Paint the Halls

Fundraiser at women's college hospital, the place is being torn down and rebuilt. Toronto is certainly changing. My friend Margaret Cresswell was one of 75 artists who painted on the walls in a kind of 'paint off' Personally, hospitals are creepy places and to distract myself I took to sketching the patrons on the walls with a sharpie

The Selby

I may be the last person to see this, have you seen http://theselby.com/ ?

It seems like an interesting site that shows artist studios, this guy Todd Selby goes into peoples spaces and shows you the dynamic environment people create in.

Check it out!

Self portraits

Looking up from my kitchen table at the studio I was confronted with these two self portraits, I put the second one there to get out of the way of cleaning this week and did not really think about these 2, side by side- tucked in the frame of a queen portrait, you can see the details in her dress.

They are both pretty sombre, the one on the right was done in silver point on toned paper in 1994, the one on the left looks like 2007 in a perhaps not too happy a mood.

The start of something new

I've been working a lot in the last few months in the studio, and as a result seem to have done less posts, doing more tweets (@ericfarache) around my last show at the artist project. Anyhoo, I'm trying to forge something new these days, a bit a similar content but a different approach to the paper, going to try and really play with the whole space...which is ironic that I am posting a picture of this unfinished piece as it is mostly white space like my previous work- I'm playing with some abstract elements too.

Next stage

Well dropped a whack of paintings at the framers, I am looking forward to getting those back, it's amazing to see your work transformed somewhat by the frame.

Getting ready for the artist project- Holla!

here is a little study from today:

Agonizing

Anyone who knows me, knows that I really cannot stand star wars, Lucas etc

But I have been working on this painting of Bobba Fett for the last little bit, Cripes it's one fine detail after another!

By the power of a watercolour brush!

The more you look at toy faces, the more you learn about a culture and the more you wonder how children have a chance of being normal after being exposed to these insane objects.

I am examining the faces of GIJoe and competitor dolls, star wars and others and yes, even he man. The way they are painted, the way the doll factory artist paints the eyes, is just so damn weird.

May just be over exposure, but you can glean something about the society that makes these strange things me thinks.

The Artist Project

My work will be in the artist project in a few weeks and I am working on some really different stuff for me, the deadline is very inspirational!

This is a piece before its complete

Experiments continue: style

I keep toying with the style to depict the little world that is emerging from these sketches and drawings.

As it turns out, my recent trip to Florida (and thus Disney) has influenced this work.

Also, the lack of a shuttle program has got me thinking about space stuff, all of my vintage mercury era GIJoe outfits.

Here is a little sketch from this afternoon, - I'm not going to say much else.

I was driving around this city looking for a coffee, it has felt like a desperate situation, I was doing a loop in a plaza that had a Michaels, saw this guy leaving how looked a lot like this guy, our Michael Baumgart. Same glasses, same wry look, the guy in the parking lot may have one upped Michael as he had a little straw hat on versus Michaels military style ball cap and had a 12" long bristle brush is his mouth like a long stem rose, off to go an romance his canvas I suppose. Perhaps I like Mr. Baumgart's understated manner more when i think of it.

Painting studies continue

I have held on to these weird head sculpts for years, I got them in a trade with this psycho bastard who would want these toy parts for some weird thing he was doing with star wars or some shit. I would make the trade with him with hopes of re-configuring my old broken down GIJoes but it was never worth it as he would bring up the whole thing at a party or a bar when I was talking to a group of ladies. Total nerd-bot.

I have been at it, finding images that fit together and making little scenes come alive. More watercolours to come.

Inspiration

I have been looking at a number of sources for new inspiration, not for changing the direction of my previous work, but rather to keep pushing on, to deepen and fill out what I have been working on since my last Loop show with Larry. Anselm Kiefer has always been an inspiration for me, a master it seems in everything he touches. Sarah found these pieces on the Met's website when we were talking about art and inspiration the other night. The images have an intensity that I just love.

A view of the Studio

The Studio has suffered neglect, but we continue to wage the war, press on and chase the darkness and all that shit. Artwork to follow.

A drawing from October 18th, 2012.

Scotty portraits

Here is a new photograph from this week of Scotty, I think this will be for his promo stuff.

I was pretty happy with the way this turned out, I had this image of Scotty under broken glass and that seemed to come together pretty well.

I also wanted to do some water colour paintings:

But the first one came out like I do not know what and there was no time for a third. This doesn't look too much like him but there is a feel here that I am happy with-

I was thinking a bit about the later work of the artist Francesco Clemente who is a damn genius and his portraits are stunning.

Just look at this one of Keith Haring, obviously done in the 80s

Clemente was part of the 80s Village scene, the breadth of his work is inspiring.

NOW magazine

It seems a bit odd, but here is me in a photo shoot.

Well, that is me in the background anyways. For Fashion week, Now Magazine, created a shoot with the idea of the "artist and muse"....Look, I was just drawing not making up the ideas.

You can see the story on Now Magazine's website

The fashion influences the way you draw I guess, these earrings and tight hairline made me think of a flapper.

It did give me a great chance to draw the model, Queenette.

I feel like there is always a great tension when drawing a person, focusing on their muscle and structure and, at the same time, giving attention to the clothes as well.

It was also really interesting for me, someone who is not in the fashion world to have a bit of an outsider perspective on the clothing styles.

Give me a break, she was 6 foot 1 and wearing heels!

Drawing of Omar in preparation for NOW magazine

Here is a sketch of local coffee shop guy, Omar, a Montreal native who posed for me before my sketching gig with Now Magazine.

Details on that to follow.

drawings of Scotty

This is a pastel drawing I did using old Grumbacher pastels on a piece of thick carton board like I'm some contemporary of Toulouse-Lautrec dans la Belle Epoque! I love looking at that style of drawing- the strength in the lines.

Scotty was sitting in the studio for a haircut for some video thingy and it gave me a chance to do some drawing, like this portrait of him and a double portrait of Duncan cutting his hair, I took the theme further and gave Scotty some dog tags like he was a GI being sent to Viet Nam.

Simple Drawing with the iPad

I have not yet really got a handle on drawing with the iPad 2, or at least, have not really looked at all the options with the program Brushes....it is ok, but a little too non intuitive. Like the iPhone, one button is cool but not as practical as having a few more buttons so that you don't have to constantly go into your menus....what is this, Windows?

Anyways, was drawing these two women and this little kid while they were having a coffee and everyone was debating the merits and pitfalls of Champix.

By the way, the colours looked nothing like this on tablet, still trying to figure out what happened.

Click here if you would like to see a few of David Hockney's paintings using the iPad and the Brushes application. But honestly, his 'conventional' paintings and water colours are much better.