Seven (Deadly Sins)

I mentioned the other day that I was thinking of doing a "frontispiece" for the 7 Deadly Sins, so here it is, a column made up of many souls/sinners in the shape of a "7".

Seven, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9".

And here it is along with the other images:

The Seven Deadly Sins, 2017

Seven Deadly Sins, 2013 ink drawings

Seven Deadly Sins 2017 & 2013

While still intending to do a "cover" piece for this series, in the meantime I've created a montage of the 7 pieces & also added for comparison the original drawings, done back in 2013. Now to let the dust settle & consider how to move forward to the definitive versions.

In case your Latin is not so good, from left to right:
1. Lust 2. Gluttony 3. Greed 4. Sloth 5. Wrath 6. Envy 7. Pride

Seven Deadly Sins, 2017 painted versions

Seven Deadly Sins, 2013 ink drawings

The typeface used, btw, is called "Good City Modern".

Luxuria / Lust (7 Deadly Sins)

Trapped in the fires of lust...

This is the final small painting-sketch in this series, though I intend to do a piece that would serve as a kind of frontispiece to the group, & create a montage of all the images in one piece as I did previously. That should be appearing soon...

This was (perhaps oddly, as when I did the drawings, I did this sin first) the most difficult to envision, required the most work, & came out the darkest of the seven images.

Luxuria / Lust, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9"

Avaricia / Greed (7 Deadly Sins)

This is the sixth out of seven (see below) small sketch-paintings of the 7 Deadly Sins. Only one left to go...

Avaricia / Greed, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9"

Portrait Revolution Art Book

Thanks to Martin Beek in the UK who just sent me a scan of the page in "Portrait Revolution" that has my ink portrait of Mariah O'Neill on it. This is from Julia Kay's Portrait Party, an international art project that I was part of — I did a number of portrait pieces for the project a few years ago via Flickr. Click the links for the UK & US versions via Amazon.

From Portrait Revolution, Julia Kay's Portrait Party

Invidia / Envy (7 Deadly Sins)

The latest (5 out of 7 done) in the series of small sketch-paintings. I think this one is my favorite so far...the grasping tendrils of envy...

Invidia / Envy, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9"

Gula / Gluttony (7 Deadly Sins)

Continuing with the Seven Deadly Sins painted series...these are intermediate painted sketches on a fairly small scale (inspired by the series of drawings I did back in 2013). When these are done, I'll try & synthesize between these & the drawings to come up with a large-scale series of paintings (or drawings?).

Gula / Gluttony, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9"

Superbia / Pride (7 Deadly Sins)

This just in—the latest in the painted (study) series for the Seven Deadly Sins. Also entitled "The King of Pride".

Superbia / Pride, 2017, acrylic on board, 12" x 9"

Ira / Wrath (7 Deadly Sins)

Second in the series of monochrome painted (mostly) studies for the 7 Deadly Sins series. Ultimately, I will create large versions of these.

Ira / Wrath, 2017, acrylic, ink & carbon on gray-brown gessoed panel, 12" x 9"

It's a Small World

Small acrylic painting on rag paper. This may be an early version of a book cover image, but too early to tell. Stay tuned on that.

It's a Small World, 2017, acrylic on rag paper, 8" x 5.75" approx.

The Angel and the Cataclysm

This is a small piece painted on the four sides of a wooden block sized 5.5" high x 3.5"wide x 1.5"deep approx. I've presented it here scanned & laid out as a series of flat images. I think it works quite well, but is intended to be seen in three dimensions...the disjointedness becomes more apparent when seen as a continuous flat image.

The Angel and the Cataclysm, 2017, acrylic on wood, 5.5" x 3.5" x 1.5" approx.

And in the negative zone...

Acedia / Sloth (7 Deadly Sins)

From the Seven Deadly Sins. A while ago (2013) I did some sketches of the 7 Deadly Sins with the aim of one day doing more finished pieces—paintings, probably. Here is the first one; Sloth. This is a fairly small version, also, so ultimately I might do larger versions. We'll see how it goes.

Acedia / Sloth, 2017, acrylic & carbon on gessoed panel, 12" x 9"

In the Kingdom of Fools and Madmen

A new drawing, inspired by Leonardo's drawings of lunatics and grotesques, by Bosch & Breughel's beggars and demons, by Ensor's masks and heads...you know, the usual suspects...

In the Kingdom of Fools and Madmen, 2017, soluble carbon on paper, 24" x 18".

Return of the Titan

From time to time I've made drawings of titans, colossi, giants, etc. Here is another one. Partly inspired by Goya's painting The Colossus, also partly inspired by a Japanese anime series called Attack on Titan (which I struggled through, as I don't much care for anime in general), and mostly inspired by the fact that I like the idea of colossi...

Return of the Titan, 2017, soluble graphite on paper, 24" x 18"

Materials Matter: Soluble Carbon

Here is the product I've been using for my drawings lately. It's a "disc" (though it's mostly square) of solid carbon. It's easier to use than ink, for me, as I just dip the brush in water & then soak up some of the diluted carbon. Sort of like watercolor, which I don't use. I am in no way affiliated with this company (Art Graf), though if they want to make me an offer...
Also, it's made in Portugal, one of my favorite countries (though I haven't been there in many years).

The front of the packet

The details...now you know about as much as I do

When Time Has No Meaning

Another large-ish drawing with the soluble carbon, which is working well for me. I may never use actual ink again...

When Time Has No Meaning, 2017, soluble carbon on paper, 24" x 18".

Materials Matter: The Color (Brilliant) Purple

I thought I'd take a photo of the actual tube of Brilliant Purple Liquitex acrylic color, as it's almost an artifact in & of itself. I must have bought this years ago, as it's covered in paint splashes & the cap of the tube itself is brittle & falling apart. The tube is still mostly full, as it's a color I rarely use. See the 2 postings under this one for examples of recent usage.

Brilliant Purple Liquitex paint tube: kids, remember to look after your materials, & they will look after you.

Wide Awake & Alive

I did this new small piece as a companion to the previous one (see post below). I'm probably not going to do more purple (mauve?) pieces, these 2 seem to be enough. Fun fact: the purple acrylic paint is by Liquitex and is called "Brilliant Purple".

Wide Awake & Alive, 2017, acrylic on rag paper, 8" x 5.75" approx.

Purple Dreamer

One of the final small paintings on handmade rag paper (I'm running out of the packet I bought). I don't usually use purple very much—it's a difficult color to work with, but I thought it worked well here, to give a dreamy, mystical feeling to the piece. I liked this piece so much, I made it the featured image on my web site's home page.

Purple Dreamer, 2017, acrylic on rag paper, 8" x 5.75" approx.