Sketchabout

Every so often I get one of those really good days where I can meet and socialize with other local artists.  Sometimes it is figure drawing, more recently it's location sketching.

This time was at the Richland Public Library a handful of weeks ago.  The point of these sketches is a fast, quick and dirty depiction of a locale.  It's more about speed than anything else, but great fun and relaxing.

This is the view from an upper window.  It was a 40 minute sketch.

These two are from odd angles.  The pencil sketch is the coffee bar, the quick ink sketch was about 7 minutes and is a woman I was "spying on" from above at the next floor.

Ed invited me down, and Jim drew this sketch.  I'd met Nancy before, and Greg suggested we go down to the same local taphouse which I have a very complicated history with.  It happens to be the same place I painted these HIS and HERS restroom doors but I didn't share that with anyone there.

I'm like that.  A lot of the time I let stuff just go which I could comment on, maybe it's bad for networking but it's just the way I roll.

Jim quietly sketched us all sitting around.  This is his art below.

That's me, third from the left.  You can see more of Jim Bumgarner's work on his site here
http://bmgarnersketches.blogspot.com/   including several which are going to be used in some upcoming trade magazines throughout Spokane which is pretty cool.

- J. 

Homeland House

This is the home of Tom Pine and his wife and two children.

- J.

PolitiK Paradigm

One of the most challenging undertakings I have done has been the production and distribution of small, self published "zines" covering a variety of topics.  The research time on the topics alone was in the hundreds of hours, and each zine became larger than the prior one, and with more detailed illustrations as well.

The fourth of five published issues is PolitiK : Paradigm and the subject matter is media manipulation and partisan battles.  It deals heavily in tolerance issues and exploring themes of interpersonal relations in the public domain.

While the earlier issues were largely about trying to find a strong methodology for production and creating a system of marketing while focusing on niche or taboo topical issues, this particular issue dealt more specifically with what is essentially my philosophical views on society in general.

If PolitiK the series does become Politik the big whole book one day, then Paradigm can be considered the thesis.  If PolitiK as a series becomes a pursuit that I choose to not continue in the future, then Paradigm will continue in another format.

The cover to PolitiK : Paradigm is pictured below.  As a (certainly fascinating) piece of trivia, the cover was originally hand painted on a 38 inch by 24 inch sheet of heavy fibrous watercolor paper, years before PolitiK as a series had even been conceived by me.  I think that would date the original version of this piece back nearly nine years... but as my thoughts on the greater world around me and politics and society tend to grow and evolve, I do find that my core beliefs remain consistent.  For that reason the original art watercolor of this piece is probably the one of the earlier pieces in a long, long progression of edgy political work.

Incidentally, you absolutely can purchase your very own copy of PolitiK : Paradigm here at my shop, or any other of the PolitiK series as well.

- J.