This little piggie was too little

My next project....a piggie I started this guy in my hotel room on the mainland.  When I got him home, he just looked to small.  Time for a little piggie surgery.  Tomorrow I will post him in the recovery studio!

Mortimer LIVES

At last we come to the end of a long project, and I am tickled pink!  I started the paint job with bright pink, then worked a darker pink purple up towards the heads.  I am always conscious of the eyes first, and to give this guy a really wild look, I used two different sized eyes in each head..  I also like to make em a bit goggle eyed, or wall-eyed.  The upper head is the one that talks and thinks for the beast so he has that sage like expression.  The lower head is the more savage, with the glaring eyes and vicious expression.

Couple of Dragon tips.   Break the tips off a few of the teeth....after all they are always crunching up the peasants property and livestock and fighting other dragons and monsters too!   Painting  a Dragon with 2 different colored eyes (see upper head) gives them a magical look too.

Time to Paint

Here is our dragon all primed out.  I like to use black gesso to prime my dragons so I can allow some of the black to show through the paint job.  When I black wash him at the end, the black primer that shows through will accentuate the final look of a beat up old dragon.

How to skin a Dragon

  So here we are so far after quite a few hours of work.  Old cut up bed sheets soaked in glue and applied to the body and wings, and our dragon is starting to take shape.  Super Sculpty was used to make the eyeballs.  One dragon head is wrapped.. Tomorrow I will post the dragon complete with cloth mache wrap.  (this part can really get tedious)

  Things are going to speed up a bit now, as I have just found out I am bound for the mainland next week, and this guy needs to be done......he's got a party to go to.

No one can stop THE CLAW!

  How'd I do those claws??  Step 1:  Chop the top off the foot!

Step 2:  Set the claws in the hole just like you like'em.

Step 3: Tape the claws in place, then tape the piece you cut off over the top of the claws and then tape everything up real tight!

These claws ride slightly above ground level so as not to catch on anything in case someone  slides your creature around.  (Don't lie....you've seen people....friends, neighbors, maybe even your wife or kid do this!!)

Now we are getting somewhere.

  After a nice "no work" weekend, our dragon is back under way.  The upper head has a new ridge line on his head and snout, along with some horns.  The lower head got a small snout horn.  I have added the claws to the raised foot, and outfitted the arm with some tendons and muscle bulges.  Also beefed up his chest just a little.  I hope to mimic the claws on the other 3 feet, in a way that makes them appear retracted, like a cats.  Just hinting at them via ridges in the tops of the feet.  After that, some eyes and nostrils and this creature will be ready for the cloth mache ala Dan the Monsterman!

Heads will Roll

Isn't this cool!!  Got the jaws set in the heads and the heads attached to the necks.  I had to break and re bend the lower neck to get the head pointing the way I wanted.  I have started to tape on a little detail on the upper head with pieces of scrap papier mache, and newspaper pieces shaped and taped, then applied to the head.  Once the lower head has his nose ridge and eye brows, I'll give the taped area an application of papier mache to unify it all into one solid piece.  Then I'll add the eyes, nostrils and maybe horns or ears depending on what "seems right".
  *PS... this dragon is being built with techniques gleaned from Dan Reeder and his Paper Mache Monster book.  It was his book that opened the door to paper mache sculpture for me.  Check him out at...  www.gourmetpapermache.com  

JAWS

So here we are with 2 nice sets of (shhhhh..Dragon jaws), all equipped with teeth and tongues and a nice burnt blue paint job.    I have added a fuller belly, so he could eat more peasants, and changed the angles and elongated his necks, so the heads will reach out menacingly.  The necks have wires inside, so you just cut through the papier mache layer where you want to bend em, that way the papier mache won't crush.  Re position them as desired, and retape/remache and viola!
  I am hoping the papier mache goddess (aka my wife) brings me home a nice bag of flour today, as I am out.  Target's brand of flour is my personal fav.  Anyways, then we can add some heads, and ears....maybe horns, or spikes.... depends on how his heads shape up.   A pretty big project, huh?

Legs and heads

Here I've got the 4rth leg taped on and I've added a bit of a hump to his back.  Some new heads taped up to the side and its ready for an application of papier mache.  Looking at it now, I think he needs a bigger belly, and wings!!  Toes and claws for the feet too!  Look for a new post Monday with all his improvements.

I thought I saw a.......painting

Its funny how you have one thing in mind when you start a canvas and something else shows up when you are done. I wanted to paint a pretty golden haired girl, just to paint something pretty. In my mind I saw it as a stained glass look, and this is what I finished up with. "Sister Golden Hair" 18 x 24.

So the question is.........was I not good enough to paint the image I saw in my head, or is this what I was really supposed to paint?? After all........I did it!

Later

Originally the rear vase in this piece was black, but it created such a strong sillouete that there was not enough distiction between the 2 vases. Letting some light through a green glass vase slides it far enough into the background so the piece picks up dimensionality.

So here is "Blue Vase II" 9" x 12" acrylic on board. I like the sparkle.

Later

What is this Show, and why must it go on?

Somehow the circus seems to be something I can relate life in general to. Living, dying, joy and sadness all abound under every big top. We all know it.......that's why everyone goes.

This piece is called "Walking the Tight Rope" 16 x 20. Its a little slice of everyone's life......... Someone trying to perform an incredible task, under the blazing scrutiny of the public eye while life sets unpredictable road blocks ahead of him.

And I ask myself this.........Why do some people take to walking the tight rope while the rest of us sit in the audience and watch?

Later

It ain't easy being Green

Lots of time I lament about the disadvantages of acrylics......frozen texture, wimpy bodied.....etc, etc. Well here is how acrylics shine. I started this little flower as pink with a green background. No matter how hard I tried, I could not make that green work. So after a day....I went right over the top of it with this cad red, the cad orange combo. My little flower gave a sigh of relief to see the last of that green, and so did I.

Now this says just what I want it to...flower, color, and texture...........to where you want to reach out and touch it. So here's "Pink Daisey" 7 x 12.

Later

Delivery Day

Just dropped off these 7 pieces to The Gallery at the Hilton Waikoloa today. Nice to see them leave the studio and get out into the public eye. I always pick a favorite, or try to figure out which one will sell first.........I'm always wrong. Mostly because people are buying decor.......not art. But you know what. The money spends just the same.

My fav is "Watermelon" (upper left), and I think "Are you going to Finish That? (cats under watermelon) will sell first.

A different perspective

I have always liked the way Expressionists can aesthetically distort spaces to make them add to a piece. I was looking to achieve that here in this piece called "Working Without a Net" 16 x 20. I also wanted to engage the viewer in the question.......Will she make it? Its a long way down...........all symbolic of the way I am painting lately......no net, just start attacking the canvas with an idea. I know its a long way down, but does anyone get this?? Or am I just tilting at windmills?

Later............

Who painted that?

This is the 1st piece I started after my long work hiatus. I always start with blue when I'm struggling to get things moving. I was shooting for a evening back-lit floral............weird huh, because people like florals for the color. This one almost makes the jump, but kinda got stuck in low gear.
As one of my favorite painters once said...."If the work doesn't excite you, don't expect it to excite your audience". I do feel it was a good starting point and an exercise in building up texture, and it led to the cat painting posted previously, which is as spontaneous and fresh, as this one is not.
I am starting to reach a limiting factor, texture wise with my acrylics. They are too soft to build up in one pass and they dry down so fast that you cannot rework into them, only on top. Its also very hard to make changes in your design mid-stream, as the initial design is always frozen in place underneath. If I did not live in Hawaii, I would be switching to oil painting right about NOW!
Some much more expressive and intimate pieces are drying here in the studio, that will knock your socks of, so enjoy "Back lit Floral" 11 x 14, and I'll see you.........later!

I dig those crazy cats

This is a painting of Lloyd and Cooper.......2 feral cats who regularly come to breakfast, lunch, and dinner at our house. Cooper (white cat) is always more than willing to "help" any of the other cats finish their food, hence the title "Are You Going to Finish That?" 16 x 20.
I just started the piece right on the board with no preliminary drawing....just pow! straight away. And on we go.......

Here I am.....again

Just back from an extended work trip to California. How different it is there compared to Hawaii. As I get acclimated to home again, its time to start thinking about getting the paints out again.

In the meantime....I had the privilege of being included as an artist interview at a really nice website called www.whopple.com

They also provided me with a direct link to my interview page, so please check it out!
www.whopple.com/artist-interview-with-james-c-osterberg-jr.html

That being said.....here is a painting I did when I lived in California, called "DayDream" 30" x 30". It was one of my favorites from that time......hope you like it.

Checkers anyone?

It looks like the clown paintings have taken off into a full blown series. I do have an affinity for sad clowns........ a feel for them. They all have little pieces of me in them.
Why can people relate to a "sad" painting more than a "happy" one? I've seen people look at a sad painting and say....."Boy, I know exactly how that feels" or "I can really relate to that". I've never seen anyone look at a happy painting, and say how they remember when they felt happy like that. Why is happy so fleeting and sorrow seems to last forever?
Well any ways, this is "Checkers" 16 x 20, and he just seemed to develop on my panel all by himself, like he was waiting for me.
More clowns on the way, so enjoy the ride!

What a Pansey!

Thought I might try another clown today, just to see where this is going. Things are slow at The Gallery so I don't feel any production pressure, so another clown was in order.
This is "Pansey" 14 x 18, who appeared on my easel after a few false starts. Again I'm finding that there is always a little something unexpected lurking under the made up face. Actually, its kinda like looking in a mirror when I look at this piece. Odd.