Finally Uploading some things

This semester has kept me remarkably busy, but now that we're slowing down I can slowly get some of my work posted.

The piece done here was a personal piece created for a show about the use of text in art.  The text I chose was a chemical formula (C18H19NOS), which was painted in acrylic in the shape of a binturong, then the animal itself was painted over top with light ink washes.  The canvas used was a recycled canvas of some freshman still life that had been discarded, over which I created a light blue field. bright orange of the original painting still shows through in some places.

The actual concept is very personal and I will not go into detail here but if you are interested we can have a discussion through email or IM.

What have I been up to this semester?

Now that most of the site is solidified, it is time to start setting time aside to blog and update frequently. I've been very busy in the past few weeks. I have a lot of in-progress work and sketches.

Currently the classes I am taking are: Book Cover Illustration, Natural History Drawing, Web Promotion, Professional Development, Senior Studio I (Fine Arts), and Fashion / Body Adornment. Most of my work this semester has been for Book Cover and Senior Studio which are both 3 credit courses and directly relate to my long-term goals. I have also created two personal pieces for shows at school outside of my coursework, I'll make a post on them later.

In Senior studio, I have been preparing an installation of animal sculptures. I will make a special post just on my sculptures later as well.

My last Book Cover Illustration project was to illustrate a fiction book of our choice. I chose Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques. My goal was to combine 2d and 3d media, and I'm still revising the final cover, but as a teaser, here is the photo for the 3d half. I felted the character and sewed his clothes, the environment is painted foamcore and balsa wood.

Reformatting

The empty posts below will soon contain art. 

I'm restructuring the navigation, so that anything you want to see will be sorted by class.

Seeing as I mostly draw animals...

Going to post some quick posts in the next few days to clear the blank ones off the first page.

Mephitidae

SKUNKS!

Skunks used to be grouped within Mustelidae, but recent genetic work has uncovered the truth -- skunks are distinct enough genetically to warrant their own family.

Viverridae

Genets, Civets, Linsangs, Binturong

Mustelidae 2011

Weasels and allies:
Badgers, Otters, Martens, Mink, Wolverines
The following works were created in 2011, as my ongoing obsession with all things weasel continues!

Primates

Monkeys and Apes:
Lemurs, Gorillas, Orangutans, Langurs, Capuchins, Humans, Baboons, Tarsiers, Howler monkeys, Macaques, Chimpanzees, and more....

Canidae

The Dog Family: Wolves, Jackals, Coyotes, Foxes

Mustelidae

Weasels and allies:

Badgers, Otters, Martens, Mink, Wolverines

Rodentia

 Rodents of all kinds: Mice, Rats, Beavers, Chipmunks, Squirrels...

Cynomys, December 2011, Ink and Watecolor

Summer Class Wrapping up

This summer has been incredibly busy.  Shortly I will have a lot of work to post from my clay class.

I focused on Mustelids, creating a range of weasel like figurines.  Here is a small preview of the work I have made.

At the top is the fisher, Martes pennanti, followed by an American badger, Taxidea Taxus, with an Ermine, Mustela erminea, at the bottom.

They are displayed here in sets I made with plaster, acrylic paint, and Woodland Scenics flocking.

These are the smallest in the series, only a few inches tall and long each.  In a few weeks I will have had a chance to photograph all of the figures, including the larger ones, so hold tight.

Building

Starting to build the Portfolio pages.

Adding things slowly.  I will only be adding work to the Portfolio Pages when I believe it is my absolute best work.  Sometimes I will upload things such as sketches and process work here, in a post, but for the portfolio pages I intend only high quality work to be exhibited there.  Blog contents will also be very short and focus around school / art / work / casual matters.  Philosophy and long rants will be posted elsewhere.

So on to more casual topics. What am I doing this summer?
This summer I am taking two classes; Form Development in Clay and Op-Ed Illustration. In Clay, I will be creating an extended series of Mustelids, and Op-Ed is a correspondence course where I will email the work to my professor.

I am also working 3 days a week in the computer lab at school. We'll just be doing general maintenance and prep work for the upcoming semester, as well as helping out the various summer programs that go through such as the Master's program and Pre-college.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, I am volunteering at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard (located above the Harvard Museum of Natural History).  So far, I have labeled 4 skeletons and carried/vacuumed/cleaned several African buffalo skulls.  I am having a great time, and rumor is I maybe perhaps might be paid at some point after the budget proposal goes through... but even if I'm not, I'm very happy just volunteering my time and energy to an institution I love.

First Post

Move from here.

Going to try again. More people I know currently use Blogger than Wordpress, and I have a sneaky suspicion setting this up will become very useful in a few months.

I still like Wordpress a lot.

We'll see what happens.