1264 - Mr. Kidney II

This is my second try at making the happy kidney drawing.  Despite me pouring several hours into this simple piece, it doesn't look appreciably different from my first try.  

 

1263 - Mr. Kidney

This drawing of a kidney is a previous drawing of a pickle repurposed in Photoshop.  Somehow, it's not working, though.  It seems not quite ready for prime time.  I'll try to punch it up in another post.

 

To see the original pickle artwork from last year, please click here. 

 

 

 

 

 

1262 - Stay Frosty, The Sequel

Keeping within the boundaries of the "stay frosty" theme of the previous JSVB post, I'ved pictured the hand-made ice cream sandwiches I made with my wife.  They are incredibly gooey, but they are scrumptious for these scorching hot summer days!

1261 - "Stay Frosty"

This year has been a year for anniversaries.  Strictly speaking, every year is a year for anniversaries, but what I mean is that this year has had some big important anniversaries.  

Swept up by nostalgia, my wife and I opened our wedding time capsule, which is a large hard-bound folder filled with memorabilia from our nuptials: well-wishes, government papers, our homework from the marriage counsellor, and even my Myers-Briggs profile (INTP).  There were also a few dozen lovely greeting cards.

One was from our friend Earl, who sent us a very pretty card.  I'm quite certain he does not remember it today.  Inside, he, the professional writer using splendid economy of prose, signed the perfect inscription for any newlyweds:

"STAY FROSTY." 

1260 - He's Hicks

It's Corporal Dwayne Hicks from the Sulaco (Aliens, 1986).  Why is Corporal Dwayne Hicks missing his hand?  Because I haven't drawn it yet.  The last couple of JSVB posts have concerned themselves with wedding anniversaries, and perversely enough, so too was this post going to do.  I'm super-slow from having taken too much time away from drawing, so I'll post what I have now (cribbed from a screen capture, how original) and finish this art piece tomorrow.  

Corporal Dwayne Hicks is the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.  He is thirty years old plus two days, as of today. 

 

1259 - Anniversary One Eight

Seeing as I have found the camera that I lost, I get to show more pictures of my recent exploits.  Here, my wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary.  It's considerably more relaxed than my parents' recent fiftieth.  

 

1258 - Anniversary Five-O

Against every possible probability, my parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  This picture, taken by my wife, would represent the latest family portrait.  As you see, Mom is pretty far along her journey with Dr. Alzheimer. 

The occasion was a reunion of the wedding party, mostly, which was special for all of us.  As it happens, I wasn't invited to that wedding fifty years ago, but I did arrive close enough to their first anniversary.  

Every time we visit my parents, I figure it's the most bitter-sweet thing I've done in my life.  The Japanese have a word for it: mono-no-aware.  Our last visit has eclipsed all others in affect the way the moon eclipses the sun.  It's so draining to keep doing this, but it would be worse if we did not.

This picture doesn't really capture that emotion, but taking the picture was incredibly taxing.  I'm still taking time to get back to normal.  As an artist, I should be feeding off of these powerful emotions, but all I can really do is try to catalog them and hope my art doesn't fall apart.  It nearly has.  But in the end it won't, as long as I use my time wisely. 

1257 - Gone Camera Gone

I made a visual metaphor to describe the absence of my camera.  Losing, or rather misplacing, my camera was one of the reasons I took such a long break from JSVB (see the entry: Miss You? I Didn't Know You Had Gone Away?*).

Although I was not happy losing some vacation photographs, I was more upset at losing the camera.  It's an important part of my creative workflow.  I will frequently take pictures of stuff to use as visual models, as reference figures, or as elements within a composited piece.  

I used to scoff at being so dependent on electronics to create art.  Now I am quite committed to the digital side, so much so that my analog skills have begun to slide.   

Happy ending: my wife found the camera and the lost pictures have been restored.  So the visual metaphor is a little spun out, but I did get a chance to practice drawing with smoke.  


*This is sardonicism.

 

1256 - Launching Doomsday

Sentry Cubes from the First Federation skim over an alien landscape.  Are they attacking the Planetkiller weapon, or paying homage to it?

This is the sort of question that gets asked on Ungood Art Day, which traditionally is the thirteenth day of each month here on my blog JSVB.  I wouldn't begin to know how to formulate the answer, though.  When I create art pieces like this, they tend to exist on their own out-from-left-field terms.  But look: lens flare!  

Only Ungood Art Day will pull me back from my vacation from JSVB.  I spent a longer time away from my blog than I had intended, and even I played with the idea of quitting JSVB altogether.  If I don't post, though, the Ungood Art will collect like constipation.

Speaking of which, although the Doomsday Machine belongs to the Star Trek television series (which in turn belongs to CBS), the original picture that inspired this piece belongs to my friend Earl, who supplies a weird photo of some tchotchke he used to pad his own blog.  I refuse to judge Earl on this: my own camera is full of strange pictures of evocative rocks and dinguses that I can use either as visual references for my artwork, or as in today's case: inspiration.  

Here is Earl's photo below.  You can see how a couple of passes through Photoshop would turn it into something different if not good: