Seahorses, Fireflies and Beaches at Sunset

Recent Happenings:

We have been meeting more and more of the friendly neighbourhood PSM regulars, as we have recently started setting up shop on the Portland Saturday Market side as well as our usual Skidmore location.

I have been delegating stretching our canvas prints to other people in our company or friends, as the last time I stretched these prints, my hand was out of commission for over a week. I injured it after having stretched about 100 prints, and it hurt so badly, I couldn't open a door or flick a lighter, let alone draw for my usual 6 hours a day. So no stretching for me! - Many thanks to my friends who have been picking up my slack.

I will be painting live next month for a local charity, and I plan to paint in numbers. The piece will be auctioned off at the end of the show, so this might be a good way to get an original numberism drawing without having to pay a couple grand to do so.... I will devote another post to that next week. It will be August 12th, in Portland.

* We will be at Last Thursday tomorrow with all the new work I refer to below. :) Come see us.

I have a few new pieces to speak of (come on Sienna, get to the good stuff! ) ;)

From a recent comission, here is my newest scratchboard etching, which is currently titled "Seahorse", unless one of you have a cleverer name for it. I wanted to draw the seahorse with the remaining population, as they have recently entered into the endangered species list, but there are no accurate figures curently. (Anyone who knows good resources for genome data, please send me links, as I have a frog to draw that I could use that information with.)

Anyway, so the seahorse itself is drawn with the numbers of the clock, 1 - 12, which I think is relevant, seeing as their time here has a ticking clock these days. The sea grass I drew with the number 12000, to signify the 12000 square miles of sea grass destroyed in the last decade. With those two pieces of data combined, I think I got around the fact that there is no hard data on their estimated population, while still getting my point across.

Below, is the finished scratchboard, with watercolour wash, as well as some detail images.




You can purchase this at our FrogFaith gallery at www.FrogFaith.com/gallery , my Etsy account at www.SiennaMorris.Etsy.com

Next up is a new piece from my Math and Science series. My friend, Traci, (who is a killer stylist at the Chameleon Salon) let me use her beautiful daugher, McKenna, as the model.
The Firefly's abdomens are drawn with the chemical formula for their bioluminescence, C12H13N203S2. The light emitted from the fireflies (the jar and everything in it that is visable due to light), is drawn with the speed of light, 299792458 m/s. The girl is drawn with the numbers of the clock, 1 - 12, to signfiy time in her fleeting moment. All my people will always be drawn with time.

Completed piece and details below. Buy a print at www.FrogFaith.com/gallery







Next up is actually an oldy... kind of. I drew this etching of Cannon Beach a couple of months ago and never got around to getting a good scan of it in full colour. I'm finally printing it now. I used a local photographer that you can find at PSM for the refernce photo of the beach. I am a terrible person, because I can't seem to find his contact info right now, but I promise to let you know as soon as I get it. :)

Completed piece and details below. Buy a print at www.FrogFaith.com/gallery

Progress in Oil Paint

I haven't painted in a long time. Not since I started Numberism. A friend of mine posed for me a while back and my friend, Ian, took the lovely photographs. Just last month my mother sent me oil paints from my late grandfather, and all the pieces fell together. Opportunity to pick up that brush again.

I'd say my greatest weakness as a painter is a lack of patience. I was always too eager to see the final product, always seeking instant gratification. I suppose Numberism helped me with that. With each row of numbers, more light, more shadows and more dimension came through. At any point, if I were to become too eager, too rushed, the piece would have been ruined. I had to keep my excitement at bay and slowly let the image appear.




Sitting in front of my easel, I feel calmer. I can take my time. There's never been a rush afterall. I have all the time in the world to finish this painting.

I draw a page of the comic book, take a break and put down another layer. It was a painting, after all, that got me the gig drawing the comic.





It's not finished. A lot of this is under painting, but it's getting there. Time to pull out the linsead oil and smooth out the light on her chest.