Buildings Together

I like drawing on cheap, dirty, and/or worn paper.  One of my absolute favorite sheets of drawing paper comes from my drawing table which I cover with either butcher paper or lately it's been newsprint.  After about a good three months the paper is covered in scribbles, notes, quotes, and all kinds of random marks.  It becomes a truly lovely thing.

When I replace it with a fresh sheet it changes its purpose from mini drop cloth to amazing drawing surface.  Last night it made its transformation.   Sometimes you've got to just draw something weird.

Then I decided to make a movie about it.

Then I framed it and hung it on the wall.

And then it begins all over again.

Farewell 30 Sketches.

Another 30 Sketches Project bites the dust and just like every good adventure it began with a Water Buffalo and ended with a Eurasian Lynx.  The project is a simple one - make a drawing everyday for 30 days but as the project has progressed over the years each individual 30 day stint branches out to become more than an exercise and grows into it's own series with unique perimeters, materials, etc.  This one turned into a body of work called Outside of Their Story.  It's kinda like a children's book for grownups without words.

All of the sketches from the project are available for purchase at www.laylaluna.com and to check out its progress (including poor quality photos and smartass commentary) please visit www.30sketchesproject.blogspot.com.  Here are a few of the critters I spent my time with over the last 30 days...

 Day 11:  Polar Bear

 Day 14:  Ocelot

 Day 17:  Manatee

Day 24:  Yellow-bellied Marmot

Totally Chimp

30 Sketches Project VI is pulling resources from every corner of the studio.  What happens when you combine the standard sketch with vintage wallpaper sample scraps and Post-it conversation bubbles from stop motion films?  You get this dude…

Day Twenty-One:  Chimpanzee

(www.30sketchesproject.blogspot.com)

30 Sketches Project VI

I've been sketching my heart out.  Here are lots of numbers - I'm on Day 7 of 30 Sketches Project VI (yup that's numero 6) which marks 5 dang years of doing this project.  Rules:  draw, post, repeat for 30 days.  I haven't begun to lose my mind yet, give me a couple of days and I'll be questioning why I began another round.  The progress of the current project along with the work from the past 5 projects is here...30sketchesproject.blogspot.com.

Dad's Rocket

Tonight I shot Dad up in a rocket.  The wind was high which made it difficult to light the fuse but made it perfect for lifting the fiery rocket high in the sky.  When it reached it's maximum altitude it hung in the dark and I held my breath, then as it began to fall, it's glow disappeared and the sky returned to darkness like nothing had happened.  But something did happen because I haven't been able to look at the night sky the same and for that I am grateful.

(Post-it sketch and words I wrote after shooting Dad's ashes up in a firework.)

Keep doing what you're doing.

I was going to write an eloquent passage about the importance of following your dream, especially when you lose sight of its purpose.  It's even more difficult to put one foot in front of the other when that purpose is in the midst of taking on a completely new meaning.  Instead of saying a bunch of words, the video below sums up how I feel about the subject of dream-followin' and life in general.  (Oh...if you're on the hunt for some dream-followin' fuel read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.)

the factory

Below is work that has kept me putting pencil to paper, 

paint to canvas, and objects and thoughts into motion.

 poison dart frog

western lowland gorilla

hunting, hunting progress

el tigres

starving

Merry Christmas to Knight.

The Hunting Series gets serious.

I'm settled back in Texas so it's time to fence in The Hunting Series, refocus, and get crackin'.  All of the paintings in this series are a combo of pastel, oil & acrylic paint, and embroidery on 5ft.x5ft. unstretched pieces of raw canvas.  I like the idea of them being transportable-I can roll them up and ship em out.  Research on tapestries and wallhangings has been pretty interesting.  Deciding how to hang them will be a project all its own.

Each work addresses a different facet of hunting:  exotic game ranches, collecting animals for captivity, "farms" harvesting from animals for medicinal purposes, and the use of animals as hunting tools.

Below are images of the paintings in various stages of progress.  (Side note:  it is quite a challenge to work on four 5'x5' paintings simultaneously in 600 sq. ft. apartment.)

 St. Francis and the Addax

 Casey the Elephant

 The Moon Bear Story

Hunting, Hunting

Prairie Center Rez Extension

My flight for the last two days has been cancelled due to the Icepocalypse occurring in Texas.  It was the absolute best case scenario in a normally disappointing situation, I had a warm and welcoming house to stay in, a studio, and good company.  If I went home on my scheduled day I wouldn't have experienced the snowy woods below.  

Q:  What do you do when you can't go home?  

A:  Draw bugs.

So long Peoria, you will soon be an old friend thought of with great fondness.

Eeeeerrrrrrttttttt!!!  Put the brakes on that motion.  Flight cancelled.  For the THIRD day in a row.  Word on the street is that this plane has some hydraulic issues.  Hmmmm....the wings look pretty good to me.  There's one more flight out this evening, would you like to give that one a shot?  Sure.

I left the counter defeated with my newly issued ticket, grabbed a seat, and tried very hard not to go totally apeshit.  The forever looping Christmas carols were not helping.  I almost kicked over the nearest Christmas tree.  Why are there Christmas trees in a dang airport anyway?!  I was getting ugly fast.  But I looked up and saw this little guy sitting across from me and instantly knew that everything was okay.  Truly.

Day Fourteen - Prairie Center Rez

Day Fourteen:  the final day of my Midwestern adventure.

So long you dirty corn factory.  Your mass of  whirling cogs and wheels all working together day in and day out has fascinated me just as strongly as your smell has permeated my wool jacket.  When I think of industry, it is your face I shall see my friend.

Farewell my beloved upstairs space.  I have always had a longing for wide open spaces and I've fed that need with great expanses of land or sky but your contained vastness fulfilled me in the same way a landscape does.  You gave me the desire to hunt for hauntedness.

And so my Prairie Center Rez comes to an end.  I write this with one task left for the evening - to pack my bags.  The past two weeks has been full and will continue to feed me long after I leave Peoria.

THE END.

Day Thirteen - Prairie Center Rez

For almost two weeks I've had a ladybug as a roommate.  I see her most everyday and wonder about her on the days she doesn't make an appearance.  This morning I realized I not only have one ladybug or even two ladybugs but three ladybug roomies!  So basically I'm living within a Lady B colony.

Day Twelve - Prairie Center Rez

You didn't think I'd give up making janky stop motion films did you?  A lot of my perception of Peoria comes from my commute to and from the studio and it seems that the people of this town are always on a mission - they move down the highway with purpose.  The hauling of large, heavy things seems to be of importance here.  And tractors, I've seen a lot of tractors.  So I did this...

tractor parade

What's better than a tractor parade?  A kernel of corn from
the corn factory greeting you at the studio door, that's what.

It's hard to believe that my two weeks here is wrapping up, gonna ship out the work I've done and most of my supplies tomorrow so the painting portion of Peoria is done.  I may do some more embroidery on the Moon Bear painting back in Texas and I'm looking forward to finishing the hound/fox/pheasant piece.  As for the bugs, I have 2 full days with my drawing materials - we'll see what comes.

What I'm bringing away as far as paintings go is the inclusion of embroidery work which I'm excited to further explore but the painting and time hunkered over the drawing table has seemed almost secondary in regards to absorbing the atmosphere.  So up the stairs I went to soak up my new favorite space...

sticks: a serious documentary about a space I love

What's a great way to end a day?  Well, checking out some Christmas 

lights with long since seen family of course.  Thanks Paul and Pat!

Day Eleven - Prairie Center Rez

Every adventure provides unexpected inspiration and Peoria has provided me with many, but there are two in particular that continue to peak my interest day after day.  The first (and I think you'll see this one coming) is the corn factory.  Here it is from the bridge crossing the Illinois River.

The corn factory looks like a hell for lighthouses, all encased in structures and so many connecting pipes, buildings, and scaffolding-type platforms - too complicated to understand how it all connects with just the naked eye.

Two views of the corn factory from the second floor.  Which 

leads me to the second major inspiration:  the space upstairs.  

There is an area upstairs as large as a universe.  It's the kind of space best explored alone.  I walked the perimeter sticking close to the brick walls, picking up small trinkets to take home in hopes that they would harbor some amount of haunt within them.  An arrow made of masking tape on the floor led me to a corner where I found two bug-eaten feathers and a few bird bones so clean the death must have happened the year I was born.  Under a work table I selected a piece of cut wood small enough to fit in a jar but big enough to hold the memories of the space.  No matter how many photographs I took looking out of the windows towards the neighboring factory - image after image only showed more of the space I was standing in.  It kept me inside of it's belly - a happy captive.

Day Ten - Prairie Center Rez

Weather report:  wicked foggy.

So I had to make my regular rounds to the corn factory.  Two things were revealed today:
1. CORN!  I saw an actual pile of corn.
2.  The corn factory emits a foul stench which reminds me of spoiled breakfast covered in expired beer.  Apparently wet, foggy weather magnifies the smell to it's greatest potency. Wretch.

I retreated to the safety of the studio.  The Moon Bear Story painting is 99% finished - it might actually be totally finished but I won't know until I see it first thing in the morning.

Next...bugs.  I brought these 5"x5" with me from Texas.  I painted the backgrounds at the Madrono Ranch Residency in April.  Turns out they're pretty nice for a few quick bug portraits.

A well rounded day should include some exploring.  Where to?  Well, there just so happens to be this offensively amazing space upstairs from the studios.  It's used for installations and exhibitions and is downright awesome.  The vastness is just waiting for dreams to come to fruition.   

I took a shot at each end of the space and married them

 together. You know why? To show how magical it is.

Heelllllloooooo over there!

 Person A:  "Is there anything cool outside?"

Person B:  "Totally."

Man, sure wish I could find some cool words etched in cement.  

BOOM!  I'm guessing Gert has blue eyes.