Genesis

So I inadvertently skipped to pieces and had to go back but now I'm back on track. This piece is a companion to this piece, I've thought about making them a dyptych but I don't know. Suggestions are welcome.

Evening
Watercolor
9x9in
2012
Series: Genesis
Photo by Hawkinson Photography

Blast From the Past

 Today's blast from the past is my high school masterpiece. My junior or senior year of high school I watched Casablanca for the first time and I loved it. Not long after that, I made this piece, which has had many cliche titles over the years, none of which have really stuck, it's just my Casablanca piece. Also I used tracing paper on the sign and Rick and Ilse.

Sacred Geometry: A Primer

Today the hemiolion and/or the rule of thirds. I first heard of the rule of thirds in a high school art class. The rule is basically that a design or composition will be more dynamic or interesting if the focus is on a third rather than smack dab in the middle. The hemiolion produces thirds.

As always, starting with a square.

You then want to find the half way point on the top line of the square.

Set your compass from the left edge of the square to the half mark and arc up to the line extended from the square.

Repeat on the opposite side.

Draw the line over the top to complete.

Here are two other varriations. Also I'll try to have better pictures next time.

Piece of the Week

untitled

sumi ink

9x9in

2009

I did this piece and some others the first summer after I graduated and at the time I was a bit disappointed with my efforts, but looking back at them now I like their simplicity. Also a note, you may notice that the piece is rather wrinkly, that's why generally when using water based media, you should use a watercolor block or stretch/tape down your paper.

patterns unlocked

I have been wanting to use this pattern for a long time but I haven't been able to figure out how the pattern works. On Wednesday I came across a picture on the website for The Prince's School of Traditional Arts. Which gave me a starting point for figuring the pattern out. This was my first attempt after looking at the picture.

It was not a great attempt, but after looking at it more closely I was able to replicate the first piece of the tessellation (is there a term for that?).

After making the beginning of the pattern I had a hard time figuring out how to make it tessellate, short of cutting it out and using a pattern. There's a lot of extra lines and circles in the picture above from failed attempts.

After more trial and error I seemed to be on the right track, except that my page was too small.

On the bigger sheet I was able to make the pattern work! In this post it doesn't seem so exciting but it's been very exciting for me to finally have figured this out.

Tip: patterns like this have a lot riding on accuracy and so I use the attachment on my compass that lets me use a mechanical pencil so that the lines are small and accurate.

Let me know if you'd like more info on how to draw this pattern.

Blast From the Past

So this photo is also a blast from the past. I'm not certian where this was, it must have been in one of the apartments I lived in but I don't know which one.
Last week I showed the works I'd kept from middle school and this is one of my masterpieces from high school. Some background: for a long time I had planned on being a cartoonist and creating a series like Calvin and Hobbes, which I love. In high school I had a cartoon character named Steve the monkey. In my second year of art in high school (also my senior year) I started what might be loosely called a series with Steve. I believe my first piece in the series, was a take on Andy Warhol's prints of Marylin Monroe, I used a similar color scheme and Steve, or it might have been his alter ego Super Steve.
Anyway this piece came about because I listened to the Beatles 1 album and I really liked this picture that was in it somewhere. This piece is Steve as the Beatles in that piece. I drew the figures in colored pencil and air brushed the background. I used to love air brushing.
It's a little boggling at times to see where I started out and where I am now.

Genesis

This piece was inspired from the same place as last week's piece. It's a bit more of an abstract take on the idea I suppose. The winged circle is based on Egyptian art/symbols I believe it either represents a sun-god or just the sun.

Divided From Darkness
watercolor
9x9in
2012
Series: Genesis

Sacred Geometry: A Primer

This week, the hemidiagon. It begins, as usual, with the square.

(I've drawn mine with the lines extended to save time.) Find the half way point on the top of the square.

You don't have to draw this next part but it is crucial to the demonstration. The dotted lines are what you'll need to set your compass to.

Put the point of the compass on the bottom left corner of the square and the lead on the marked halfway point. Arc out to the left.

Repeat in the opposite direction.

Draw the line across where the arcs meet the extended lines.

Piece of the Week

Here's a two-fer, two pieces that weren't really part of any series. I had a hard time finding something I wanted to share for this piece of the week, I guess that means that I need to be getting more painting done and I look forward to doing so.

charcoal and pastel pencil

11x11in (which is a guess)

2011

Genesis

My last Genesis post got ahead of itself, after this piece, comes this piece.

Light II
watercolor
9x9in
2012
Series: Genesis

This piece is on the same subject as the last Light piece but a different take on it.  I think that the various elements were going through my mind. The different colors in the circle and their quadrants in the square are symbolic. In the bottom right corner is red, the color and the area are symbolic of earth. The upper right corner and the color yellow, I think this is light or fire, but I'll be honest, I'm not to certian and my notes say different things. As for the blue and the upper left corner, I would like to say water but my notes say that it's air/ether and that does make a lot of sense. The green and the lower left corner are designated in my notes as water,  I typically associate water and blue but I have since learned that green is also symbolic/representative of water in Islamic art and water makes more sense on the "ground" part of the square than the "sky" part.

Blast from the past

I found some pieces from my 7th grade art class. It's a little sad how great I thought these were, it is good to know that I've come a long way though. It makes me curious, my masterpiece from that class got lost or I forgot to pick it up or something, anyway, I don't have it any more.

I thought this was really cool at the time.

This one was always bad, proof that good tools really do make a difference, also not being in 7th grade can also help.

Another masterpiece, for a while I was super into cubism.

 

Be on the look out for more blasts from the past.

Sacred Geometry: A Primer

Today, the Biauron, as you might guess from its name, it's related to the auron or golden section, it's one of my favorites of the orthogons.
We begin as usual, with a square.

Then use the compass (set to over half of the line) to find the half way point of the square.

On the lower half of the square draw a diagonal from top left of the half to bottom right.

Set your compass with the point on the left half of the square and arc up to meet the diagonal line.

From the bottom corner on the right set the compass from the diagonal line arc to the left line of the square.

Set your compass on the point where the arc and the square meet, point on the point and set the lead to the bottom of the square and make a semicircle.

Draw the top of the biauron  where the semicircle ends.

Piece of the Week

A few months ago I was at a house with a great view and more than that got to see something I'd never seen before, across the way there was a pink column of light coming down from the clouds in the sunset. With fading memory and limited pallet, I've done my best to capture that beautiful sight.

watercolor

7x10in

2012

Series: Light

Genesis

This piece is based on Genesis 1:5, Moses 2:5, Abraham 4:5.

Morning
Watercolor
9x9in
2012
Series:Genesis
Photo by Hawkinson Photography

Tools of the Trade

Pigment, with which one can make watercolors, oils, egg tempera, etc. Also, I think this is the last Tools of the Trade.

Sacred Geometry: A Primer

Sacred Geometry tip: making complex designs can get confusing. Example:

Hard to tell what it is I'm going for with that and to get lost in all the lines.

In this one I was working on the same pattern/design but with the colored pencil I was able to separate elements of the design.

Piece of the Week

Ancient Bees

micron pen and ink
2011
11x11in
Series: The importance of Bees

In researching for this series I was intrigued by the many different ways that bees have been portrayed in art in the past.

Genesis

Light
Watercolor
9x9in
2012
Series: Genesis
Photo by Hawkinson Photography

This piece comes from Genesis 1:3 and Abraham 4:3.

Tools of the Trade

Pallet knife(s). A lot of people use these in their painting, I use them for getting the top layer of paper off of the watercolor block. Most of the the block is sealed and there's about an inch where you can insert a pallet knife.