Scum Choir

Pavement Darling

4x6 little baby inches. Acrylic on frottage drawing on birch panel. Here's the Choir exclusive link to this painting. 

Full: Art is more than an image. Painting over Frottage Drawing

I call this piece Pavement Darling, because she's my darling and she came from the pavement. 

I made a rubbing of a cement texture on paper (A technique called  “Frottage.”) then I fixed the paper to wood panels and started painting using the cement texture to suggest the painting to me.

People will often say "that looks like AI" when looking at my art. And it is a similar process to what an AI will do to develop an image. However, I happen to be a human being using ...

Structural Delusion-Varnished, Framed, and hanging on its wall

There's a glare from the varnish so here's the scanned version of the painting too. I'm trying to decide which pieces from this new body of work I should make prints of. if you have any favorites please let me know!

Also, my varnishing videos haven't been coming out on these recent paintings. Normally I like to film that process because people like to see it. But for some reason on all these newest pieces it's just not working out. 

Structural Delusion-Painting Process Timelapse

Timelapse process of my painting "Structural Delusion" with a little song that I made.

At the show the other night one guy was looking at my work and said "It's like Dali meets Cronenberg." and I loved that. Then a few hours later another woman was looking at my work and said "it reminds me of Dali and David Cronenberg." and I couldn't believe it. I welcome both comparisons. 

The title, Structural Delusion, came from the origins of this piece as perspective demos and then fus...

🚨This month’s Art Prompt 🚨

Submit here or email them if you don’t have a Google account.

Also, anyone have a cooler name than “art prompt” for these?

Snail art for the prompt!

1. Tia 

2. Brandon

Really solid work!

ITDBA Form-Quick Sketch Figure Drawing using the Mannequin

In this Intro to Drawing Bad Art demo, I'm going to do some quick sketch figure drawings. We're talking more about form. Specifically how I think about building with geometric forms to create a human figure, the mannequin. This process is great because it simplifies the forms when you're drawing from reference, but you can also memorize the forms to simplify figure or character drawings from imagination. It also comes in handy when you're doing the texture experiments and stuff that we do. Be...

Full:Using the Rules to Create a New Game

The idea for this came out of doing perspective demonstrations for the Intro to Drawing Bad Art Course. I was trying to show that you can start with a box and then use the structure of a box to keep organic forms in perspective. Drawing these blobby structures just felt good to me so I decided to do a painting that way.

The fundamentals of drawing, especially perspective, are so rules based and systematic, that they don't feel very sexy when looking for different ways to approach a pain...

Snail Study.

Here's my snail piece for the prompt. Working on this piece actually inspired the prompt. 

Please please please give me some suggestions for future prompts. Even, and especially, if it's not stuff that I normally do and you think I wouldn't want to do it as a prompt. I wanna get out of my comfort zone too!

Leave your suggestions in the comments. If you don't want to publicly comment you can message me at the ...

On snails

I Get asked why I paint such weird stuff. Which implies that there is normal stuff to paint. I think what most people mean is "why don't you paint stuff I like." That question is easier to answer, "I don't like the same stuff," or "don't wanna." But if I follow it up with "what do you like?" its always either nature or people. It really surprises me that they don't think people are weird. But, if they've asked why I paint weird stuff, then say they like nature, that's very fascinating to me. ...

Chimera in the Rock

I named it Chimera in the Rock. I finished painting and varnished it. I did take a video of that, but it didn't turn out. I found this frame at a thrift store and I think it works great for the piece. It's important to have quality frames. Whether you're showing your art or hanging someone else art at home, the frame you put it either elevates the piece or trivializes it. It took me a long time to appreciate this. 

Quality frames tend to be expensive though. So if you want a good f...

Reminder deadline for the art prompt is tomorrow!

Please use this link to submit your work! 

If you have any suggestions for the next prompt leave them in the comments!

Full-Blurring Boundaries: A Classical Approach on top of an Abstract Approach (Acrylic Gel Transfer, Pareidolia Painting)

I started this painting with an acrylic transfer of a printed image, then used pareidolia to let images suggest themselves to me, painted what I saw, then started refining the piece. The gel transfer is kind of an abstract approach, used a lot in collage and printmaking, and the pareidolia painting is a more abstract and surreal process. But then I go into traditional methods of painting with refining the composition and values and building up layers of color glazes.

The acrylic transfe...

Timelapse-Mind Body Problem

Full Timelapse of "Mind Body Problem" with some music that I made.

the Mind Body Problem is the name for an old issue in philosophy regarding the relationship between our thoughts, subjective inner experience (consciousness) and our brains and physical bodies. 

It feels like our thoughts and consciousness are separate from our physical bodies. We are more identified with our thoughts. Our bodies are in some sense meat vehicles that our thoughts control. We have bodies, we are...

When Experimenting Becomes Routine-Don't be Precious with your art

In this video I walk through my steps and thought process of painting "Mind Body Problem." This might be the longest I've ever spent on a painting. I started in November 2022. I walk through the process and the kinds of mental blocks that were holding me back and how I ended up getting through them. 

I started by pushing Saran Wrap into wet paint on canvas to give me those delicious textures. I then started defining the texture with a gray scale underpainting followed by thin layer...

Choir only shop (used mattress salesman pitch)

Choir only shop with all the new art I just set up. 

I usually price my pieces a little lower for in person buyers. because there's no shipping involved, and it's more of an immediate transaction so it just makes sense. But I'm going to start offering YOU those low in person prices, my dear choir members.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL

Because I did all the pr...

Watercolor sketch over acrylic texture

I got this acrylic texture from doing the decalcomania technique then painted over it with watercolor. even though the texture didn't end up being a huge part of the painting I think it adds a little something to the sketch.

All set up and ready for action

I left the most torturous part of the framing process for this morning: wiring. You put wire on a picture frame or stretched canvas because it's the best way to hang a piece of art on the wall. It's easier to hang and easier to center. To put wire on a picture, you screw in two D-rings, feed framing wire through the D rings and tie the two ends into what's called a "framer's knot". 

It sucks. It hurts the muscles in my fingers, the bones in my wrists, the wire pokes into the skin o...

Day 2: varnishing/naming/framing

Spent half the day running errands. Getting supplies and stuff to get my space ready for this opening at the Hive Gallery on saturday. It’s one of their bigger events so I want to show new work and have my space looking spiffy.

Met an old guy at Home Depot who didn’t work there and talked to him about building shelves for what some would call “way too long.” I went to wal mart and there was a persistent alarm going off somewhere in the store and I asked the lady “you have to ...

Scanning, varnishing, framing, naming day

To be read in the voice of Ray Liota toward the end of Goodfellas. This is how it always goes. it’s time to show my new work, but first I have to put them in frames, or install wires on them. But before that I have to varnish them. but I can’t varnish them until after I scan them. So I get out the scanner, and start scanning and then I realize I didn’t sign them, so I get the paint and the brushes and I start signing them and then I start adjusting the painting for an hour. then I scan ...

march-aril playlist

Selections from albums I've been listening to since march

ITDBA: Basics of Form-geometric forms, manipulation, the mannequin

In this Intro to Drawing Bad Art lesson we go over the basics of form. starting with the geometric forms, drawing them from different angles, manipulating them and constructing them using the mannequin.

Further resources:

For detailed instructions on drawing ellipses and cylinders in perspective I recommend the chapter in Ernest Norling's book on that subject in Perspective Made Easy. 

For breaking the head ...

My little snail painting

Coming along at a snails pace

The final version of this one

I went with "reflections by the sea" for the title. It's Acrylic on a12x12 inch birch wood panel. I have video of the whole process which I will be editing eventually. This is my submission for a gallery in LA called La Luz de Jesus. It's kind of a Mecca for this type of artwork. They have an open call for a group show once a year. I've submitted a few times and never gotten in (although I have had work shown there just not this specific show. flexing, I know.) So wish me luck with that. The ...

About done with this one

I started listening to a book about the godfather.

Update

Went deep into a “I don’t know wtf I’m doing here” spiral in this session.

Finished listening to my Caravaggio biography and just kept lookin and leapin. And I’m very happy.

Messing it up

I try to keep my painting process somewhat organized: underpainting, color layers, details. But sometimes I get to a point where it just doesn’t feel right and I bring a little chaos in. Now it looks very wild. But that kind of makes me excited because now I get to clean it up.

Books

Here’s some of my book collection. Reorganized it so my art books are mostly all in one place.

intention and sketchbooking

meditation on sketch booking. 

coming along