Category: Uncategorized

And then Darth Vader will cut me down with a tie fighter.

In all actuality, the show is getting closer every day, and the work is getting closer every day as well. It really is a pleasure when it works out that way. I slept in a little bit this morning, which may have helped my productivity, because when I started painting at 11 the vision was clear and the brush was definitely doing what I wanted it to do.

So here is a painting long overdue:

I had been working on and editing “Let the Funk Flow” for so long that I eventually had to set it down for a couple months. Today I picked it up and let it go. I think it turned out really well, and makes a nice tight addition to the Digesting Duck show.

I also wrapped up the finishing touches on a piece last night. You saw the original a couple days ago:

“Let me Give you a Hand” is a simple piece, but I think it’s a nice break in the line up of work. You shouldn’t have to dig deep on every piece in the show, and I think this piece is great for a quieter work.

Take care, maybe you’ll even see another post from me later today.
peace
-Mike

I’m trying hard to make it through my weekend at my regular job. It is sometimes so hard, when you have about a million thoughts about what you’d like to do creatively. This morning I couldn’t sleep at all because I was thinking about making “fan packs”. You see, I started a business page on Facebook, where people can fan my business. I’ve been thinking that I want to treat it like a fan club, like in the old days when you could become a “Misfit fiend”.

So I want to put together a package with a sticker, a magnet and a button along with a card that welcomes you to the Lewis Acrylics fan club. Definitely goofy, but really what is the sense of a business if you can’t keep any of your sense of humour. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, be sure to leave a comment or drop me a line.

I’ve also been thinking about the print show that I need to create a piece for. I think I may use this sketch and leave out the cat, trying to blur the lines of where one robot starts and the other stops:

Let me know what y’all think. Have a great monday, and seriously if you have time, go fan Lewis Acrylics on Facebook. You can do it here.

Later
-Mike

Yesterday I stayed in the studio all day. I left for a couple minutes to check the mail at about three, and went to Bullwinkle’s at around ten, and the rest of the day I was in the studio painting until my little fingers were popping.

This was incredibly productive. Yesterday I finished “The Feeder” which I had anticipated would be one of the last two pieces that I finished for the Blue Bottle show. I also pulled three more pieces into the almost finished category and completely redesigned a piece from an earlier show that I just wasn’t pleased with to fit in nicely with this show. A good days work really.

Here are the spoils:

I am in love with this piece. I feel about it the same way that Stephen Carpenter of the Deftones felt when he was asked about “Around the Fur” after it came out. I’ve been listening to our album on repeat. Sometimes I make something and I have a hard time believing that I made it afterwords.

Anyway to the second piece for the day. The complete redesign:

I shaped the bird out a little more in this piece, took out his perch, added a robot, and am working on the waves to try to get them a bit more interesting and perilous. I’ve been flipping the Juxtapoz featuring the work of Corey Arnold and can’t get over the massive waves in his photos off of Alaska. At its best I would like this piece to have a little bit of that gusto.

I’ll be back later. There is a ton going on. If you’re on Facebook, be sure to go fan “Lewis Acrylics” Thanks.

Peace
-Mike

My show is fast approaching, and true to my usual form I find myself creating new pieces instead of finishing all of the work that I have been doing. That is not to say that I have ditched all of my pieces. I am just beginning to edit myself, carefully selecting what should stay in and what no one should ever see.

Today was a productive day. I started to paint over a piece that had failed a long time ago, and really brought some angles into the composition, making it much more successful than the first try. The color in it is really starting to lean towards non linear, and really nonsensical, but I like weaving this abstract and figurative puzzle:

This piece was also cool in that I was able to research power lines, cross arms and phases today. There is a lot of really interesting material online about power lines and how they work.

The second piece that I have to post today has really come a long way from the original. I removed the bird and decided to play more with the unraveling tape instead. It feels much more elegant and a little less contrived. Well, I guess its as elegant as a robot with a tape deck for a belly can be anyway:

I have more things to post, but it’s getting late, so I will post the rest sometime tomorrow. I will also be putting all of the finishes into an album on my flickr account so you’ll be able to see the virtual show.

Later
Mike

I’ve been getting really into Mike Ness’s solo album “Cheating at Solitaire”. Tonight I was feeling it pretty good, and my stroke came surprisingly well after a lethargic day at work that I thought had created the perfect numb that I would never come out of.

I did, and the result is a piece that has been reworked to make it a little more dynamic:

So far it is pretty successful, I think. But I had to stop for the evening out of fear of overworking the left half of the birds’ face. Now that I’m looking at the digital image, I realize it may be there already anyway.

Until then folks.

When I was in history class in eleventh grade with Mr. Proulx, I remember hearing all about something called the “American Dream”. A legacy of multitudes of families immigrating to America seeking jobs and business opportunity. It seemed beautiful in history class, the kind of thing that would bring a tear to your eye when you heard the “Star Spangled Banner”. Then I got a little older and heard a band called Pennywise who very much questioned this American Dream and I started to think about how much capitalism really allows you to either go one way or the other.

Today I was thinking about this again, as I was holed up in the Ashland Village Pizza waiting for nine o’clock to roll around. I was thinking “I don’t do what I thought that I’d do, and I am not what I thought I’d be.” Either way I made a picture to go along with it, thus illustrating that even if I’m not making a living as what I thought I’d be, perhaps I still am that.

And as you can see, it was super busy at work, because I have another sketch for you that I also did while at work today. Tossing the tables on the robot population five at a time…..

Last, but not least, when I got home tonight, I continued to live the dream, and started a new piece for the big upcoming show:

It’s a simple piece, but most of the pieces that I’ve put together for this show have had quite a bit going on in them and I thought that maybe it was time to calm it down a little and Chillax.

Let me know what you think about the work, and for that matter, give me your thoughts on the American Dream. Remember only one page, double spaced. Nothing larger than 14 point font….

Peace
Mike

Lately I’ve been obsessed with the punk rock of my youth, eighties metal and eighties hip hop. What this generally means is that I am in a good mood, my brushstroke is on, and my color schemes seem a little less muddy. This is all very good. I’m beginning to think it is my natural cycle. I cannot get excited about my shows without a little bit of stress, and the need to finish something stat.

Recently I’ve felt this pressure, and it’s shown. I’m pretty pleased with the out come so far. Check this one out:

A Room with a View, Done and Done. The show is coming together well, and then on to the next show and the next and the next, and god if only I had about eight more hours every day. I’m going to do some talking to the sun. I’ll let you know how it works out.

peace

The other night when I was suffering from my incredible insomnia, I felt a kind of change come over me. I remembered something, and I guess I’ve been hinting at it and suggesting it for months now, but I finally realized again, how fun it actually is to be a painter. I love paint and watching it pile up and watching it create shape. I love that. That is what makes me who I am.

This piece really let me get into the paint again and really let me discover some more color. I also played some intense mixing off of straight hue in some spots. I think it actually helps the piece, though after a couple days I may change my mind about that. It is not the most detailed piece I’ve done, but I think it is successful as is.

Here goes the finish:

The Getaway. If you listen to Ten Foot Pole while looking at this piece, I think it might make it even more intense. Let me know what you think. Peace.

-Mike

Today I was looking at a piece that I had drawn out and trying to think of a way to make it work, get it a little more busy, add something interesting to it. So I was drawing on this board for a while, and nothing was coming out right, except that I changed the robot and I kind of like the new robot. In the end I grabbed my sketchbook and threw together a little sketch that really didn’t fit with the proportions of the board that I was working on.

I cut myself a new board and drew out this little guy. This piece is not quite finished and won’t be until the chandelier in the kitchen stops raining water, but it is poised for the finish soon.

Let me know what you think on this one. I’m really trying to push the cute envelope a little here so this is a bit of new terrain for me. The bird over the shoulder might be a bit much, but I like the story, so I’m trying to work with it. Oh, and check out the purples and reds. When was the last time you saw that in my palette?

Another piece that I’ve really gotten into lately, pretty much started from nothing, and now I’m very much into it’s clouds and the form of the bird. I think it’s going to be very successful.

I’m also really into the point of view on this piece. The clouds are definitely starting to be my selling point on it though. I haven’t been able to render clouds like this since “Cloud Cover”.

Let me know what you think of the new stuff. I have more to post as well as soon as I get a chance. Maybe I’ll even be able to finish off this show in time to frame everything well. Phew!

I’ve been busting my butt recently. That is no lie, and I have a couple pieces that are in progress still but almost done that I wanted to show. What you’re not seeing is the four other pieces that are also in progress that are also almost done. Things are really starting to accumulate and snowball and my show is really rounding out nicely. I think this is going to be the best one yet, which is something we as artists always hope for, but can’t always say.

The first is a piece that I reworked the drawing on. The prior composition was too stagnant and I think this is much more successful:

The scarf and helmet were Beth’s idea, I’m not ashamed to say, and boy, she’s pretty awesome. (By the way, she is going to be in the SILA show at the Nucleus gallery in LA!!!!! *tiny screams of joy while she’s not looking*)

The second piece, is probably turning into my favorite. I’ve started working the birds a bit more, and frankly I’ve learned that I need to buy a couple new small brushes, because these guys deserve a little more body than what I am capable of doing with my present brush line up.

Let me know what you think, unless of course it’s negative darn it!

I’ll be posting more images of other pieces before this week is over. Hold on to your hats, I’m busting out into the sky.

peace