Just TeeJay's Blog

Mondays are ART Days!!!

•November 5, 2014 • 1 Comment

I know for most of the working world Mondays are icky. I get that. My Tuesdays are your Mondays. Before you get too jealous about me having Mondays off, keep in mind that I have worked almost every Saturday for the last 20 years.

On Mondays I make stuff. Right now I am taking Painting Classes at the Steve Carpenter Gallery Monday mornings. This week I got together with what is left of our Art Group and Monday nights I return to Steve Carpenter’s for open studio Figure Drawing. Here is some of what I was up to on Monday throughout the day…

I had thought that this hummingbird painting was finished – but in looking at it, I still think it needs something more going on where the wings are or maybe the back wing dropped back more and a little bit more light brought to the center of the flower. It’s very close though and the leaves at the bottom helped a ton. For anyone who is not familiar with Rochester – the symbol is our city’s symbol. Rochester was once known as the Flour City – but is now the Flower City. We often use the lilac as a symbol for Rochester and while I know that hummingbirds prefer a bunch of other flowers over lilacs… I still think it makes for a nice image.
Living here I find a strong division between those of us who love it here and those who are looking to get out of the area. Although it is not always a popular sentiment – I really love Rochester. Right up to and including the weather. It is a bit of a bummer that so many people that I love have chosen to move so far away. I had some sort of weird memory lapse and thought Figure Drawing started at 6:30 and was super confused when I got there and everyone was working already. It’s 6-9. I don’t know what happened there – I guess my brain decided I didn’t need to be there the first half hour. Really not sure where I am going with the body positioning on the flying rat. Might need to start over with him. He is starting to look more weasel-y. I really like the one on the leaf.

More medical work again today so no tattoo photos to show you.

Posted in Art, AYU Art Group, drawing, Figure Drawing, Oil painting, painting, rochester, rochester, ny, TeeJay
Tags: City of Rochester, life drawing, Rat Painting, rochester, Rochester Flower, Rochester Pride Painting, Steve Carpenter Studio

Tyler Durden, Kitties an Octopus and more

•October 16, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Been saying for a while now that I want to get caught up on posting some of my tattoos.

Well here it is!

Added a little more onto Bob’s dragon and skulls. If you know Bob – ask him about what happened to his tires at the shop that day.

I had posted this adorable little bat as a drawing on my Instagram feed. Keri saw it and asked if we could add him somewhere. I was more than happy to oblige and glad that this cute little critter found a good home. Grinch tattoo? Oh yes please! We don’t call these swell-bows for nothing. He sat great and should be all presentable well before the season. Gretchen has started doing kitty rescue. She has been sending me these beautiful photos which show her tattoos and kitties. I happen to like these things very much…. so I share them with you. (I did make these tattoos, but I’m sure you figured that out.) “Lila” all healed and pretty. Nadia asked me to fill in the rest of the space on her hand and include a keyhole. This has healed up nicely and looks a little bit like lace brass knuckles. She says she gets a lot of compliments on it. Debbie had another session on her Octopus tattoo. The scale of this is starting to come through now that we have reached the top point. On the left side this will go down her leg to about the back of her knee. She is a trooper and this is a really fun project for me. A friend of mine is leaving Rochester and moving to the Left Coast. She asked for a little Rochester tattoo before she left. Was really glad I was able to sneak her in for this cute little one. First tattoo! Sat like a rock. I can tell you I think I would have run from the room screaming if someone tried to tattoo me on my ribs when I was 18. Once again with my photo skills (or lack thereof) I have the window nicely behind her and you can’t see the tattoo well. Another session on this Norse sleeve. Having lots of fun with this as well. He is a great guy, sits really well, is far more educated than me and also gluten free so I really enjoy our conversations and learning things from him. Got some passable photos of the Tyler Durden portrait healed up. Super fun for me and I would love to make more portraits of recognizable people. My appointment for Saturday didn’t show up so I took a walk-in! Was fun to just draw something and tattoo it on the spot. Would have liked to color it as well, but he wasn’t up for it. Hopefully he will come back to the shop when he is ready. Of course there are other pieces that I have worked on since I updated last. Some I don’t have good photos of and some I can’t show you for various reasons. But have no fear, there will be more tattoos here again. On accounta that is what I do with most of my days 🙂

Hope whatever you are doing with your day it is enjoyable.

Posted in Art, tattoo, TeeJay
Tags: baby portrait tattoo, cute bat tattoo, day of the dead tattoo, dragon tattoo, grinch tattoo, hand tattoo, octopus tattoo, skull tattoo, Tyler Durden

Painting and Figure Drawing October 13th 2014

•October 14, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I think that the blow by blow painting shots are less interesting once I get into the refining process – but many people have told me that they enjoy seeing the process throughout. So here is today’s progress on this little owl painting. I really hadn’t intended to paint so many owls, but one has to go where the muse leads.

I took a break from this one because I wanted to ask Steve’s advice on some things. While I was waiting for him to come around I started on another piece. As you can see I didn’t make it very far before Steve came back.

With Steve’s input I went back into the owl. While I don’t think this one is quite finished, it is pretty close.

I did finish the snail drawing and uploaded that the other day so he is now available from Prints on Wood.

Monday night and back to figure drawing. I actually wasn’t planning on going this week – but the practice is always worth it.

I still need to post some of the recent tattoos – but that will be another post.

Posted in Art, Figure Drawing, Oil painting, painting, TeeJay
Tags: figure drawing, owl painting, Steve Carpenter Studio, work in progress

Rochester Flower Tattoo

•October 13, 2014 • Leave a Comment

A friend of mine asked me to draw her a tattoo of the Rochester Flower. It’s a pretty common tattoo and she had expressed apprehension that it might be too boring of a design for me to do and offered that I could make it more interesting if I liked. She was looking for something relatively small and simple. I have to admit that I poked around on the internet to see what other people have done with the image. By and large I was unimpressed with what I saw.

I know there are some lovely Rochester themed tattoos out there – but they don’t seem to show up on an image search.

This led to some discussions at the shop and we decided to put together some Rochester themed flash. A bunch of us are working on it. Stephen drew a really awesome Arthur Shawcross design and I saw the Garbage Plate one that Danny is working on. I am sure there were be some fun designs inspired by this project.

In the meantime, here are the Rochester Flower designs that I drew for my friend that she did not select. These will be going on to flash sheets and will be available at the shop. There will be more to come with and without the Rochester Flower included.

I had a lot of fun drawing the mandala. It reminds me of making paper snowflakes when I was a kid so I know I will be making more of those.

If you have any requests of things you would like to see on this set – suggestions are always appreciated.

Posted in Art, drawing, rochester, rochester, ny, tattoo
Tags: 585, flash, lilac tattoo, roc city, rochester, rochester flash, Rochester Flower, rochester flower tattoo, rochester flower tattoo design, rochester tattoo flash, tattoo

Figure Drawing and Painting Class from October 6th, 2014

•October 7, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Tis the Season when Monday mornings mean Painting Class for me. This weekend was super hectic as Paul and I made a quick run to Albany to watch Cirque du Soleil in Albany on Sunday. I was in such a hurry to get there and back that I completely forgot to look and see if there was anything (or anyone) that I wanted to see while I was there. I missed an opportunity to hang out with a really awesome lady (and her kitties!). Next time I will not make such a tactical error.

I had asked for a vote on Facebook of which of a number of sketches that I should paint. The Viking Snail was the clear winner. So why didn’t I paint the Viking Snail? Two primary reasons. One, this fit the canvas that I had better. Two, the snail really needs a lot of noodly little details to work well and I don’t like doing noodly stuff in paint. Noodly stuff needs nice sharp pencils for accuracy.

So after painting class I got together with the Art Group and worked on the snail. No sneak peeks on that one yet. But if you voted for the snail, have no fear, it is being worked on. Thank you Starr for hosting this month and for the very tasty snacks (I am a slacker and there are no snacks when I host).

After Art Group I made a quick dash to Michael’s to pick up some frames. Then off to the shop to pack up my tattoo gear to work at the Doctor’s office today. Then off to Figure Drawing.

After not too long at Figure Drawing it became very apparent that my not feeling well was showing up in my drawing attempts. Rather than frustrate myself any further (and feeling like I had a pretty productive day)…. I headed home early.

I have been tattooing also and hope to update some tattoo photos soon as I have some pretty awesome projects in the works. For now, off to work on the snail and spend a few minutes with my Spouse 🙂

Posted in Art, AYU Art Group, drawing, Figure Drawing, Oil painting, rochester, rochester, ny, Sketchbook, TeeJay
Tags: owl painting, owl painting in progress

Monday Morning Painting Class – September 29th, 2014

•September 29, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Back to class this morning. Working on the same painting from last week. It’s funny how quickly these start out and how much things slow down once I get into it. Seems like so much less got done today, but I know I was painting the whole time.

Weird.

Anyhow. Here is today’s progress.

Feedback thus far – I have been told he looks like something straight out of Lord of the Rings (an Ent, I presume), Groot and a Tree Spirit. I guess he could be any of those things. I have mostly been calling him Woodland Spirit or the King of the Forest depending on my mood.

I think he is pretty close to finished. Steve suggested that I add another dragonfly – I have thought of that as well, but where it goes will make a difference. I also keep going back to putting something in the foreground – but that isn’t working in my head yet at all.

We shall see.

Posted in Art, Oil painting, painting, TeeJay
Tags: Ent, Groot, painting in progress, tree spirit, woodland king, work in progress

Figure Drawing September 22nd, 2014

•September 22, 2014 • 2 Comments

Went to Figure Drawing tonight with the incredibly talented Debra VanWert. Which as it turns out was an extra good thing. In addition to the company and getting to visit on the way there and back… I stayed tonight because we went together. I was having a hard time and not feeling good about my drawing tonight and I would have bailed if it weren’t for being there with Debra. So thanks much for the company and the push to stick with it (even if you didn’t know).

Practice. It’s all about practice. Even on the days that it doesn’t feel good.

Posted in Art, drawing, Figure Drawing, Sketchbook
Tags: Debra VanWert, Steve Carpenter Studio

Painting Class and New Beginnings

•September 22, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to start painting today for my first day back to painting class. I went through a bunch of old sketchbooks over the last week or so mining for ideas. I found a whole bunch and took photos of them so I wouldn’t have to keep flipping though and trying to remember which book had what in it. Up until this morning I wasn’t sure. Actually truth be told I didn’t make up my mind until I got to Steve’s and saw that he had one square canvas left.

So here is today’s progress.

Happy with him so far. Will see what happens next time.

Posted in Art, Oil painting, painting
Tags: painting, spirit of the forest, Steve Carpenter Studio, woodland king

Bargue – Back to the Drawing Board

•September 22, 2014 • Leave a Comment

I never went to art school. I did go to Graphic Careers one year the year before it was shut down for incompetence and illegal activity…. but I dare say I didn’t pick up any actual art instruction there (a lot about design and type and such, but no traditional drawing).

At the point in my life when it would have made sense to go to Art School I was too busy being drunk and stupid and wouldn’t have gotten anything out of it anyhow. Even if I had been sober enough to show up for class.

Since then I have been trying to take classes and learn as much as I can to further my development as an artist. Yesterday I started at a very small (starting up) atelier school in Buffalo. There I will be taking a class based on Bargue. There is almost no room for interpretation in this type of art. It is exercises designed to teach the student to see and replicate as accurately as possible. It is a very scientific method to drawing.

I am looking forward to learning art from this angle and exercising new art muscles.

The first class was mostly explaining the program and setting up our equipment.

I can honestly say that I have NEVER made pencils this sharp!

Drawing on the left is the guide and drawing on the right is my version of it. Obviously these will be developed more next time.

Posted in Art, drawing
Tags: atelier, bargue, charles bargue, drawing, drawing classes, realism, traditional drawing

Figure Drawing September 15th, 2014

•September 16, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Just like all of the others. Only yesterday I only brought a little sketch pad with me so all of these drawings are smaller than I normally work. Also for some reason I was clinging tightly to my purple colored pencil and never switched to anything else.

You can make what ever you like of that.