Boys Keep Singing (at the End of the World)

This is a GIF animation (with morphing) of the two preceding paintings (see last post). Perhaps the solution to resolving the image lies somewhere between the two?

Boys Keep Singing (at the End of the World), 2013, animated GIF.

The Boy Who Sang at the End of the World II

I wasn't completely happy with the way the first version of this piece worked out, so I thought I'd try it again. This is now closer to how I intended it to be, but now, ironically, I suspect that the first version is better in many ways...perhaps the third version will be the charm.

The Boy Who Sang at the End of the World II, 2013, acrylic on board, 10" x 8".

Below is the original version:

The Boy Who Sang at the End of the World, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

The Wings of an Angel

This is a series of 4 small acrylic paintings on board that I did in order to put together a GIF animation. I used Squirlz Morph & Adobe Fireworks to make & compress the animation...the images went from being vividly colored to monochrome, which adds to the atmosphere in the final animation. This is just another experiment on the way to making my artwork animate in a more sophisticated way...but this animation has a rawness that I quite like.

The Wings of an Angel, 2013, animated GIF.

The Wings of an Angel, 2013, a series of 4 paintings on panel, each one 10" x 8".

Fragment of a Profile

Another ink drawing (with a fine-line sharpie) on cardboard:

Fragment of a Profile, 2013, ink on cardboard, 11" x 8.5".

Hello, Little Cyclops

A little test animation I was fooling around with last night...it doesn't really fit very well with most of my work, but here it is:

Madonna of the Western Lands

This is a small painting I did a week or so ago, & apparently forgot to post here. So, here it is...

Madonna of the Western Lands, 2013, acrylic on board, 10" x 8".

Don't Wake the Sleeper

This is a drawing I did on a spare piece of cardboard late last night, which might explain the subject matter.

Don't Wake the Sleeper, 2013, ink on cardboard, 10" x 7".

Morphing Heads

This is another animated GIF experiment done with Squirlz Morph, a freeware morphing program. I used two recent small paintings of heads, the Boy with a Long Neck, & the Madonna of the Western Lands, to create this strangely fascinating & disturbing image of the male & female images morphing into each other. I originally made this for my Tumblr blog (mymythsandmonsters.tumblr.com), but I thought I would also post it here.

The Songs of Angels

This one might need a little more work...also, in reality it's not quite so blue in hue as here.

The Songs of Angels, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

Boy with a Long Neck (Who Dreamed of an Empire)

New painting with a long neck & a long title!

Boy with a Long Neck (Who Dreamed of an Empire), 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

In a Mountain Refuge

A figurative acrylic painting that took a (relatively) long time to come into being.

In a Mountain Refuge, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

Narcissus animation

I used a freeware morphing program called Squirlz Morph to create this animation of 2 recent Narcissus drawings. I'm not going for a slick kind of animation here, but there is a kind of quality to it that I like...

Civil War animated

This is my 2005 painting Civil War with a simple GIF animation that I did for my Tumblr blog:

Civil War, 2005-2013, animated GIF.

In a Silent Dream

This is a new small acrylic painting that went through a lot of different versions before arriving at this one.

In a Silent Dream, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

Head of a Youth

I was testing out some new colored ink pens today:

Head of a Youth, 2013, ink on paper, 11" x 8.5".

The Mask of Tragedy

This is a new smallish acrylic painting that went through many stages before arriving at the present (presumably finished) state.

The Mask of Tragedy, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

Narcissus Rex

An ink drawing for the Narcissus series.

Narcissus Rex, 2013, ink on paper, 8" x 6".

The Spires of Atlantis

I've always been fascinated by Plato's story of the sunken isle...here is my version...

The Spires of Atlantis, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

The Man Who Bought the World

A new ink line drawing (Pitt fine-line artist pen) for the World Series:

The Man Who Bought the World, 2013, ink on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

The Sky is Falling (animation)

A GIF animation inspired by the near miss of Asteroid 2012 DA14 & the meteor that exploded in the air over Russia, & also the imminent threat of global annihilation...

The Sky is Falling, 2013, animated GIF.

Variation on a Man's Head

I'm still searching for the archetypal ink drawing of a head, apparently.

Variation on a Man's Head, 2013, Pitt artist pen on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

A Sense of Yearning

A new drawing done with a Pitt fine-line artist pen.

A Sense of Yearning, 2013, ink on paper, 11" x 8.5".

Asleep in the Abyss Animated

Here is just one more...the drawing Asleep in the Abyss in animated GIF form.

The Onset of Winter Animated

Possibly the last in this little series of animated GIFs of paintings...this is The Onset of Winter from 2005. I mostly created these to amuse myself, but they do add some kind of other dimension to the pieces, albeit in a simplistic way...

Crystal Lake Animated

This is another old painting (from 2004) which I have made into a simple animated GIF. The animation is not very sophisticated, it's really more of a sketch of an idea than a finished piece.

Crystal Lake Animated, 2013, animated GIF.

Empire of Death in Flames (Animated)

An experiment in animated GIFery with my 2005 painting, Empire of Death...it's a rather crude but effective animation. I may try this with several other older works...

Empire of Death in Flames (Animated Version), 2013. Original acrylic painting, Empire of Death, 2005, acrylic on masonite, 24" x 24" approx.

Time's Vibration

Another experiment with an animated GIF...using the Time's Angel image, it has an almost 3D low-fi quality.

Time's Vibration, 2013, animated GIF.

Time's Lost Angel / Legna Semit

A simple, monochrome visionary painting & its digital reverse...

Above: Time's Lost Angel, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

Above: Legna Semit, 2013, digitally altered painting.

Ascension

A small, almost minimalist visionary painting:

Ascension, 2013, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

The King of the Forest

A densely drawn variation on the Tree Man theme...

The King of the Forest, 2013, ink pens on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

Process of sketching a head

This is an animated GIF I put together to show three different stages in a drawing of a man's head.

Process of sketching a head, 2013, artist pen on tracing paper, 12" x 9", 3 stages in the process.

Here are the versions of the drawing sequentially:

Click on the image for a larger version.

Idol

A mystical drawing...

Idol, 2013, Pitt ink pen on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

The Boy Who Dreamed the World Away

For all the dreamers out there...

The Boy Who Dreamed the World Away, 2013, ink pens on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

Death Laughs Out Loud

A rather dark ink pen drawing (Pitt super-fine) that may be a study for a large painting...

Death Laughs Out Loud, 2013, ink on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

Diana Ayton-Shenker in Crowd of Angels (teaser trailer)

My wife, the lovely Diana Ayton-Shenker (& partner, goddess, poet, mother-of-children, life partner, etc.) is featured in this teaser trailer for a forthcoming documentary on crowd funding, social investment & innovation. She comes in around the 1:58 mark.

Cyclops Blinks

This was just a quick test of making an animated GIF out of a small drawing.

Cyclops Blinks, 2013, animated drawing.

Babel Under Clouds

A new small ink drawing of the Tower of Babel, which is a recurring theme in my work.

Babel Under Clouds, 2013, ink on paper, 8" x 6".

Under the Weather

Small painted version of a recent drawing:

Under the Weather, 2013, acrylic on board, 10" x 8".

Little Soul Boat

This was a (mostly blue) painting that I decolorized in Photoshop, which gave it a kind of haunting quality:

Little Soul Boat, 2013, acrylic on board (digitally decolorized), 10" x 8".

Escape from the Spirit World

A new small painting of a visionary nature:

Escape from the Spirit World, 2013, acrylic on board, 10" x 8".

The Fallen World

Another new small drawing done with the Pitt pen:

The Fallen World, 2013, ink on paper, 8" x 6".

There is Something Wrong with the Weather

New small ink drawing, done with a fine-line Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen:

There is Something Wrong with the Weather, 2013, ink on paper, 8" x 6".

Shattered Beauty

"The Futility of Beauty" (see below) digitally altered in Pixlr Express, an online image editor. Aged about 1,000 years...

A World Full of Angels

I was just fooling around with Pixlr, which is a free, online image editor that works in your browser. It's obviously based on Photoshop-style image editing programs, which means that it's pretty easy & intuitive to use (if you know Photoshop). This is the "kaleidoscope" filter, which reminds me of Kai's Power Tools of days long gone by...

A World Full of Angels, 2013, digitally manipulated image.

The Futility of Beauty

A drawing that is a meditation on beauty, or the depiction of it in art...putting the word "beauty" in a title is usually a bad idea...Done with a Pitt fine line artist pen, in any case.

The Futility of Beauty, 2013, ink on paper, 24" x 19".