Thu 31 Jan 2008
WIP of a startled nautilus and mouse, a.k.a. title suggestions welcome by Meg Lyman
After having researched nautiluses for this painting, I have been doodling them all over. Have another! Color pending. I need to go paint.
p.s. I got this awesome book for Christmas, and it is full of awe-inspiring cephalopod reference.
Sun 27 Jan 2008
This week has been a whirlwind, and I haven’t any new art to show you. I’m slightly ashamed. But here, have a cute cuttlefish instead!
I spent a few hours at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga this weekend, and it is one awesome aquarium. They have about a dozen young Sepia officinalis who had arrived earlier that week! Curious little buggers - you can see the intelligence in their eyes. They also had a giant pacific octopus named “Wonton.”
The 100 Cephalopods Project is something I contrived after seeing other artists take on similar projects with their favorite animals. The gist is to do 100 finished pieces of something - anything - in a genre you choose. For instance, one artist started on primates. I haven’t seen a completed set of 100 yet, but that’s understandable - it’s a huge project. That goal I had to complete the project this year may have been a tad bit ambitious. Considering that I’d have to paint a finished piece every three-and-a-half days, and I haven’t even done one yet, and I have other commissions to complete… well, I’m amending the goal to have at least some finished. Check back for developments! Demand them of me!
Also, props to Maggie Stiefvater for her awesome blog, and for her particularly awesome post about using complements. She used blog readers’ art to discuss the use of complementary colors, and chose one of mine. Thanks, Maggie!
Wed 23 Jan 2008
Unraveling by Meg Lyman
8×10″ gouache and ink on Canson
Commission: SOLD
I’m not sure what happens when it runs out of yarn. A disembodied but cuddly yarn-squid head? A rip in the space-time continuum?
Actually, I don’t want to know.
A commission for a “yarn skein” squid, all nestled into a basket and knitting itself a new arm.
Sun 20 Jan 2008
Nautilus macromphalus - work in progress by Meg Lyman
11×14 gouache on Pastelbord
I did a brief review of gouache on Pastelbord last year, and although I liked it, I hadn’t used it since. However, I am a spineless worm when it comes to art supply stores. Colorful sirens in the form of papers, paints, and other such paraphernalia call from the shelves… “Buy me! Buy me!” and I am loathe to resist. Therefore, I recently found myself with half a dozen large pieces of Pastelbord that need to be used.
My first gouache on Pastelbord was this, and then this last week and now this current WIP. I am in love with the stuff. I know artists who swear by it for colored pencils and pastels, too. It is slightly sandy from the marble dust they mix into the substrate (which is probably why it’s expensive). It is of course rigid and non-buckling. The tinted ones suck a bit of the life out of the colors, but not much - and I haven’t tried the bright red gouaches yet, which typically dominate any surface with unyielding authority. They go on boldly, lording it over the other colors until you notice holy cow that’s bright and glaze some green over it. We’ll see about them.
The delight of this surface is hard to describe. For me, it’s mostly in the pull of the brush across the texture, and the way you can smack paint around without worrying about pulling up the under-layers. Pastelbord is absorbent and textured, something which none of the other Claybord-type products (or even papers and illustration boards) pull off very well. I am going to try gouache on Wallis at some point, and I hope it’ll give me the same feeling.
One of the only downsides to Pastelbord is its brush-eating. I have used one particular brush for 3 paintings: the two previous Pastelbords mentioned above, both 5×7, and the underpainting of Felipe (on illustration board). This is how the new bristle brush looked and how mine looks now:
It’s not a very high-quality brush, but man, two and a half paintings? That’s pretty bad. Oh well… it’s worth it. And maybe it’ll be nicer to the soft brushes I use for detail work. I’ll report back later.
p.s. This is the first of the 100 Cephalopods project. Details still forthcoming.
Fri 18 Jan 2008
Been awhile since I posted about beer. Luckily, it hasn’t been awhile since I drank some, so here you go. Image swiped from Breckenridge’s website.
Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout is complicated. It tastes roasted, reminiscent of the bottom of a burnt cookie. Except not sweet. At all. It has a really bitter aftertaste that I don’t like. Could be the same reason I don’t like coffee. Perhaps if you like coffee, you’ll like the beer better than I do. However, Nathan likes coffee, but says the beer is tasty, but hoppy and sour.
Ratings:
N: 8
M: 5
Mon 14 Jan 2008
Elsie by Meg Lyman
5×7 gouache on Pastelbord
SOLD
Well, the show was really good, but in an unexpected way. Most of us didn’t sell much of anything; it was the first year the show had an art gallery, we weren’t well publicized by the show, and our location was obscure. That, and people came to buy other things. Like boats. They had three houseboats that were bigger, better decorated, and three times more expensive than my house.
I sold a few prints and one small painting (featured above, painted during the show yesterday). So sales were “meh.” However, I handed out a bunch of cards, got lots of names on the mailing list, and talked to a bunch of people. I even got a couple e-mails already inquiring about purchases! But the best part of all was meeting the other artists. You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer bunch of gals (and guy). Everyone was fun to talk to and learn from. The show was well worth all that effort for that alone. And I already have an invitation to another show. Woo!
Here are the awesome people I met who have work online: Anne Brodie Hill, Anita Elder, Jose Portilla, Amanda Carder, Cathy Little, Rhea Metcalf, and Cheryl Hardin, who took a bunch of my money for one of her fabulous paintings.
My booth setup was a bit haphazard; we had more room that we thought we’d have, so I only brought water-related art during setup. The first night of the show, I brought more art to fill out the panels, which is why it’s sorta shoved into the bottom.
I have never been a good people-person; being in crowds makes me a bit nervous and I am horrible at small talk. Doing conventions and this show has helped a lot with that obstacle. I even volunteered to stand out in the hall and heckle passers-by, asking if they wanted their faces painted. I only asked the young ones, their parents, and the really old folks. Only the kids said “yes.”
Tue 8 Jan 2008
Mondays by Meg Lyman
4×6″ gouache on Bristol
Well, here they are… my art goals for the year. Read, take note, and be prepared to write a performance review for me at the start of 2009.
I’m off to work on that last one - the first show of 2008. I’ll talk to you next week, hopefully without all the art I hauled downtown yesterday.
*exciting details forthcoming!
Sun 6 Jan 2008
Beach Mollusk 2 by Meg Lyman
35mm slide
Prints: available
Hey everyone, happy 2008! I enjoyed my lovely, languorous 2-week break, but I missed you guys. I hope your holidays were peachy.
As soon as I got back, I began preparations for the Atlanta Boat Show. They have a gallery room with about a dozen artists, including my friend Rhea. We each have a booth to run, but most of us are only working the show part-time because it goes all day, Wednesday through Sunday (Jan 9-13). I’ll be working every evening and all weekend, so if you’re in the area, come by! Tickets to the show are cheaper if you buy them online before Jan. 8.
All the art is water-themed. I have plenty of cephalopod art to show, but I also dug out some photographs. I have a bunch of them that actually show water (gasp) so I framed them up.
I probably won’t get to post during the week (or next weekend) with the chaos of the show, but as soon as I can, I’ll give you a report. With pictures!