Viewing blog posts in Bugs
How strange – work done just months ago already seems so old. I guess that’s what happens when I move this fast!
Hope you’ll pardon the quick studio snapshots – I’m on a roll and it’s better to have a brush in my hand than a camera! Some of these still need a little fussing and several more are on the boards this morning, So – keep an eye out – much more is coming!
Weird ants are still hanging around. Every time I think I’m about done with ’em, I’m wrong!
I especially like this first one – really, really nice marks!
Am having some fun these days – and there’s muuuuuuch more to come!
Moth and butterfly wings have captured my attention – or more specifically, the gazillion ways I might paint them have!
I keep thinking I should do more with picture composition. Or perhaps it bugs me (pun alert!) that each time I do one of these, it ends up on the paper in the same basic pose and shape anybody drawing a b-fly would use? Huh. Is that maybe the point? Maybe the simple pose IS the graphic for these little flappers – and it comes down then to what you do next with it?
Moth antennae are kinda cool too!
As is so often the case lately, things are super busy – especially so as I continue to prep for a big exhibition this Autumn/Winter!! More info on that will come soon.
Also, ants are still putting on attitudes, sometimes dancing and even occasionally turning into a mountain!
Yep. Didn’t know they could do that but so they can. Actually the last mountain picture (below) started as a moth, so apparently other insects have this super power too!
Wow – time does fly and it’s busy, busy, busy. Thus no word here for far too long. Sorry!
I’m really done with ants now, but have a bunch still to go as show-n-tell. Gotta say – there is some pretty fine mark making in these.
Lots of new stuff is now on the boards. You’ll see soon!
I feel like I’ve drawn every ant in the gang – but it’s easy to concentrate on working my brush when I’m painting such intrinsically graphic little critters. Fair warning – for the sake of art safety: some of these troublemakers have gone rogue! I ‘spect we’ll be seeing even more of that.
I showed you a quick snapshot of this a little while back, but here’s a really good scan at last. Finally, justice is done to the wonderful mark making that’s careening around in there, almost (but not quite) lost in space.
This is a BIG one too – 36″ wide. He, he, he – just wait until you see what’s coming this spring!
Here are closer looks:
Just a couple of kinda cool bugs – a moth and a dragonfly. Happy weekend!
Thought I was kinda struggling in the studio this month, but I guess I’m wrong – when I sorted out the stack, I had 26 more Ants Misbehavin’ to snapshot of this morning!!! And all of ’em done this month – it’s only the 11th!!!
Am in shock.
At some point – possibly today – I’ll finish my 150th ant! Geez. I’ve done sooooooo many of ’em that these two (from about 5 weeks ago) feel ancient!
I’m very fond of the one below – which is more of a symbol that captures the essence of ant, even to missing some legs. It’s a tough living!
I slammed water and ink down on a clean sheet of paper, transfer-rubbed it onto another and !!!!!! – instant, complete, wonderful picture! I was shocked.
And below, is a very curious one – also powerfully graphic but with some lovely, quiet little things happening too. My studio snapshot does it no justice. I had better get going on a new round of scanning!
Wow, I really like the one above, buuuuuut I also don’t like it, if you know what I mean. Think that means I’ve nailed it!
Below is a much sillier ant – perhaps playing peek-a-boo? Not sure what that’s all about, but I’ve included him as a sort of antidote for the yucks you might have gotten from the top one!
So, my sis says I’m not in love with ants so much as the marks I’m making them with. Smart girl! And it looks like I still have more to paint yet, because they’re getting weirder and I like that too!
– – – Quick snapshots of pictures underway – – – two dragonflies that look sorta fossil-like and artifacty, a Norwegian Mountain that must be finished – AND another monster ant. But I think I’ll turn my back on Mr. Monster today; he’s giving me ‘tude, trying to make me take his legs all the way to the floor. Not set up for that. Well, poop.
These things are exploding outta me! It’s thrilling and exhausting, because it’s frantic and fast – no time to think, barely enough to keep swinging!
AND IT’S BIG WORK. The b’fly (above) is almost 5 FEET WIDE! Not set up for this ink slinging on this scale, although clearly, I better change that.
I won’t touch the one above – it’s done. Will try to finish at least the first of the moths below. The 2nd one may not make it. We’ll see.
I am burying myself in bug pictures and butterfly wings! Don’t know where these came from or why I have such a strange compulsion.
My most pleasant surprise is that a lot of the transfer printing and painting I’ve been doing is suddenly working incredibly well. How is this possible? The charm of my method is that when things do work, the results are as marvelous as they are unpredictable. Of course, the flip side is that with so little control, unredeemable messes are just as likely! Yet I’ve wanted incredible butterfly wings and time after time I’m getting them!
I AM AMAZED! They are COOL. And they look almost as if they emerged all on their own without any help from me. Which means now I’m in kind of a jam: how on earth do I put little bodies in the middle of all of these wings that have the same spontaneous, happenstantial feel? I have absolutely no idea – – – yet.
Exuberant, graphic bugs are happening too. They’re done with rapid intensity and it seems like they end up finally working only after I’ve given up on them and started making crazy, what-the-hell moves!
And finally, comes the oddest little beastie of all. I’m not even sure it’s an insect! That whole, squarish, head-ish area (on the left side) is made of scraps torn from other dead paintings and taped down. Actually to be precise, it’s mostly the backs of the scraps you’re seeing, where ink has bled or been driven through.
Oh what is going on? Up is down. Wrong is right. Or maybe it’s still just wrong. All I know is that I must keep my balance and keep going.
SURPRISE!
The weather was iffy today, so no carpentry in the driveway. Instead, I used my unexpected studio day to mess with that sad loser of a picture I showed you on Thursday. Whether it succeeds or fails remains in doubt, but at the very least, I’m learning all kinds of things about collaging and at the same time creating surprising, actual textures. The surface of this picture is beginning to look a lot like an oil painting – and it’s done in India ink! Maybe kind of cool?
PLEASE click it to take a good look – you’ll see what I mean.
I wonder if I am edging towards becoming a black & white Impressionist?
More next week –
Your Buddy Bill
PS: This is where I’ve left it for the evening –
And just for comparison’s sake, here is what it looked like when I started this morning –
