Tuesday, October 27, 2009

In the lab...



Ahhhhh, knee deep in paint, coffee and chaos! Here are some shots of my studio space during production for Papillae Paradise...


I always gotta clean like crazy before i start working, haha, my last gasp of order before the giant paint ball starts rolling, everything after is damage control :) ...


 I prepped the wood panels by first sanding them with a 400 grit, knocking down any stray wood fibers and giving me a good tooth to apply my primer...


I then sealed the scuffed panels with Liquitex Matte Medium. Once the first coat dried, I lightly sanded it again with a 600 grit to give me a smooth finish (and eliminate any surface imperfections). I repeated this until I had about 3 good coats between my paint and the panel. Big thanks to my fellow artist Robert Pokorny (www.ripgallery.com) for these helpful prep steps!


              Some primed and basecoated panels awaiting their "Buds"...


"Paradise", the first "Bud" in the Pap. series, this painting made a great flagship piece for the show...


an earlier detail...


I kept some paintings from the first Tastebud show close by for inspiration ("Batbud" was in the works), notice the chaos of my workspace is begining to evolve, haha...


Ahh, full blown studio chaos (yet i still know where everything is, haha). The first version of "X-Ray" was underway. I had to employ my old PC laptop while my mac was in the shop...


My brushes took a pretty good beating throughout the whole production, it was always a challenge keeping them clean and usable (not to mention my pots and pans), luckily they held up like champs. I love using "Lowel-Cornell" brushes, the ultra-rounds hold an amazing point and can give you a hairline stoke. I pretty much used a #2 round and #4 flat throughout the entire production...


A snap of "Beezlebud's" production. Changing my water and keeping my palettes wet were a constant factor. Haha, in trying to keep a productive rhythm, I attained an almost OCD-like state when it came to set up and clean up night after night...


A detail of "The Hangover", which was used on the cover for the latest issue of The District, a local Long Beach Publication...

 
 I did my best to keeping my palatte consistant throughtout, using Liquitex & Ceramcoat acrylics. I avoided using black as much as possible to keep my colors vibrant and stuck to deeper hues such as paynes grey, hooker's green and a variety of violets. Working with color can really piss me off sometimes, but nothing beats the variations and beautiful washes you can achieve- pure dopesauce...


A really lo-res detail pic of "The Brave" in early sketch, this was the last piece to be finished, completing the Paradise series :)


Haha, throughout the entire production I kept a stellar diet :) and consumed enough Sriracha Chili sauce to power a small rocket ship, here's to the wonderful people behind flavored antacids...

I hope you enjoyed this mini photo journal of my amazing journey creating Papillae Paradise, check out the completed show at Phone Booth Gallery.com & stay tuned for more pics from the opening and other goodies in the wake of all the craziness :)

R

1 comment:

Harry Diaz said...

thanks for showing the proces!