It's one of those nights

As I stated previous, I'm back on track.  I finished this slew of things, running this idea firmly into the ground and getting  my hands back in action


I decided to do nine things roughly in series.  Three animals coming out of other animals, three animals carrying other animals, and three animals with objects going berserk.  This goat turned out alright.  I trued to use more vibrant colors with these, but an error in the beginning ended me up wit a green goat so I had to make it dark by way of covering that business up.  Still though.  Happy with it.


This might be the best bear I've ever drawn.


These three turned out alright.  This lion has a giant head, but I like it's expression.  I've gotten into the terrible habit of drawing in pencil on the bus.  I end up with graphite sketches that I really like, but whose sketchy nature doesn't transfer well to ink.  This was such a one.  End result still acceptable.


This is an image that has been kicking around in my head since I sent my dog Bandit to go live out on the farm.  My initial idea had more arrows sticking out of it, so I'll definitely revisit this before I settle on a version to get permanently emblazoned across my back, but I do intend on doing that at some point.


I tried a different method on the feathers here.  With some fine-tuning, this will become better.  I like how it turned out.  I like anything into which I can incorporate a coat of arms.

In other news, I've finally (FINALLY) resumed progress on the last page of this book project.  It's coming along quite a bit better than I expected.  The inking process is going to be a mild nightmare, but I'm still looking forward to getting to that tonight.  After I get the writing portion of this done, I'm going to lay out an outline for another.  This thing sort of lends itself to serialization, and even if I'm the only person who ever gets to enjoy it, it's worth while.  I've got nothing else to do, aside from watching the same BBC sitcoms over and over again drinking scotch alone in my room at 4am.  I lead a fairly lonely, depressing life.  I've become alright with this I suppose.  Inured to it at least.  I've learned to let things go.  Sort of.

Onward, to progress!

I've been busy again.  Some dike has burst in my brain yet again, and like the unwary dwellers hiding behind a shuddering levy, the torrent his obliterated all of my ramshackle huts and replaced them with the palaces of antediluvian sea monsters and nameless gods from out the vaults beyond time.  This might be a mild exaggeration.  But I did paint 4 things.


Firstly there is this.  It's Minos from Dante's Inferno.  I was challenged to depict this by a stranger over the internet, so naturally I was all over it.  I'm happy with how it turned out, despite the fact that in every sketch stage of this thing it just looked like the old boy was wearing a hoop skirt frame.  The king form here is one I've been thinking about for awhile, for a different series I intended/intend on doing.  As seen-


here.  I want to do a series of Nebuchadnezzar in the wilderness things.  Not because I have any judeo-christian religious convictions, and not even because I am particularly moved by the image of a great land king humbled by a magic sky king.  But there is something special about a feral king in the woods.  This one isn't even done, really.  I am just loathe to try and improve on it because the form of ol Nezzar turned out like it did and I'm just so fucking pleased with myself.


This is the third and final (for now, probably) laurel-crowned animal born out of another animal.  I like the way the bird turned out.  Not much else to say about it.  It's pretty awesome, I suppose.


But that idea has progressed to this one.  I'm going to do three of these too.  More color, living animals, etc etc.  This one is probably the most colorful thing I've ever done, and I like how I turned out.  More of that, please.  The next one will probably be a harnessed mountain goat covered in cats.  After these I'll do three that fill in the destruction end of this idea, because the trinity has been taking up my mental processes ever since I finished Aldous Huxley's 'The Devils of Loudun'.  I highly recommend that book if you are interested in a bone dry and thoroughly cross-referenced account of a priest accused of warlockery and nun seduction in 17th century France.  Get your olde tyme french vocab in order, because all the most choice passages are left untranslated.

In other news, I've been happier lately.  It might be the cause for this sudden burst of activity.  I've come to terms with a few things lately, and a few things are moving.  I'm shaking off stagnation slowly but surely, but some tricky spots have become accustomed to their turbidity.

Stirring slowly back to life

I'm rising laboriously from my wreckage.  My brain is sputtering back to life and my hands are itching again to move.  Capital developments, all around.

I've got another show at the hostel lined up.  It was tentatively set to open next Friday, but I have pushed it back to give me some time to prepare.  I think I have everything set out to show, but I am planning on running this by my crack team of advisors (ok, crack team of advisor) and making small adjustments.  I recently completed a triptych what will sit at the center of the whole thing, which is as follows-







I had the vision of this thing in a flash of inspiration as I was falling asleep three days ago.  I hazily groped for my sketchbook and a pencil, whereon I scrawled out reminders in my pictorial shorthand.  On waking, I had no recollection of this until I chanced upon the book in a heap by my bed.  I finished one a day in what has been my first flurry of activity in weeks.  I'm pleased with the result.  It follows sort of a creation/preservation/destruction narrative, but more actually it's just a series of awesome things involving elk.  I love elk.  I expect to see more of the lancer and his be-stechhelmed steed in the future.

Other things I've got in the works include a Nebuchadnezzar series of woodwose-king drawings, a picture of Minos from The Inferno by request, and the completion of a great many partially-painted things abandoned in my torpor.  More information to follow as it reaches the news room.

In other news, I am still in limbo.  My personal life has been a rollercoaster which I have been advised on all sides to get off of.  But I won't.  Or else I can't.  I'm still unsure.  We'll see what happens today.  Everything could change in an evening.  It's happened before.