random.

saturday is the day for random drawings from what amounts to a sizeable backlog pile. all pencil, different dates, different levels of completion and quality and some i'm happier with than others, but. . .

happiness

happiness. exactly as the title suggests. one of my favourite emma drawings, so far. some artistic license used in giving her longer hair, but. . . i like it.

another very straightforward drawing from the book of emma. . .

"Sunday"

... and so we begin, again.

more to come. . .

reboot:

almost three months later. . . ?

sometimes we do drop off the face of the earth for a bit, inexplicably or otherwise. it's been three months of ups and downs and comings and goings.

new work soon. ish.

honest.

Emma That Was.

Righto,

This one's a bit different and is one of the oil pieces I've been working on. It depicts - as the title suggests - Emma, circa 2002 when I first met her - long, thick hair, nose stud, eyeliner and a little rounder in the face.

I've given her the same blue cardigan and turquoise shirt because I think they look great with the slightly stylised fleshtones i tend to use, and the brushwork in this is a bit more my usual fare rather than very smooth like in 'Emma #3'

Is it finished? Probably not. Am I done with it for now? Yes. I really liek it in this state, to be honest. Sometimes I have this awful habit of overworking things - I get to a point where a painting looks great, and I keep on going with it and absolutely ruin it and there is definitely a point where you should say 'this looks good' and put your brushes down. . .

This looks good.

*puts brushes down*

Two Colour 'Studies'

I'm not sure how to classify this pair - they were both done in much the same vein as the black and white pieces - scrap pieces of cardboard, A4-ish, acrylic over initial pencil sketches and quite stylised, but rather than work over the usual white gesso base, i used a flat block of colour, one orange one a pale blue colour and THEN drew, THEN painted. . .

The results are maybe a little more finished looking to some degree than the other small pieces I've been doing, particularly the rather warm looking orange piece which features the return of Emm's oversized wool cardigan complete with 'Watchmen' badge. the original orange basecoat can be seen in the 'halo' and behind much of the other details.

The blue piece, which looks by comparison rather cold is completely different. It's less stylised and probably the closest to realism I've come in any of these Emma pieces so far - So the two combined kind of showcase both sides of my work I guess. The stylised Expressionist side, and the lesser showy side which is all about being precise and which I dip into much less. . .

Anyway. Enjoy.

Coming soon, an all singing, all dancing, all Puffin blog. Okay, there may not be singing and dancing, but there will be puffins. . .

Black and White, #3 & #4

. . . two further black and white pieces, one - the second here - more stylised, while one is a bit more realistic than the other three have been and maybe isn't technically black and white because i used some buff titanium acrylic which is just an essentially colour for anyone who paints people.

buff titanium. the absolute best base for fleshtones there is.

admittedly here it's used to make things a bit more subtle, and thus i'm maybe going to rework the 'ode' paintings i've done thus far including #3 to incorporate it - i like the way it works with the black and white, it adds. . . . SOMETHING.

anyway, i think this much more realistic little painting - again, about A4-ish and done on a scrap of cardboard and left rough in areas while worked tightly in others - is one of the best things i've done recently, it has some lovely quality. it's simple and uncomplicated. simple and uncomplicated is good. . .

Book of Emma, pg 6

yes,

a third post this crazily hot weekend, and another page from the slowly filling up 'book of emma' featuring the sketchbook debut of fergus the dog, also known as baron ferqus de montmartre the doggerel dog. . .

strangeness. fairly sketchy, and emm came out looking a bit like rachel mcadams (no bad thing, because SHE'S gorgeous), but i like it a lot :)

pencil and a bit off pitt artists marker pen as usual. i should have those items welded to my hands, theyr'e all i ever draw with. . .

Black and White, #1 & #2

okay,

so i've been doing small, slightly more stylised pieces this week (along with working on 'ode #3' and a few colour oil pieces) of which these two are the first, and i'll be posting these as i do them in chronological order.

like the concept image for 'ode #2' and the rough with the two bird masks, these were (and being) done on smallish scraps of cardboard as, i guess, a form of artistic recyling and again were done in a combination of black and white acrylic and some black chinese ink i got as a gift from a good friend.

and yes, i know how crazy the proportions in the first one are, but. . . i am an expressionist painter above and over anything else. proper prespective and photographic realism are best left for people who get soemthing out of doing that kind of art, i very rarely do. . .

much more to come

easily. . .

the nerdiest thing i've ever done artistically (believe it or not), but it was a request from emma so who am i to say no?

emma and yours truly in costume as green arrow and black canary. and yes i went for the hooded look rather than the jaunty hat look. . . i'd feign protest and grumble about it, but it was lot of fun to do and i like it a lot :)

Book of Emma pg 5, and a rough

struggling with poor daylight one more, but photographed rather than scanned again, these images kind of hint at the direction forward both 'the book of emma' and the 'ode' series seem to be headed in - though in no way is this small study featuring not one but TWO bird masks indicative of the currently in process 'ode #3' which is proving easier asnd less troublesome than its predecessor, which i'm still feeling conflicted about. . .

anyway. in regards to this sketchbook page, it started out as the central image and sort of morphed into a makeshift comic book page, minus dialogue of which there'd be a single line in the bottom panel (see detail), 'iain, are you awake?'

so again, we're dealing with a certain amount of autobiography. . .

lots of shading on this page, so it's hard to capture in any subtlety, but i'm happy with this, and it's something that i want to take a bit further. . . .

Ode #2

lots of images for you today.

first up, the second 'ode' painting, again done in acrylics.

this one was tougher than the first, more small details that proved to never be quite right, such as emma's right eye which i finally just covered with hair, and her right hand which gave me the biggest headache of anything i've worked on lately, however they turned out alright in the end and i like this mroe than 'ode #1' in spite of those niggling details. the composition is very much aligned with a lot of my older work, stuff i've always liked, and the design of the crazy never-the-same-twice came out really nicely with the addition of an odd little barb towards the end of the nose. . .

i also thoroughly enjoyed painting em in her pj's :P

then next up, some obligatory details, which i'll probably repost at a later date - the weather's bloody awful today and thus photographing ANYTHING is proving pretty difficult.

and - aren't i good to you? - after those, just to be a completist, the original concept ink sketch for the painting, done in about ten minutes. it wasn't intended to be a concept for the second 'ode' painting, i was just doodling and the idea stuck. . .

and that's your lot for now

-iain

emma, #3

oil on canvas, framed

. . . and i never frame anything. this was the third large-ish painting - basically life-sized, the first close-up below is the EXACT size - i did of the lovely emma after two colour pieces specifically FOR her to choose from, before giving her both.

this one i did for myself, and though the three are very similar i like this one best partly because there's a little more feeling in it somehow and i think i'd fnally gotten a grasp of the pale fleshtones and blonde hair which i'd initially found slightly awkward after years of painting the reliable contrast of dark hair and light skin.

granted a little artyistic license means both are a little darker in the painting than the subjects own hair and skin, but. . .

i love this piece, i'm proud of it and happy with it enough that i put it in a frame. granted it's a bastard to photograph and the close-ups are a better representation of the colours than the first image, however. . .

it paved the way for everything that's been coming lately. the drawings, the 'ode' series and other stuff in the works that you'll see. soon enough. . .

the book of emma pg 4, and some teasers

the fourth page of the emma sketchbook and again, more along the same lines though admittedly a little more detailed this time with the shading and such:


















pretty much how i remember her looking when i'd go into costa coffee during the summer of 2002 for a latte and biscotti - chunky thumb ring, pigtails, nose stud, notebook pen and pencil tucked into her apron, big badge with her name and a smiley face on. . . the angel wing is obviously artistic license, of course ;)

anyway. THESE are some high contrast teasers of the 'emma #3' painting i'll be posting tomorrow ahead of 'ode #2' which i'll be posting over the weekend with more drawings and some randomness. the colours are a lot more subtle, but you'll see that. . . tomorrow

the book of emma, pages 1 - 3

the first three pages from the aforementioned 'book of emma' sketchbook which are pretty indicative of what the thing's all about (if the name alone doesn't give it away). . .

the first page sort of gave birth to the idea, just one of thos ethrowaway drawings, but i liked the way it looked and felt.

they're a little stylised and not overly finnicky, but i'm happy with all three drawings stylistically and expressively speaking, particularly pages 2 and 3 which make kind of an autobiographical 'before and after' kind of visual couplet, the first a representation of my first meeting proper with emma ross, when her hair was drastically longer and mine was considerably shorter and without a trace of grey.

details like her woven leather bracelet, chunky thumb rings and long retired nose-stud are included to exemplify my ability to remember seemingly minor details seven years later in spite of not knowing what DAY it is half of the time. . .

the third page is my favorite of the three, not for the obvious reasons of what it shows, but more i think compositioonally and such it just came out really nice, and the lines are nice and crisp instead of wavery and all over the place. . . for a change.

so there you go. watch this space, there's much more to come. . .

note: i'm photographing these rather than scanning them. don't ask me why but i feel like scanning pencil drawings kind of. . . loses something, scanned pencil pieces never look quite right for some reason. . .

-iain

Amiina

some strange but enchanting icelandic loveliness for this sunday afternoon:



tracks are from the first album, 'kurr' and the 'seoul' EP.

also, this featuring the late, great lee hazlewood which is just. . ridiculously beautiful:



side-notes: changed the 'ode' photographs. i think they better convey the tones now.

am currently working on three other canvasses of emma, two in oil and one the second 'ode' painting, as well as having started a sketchbook entitled 'the book of emma' which i'll be uploading pictures from in chronological order as they're done, as well as the paintings and studies i have on the go now, and the wonderful full-coloured piece, 'emma #3' which is possibly my favourite piece of my own work ever.

watch this space,

-iain

'Ode', #1

sort of the beginnings of a completely unplanned series, but sometimes you start something and you can see avenues and directions it could go in beyond a single image. . .

black and white - and a little blue - acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24", detailed in areas and left intentionally unfinished and sketchy in others which used to be kind of my schtick.

a few other noteable iain-esque inclusions which should speak for themselves. . .

some details:

Hopper

no words really necessary. the intimate early 20th century paintings of edward hopper and the intimate late 20th century music of the blue nile. really beautiful combined. . .

Warhol

The Last Picture Show, Take One. Roll Tape:



Andy Warhol, and video-tape. I'm not sure which seems most removed from the world in which we currently live, and sometimes I'm completely astounded by how far technology has come in the last decade or so. Maybe too far. Maybe it's just me, but the small, smooth silvery disc of a DVD lacks the charm of a clunky video-cassette. Lacks any charm, in fact. Like CD's and records. Tapes and CD's. Mix CD's are just nowhere near as enderaing as the humble mixtape - I should know, I made enough of them in my day. . .

But back to Warhol. Or should we call him Warhola? 'Andy Warhol, he's a scream', as a great man once wrote. . .

When I was eighteen, in art school, we had a Monday class for the latter half of the morning where we discussed different artists and movements. Our tutor was called Louise, she wore a lot of very close fitting natural fibres, had a very short haircut and had the misfortune of being allocated a store-room to teach in because all the other groups had been given the free rooms. We'd be crammed into this store-room, more than 20 of us, hunched together, it was awful - though it was certainly better than the preceding art history lectures with Julia DeLancey who spoke in such a broad American accent that I think most people were too busy trying to listen to herm, they forgot to take notes - something which bit them in the ass when the exam came the following June.

At times, we were asked to write papers on the artists and read them out. One Monday in November of 1994, Stephen Dorrance, a tall, overtly butch guy who looked no more artistic than a bank manager and I were gven Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein respectively. I had struggled over the weekend to come up with five minutes worth of a talk on the subject that didn't focus on either the Factory or his involvement with The Velvet Underground too much (which were my primary interests in him), and had even gone so far as to borrow Kevin Beetlestone (the class's obligatory tartan trouser wearing, feather-haired gay man's) book on the artist, scribbling notes which i later didn't even consult. Something I make a habit out of even now. I can't tell you how many shopping lsist I've scrawled, only to completely ignore.

Anyway. Warhol's work doesn't lend itself to over-analysis, really. I don't know that any form of art does, or should be over-anallysed, but in this case, I think it kind of speaks for itself. It's bold, solid and image based, as all Pop Art is. You know what it's about, it doesn't need to be picked apart.

Principally, you can love him or hate him, but what Warhol and Pop Art did - and I spoke mostly about this during that excruciating talk - was to promote the graphic arts AS an art form, particularly illustration since Warhol had BEEN an illustrator. You know, here's a soap powder box, and it's art. And to a degree, there is art in more than the average person is aware of. People go shopping and don't stop and think of such things as packaging design as ART, and yet it involves creativity and thought and a particular kind of artistry.

And of course, he has that great quote about everyone in the future being famous for fifteen minutes, which alas proved prohetic, since we now live in a world with really dumbed down culture, and people who are 'celebrities' for absolutely no reason. Whatsoever.

My first awareness of Andy Warhol stems somewhat bizarrely not from either his work, or larger than life personna, but from his - rather random, and somewhat surreal - appareance in this music video from 1986, very shortly before his death, and regardless of having gone to art school, and studied his work, written an essay on him in my first year. . . it's still what I kind of associate him. Ghostly, bewigged and out of place.



And carrying a ghetto blaster, probably about a thousand times the size of an Ipod.

Which again, is somehow far more charming anyway. . .