baby's room part IV...

long time, no post! luckily it's because i've been so busy WORKING on the project, to POST about it. i've come to a nice break in the process though [waiting to clear the room out, so that i can figure out the composition, attach the various depths of mounts (some will be overlapping others)], to show ya what i've been up to.

after getting a bit more familiar with the scroll saw and cutting out near all of the animals + a ton of flowers...


... it was time for some paint tests. i didn't want to potentially ruin something that was going in her room, so i decided to test out a few characters that jen had banned [too many thonrs;)] + smaller versions of animals that are actually making the cut.

i experimented with goauche, oils, and tube acrylic, before finally settling on CRAFT acrylics [of all things] for the colors, gesso for the white borders, and tried and true windsor newton indian ink for the outlines [applied with both brushes and nibs]. + plenty of glossy sealant to keep it all safe.


because i STILL wasn't ready to wrap up the final pieces, i decided to whip up a blue bee for my good friends chris & angie, who just had their first baby, zachary, and while i was at it i couldn't resist whipping up a second one...


next it was onto the real deal! i ended up watering the paint down a bit and laying on quite a few layers to keep it nice and flat to keep any distracting bush strokes out.


and the flowers- TONS of flowers, which will be sprinkled all over whatever the composition ends up looking like.

here they are, almost done- just a few more paint touch ups + a little more inky clean up work...

to mount them, i'm using long tacks driven thorugh small pieces of scrap wood, gluing the tack head side of the wood to the back of the cut outs- layering more wood in between for ones that will "float" further form the wall. the nice thing is that it's _SUPER_ easy to arrange and rearrange them, because of how easily i'm able to simply push them into the wall.

that's it for now. the next shots will probably be the final product mounted in her room.

... patenaude

baby's room pt. II

here's the next round- a bit more rounding of some of the sharp edges, etc. is needed, but i'm building up quite a collection to pick from.
issue number one is decided on how strong of a theme to follow. i originally started drawing any animal that popped into my head, but with no end in sight [possibly because i'm procrastinating with the cuts & painting] i need to start reigning them in. quite a few of them seem to fit into a jungle theme, but that seems a bit boyish, so who knows- i might just end up picking my favorites, and go with the "animals that i like to draw" theme;)

yep- i convinced jen to let me include one alien;)

need to round out the ears and nose.

um... i was instructed to remove his pants- jen's call;)

the initial painting tests have been a little underwhelming, due to the inconsistency in which the gouache is drying on the gesso [which i used to prep the bass wood].
i'm really curious to see whether the indian ink black lines i'll be laying over the top of them will be enough to pull the pieces together, which will have to wait until the cutting is done... which i'm waiting on some spiral blades [they're supposed to make intricite shapes easier to cut] for. will be sure to post shots as soon as i get a chance.

... patenaude

baby's room!

so here's what i've been up to for the last couple of weeks...
the original plan was to design a buncha weird aliens barely based on any real animals. after a dozen or so concepts though, we received the fantastic news that we were having a girl, and decided that freaky aliens covered in thorns might not be the best way to go;)
we also decided that i should try a teensy bit harder to make them a bit more recognizable as real animals, yet still retaining the style that makes art recognizable as... mine.
below is the first round, of what i hope will end up being a collection of ~10.
i'm planning on blowing them up to between ~1ft. - 2 or 3 ft. in height- still plenty of tests to do before i figure it out, but here's a sampling of a few of the ones that might make the cut...



as far as the color scheme goes, i think we're going to go with a light pink [already have 10 or so swatches picked out] to contrast with some deeper pinks, reds, oranges, and yellows. but again- before figuring it out, i'm sure there will be a lot of trial an error involved- will post shot when they're further along.

oh! and because i really don't like painting directly on walls [too much pressure] and wanted the ability to rearrange them and take them with us upon moving, i've decided to paint on basswood [after preparing it with gesso]. that's where my brand-new ryobi 16" variable speed scroll saw comes in [i can't tell you how out of place i felt during the trip to home depot to pick it up, but i guess i should get used to that "handyman" biz when we end up buiying a house;)?].
i've done a few little test cuts, but am waiting for a spiral blade, before i start doing the more intricate cut with a bit more control/ ease.

... patenaude

halloween collection, final?

a bit late with the final scans for these [photos were posted in august, but scans are necessary for reproduction] considering the paint has been dry for months & we've had our christmas tree up for over two weeks [trying to milk every ounce of holiday spirit out of that bad boy]. but! better late than never?...



enjoy!

... patenaude

HALLOWEEN SERIES PROGRESS SHOTS... FINALLY!

wow! an actual ART update on an ART blog!? what a novel idea! so! here they are. i initially set off with the intention of doing them 90% monochromatic with splashed of color here and there, but... who was i kidding? it just about brought me to tears as i'd glimpse over at that wonderfully colorful palette that was off limits, so... i buckled, and decided to go in the opposite direction, applying any and every color i wanted- the "anti" color scheme. despite the lack of planning with the color, i'm actually quite digging 'em.

a bit more paint to fill in [this canvas isn't grabbing on to the translucent washes the way i'd like, so i'm having to reapply colors 2-3+ times, but ah well- serves me right for being so stingy with the gouache;)].

"untitled a"

"untitled b"

"untitled c"

after a bit more paint touch ups and another layer of outline, i think these will just about be done. and just in time! i have a TON of sketches scanned, and ready to start compositing for the next series, which will be loosely based on side scroller platform game action- weeeeeeeee!

ps. apologies for the crappy photos- once they're finished, i'll post proper scans.


... patenaude

HALLOWEEN collection PROGRESS pt. 01...

so... although these pieces won't be ready in time for the show i was originally planning them for, i was quite inspired by the theme, "HALLOWEEN" [what artist isn't;)?]. + much like my putting the christmas tree up 2-3 months early to "milk more christmas excitement out of the holiday", it's almost like i'm starting the HALLOWEEN festivities 3+ month early!!

i immediately got to sketching, and after 20+ sketches [of the elements that will live in the pieces], there was quite a bit of scanning to be done, followed by a little weeding [out the ideas that i wasn't "feeling"]. and although i'm quite aware of the rule to incorporate elements for the viewers to recognize/ associate with, i found myself straying a bit from the more stereotypical HALLOWEEN elements [besides the TONS of pumpkins & a few more tombstones i'll be adding;)], and sticking more to the fun stuff: BEASTIES!

after that i opened up 3 new 8X24" images, and started experimenting with where each ELEMENT fit in best [and i'll letcha in on a little secret: sometimes they're duplicated;)]. after that i printed them all out [breaking them up into 3 letter-sized pages] on the crappy printer [i save my top-end pigment ink for the prints], taped them all together. i then traced them up onto the canvas, got a feel for what areas need a bit of help, drew up some filler type BG elements, and traced those onto the canvas as well, and now [although not reflected in the images below]... they're ready to paint!!

in progress, "untitled_a"

in progress, "untitled_b"

in progress, "untitled_c"

so! plenty left to go, but i'm quite excited about their potential! i'll be taking a bit of a break to work on a piece for an upcoming show, but will be sure to post more progress shots, as soon as paint finds it's way to the canvas.

... patenaude

the SUBMERGED SERIES!!!

well... i'd call this 95% done. possibly a few more color saturation and value passes in photoshop + i'll probably tweak out the outline color a bit depending on the piece with a few artists proofs.

BUT! these are basiclly it! and although they look a bit different after the photoshop pass, imo the original paintings turned out quite nicely- will probably end up selling those as well.

"SUBMERGED_A"

"SUBMERGED_B"

"SUBMERGED_C"

"SUBMERGED_D"

"SUBMERGED_E"

having had such a fun experience with this series, getting back into larger compositions, and looking to be taken seriously in galleries, i think my pieces will start getting a big bigger from here on out. these measure ~15"X7.5". i'm looking to go up to at least 7X21" on the halloween collage series, that i've already begun sketches on- wee hoo!

night night!

... patenaude

sealife series!!

well- here they are- final shots [courtesy of my buddy rob adams] of the sealife series that i painted as a gift for elliot's birthday. i plan on tweaking the border/ sizing a bit for the limited edition prints, which i'll be posting later this week, but as far as the originals go- you can't get much more final than this- in the frame and on the wall!

a group photo of them all together... how cute is that!?

"lobster"

"sea turtle"

"octopus"

be on the look out for the prints- available [to the public;)] later this week!


... patenaude

illustration firday: FIERCE!

i'm a bit early this week, 'cause i was conveniently working on pretty fierce looking piece already. ingredients= gouache + windsor newton ink + prisma color...

... patenaude

the shiny squirrel!!

so! like i mentioned, i have a little more help distributing my limited edition prints now. [the shiny squirrel] has chosen two of the floating beastie pieces ["floating parligan" & "floating dooleeg"] that i created to sell exclusively @ their online gallery. pop on over and check them out!! http://www.theshinysquirrel.com/

"floating parligan"

"floating dooleeg"

have a fantastic week, and stay tuned for this week's illustration friday piece, "fierce".

... patenaude

something to tide YOU over...

wow. it's been nuts lately. unfortunately, because of all the time i've been spending on art, i haven't been writing/ posting about art as much. so!! here's what i've been up to...

a] i finished the sealife series, a while back and gave it to elliot adams [rob & nicole's kiddo] as a gift for his first birthday. and the appreciation was well worth it all + i'll be offering the prints to boot! waiting to post final shots of those- hung up in the house and all.

b] had a couple of the floating beastie pieces accepted @ [the shiny online squirrel]! and turned those into exclusives- look for 'em any day now! the submerged series is just about done, but not yet ready to post. just finished the ink pass on 95% of 'em all, but plan on a few more tweaks before all is said and done.

c] meanwhile, being the pack rat that i am- not wanting anything to go to waste [especially art], i "salvaged" a few random pieces pieces that were sentenced to the "LEFT OUT" series that i'm not so fond of, dusted them off, and repainted them all on their own. AND HERE THEY ARE!! the SALVAGED series...

"whatchoo been eatin'?"

"coochi coo"

"baby's daddies"

... might throw a few more tweaks on there, before offering prints of them on the etsy shop [5X7" what a convenient size!]

d] aside from various other bits, including convincing more galleries to open their eyes, next up is a trio of halloween pieces- very exciting. and i figured i'd better start now in order to hang them nice and early for one of my favorite holidays of the year.

e] wow... listening to the beatles "love" soundtrack from the cirque du soleil show in vagas... _BY_FAR_ one fo the best shows i've seen _EVER!_ worth a trip to vegas just for that.

i hope you enjoy! and as always, i look forward to your comments!


... patenaude

illustration friday: HOARD

well... here ya go- this week's topic: HOARD! it went a lot more quickly than i'd thought- originally i was going to polish one of my old concepts [HOARD is coincidentally the name of one of my pet project game designs, that's been collecting dust the last 5 years or so], but... during one of the little drawing breaks i take during the day at work to rest my weary eyes, i sketched up these little guys.

and because i was digging each of them equally, i figured i'd do a horizontal piece to incorporate both to 'em fighting over that pile of... ? so! i traced them straight onto the canvas, painted 'em up with a some gouache, threw the outlines back over it, and WHAM!

... enjoy!

... patenaude

series SUBMERGED progress...

these will probably be the last "progress" shots you see of series SUBMERGED.

aside from a bit more cleanup, once i get them scanned [especially on a few of the background washes ended up having a bit more "character;)" than i'd like], for the most part, the majority of the work will just involve inking them up, which will combat a lot of the unclarity that is going on in a few of them.

i'm planning on having these puppies wrapped up within the week, despite nibbling on a few other misc. projects simultaneously.

ps. yes- HARSH palettes, but... they were a lotta fun! ... enjoy!

... patenaude