a gathering of prints and late summer watercolors

The first four images are from two different assignments done my first semester at MECA. This class was the first time I had worked with printing, and we learned so many different things. The last one with trees that look like human limbs is a copper etching plate assignment, where we had to make the cleanest edition of 10 prints and although this one looks clean, I failed miserably at this. My fingers and ink seem to have a gravitational pull that is not so different from the earth and the moon. Anyway, the first three images was a different process called paper lithography. Through this process I learned how I could take an image from a book or the internet, and get a print directly from a xerox of that image. Pretty cool I thought, until I realized how hard it is to roll a 5 pound brayer covered in ink over crappy printer paper. It wasn't that fun, but I achieved what I set out to do which was to Create ruined and destroyed contemporary architecture by placing the building within my own drawings. I would use charcoal, pencil, pen or any other medium to get the affect I wanted. The great thing is I would do a drawing and be able to get a close match in quality to the medium I was using. So I hope you enjoy them, because I put a lot of work into it.
For some odd reason the weather gods thought it a good idea to curse us with a whole month or two of straight solid rain. Finally it stopped and As the sun came out more in portland, I began going outside more. Although there is a lot more i havent finished yet, mostly because they are filled with fine detail that takes me a lot of patience to finish, the images above is a lot of what I did over the second half of the summer.
I remember spending hours observing these subject matters. I would find a nice comfy spot on the waterfront, and not only observe subject matter, but just my surroundings. I wanted my paintings to be atmospheric, letting the viewer see what kind of day it is. I also want to add that none of my paintings are fictional, they are my interpretations of what I observe directly from nature. I try to find objects in nature that give hand to nice composition, or to set some type of emotion. But I do play with color experimentation, and that sometimes my colors do not hold true to the actual landscape or object I am painting. This is because I believe true color is not necessarily the actual color. There are many different situations during the day that may alter the true color, like weather or time of day. I just wanted to let you know I think about these things.

-Things to come:
Comic book stuff? I really hope so!
unfinished watercolors. . . finished!
printmaking round 2!

p.s. I am officially in a band, and we have been playing for about a month, if not longer. We got our first gig at Genos in Portland, ME, so if you are 21, live in portland or around, come support us and the other bands at the dooryard (our practice space) by coming to our show Oct.2!

watercolors

All summer I have been working consistently on watercolor paintings. mostly done with a small brush and on a 8x12 piece of watercolor paper. Living in portland, ME has given me the opportunity to explore a Nature  through shape and color. Color is something I rarely do (mostly because i think my not very good at it) but with such diverse landscapes here in maine, I found the arrays of colors that summer unleashes onto the many waterfronts and sandy bays very familiar and comforting to work with. Most of the time I would bring a mason jar down to the east end waterfront (you might recognize the old burnt up bridge in one of my paintings) and use the salt water from the ocean to paint with. I found that when my paints dried, it would give it a grittier texture that sort of reminds me of aquatint. this brings alive a painterly quality that I'm really happy with. below are eight works which is not everything i did, but just what i finished this summer. Criticism and comments are more than welcomed.

Gilgamesh's wall of remembrance

I would like to display my past work first. In high school, i explored the Epic of Gilgamesh. I grew interested in it when i first read it as a freshman for some social studies class, nothing special, just read a few anecdotes out of it here and there. But i was amazed by the way history could be stored and saved through time. This story is ancient, and i was amazed by its longevity through time, and how it still has meaning to people to this day. I was always amazed how all stories come to, how true events become word of mouth, and are passed down through generations of people, the stories always to be kept within their minds.
I picked it up again as a senior in comparative religion. We finally read it all the way through in class (my freshmen year after reading the anecdotes i just took it out of the library to read) and i was amazed at the philosophical meaning within the book. I couldn't help but compare what it said about life and death to modern man's own idea of life and death. To me, it was kind of similar. After this i was inspired to create a work of art that would tell the epic of Gilgamesh. Because i was to do this visually, i chose to create a 60 foot mural that would encompass the whole epic tale in one flowing work. scenes bend and twist into each other, creating a smooth transition from one scene of the story to another.