I've taken up printmaking this season.

I have always wanted to get into printmaking, and I figure there is no time like the present, since I have access to a print studio. I am starting out with intaglio. This is traditionally done with by etching or scoring into a metal plate (Copper or Zinc these days.) Today I worked a few of my plates to get the initial drawing down. I am going to etch the lines into the plate with an acid bath, then play around with different techniques for other effects for the background. I want to incorporate some of the metal leafing I have done over the winter to the print series to give them some sense of originality. It's a very messy and exciting process. I will update as I go along. Here are the 2 plates I have with me now.

Winter watercolors

Another side project. For science!! Most of the patterns are platonic solids. They have little to do with the animals, and even less to do with the accessories... enjoy!

Pink Geese

I've been working on a painting or two, while experimenting with the books. I think this one is about done, I've been spending a lot of time on the water and I layered this painting from my sketchbook studies of the local wild life. The color is heavily driven by the bayou, and the light that surrounds it.

Something new.

I've been working with another student, from the poetics department. We are making a series of poems in altered books. The other day I did a test run to see how the book paper would react to water, ink, & paste. It went better than I expected. Here are some images of that trial run.

And some details:

Update: I tried it on another book. Results below.

Edit #3 Other books being added to the saga.

Edit #4: Winter 2013-2014

Sketches from the begining of this semester

So this semester so far has been a journey of getting settled and bad painting. I don't want to leave the blog too empty so here are some pages from my sketchbook. 

In other news, I will be in a show in January at LSU. I will give more details as they develop. Keep checking back for info!

Sketches from a road trip

I'll be updating this post with pictures so check back when you get a chance.

Natural History Museum visit!

Went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles today to do some sketching. I could spend all day there. It's like Disneyland for art nerds. Here are some sketches:

Horse gestures.

Went to a ranch today and did a little sketching .

Cat Bite Abscess... an illustration of a process

When I was with friends the other day, I saw a cat with a bandage on it's neck. After asking a few questions I found out that little kitty had gotten into an agressive tango with some other animal a while prior. Kitty was fine for a while, no signs of pain or anything. Then suddenly it presented itself to the owner with a bunch of "goop" running down it's neck and side. Since I work at a vet, I recognized it as a cat bite abscess.

I LOVE ABSCESSES. They're so interesting. I didn't really realize that until I was explaining how they develop to my buddy. SO like the good little artist that I am, I decided to make this an illustration. I've done something like this once before with the flea life-cycle. (below)

So anyway here are some thumbnails for the Cat Bite Abscess sections.