Posts Tagged ‘art’

“Let It Shine”

Device: iPad
Apps: Adobe Ideas and Sketchbook Pro

“Let’s Skank”
6″ x 6″ – mixed media on wood, signed on the back.
$65, plus shipping

This guy unintentionally ended up looking like Tim Armstrong to me, from Operation Ivy and Rancid fame, which should explain the title, “Let’s Skank”.

According to Urban Dicitonary:
“Skanking” – The bizarre, wild dance done to the music known as Ska. Not to be confused with a, “skank” skanking resembles running in place while flailing your arms. While popular at Ska shows, it is more acceptable at other mixed venues to simply join the mosh. Unskilled skankers are sometimes mistaken for seizure victims.

This is a one of a kind original painting on pine wood. The edges have been painted black and the surface has been coated with a thick layer of clear plastic resin. The resin coating provides a protective high gloss finish. It basically looks like a yummy piece of shiny candy.

Wire has been attached to the back so this is ready to hang right out of the package.
To purchase please order online at: https://www.etsy.com/listing/152348985/original-lets-skank.

Happy Skankin’!
- Jeff

Pascal moved into my work studio a couple of weeks ago. We now keep each other company during the day and on these late night painting sessions. I’ve never been a pet person, but Pascal really won my heart. I mean, look at that smooshed up little face of his…seriously.

This cart has really made my life easier. I love having all my supplies in one space. And it’s mobile so I never have to leave my chair. It’s a perfect marriage of artist laziness and workaholic effectiveness.

Tonight, I’m finishing up the “Welcome to…” portion of this sign for Batch, a local ice cream sandwich shop. Very tasty and I highly recommend checking them out. The next step to this project is a 4′ x 6′ sign. I keep referring to it as menu board, but it’s not so much a menu board as it is a “call to action” board letting customers know the proper steps on how to order. More on that in a future post.

Never a night goes by without music. I’ve been super into Hip Hop and Pandora (Kid Cudi Radio) ever since I got out of my Girl Talk, All Day phase. Seriously, I listened to that for months. With over 300 samples from so many genres of music it really is hard to get bored with.

And there you have it. That’s my night.

Sweet dreams!
- Jeff

Yes, still addicted to owls over here. These three are the latest. All of them are available to purchase from my etsy shop.

“Mr. Rager”
4″ x 4″ – mixed media on wood
$30, plus shipping
To purchase, please order online.

“Sing Me A Sonnet”
4″ x 4″ – mixed media on wood
$30, plus shipping
To purchase, please order online.

“I Eat Mice”
4″ x 4″ – mixed media on wood
$30, plus shipping
To purchase, please order online.

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

Last night I made two new mini paintings. They are both 4″ squares. I have a lot of these 4″ square pieces so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of these in the future.

“Lifted”
$30, plus shipping
If you would like to add this little owl to your art collection please order online.

I’ve been painting so many owls lately, that I figured I should do something different. So, I painted this little character.

“Let Me In”
$30, plus shipping
If you would like to add this little odd character to your collection please order online.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

I end up with a lot of wood scraps. A few years ago I started putting them to use by painting them. I called them “blockheads” because I would use the shape of the wood for the characters face. Here are a couple of examples.

I don’t think any of these Blockheads were any bigger than 3″ x 6″. Coral suggested painting a BIG blockhead. She wants me to paint one that’s at least 2′ x 4′. I haven’t painted one that size yet, but last night I finished this one that is 14″ x 18″. Being bigger than 2″ – 3″ wide I was able to get a lot more detailed.

“Loose Cannon”
14″ x 18″ – mixed media on wood
$245, plus shipping
If you would like to purchase this please order online.

It was fun making a bigger Blockhead than what I normally do. Not sure if I’ll step it up to the 2′ x 4′ size, but it’s certainly a possibility.

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

“Dirty Laundry”
11″ x 14″ – mixed media on wood, signed on back
$200, plus shipping
If you would like to purchase this painting please order online.

It’s true. I painted some of this at the laundromat while four loads of dirty clothes spun around in washing machines.

Thanks for looking!
- Jeff

If you memorize my posts, which I’m sure nobody does, then you might recall, but you probably won’t, my post about abstract art from earlier this month. Well, this painting was originally made when I was experimenting with new techniques for the backgrounds of my paintings. And honestly, I was also looking for a way to come up with some purely abstract pieces that I wouldn’t have the urge to add my characters to.

As you can see, I just couldn’t help myself. I had to paint a face over this one.

“Where Them Girls At?”
5.5″ x 7.5″ – mixed media on wood

I like it better now though. Of course, like I said before, abstract paintings work better when they’re big. If this was at least 36″ x 48″ instead of 5.5″ x 7.5″ I might have been able to keep it purely abstract.

Well, back to the drawing board.
Sweet dreams.

- Jeff

Thanksgiving is fast approaching so the challenge this weekend is a festive one. I challenge you all to draw or paint a turkey hand. Yes, a turkey hand! Just like you did in grade school. I’ve painted a turkey hand for the last two years and am such a procrastinator that I never posted my 2011 one until now.

This is all in good fun, so feel free to draw, paint, collage, stamp, silkscreen, cut & sew, etc.

At the end of the weekend I will feature all the turkey hands on this blog.

This “weekend art challenge” thing is new for me so I’m learning and creating as I go. This time around I’ve created a Facebook Event, which can be found at http://www.facebook.com/events/123518227804721. To get your turkey hand featured on the blog you must submit your image on that event page. First, “join” the event. Then simply post your image as you would a normal comment/status update on the event page. Just use the “add photo” option. Last week I had people send me images by twitter, instagram, facebook comment, facebook private message, email and text message. It was far too much to keep track of so this is my attempt at streamlining the process to make it easier for me.

I encourage you to add your images to instagram as well. If you do, please use the tag #weekendartchallenge

Also, if you would like to spread the word about this please do so by sharing this blog post (copy/paste this for a direct link: http://jeffclaassen.com/blog/2012/11/weekend-art-challenge-turkey-hand/ ) or the FB event (http://www.facebook.com/events/123518227804721) on any of your social media streams.

Feel free to use this image to help promote.

I am excited to see what all of you come up with.

Gobble Gobble,
Jeff

Clap your hands together for the people that took on the weekend art challenge of painting a self portrait.

Here are all the portraits that were made this past weekend for the challenge. Some were painted, some were drawn. Some were big, some were small. Enjoy!

Me. With Antlers.

Coral Kessler
www.slomygosh.com

Evy (10 years old)
evymonster.wordpress.com

Reid Cain
www.drcainscomics.com

Katie
instagram: pianosnpaint

Sophie Wilson
instacanv.as/sophiewilson

Justin Binyon
instagram: justb72777

Jack Harold Misiaszek
facebook

Susan Barodte
facebook

Sarita Li Johnson
www.thelandlockedsailor.com

Leah Grantham
cheerupoldbean.blogspot.com

This was just a random spontaneous idea I had and I’m stoked to see people take the challenge.

Thanks to all of you that participated. And to everybody else, join us the next time around. And for those of you that enjoy lurking, thanks for being a creeper.

See ya!
- Jeff

(one of my abstract experiments)

About four weeks ago I started experimenting with new ways to make fun backgrounds to paint on. Someday I’ll be a straight up abstract painter, but right now I can’t seem to control myself and I just have to paint characters over the top of my abstract backgrounds. With these new experiments though I feel like I’m getting very close to a place where painting over them might ruin them. That’s one of the things with painting. You keep adding details until you reach a point where you say to yourself, “If I add one more detail I’m going to ruin this thing.”

(another one of my experiments)

Because I’m a snobby art critic, I think one needs to reach a certain age before they start selling abstract paintings. Well, maybe not age, but I think an artist needs to go through a certain amount of experimentation and development to arrive at a point where selling abstract work is acceptable. Think of it as one of those “you’ve got to learn the rules before you can break them” sort of things. Or better yet, “You’ve got to crawl before you can walk.” And that’s because literally anybody can make an abstract painting. Here is an analogy that I find fitting to help describe how I feel about this. When I used to go to the skate park I’d see these little kids trying to do 360 kickflips, but they couldn’t ollie up a curb if their life depended on it. If you are unfamiliar with what an ollie is, let’s just put it this way. A skateboarder that can’t ollie is the same thing as a barista that can’t work an espresso machine. A carpenter that can’t swing a hammer. A college student that can’t shotgun a beer. A chair without legs. Closer to home, it would be like me wanting to be chef. Why would it be like that? Because when Coral was on bedrest and I had to make dinner I once cooked cucumbers for the family and on another occasion I proudly served zucchini cold. And I thought I was navigating my way around the kitchen like Sacagawea crossing the Rocky Mountains.

Jackson Pollock – “Reflections Of The Big Dipper” – 1947

Who hasn’t seen a Jackson Pollock painting and thought one of these two things. “I can do that.” Or, “my kid could have painted that.” Of course, that’s the knee jerk reaction. When you dig deeper and look at his earlier work you see that the guy can actually draw and paint. And was quite good too. For real.

Jackson Pollock – “Untitled” – 1939-42

The splatter painting is something he arrived at after years of toiling in the trenches as a struggling artist. Also, he had to come up with something to rid himself from the Picasso influence. The splatter paintings are his invention and it’s only after they’ve been invented that people are able to belittle them by saying things like “my kid can paint that.” Yes, your kid could have painted that, but they didn’t.

Yes, anybody can make an abstract painting. What I’ve come to realize is that not everybody can invent a new style of painting the way Jackson Pollock did. And not everybody can make an abstract painting that has meaning. This is precisely the reason why I think it’s absurd for beginning artists to sell abstract paintings. It’s not a starting point, it’s something an artist needs to arrive at. Of course, I know artists that started painting abstractly because it was easy and they had never painted before. If that’s the case then I say go for it. Get your clothes covered in paint and have fun. Truth be told, I’m the first to encourage anybody to pick up a paint brush, so if people use abstract painting as a means of getting familiar working with paint then I’m all for it. The more artists out there the merrier, I say. Just don’t claim those beginning paintings as masterpieces. They’re not. And don’t put top dollar prices on them. They’re not worth it.

With that said, here are some of the paintings I’ve made while experimenting with new techniques.

I have seven others, but I’ll spare you for now. Also, out of all the ones I made three of them have already been painted over with my usual characters and such. I just couldn’t help myself. These are certainly fun backgrounds to paint on. For me, there is something missing from these before I’ll be ready to leave them as purely abstract. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it quite yet. The obvious thing is that all of these are lacking in size. Abstracts that work need to be a much larger scale than what I’ve done. After all, I didn’t fully appreciate Pollock until I stood in front of one his paintings. And that’s after I came up with all this “early work” mumbo jumbo. As for what I’m working on, they are just experiments, for now.

I’m anxious to see where this journey takes me. Will I ever be comfortable putting a truly abstract painting on a gallery wall? Time will tell.

Thanks for reading!
- Jeff

Here’s a new owl painting. I’ve been painting a lot of these lately. Owl fetish? Not sure, but it’s a fun character to paint.

“The Mind Reader”
4.75″ x 5.5″ – mixed media on wood