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| When you are working on a drawing and you are already half way done and suddenly you just have to stop or you feel like you are going to "force it" to work? Well that is where I am on my "Ode to Emilly Bronte". I was fighting it too much. Now I have to walk away from it to get a better perspective. The bad thing is I feel a need, a rush to get something done since it has been over a month since I have had a completed piece so I started sketching and when I do that in this state of mind, I am usually reckless. Now I just have to sit back and chill until I get my focus back and decide whether to start a new piece and shelve this one for a better time or continue with it. I just hate that  | | |
| Sapientia was influenced from various sources, but the main one was in the book of Proverbs where Solomon describes Wisdom as a woman. The original was another "Biro Art", then was taken and painted in Adobe as well as the border being designed in Adobe with visitation font. 
http://www.cafepress.com/poeticcrow/3302862 Example : Proverbs 1 :20-21 "20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: Here is a Latin to English dictionary: http://archives.nd.edu/latgramm.htm I inscribed the latin translations of the verses in the borders. There are also many objects, some deliberate and strangley enough some subconcious that wove themselves into the piece. After I finished it I did some research on Jung imagery and was surprised to see how the objects, the bat, for example, fell into the theme. It seems that some cultures see the bat as part of the creation theme and since he is hanging from a depiction of the tree of life, then he seemed to be finally justified. I do not know Latin but I am slowly studying it. I find it a very interesting language due to its being a dead and obscure one. Conjures all sorts of images itself in one's head. I was fortunate enough to find the Latin translations online. I also confess that the piece was also inpsired partially by Alfons Mucha, whom I long admired. Here is an article on Mucha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfons_Mucha | | |
| I have to confess Dead Man's Hand was a guilty pleasure for me to do. 
I have a love for replicas of antique revolvers and recently picked up a Remington New Army 1858 .44 cal. and a Colt Navy 1851. They are fun to shoot and even inspired my father who is in his late 70's to take up the addiction. The above drawing was inspired by my fondess for antique revolvers and of course the demise of Wild Bill Hickock. Most know about Wild Bill, who was dubbed the Prince of the Pistoleros, if not, here is a wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok I chose the Colt 1860 Army because I liked its design and style. The Reaper is holding the infamous Dead Man's Hand that Wild Bill was reported holding when he was shot from behind while playing poker, his last words being "Aces and Eights to win." It was reported that the Aces and Eights were of the black suit and the fifth card has never really been revealed, only rumored so I left its back showing. The watch is almost at either High Noon or the Witching Hour, its up to the viewer. The drawing was another "Biro Art" drawing, ballpoint pen. I used colored pens on the vest and the card's backing but I did the background in Adobe with Wacom Brushes on my tablet. The black of the coat and hat were done with a Mar's India Ink brush pen so this is definitely mixed media. It was a quick piece to do and allot of fun, like I said a guilty pleasure. I have always been a fan of Sergio Leone Italian Westerns as well as Clint Eastwood's "gothic supernatural westerns" such as High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider. I got more comfortable with ballpoints this time and instead of working on Bristol like I usually do, I used Canson drawing paper. The texture of the paper grabs the point allowing me to get more subtle tones. But I was concerned that some of those tones would get lost on reproduction so I decided to see how it would print on a T Shirt and ordered one for myself. I was impressed at not only the lines and shading being reproduced well but also the color. It turned out much better than I expected. So I decided to offer it on more products. http://www.cafepress.com/poeticcrow/3314018 The above link shows all the products that the drawing is offered on. Right now I am in the middle of working on a piece and decided to break to blog as a matter of discipline. The piece I am working on is another "Biro art" inspired by Emily Bronte. I am almost a third of the way done and hopefully will have it done this week. It is a little more ambitious than usual, but I am enjoying it and seeing it through to the end. | | |
| I just took another step in turning my art into a "business". I purchased vintagecrowstudios.com. I have to be honest here, I don't expect to be make allot of money from this endeavor so I am not quitting my "day job". I also chose cafepress because I didn't have the capital to fund doing my own prints and reproductions. Cafepress gives one the choice of getting one's art out to the public with no out of pocket expense, I did chose to use a premium site since I wanted my own shop. The domain name actually links to a cover page and links the cafepress shop. The cover page isn't finished yet, but it is out there.
I got really discouraged for awhile, learning search engines optimization is overwhelming and filled with contradictions. The shop had been up for just over a year and I had the total of about twelve sales, just enough for paying the site fees. Then I read where other artists actually didn't do as well whether due to search engine rankings or the reputation of cafepress being more of a t shirt shop that deals with political slogans and such. T shirt slogans are a big seller for cafepress, I am not in to that, that isn't what I am about. I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, if one wanted to make some cash there is always a political crowd to pander to. Instead I just wanted to get my art out. I have no illusions that my work will only appeal to a certain genre or sub genre but I am not pandering. I am just putting out my work to the public, something I have wanted to do for sometime. The fact that I sold twelve and did better than some gave me some sense of accomplishment and that it wasn't in vain. So I decided to invest a little more into a domain.
It is a speciality shop no doubt and one that will not be to everyone's interests or liking, but it is mine and unique in the sense that my art is not capitalizing on some political agenda. I guess I can feel a sense of contentment in that. That is for now unless I sell out and start doing quaint little quotes about the state of politics but I don't really see that in my future as of now. I enjoy doing my art and if it pleases someone enough to buy it, then I feel I have accomplished something. In fact I have sold various artwork designs, not just one in particular. Of the twelve I have sold I don't think I have one that is more popular than the other as of yet. I actually am rather surprised and also gives me satisfaction that all the ones sold were not only worth doing, but were liked.
Most likely the shop will remain obscure for sometime. I am tired of trying to get google to notice me or pay attention and weary of reading about meta tags, keywords, robot.txt's and all the technical mazes one has to have to get noticed. Instead I will thrive on my obscurity for a time and actually that will benefit the customers that do purchase my work for they will have something that is obscurely unique and not something that is so popular that it has become common. At least it is a mild delusion I can entertain and keep me creating. 
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| The Lady in White is one of my first serious attempts at "brio-art", which is what the British call ball point pen rendering. The idea is based on many legends and stories about the ghostly visage of a Lady in White that is often linked to cemeteries. Here is a Wikipedia article covering the many stories in different parts of the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lady_(ghost)
I also have a huge fascination for old graveyards especially old tombstones. Unfortunately here in Oklahoma we do not have many cemeteries that have tombstones dating back past the late 1800's. I was extremely surprised and elated when I took a trip to New York City some years ago and was able to see tombstones dating back to the 1700's. Since then I have been gathering what artists call a morge file of old head stones. The combination of old head stones in constrast with a lady in white funeral tresses roaming a cemetery clutching a doll in her hand searching eternally for a lost child seem to begin to haunt me visually and I put it down to bristol paper. It is one of those type of drawings that was definitely inspired.
It was fun working in ball point, the gradations you can achieve are much more than a micron pen or technical pen. It is almost like working in pencil except you tones are much darker and richer. Biro Art has gained a large following which is actually overdue. The ballpoint pen is considered more a sketch art tool than a fine art tool. This largely due to the fact that many ballpoints are not light fast. Yet with prints being an option, the reproductions are archival. The original if kept under UV glass, which is very available, will give it a pernament life span. Since I seldom sell my originals and deal mostly with prints, and prints being in archival inks, then ballpoint pen becomes even more a desirable option.
Having finished the piece I decided to digitally color it in Adobe with my Wacom Tablet.
I went for a water color effect using the brushes that come with my Wacom Tablet. Using layers I was able to achieve the effect. I then made the final images available as a print, t shirt, postcard, fridge magnet and more here http://www.cafepress.com/poeticcrow/3213235
I decided to make both black and white and the digitally colored print available. I am happy with the piece. In fact I have been considering writing a back story for it. It does seem to have a story to tell.
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