Lyrical & Musical Insight

                     

Beginning of a New Illustration

Started work on a new colored pencil illustration. It's been a while since I've worked with pencil and it feels good to have to put hours of work into something again. I'm really stoked I finally got this idea sketched out on paper and I'm excited to see how it evolves while adding color to it.

And Night was Filled with Eerie Sweetness

"Among Silent Pine"
Photoshop Painting

details
I decided to remake & remix an old colored pencil drawing I made back in 2010. I find it interesting  to sometimes go back and try to create something new from something old.

"Firmament III"
Photoshop Painting

Amongst the Trees

"Amongst the Trees"
Photoshop Painting

detailed view

Enchantment of the Moon

"Moonromanticism"
Photoshop Painting

detailed view

Grey & Trist

Today the weather was dreary, cold and overcast. Days with weather like this don't happen often around where I live but when the days are grey like today, I like to spend my time outside photographing things in solitude. Here are three of some of my favorite shots from the lonely journey today.

Darkness and Frost

"The Land of Snow & Sorrow"
Photoshop Painting

detailed view

When the Shadows Grow Longer

"When the Sun Becomes Sad"
Photoshop Painting

detailed view

Blocktoberfest Review

"Untitled"
2'x4'

"Many Moons Ago"
3'x4'

"Untitled/In Progress"
12"x12"

This last week I went to an event called "Blocktoberfest" where I got to print two large scale block prints. I really tried to push some things with these prints after only being familiar with block printing for a few weeks prior to the event. I was happy with how they came out and decided to start a smaller block this week. 

Of Forests Unknown

"Of Forests Unknown"
Oil on Canvas
24"x36"

Finally gathered up the will to finish this painting I started earlier this year. A lot of my intentions went into trying to paint an image related to some lyrics that I have always admired. The painting definitely didn't turn out how I had always expected it to look in the end.

"Firmament II"
Photoshop Painting

Challenging Myself with New Mediums

Block of Wood for Printmaking
2'x4'

Here is the image I'm going to carve out of wood that will eventually become a 2'x4' black and white block print for the upcoming Blocktoberfest event being held in Jacksonville.

Existing Before Conception

"The Year Before Time"
Photoshop Painting

Thoughts & Inspiration

A statement that basically describes what I have been trying to do with my latest digital paintings.
Hopefully I will find the time and will this week to finish the last installment for the series.

Wonders of Death

"The Year After Time"
Photoshop Painting

"Time"
Photoshop Painting

This new creation of mine has a lot of allegorical meaning behind it. The design & composition is conceptually related to the idea of "time".

Blut aus Nord's "777" Trilogy

"777- Sect(s)"

"777 - The Desanctification"  

"777 - Cosmosophy"

Tonight I was finally able to give all three of these albums by the french artists "Blut aus Nord" a listen for the first time.  Their concept on how to create music has become one of my personal favorites to study & listen to. I have been listening to these musicians for many years and take many influences on how they approach making art as music and apply it to my own concepts and themes visually. I have to say that these three albums are some of the most meaningful creations I have ever encountered.

New Digital Work

"Escape"
Photoshop Painting

Digital Painting Session

Screenshots from a digital painting session

Here are some screenshots showing how I go about making progress on a digital painting.
Rendered from scratch in Photoshop CS6.
There are a total of 26 different layers of brushes that I have arranged to create one final image.
This image is a remake of my first attempt at a digital painting that I made back in 2010.

Revised Photoshop Paintings

"Dawn of Winter"
Photoshop Painting

"Cold Infinity"
Photoshop Painting

Today I went back and manipulated & fixed some things with these two photoshop paintings I created back in November of 2011. Mostly just fixed the lighting & contrast and added some more layers of brushes.

Musical Insight

Focusing on the Old

Myself in the Painting Studio - 04/2012

One of my favorite things about making artwork is how I can start working on this idea that has been stored away inside of my thoughts to create a visual evidence. At first I'm really excited about it and I let things happen as I had pictured them happening already. Then suddenly I'll get stuck on something or I won't have the time or inspiration to work on it. I end up taking a break and the piece just sits there. While I'm on this break, I see and think about the unfinished artwork every day. I think about what I like and what I don't like about it and try to picture how it will look like when it is finished. But I don't really know any of that for sure.
Then one day I'll wake up and I'll have this epic feeling that today is the day that I am going to work on it again. That's when it really starts. I focus all of my energy and inspiration back into making the piece and put as much time and effort into it until I feel it is completed. When feel I've reached that time to finally call it finished, I don't feel accomplished because my time with it has ended, I feel accomplished because I know I've made a piece of artwork. I was ready to finish the piece.

I started this painting back in april and I finally placed it back onto my painting easel today...

Musical Insight

Vinterriket | Landschaften ewiger Einskamkeit (2004)

I listen to a lot of different styles of music. It has always inspired me, it has always been there whenever I have made artwork. When I'm making art, I choose to listen to music that fits along with the artwork that I am creating. Even some times I try to create artwork that relates directly to a specific album or song that has deeply inspired me. This is the case with my latest focus on a series of paintings I have been working on. The title "Landscapes of Eternal Loneliness" is taken from this album "Landschaften ewiger Einsamkeit", which is just translated from German to English.
The album is contains six tracks passing the 10 minute mark. While each track is composed of desolate, ambient instrumental soundscapes that paint a gloomy winter atmosphere for the listener.

I like to work on more than one piece of artwork at a time. In order to keep track of all my upcoming ideas and in progress works, I like to make a list of everything. This is how my list of in progress work looks as of today. Some recently started works and some works that I have been putting off since 2010.

"777" Photo Series

"777.2"

An image from the new series of conceptual black & white photographs entitled "777". Each photograph is a representation of an emotion or mood.

The rest of the photographs can be seen here:
777 Series  

Charcoal, 14"x17"

Lately, most of my studio time has been going towards finishing this charcoal illustration. The illustration is based off of lyrics that narrate a story about the ghost of a young woman who died below an old oak tree.

Introduction to the New Blog

I have started this new blog in an effort to share a more organized documentation of the processes, rituals and inspirations that are involved with the making of my artworks.