Jennifer, A Pencil Portrait.

I had all intentions of completing three or four pieces for my independent study course this fall. Four months later, the one drawing I tackled is FINALLY finished. At the urging of my professor, I decided to get out of my (very tiny) comfort zone and work closer to life-size on this portrait of my friend, Jenn. After the reality of my school schedule sunk in, however, I was only able to squeeze in around ten hours of work per week on the drawing. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you can find a couple progress photos of this project. Here are a few detail shots of the finished portrait.

Pencil on paper. 18" in diameter.

Now I need to track down a giant scanner.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Athens Voices USA '15.

"Amethyst - VA" and "Scroll - WV" have been chosen to take part in the Athens Voices 2015 national art exhibition. The show will be open to the public on January 17th at The Dairy Barn Arts Center in Athens, OH, where it will be on display through March 15th. The show will then travel to the Arthur Butcher Art Gallery at Concord University in Athens, WV from May to July, and to the Alabama Center for the Arts in Athens, AL from August to October. If you're in the neighborhood of any of these venues, be sure to check out the show.

"Amethyst - VA". Marker and colored pencil on paper. 5" x 5".

"Scroll - WV". Marker and colored pencil on paper. 4" x 4".

Happy Holidays!

-Kylene

Jewelry Making.

I am one semester closer to finally finishing up my degree. Fall was filled with general studies courses for the most part, and a few art classes to finish up the requirements for my two majors. I have a wall of general studies to look forward to next semester, but then the worst of it should be over. Right?

Here are a few photos of some of the silver fabrication/jewelry I worked on over the semester.

Film Photography - A Few Portraits.

Phalaenopsis - Marker & Pencil.

A little marker and pencil drawing I finished up this week. Unfortunately, I had a marker explode about 8 hours in, and the original has a small spattering of brown ink on the white paper area outside of the image area (removed in this image).

7" x 7"

For the next few months, I'm doomed to general studies and occasional art-related assignments. I will do my best to take photographs along the way and post as often as I can.

Liriodendron tulipifera.

A long-time back burner drawing, FINALLY finished. Anyone have a giant scanner? =)

Pencil on paper.

Image size: 9 1/2" x 14"

Paper size: 14" x 17" (cropped in the photo)

Ceramics I

Before this summer rolled around, I hadn't touched a potter's wheel since high school. And for a class that I had been actively putting off since my freshman year of college, I found that I really did enjoy the experience. Don't get me wrong, the medium was endlessly frustrating. Just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of things, I'd sit down to the wheel and fail over and over at centering my clay. And when I'd finally get a piece to turn out, there was a good chance I'd ruin it trying to remove it from the wheel. And if it still survived, I'd probably jam my finger into the side of it while putting it up for drying.

I broke things and I cussed.

I may have even cried a little.

But now, a few weeks out from the end of the semester, I find myself missing it.

Here are a few of the imperfect pieces that managed to survive being made by me.

Printmaking I

If I weren't in such a rush to finish my degree, there is no way I would have taken any of my remaining art classes as summer courses. Lesson learned. The five weeks was just not enough time to do any serious planning or execute anything with your full attention. Here are a few photos from the projects we covered in printmaking in addition to the plague bird.

Collagraph x2 18" x 24", give or take.

Mezzotint 3" x 4"

This plate still needs work, but we stopped at passable.

And the quickie mono print from our last day in class:

I'll be back soon with more photos once I've finished up my little hoard of pottery.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer so far. Cheers!

Reduction Linocut - Printmaking.

Week three / day one of the semester. I'm in a constant state of juggling projects, so the quality and consistency of my usual documentation has been poor.

There was also a bit of a bear problem…

The first assignment for printmaking was a four color linoleum block (black, white, plus two colors), concept: "mask". Instead of going the direct (and probably easier) route, the thumbnail I liked the most involved a raven wearing its very own plague mask. I later worked up an ink drawing, scanned and grabbed the line work, and then fiddled around with color concepts in ps:

Progress shot of the first carving session, removing all areas destined to be white:

The first run of color:

The initial mix was on the dark side, so I remixed and lightened the color as I went along. The next carving session removed the grey background areas and prepped for the blue of the bird's body:

I did my best to line up my registration marks, but hovering over the paper with a block of inked linoleum/wood, trying to line up four corners before touching down was pretty nerve wracking. In theory, everything should have lined up and the previous grey bird body should have been completely covered by the new layer of blue.

Finally, all that should have remained on my carving block was the black line work. Once that was inked up, I made the final pulls, ultimately ending in this, my finished Plague Bird:

Each print is handmade, unique, and imperfect. I even ended up with this variation:

I'm currently working on the second printmaking assignment, which will be a collagraph. I hope to be back soon with photos of that process + my blunderings in ceramics.

An Oldie - What's With The Fan Art?

While waiting for my face to become numb at a recent dental appointment, the conversation drifted to my current projects. My dentist is always kind enough to remember who I am and what I do, so I gave him the rundown on my to-do-before-school-starts list.

As it turns out, the dental assistant working with me that day enjoys both drawing and anime, and it reminded me of this marker and pencil piece I did way back in the day. I was pretty new to the materials and this style of drawing at the time. It isn't spectacular, but I thought I'd share it anyway. As far as the reference photos for this piece goes? No clue. I'm sure I found it after a random google image search for the anime in question (Gungrave). My apologies for the lack of credit.

>.<

Marker & colored pencil on marker paper.

11" x 14"