Mindblowing Exhibit

My Heike Diver drawing will be included in the Mindblowing exhibit at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial starting tomorrow. I am one of 58 artists exhibiting their surreal works. I was able to see some of them when I dropped of my piece on Monday and there are some very cool and evocative works to be on display. There will be a lecture about the show with the Canadian artist Adam Strange who was the juror for the show. That will start at 6:30 on Thursday August 7th. Awards and such will also be presented at this time. Below, is my piece all framed up and ready to go.

 And below, is the drawing as I scanned it.

The Grosse Pointe War Memorial is located at The War Memorial campus, 32 Lake Shore Dr.Grosse Pointe FarmsMI48236. Stop on by to see the show. It will run through the beginning of October.

Heike Diver

 

12x18

ink on bristol

I move slow on drawings at times. Sometimes because there are paying gigs in the way and at other times because I'm stuck or lazy or have a weird sort of gridlock because there are a lot of ideas to be had. 

This one was because I was stuck and then put aside for awhile. I'll have more on the process of creating this one in a future Substack.

So, what's this about? Some years ago, I learned of the Heike crabs found in Japan. They have on their carapace what looks to be the face of a samurai warrior, hence they are also known as the samurai crab. Legend has it that they began appearing after the Battle of Dan-no-ura at the end of the 12th century in feudal Japan. It was a fierce naval battle amounting with massive casualties across the board. It ended with the grandmother of the seven year old emperor of the Heike clan took him and jumped into the sea, drowning them both, instead of being captured by the enemy. These Heike crabs emerged with many believing them to be the reincarnated souls of the samurai warriors who died in the battle. 

And, I do like a good legend, so I incorporated a deep sea diver with the Heike crab/samurai warrior face/carapace. The imagery speaks something to me, not sure what at times, but how can I pass up a crab with a human face? I even added a touch of Hokusai in the background waves. 

If you have the interest, read up on the Heike crabs, the legend, the actual history that it is based on and so forth. It's a good story. And stories must be told.

Inktober Day 20: Coral

Today's official word prompt is: Coral. 

 

Diver Lad!

This is a recent sketch that I did of a young deep-sea diver with his head in the clouds. Maybe it should be in the water?

The Tank Is Almost Empty

I'm happy with this sketch, even though it is something unfavorable. I think I captured the feeling of being minimalized, which is what I've been feeling as of late. Hopefully, this guy can find a gas station down there in the dark depths. And not get swallowed up by something, as well. 

Ardan's Gargoyle

Sometimes I do really weird stuff. This is one of them. A few months ago I was reading Circling The Moon by Jules Verne and was inspired to do this drawing from the passage on the drawing. I wanted to take a black and white lifework approach that might have been appropriate for an illustration of that time. And for today, too. I plan on doing a series of deep sea diver drawings of this ilk, so look out! Click on the drawing to bigify. 

New Convention Banner

This here is my brand new fancy pants banner that I will use for conventions. I wanted a new one as the old one had all licensed properties and I am not doing as much of that as I used to these days. Plus, one should have their own stuff as much as possible. A big thanks to Bill Pulkovski for doing the design work.  And I have a large space below to hang my latest prints and such.

Some Random Sketching

As the header suggests, these are some random colored pencil sketches. I was just tooling around with a limited palette and the paper in my current sketchbook takes colored pencil very well with its slight texture.

Jonah?

This is one of those pesky ideas floating' around in me noggin.' Soon to be a painting, I think.