The musings of a journey of visual artist Dominique Vargo. Creatively exploring the highs and lows of achieving a dream into visual tranquility and imagination.
The original koi drawings for my Kickstarter Make 100 campaign. If you’re still thinking about it, jump on board and own an original absolutely one of a kind artwork. Only one original drawing for each koi is created. There are no duplicate drawings of the same koi. I will never redraw any of these images. I signed each artwork in a corner but really, each of these koi can be oriented in any direction you feel desirable. Numbers 1, 4, 9, 11, 13, 17 are already gone.
My Kickstarter Make 100 campaign has launched and is going strong. It is very close to being funded with 20 days to go. Here is a video production of some of my inking process for you to enjoy.
I have new prints for the 2024 convention season. These prints will also be available on my store as well. The 3 prints are created based on interest level shown at various events I participated in last year. See you at conventions, or grab them from my Big Cartel store, journeyofimagination.bigcartel.com
Don’t forget my first Kickstarter currently running. This first one is all about koi. Rewards start at $30, plus $6 shipping to USA address only.
I discovered Kickstarter allows creators and backers to work together to adjust the backer’s pledge amount for multiple items before the project has reached its deadline. The way my project is set up, you can only pledge for 1 of the 20 originals. However, if backers are interested in having more than one original, we can work together to add the additional original to the pledge as long as the original is still available at the time. I am more than happy to accommodate, just send me an email at dominiquevargo@gmail.com.
Each original is unique and not based on any stock photo. Grab your favorite before they are gone and only prints will be available for that image.
I’m so excited to announce that I am trying out crowd funding on Kickstarter. This is something totally new to me but I do love a challenge. I am going to try the Make 100. I created 20 original ink drawings and will then create sets of prints of those originals which will total 100 items for patrons to choose from. If you have been following my Instagram or Facebook, then you’ve seen my koi art. Each is an inked koi on 4.5 x 6 inches paper. All are originally drawn by me, from photos I took myself over the years at various koi ponds, including my own. This first campaign is called “Drawn From Nature - Koi.”
Whether my first campaign gets funded or not, I will continue this venture each year with more art drawn from my own photos taken of nature. I love nature. I’ve taken a lot of photos in nature everywhere I’ve visited, mostly on hikes and visits to botanical gardens and nature reserves. If you’ve read some of my art inspiration articles, you’ve already seen some of those photos.
The original artworks are completed. This project is funding the artwork printing. So there is very little risk. For this first campaign, I am hesitant to open it up to international patrons. So this first campaign will be USA only. The launch date is 8 January 2024.
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.
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.
