New WIP

 Who could this be currently on the drawing board?

Tiny Graphite Powder Art on Ampersand Claybord

 

I’ve always been most comfortable creating my art with pencils or ink pens. I think mainly because of the kind of control I can have with making marks with a pencil or an ink pen. Or perhaps it is just an illusion of control. Sometimes my pencil and pen marks have a way of creating images I hadn’t thought of, or going in a direction that was not my original intent. But for the most part, they kind of do what I want. I feel like this is the most chaotic part of my creations, when the marks go in their own direction. However, I’m not one who is most comfortable with the thought of losing control over my mark making. I tend to panic and feel like I’ve “ruined” the piece. 

This is probably why I am hesitant to try graphite powder on Ampersand Claybord. I’ve seen other artists do this, specifically the artist Allen Williams. I’ve bought a few 5x7 and 6x6 Claybords but was always intimidated to work with them. The thought of doing a piece over and over again to get better leaves me feeling very anxious, mainly because I don’t think I can ever tell if I “got better.” The creations just always come out looking awful to me. 

Lately, I’ve been looking at my process for my recent pencil pieces. I noticed that I thoroughly enjoy blocking out an entire piece of paper with darkness and carving out the lighter values that I wanted. This process can be time consuming the larger the piece, even for something like an 8x10, working with just a pencil. Even though I enjoy “painting” my paper with the pencil until I achieve the darkest value that pleases me, I do recognize this can take a long time to finish a piece, especially if I want to work on larger pieces. I’m beginning to think, maybe working with the Claybord might suit my artistic style a lot better than I imagine. The Claybord can be covered quickly with a middle value. The darkest and lightest values are added afterward to achieve the balance of the image.

To get over my anxiousness of working with Ampersand Claybord, I decided to work on really tiny pieces, around 1x2 and 2x2 inches. So far I’ve got a few very small Claybord pieces going with the graphite powder application. The images on these pieces will mostly be abstract shapes. If you have been following me, you know my abstracts are not true abstract in the purest definition of an abstract, but more like chaos that has been whipped and tamed to almost becoming “something” the longer you look and examine it.

I can’t wait to share more with you as I experiment with these tiny pieces. Stayed tuned.

Baltimore CC, MD 8-10 Sep 2023

 

Hey everyone! It is time for Baltimore Comic-Con 2023, at the Baltimore Convention Center, September 8-10. I will be in the Artist Alley, Table F27. Come see the new personal art totems, MDF version. And Many other prints and original artwork created by me. 

Ticket link: https://checkout.growtix.com/eh/Baltimore_Comic_Con_2023

For more info, go to https://baltimorecomiccon.com

If you are on Facebook, go to https://www.facebook.com/baltimorecomics to join their event for the convention