, and stenciling (but with adhesive similar to airbrush frisket masking film).

Once I’m happy with my composition, I decide which elements will need to be painted first. I finalize the drawing then cut the stencil out of adhesive vinyl sheets, using a computer driven cutter/plotter machine. I like to call this my “robot intern”. Stencil proportions usually change so I cut and apply the masking as I go (not all before I start). I use acrylic artist spray paint, acrylic liquid paint and some acrylic medium. I start with a general color scheme idea and choose pattern, visual texture, color combinations along the way. In the middle image above, you can see that I was going to draw city domes in the distance and mimic that with rock cairns up close; however, I decided that would be too busy once the pattern was down. Maybe that would be a good version if I skip the signs up front…Here’s some process shots below. Masking the elk after striping it up, the second layer of tree/volcano border stencils lined up and applied, and workspace on the panel just after pulling paint to make the woodgrain on the signs.

Below, I’ve created an exploded view of sorts in order to share all of the masking layers that were applied to the panel. There’s a lot of painting and mess making before and after each layer is applied. At the end, I peel all of the stencils up. That was really tedious with this piece because there were so many layers of paint that the vinyl came off in small bits. It’s still exciting to reveal the (almost) final product. Once I removed all of the tape and masking vinyl, I glazed in some transparent white in the sky and ash clouds and gave the stamps a postage value. After some gentle washing and sanding, a nice glossy clear coat helps create some visual depth in the patterns and boosts the contrast of the texture. ~ JB

Here’s how this turned out. It’s 32″ x 48″. I’m going for something like an old National Park poster or post-card (obviously, stamps) and the border reminds me of a hiking sweater or wool blanket design. The volcano sign is based on the National Volcanic Monument signs, and the top sign is meant to look like a trail marker (with reference to the flag of Cascadia and the Interstate-5 badge).

If you would like to see this in person (or bring in home with you!), visit my show at The Gallery At The Jupiter Hotel in Portland, thru March.

So…looks like I’m a once-a-year blogger…Happy 2016. I had a great year; lots of art and some fun shows. Obviously, I was not blogging. I suppose that I should do it more because this is the place for indulging in nerdy art talk. If you’re here, then you’ve chosen to read this; it’s not like I’m just blowing up your Facebook feed. If you’re interested in more regular photos of what I’m doing, I’d suggest finding me on instagram @artdamaged. I’m much more active there than anywhere else.

Do you follow astrology/horoscope? I have some knowledge of that sort of thing but it’s not like I read my horoscope often. I do know that Jan 5 – 25 was Mercury Retrograde. I called it out, too. On Jan 5, I experienced a wave of super stereotypical and cliche Merc. Retro. events. I decided to look it up and retrograde had started that day. Now, once again, I’m not saying that the planets rule our lives, but I’m thankful that I realized what was going on in the sky because it reminds me to be flexible in my plans, to roll with the punches. That’s good advice always, but its easy to be stubborn and expect to get our way.

I have an art show opening soon. My schedule had been cleared for a full month of studio production. Here’s the way things went for the first few days:

-I bought vinyl mask and transfer tape and dropped a 18″ wide roll of transfer tape in a deep puddle on the way to my car.
-I updated my OS on my laptop and now many drivers are not supported
-I had some software issues because of this as well
-The cold weather and new carpeted location of my plotter/vinyl cutter was charged with static electricity which kept zapping the motherboard and freezing up. That took a lot of trouble shooting and wasted vinyl to figure out.
-I had to relocate my setup and boil water to humidify the room
-this batch of vinyl was pretty sticky and hard to peel
-I seemed to have a lot of text and email communication issues
-I built panels that are bigger than the vinyl I’m able to cut, so I had to apply stencils in sections.

I made it work. I tried new things. I drew some new images and worked with way more stencil layers than I have before. I used 16 layers of stencil on one piece! (usually, it’s been one or two). I enjoyed the larger size too! I got to paint a lot more detail. I also painted a large samurai which was super fun to paint and I was able to cut details that I just couldn’t do with the smaller sizes.

The show looks great and I’m proud that I stayed focused, applied my best trouble shooting skills and solved the problems. I hung the show at The Jupiter Hotel, here in Portland and it will be up thru March. If you are in the area, please check it out. If you go see a show at The Doug Fir Lounge, stop into the gallery because they are open 24/7. I’ll post more about the show soon!

So, Mercury is no longer Retrograde. If you’ve had difficulties with your New Year projects, maybe things will go more smoothly now.

The whale always wins. They bomb down to the depths, while blasting the squid with sonar pulses. The whales know exactly where the squids are, and may have stunned them with sonar. (I’ve heard that getting sonared by a whale is like getting punched in the chest.) Recently, I’ve learned some cool facts about squid, thanks to documentary television and the internet. I assumed squid had suction cups, but didn’t realize that many varieties of squid have teeth around each sucker! I suppose that an exceptionally large squid might give the whale a fight, if it didn’t get chomped in the first attack. So, I drew a squid that’s almost as big as the whale. Another fact that I learned is that the Giant Squid has suckers and the Colossal Squid has two rows of HOOKS! That’s more like it. 

A while back, I drew this with pen and a little acrylic wash of color. It was for the Monster Show. 

On Friday, I drew this version with a Wacom tablet (digital drawing pen and tablet) in drawing software. The black line will be what I mask on the panel, so I can get crazy with the paint and pattern and still maintain a crisp illustrative edge. I added hooks and tried to make the squid more accurate in features. Both fighters were bulked up some and I tried to make the stare down a little more personal. I’ll be adding a horizon/shore line to the new piece. 

Sunday Jan 19. Today is a big day. I have the whole day set aside for painting. On Friday, I cut a lot of stencils out of paint masking adhesive vinyl. I also drew some new images and created some variants of existing designs. Yesterday, I had only enough studio time to apply the masking to two panels, then I had to pack up for the People Of People’s art show; I was the vinyl selector for the evening. Afterward, I was feeling chilled and achy, and have developed a cough – damn, I do not want to finish a show with the flu, so I skipped the after party and a concert I was going to see and drank sinus tea and slept early after reading a little.  Good job, responsible me. I think I’m feeling well enough to still make a good effort in the studio today. 

Also, Here’s a simple variant of the volcanos (I like this spelling better, both volcanos and volcanoes seem to be acceptable). I added the city dome and kept the foreground empty. I think It will show off one of the more successful patina-woodgrain backgrounds.