Northwestern Artist

Christmas of a Down

2012-12-23T22:32:00.001-08:00

Today, the Norwegian, electronic musician Binärpilot, released his Christmas gift upon the world--a free remix of System of a Down's "Vicinity of Obscenity" off of their "Hypnotize" album.

After listening to it, I was inspired to create a mashup cover to go with it. Enjoy!
Edit 12/24/12: The artwork is now the official cover on the song's Soundcloud page!

[Click for full version]

Original artistic elements are by Vartan Malakian (overall painting), Jim R Didriksen (photo of Binärpilot's face), and Are Kleivan (little robot heads, was on Nordland album cover).
Vartan Malakian's original painting below, for comparison.

Outrageous Tweets Illustrated

2012-07-27T17:25:00.002-07:00

This technically all started when I was at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum a few weeks ago, drinking cups of black, uncreamed & unsweetened coffee--and liking it. Since then I've tried (and also liked) the drink titled Shot in the Dark, and black coffee at other places.

The other day, I mentioned my new-found conversion to the taste of black coffee on Twitter. The resulting conversation was full of ridiculous images, and it inspired me to illustrate it.

Below is the "finished" versions, and way below are the pencil and inked versions, for those curious.

Click the images, and they should pop-up to read.
If not, right-click and view image in a new tab

----

Behind-the-Scenes

And one more time, for good measure.

Artsy updates

2012-07-22T17:58:00.002-07:00

Last week I got a letter (and check) from the Museum of Northwest Art for my piece selling at this year's art auction back in June. In the letter was the buyer's name and address, as she didn't opt to remain anonymous.
That evening I sat down, took out my typewriter, and wrote her a letter explaining the ideas and history of the piece she bought--Gashes: A Stitch in Time. I like to make an effort to make contact with the people that end up buying my art, to show my appreciation.

She has since received the letter, found me on Facebook, and emailed me saying she's going to type a response on her typewriter. I also noticed I was in the background of one of her Facebook pictures from the auction. (In a non-creepy way, I just happened to be in the crowd at that moment). Very interesting turn of events, and now I'm contemplating going to see her gallery in Port Townsend in the next few weeks.

Also, anxiously awaiting for her manually-typed response.

And contemplating my next piece of art to do. I have a lot of ideas, but sometimes the sheer amount just stuns me from actually starting any of them.

Thoughts from Places: Almost a year ago

2012-07-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

As I was looking through my Google Doc folders, and found this little gem tucked away. It's titled "Quilt Museum Updates" and I haven't touched it since August 17, 2011. It's interesting to see this preserved snapshot of my thoughts during that time in the project. I'm sharing it (picture-less) now because I feel it's worth sharing, and I'm neck-deep in a few reviews right now.
(Back to more quilt stuffs)
Enjoy this rare insight:

Alright, here's another update on my Quilt Museum Project ~~(see related links at bottom of post)~~, for those of you wanting to keep up.

I’ll just post a lot of pictures of progress and workspace after this message, and then the longer, description and update on the project below all that--so you aren't "forced" to read through my wordy explanations.

Feeling like I bit off more than I could chew, running at it head on like I have been. Instead of doing ~15 panels of rough sketching, then ~15 panels of inking, then painting--where I feel like I’m getting nothing done--I’m staggering it so I have many panels in each phase of progression. This way, when I finally get a few panels painted and finished, the rest will fall in order and I will feel more accomplished.

I found myself kind of wallowing in the scope of the project: not only am I completing all these panels, but other people will be recreating them, AND it’ll be in a Museum next year...It is a daunting feeling realizing this...
Found myself looking at the panels and going to read a book or play three too many games of Halo online.
One day, I started Skyping my friend in New Mexico who is also an aspiring artist. She was working on an art project, so I grabbed all my stuff and started inking along side her--3,000 miles away...
Gotta find your motivation.

When I dove into this project at the beginning of the summer, I had it all figured out: I get the measurements for everything, buy supplies, and then work through all the panels; first by rough sketching every panel, inking each, then finally painting. However, life throws some wrenches in things from time to time, and we adjust.

At first, I had to figure out calculations to see what size paper I needed and the size restrictions based on where the Quilt Museum wanted the whole piece to be displayed. I finally got everything settled, and went out to buy the paper needed. I then made a calendar of the time I had to work, and gave myself sort of "benchmark" goals to have some things finished--with a tentative finish date of August 10, and wanting my "absolute deadline" to be the end of August.

Turns out, I've missed all my self-imposed benchmark goals, but that doesn't mean I haven't been progressing. Instead of tackling everything at once in steps which felt very daunting--sketches, inking, and painting, for like 15 panels--I've decided to stagger everything: At the moment, I have several panels inked, a few roughed out, and then one or two still needing to be started completely.

With the stagger, I can work through finishing the panels and feel like I'm actually making progress, instead of being buried under the project. Being able to adapt to situations and figure out ways to motivate yourself can be very helpful.

Things I Have Learned
Time management
Planning and keeping things clean
Biggest size / scope (longest deadline)
Largest project
Most pressure
Using less painter’s tape and rubber
Steadier hand
Better paint colors and details
New techniques (Water wash, then paint)

Thoughts from Places: Eve-day of show opening

2012-06-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is when the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum opens its doors to about two dozen Japanese quilters to mark the start of the newest exhibits. Among the Japanese quilts and Ainu embroidery is the quilt project that I was a part of.

Back in June 2010 I was approached by board members for the museum and asked if I'd join a project. I accepted. Now two years later, that project is ready to be unveiled.

It's a rather interesting feeling, the eve-day before a show like this opens. It was a rather large collaborative effort. I'm excited to see the reactions of all of the quilters seeing each others' pieces all together. I think they all did beautifully in rendering their versions of my paintings.

Today is deadline-day at the La Conner Weekly News, and on my lunch break, I was munching on my editor-made sandwich,* drinking office coffee, and thinking deeply about my art and this project.

Will this jump start a more professional art career?
Will I become pigeon-holed?
What about keep getting asked to keep doing paintings of storefronts?
Will this route be all I do in art?

And my response to it all was: We shall see.

I don't know if this will become a popular thing or not, and I'm not really worried about getting stuck on it. With all the crazy and all-over ideas I have for my art, I find it very difficult that this show will define what my art is and who I am as an artist for the rest of my career. It may end up being a big part, but not all of it. It's gonna be fun, and people / artists reinvent how others view them all the time.

Honestly, I'm anxiously-excited to see where this all leads, and anxiously-excited for the opening tomorrow.
Reception starts at 10 a.m. at the Gaches Mansion, and is expected to run until noon.
Admission to the museum is $7 for general, $5 for military and students with ID, and free for members and children under 12. These shows also run until October 7.

*Editor-made sandwich: Sourdough bread with tomato, mayo, full onions, and crunchy bacon.

New skateboard commission, first steps

2012-06-17T19:14:00.001-07:00

A few days ago, my good friend Ethan came over, with a selection of skateboards. He was visiting his creative friends, giving them skateboards to paint on with full creative license. Just like the last commission, I readily accepted. Below is the first steps I've taken today.

Also, I recommend seeing Ethan's video I helped make last spring. It was supposed to be a short intro for an upcoming skate film, but it didn't make it in due to time constraints. (And if you look really close at 0:25, you can see a corner of the last commissioned board "under his chin").

I played with some ideas of what I wanted to do on this board, but nothing was truly grabbing me. Then this afternoon, I decided to just grab a bunch of supplies, and start painting away to see what came to me.

I picked a used and slightly beat up Hiddenwave-branded board because I wanted to play around with textures more with this one, instead of a completely blank and flat surface. I took it outside, collected materials, donned some vinyl gloves and hoodie, and decided to tempt the skies while being creative.

[Selection of materials: rags, synthetic-fiber brushes, painter's knife, toothbrush, toothpaste, leftover Artist's Loft acrylic tubes, other leftover acrylic paints, old blue sheets, and Gold-brand acrylic (black) spray paint.
Not pictured: vinyl gloves and thin rice paper]

I sprayed the board with a layer of black paint, and then dabbed at it with thin rice paper. This took off some of the paint in random shapes, and the paper occasionally ripped and stayed on the board. This creation a random distribution of textures, and I repeated the process a few times over.

From here I took out the variety of paints I had leftover from other projects and randomly applied them straight to the board. I used a painter's knife to streak them around. After several colors I used more of the rice paper to dab and wipe. The whole time, it was sprinkling, and the rain started to mix the paints in different ways. It was a very relaxing and goal-less process that was interrupted by a random raccoon encounter. After that I cleaned up and let the board finish drying in the shed.

I did this whole thing with no real end-result in mind. I did come up with some ideas that evolved over time, mainly using the technique of covering the paint in some places and then spraying the rest black again--but we shall see what I think of it later. If none of that works, I can always spray it all black again and start from scratch. Either way, I'm really excited to see where this project leads itself.

I'll update as I it progresses more. I have until September, but am shooting to have it done a lot sooner.

New stuff underway!

2012-05-22T23:36:00.002-07:00

Hello there...it's been Much. Too. Long. So, this is to catch up on what I've been up to, artistically.

First of all, the collaboration with the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum is still underway. During Spring Break I stopped by the museum to see one of the fabric packets they had for the quilters. Good news and bad news. Bad news: there were no more fabric packets; good news: they were gone because the quilters were using them all. It wasn't until recently that I got to see anything of the quilt-end of this project.

Below are some teasers; they might be the only ones until the opening of the show on June 27. The show coincides with the Japanese quilter show, At Play - Asobi: Quilts from Japan, which will run until October 7, 2012.

Also, as a terrible, not-so-often-updating, cliffhanger-writing, teaser-spilling blogger, I'll leave you with this: Two pretty awesome projects underway.

Danger Cat - Behind the Scenes

2012-02-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

A selection of ink-only scenes from the commission, as well as something that I stumbled across using layers. You can see the finished commission here.

Because a few scenes could be reused digitally, I had them in the file under different layers. After changing opacity, I discovered these two cool moments.

Danger Cat - Storyboard Commission

2012-02-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

Last quarter, my cousin let me know that a friend of his wanted someone to create storyboards, and eventually an animation. The commissioner had created a story that accompanies a music piece for marimba, and wanted storyboards for an upcoming performance. With a set deadline, I set to work.

The story is called Danger Cat, and follows a rich-living and pompous housecat through an evening in the city after he gets locked out of his owner's house. This commission helped me figure some things out, and some people may catch that the later images look a little better than the first section. Mid-process learning, huzzah!

The commissioner emailed me his story and progression, as well as a clip of him playing the piece. I sketched a series of thumbnails of story-scenes I wanted to do, as well as planned if any scenes could be copy-pasted digitally, reducing the total I had to draw on paper.
I then sketched larger storyboards in pencil, inked the lines with a fine-tip pen, and took pictures (as the scanner would've taken too long). From there, I used GIMP and my Genius tablet / stylus to finish the images. Below are the storyboards, and video of the accompanying song. At the very bottom is a link to a selection of ink-only original scenes.

Storyboards:

[END]

{Behind the Scenes}

Christmas Special: Doctor Who (gift box)

2011-12-25T03:09:00.000-08:00

I know that I may get a lot of random traffic because of this tag, but you won't be disappointed! For a little Christmas gift, I crafted a very small TARDIS, "pop-up" box. From the beginning I knew I wanted it to be handmade, and have a flap or something that made it look "bigger on the inside." I have never done paper engineering before, beyond a few Valentine's and birthday cards, so this was completely new for me.

Dissecting small gift-boxes, I had a general idea of what to design and cut. After a few test-runs with normal printer paper, I finalized a design and cut it in thicker, cardstock paper with an Exact-o.

Tools:
Printer paper
Cardstock paper
Ruler
Exacto
Ruler
Pencil and eraser
Pilot Pen, Precise V5
Tape
Inkscape (free vector program)

Here are some photos for the finished product, way down below are templates, since I'm in the festive, gift-giving mood.

Later versions I will try and figure out the way to have the fully-detailed top of the TARDIS.

Good peek inside to the console of the TARDIS--Matt Smith's version.

Pull on the tab, and the full console illustration pops out for all to see. Could also be space for a personal message or note.

Here are rough instructions, as well as a variety of ~~printable~~* templates (that I completed after I finished the "pop-up" TARDIS), to fit your wants, needs, abilities, and how far you want to push your printer--or inversely, how much of your own creativity you'd like to use.

*The PDFs may not be available when this posts.

[Rough instructions - My model was 1 in x 1 in x 1.75 in, and the templates are in no specific units, but the height is a full 2, instead of 1.75]

[Completely blank]

[Windows added]

[Color on revealed sections]

[Full color! This stops the use of console-view or written message. It becomes a box.]

Merry Christmas, DFTBA, and Allons-y!
-"Seattle Whispers"

Quilt Museum Project, Final Leg

2011-09-15T16:05:00.002-07:00

I have one single panel to do, and I'm going to be updating an album with pictures of the work in progress on the Facebook page, Alex Kramer Blogs ["Like" button]

Link to all related posts here.

So, head to this album if you're interested!

Gaches Mansion Commission

2011-09-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I was showing my finished panels to a group of people from the Quilt & Textile Museum. I am almost finished with the first phase of this big project I'm doing with them. As we were winding down the director of the Museum, Liz, asked to see some of my sketches. As she browsed, she found a few sketches I had done a year ago that she had seen me working on. She asked if I could recreate the sketches on nice stock-paper for her. I said yes, and got to work during the weekend.

Here are the original sketches from long ago...

Liz really liked the Halloween look, as well as the cross-hatching I used for shading. At first I used a watered down ink with a nib, but it wasn't handling how I liked. So, I just grabbed my trusty ol' Pilot pen, and that worked beautifully. After taking some pre-sketch runs, I roughed it out in pencil.

Then afterwards I went over everything with the Pilot pen. I didn't even erase the pencil, but you can barely see it anyway.

Halloween Gaches (8" x 11"), September [10] 2011

Liz really enjoyed the finished piece, and said she was going to proudly frame and display it

Quilt Museum Project, 9-8-11

2011-09-08T17:06:00.002-07:00

Almost finished!!
I have three panels to finish (two of which are very close), and then focus all my efforts on the Quilt Museum piece. I'm hoping the Museum staff will be happy tomorrow with what I have to present to them.

Link to all related posts here.

Quilt Museum Project, 9-6-11

2011-09-06T17:21:00.002-07:00

I sat myself down and did a good round of painting; ended up finishing two more panels, and almost a third. Taking a break to let panels dry and my wrist and shoulders recover. Trying to get as many panels finished before I meet with the museum on Friday.

Link to all related posts here.

My art table during this whole project--basically all summer.

For Alanna,

2011-09-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

A sneak-peak at some items that have been in The Doctor's pockets, and just within the first rebooted season, with Christopher Eccleston. I'm working on compiling all of them in a big page.

Quilt Museum Project, 9-3-11

2011-09-03T20:20:00.002-07:00

First post on this big Quilt Museum Project of September. I'm hoping to whittle down the "panels left" section in my project to almost nothing in the next few days.

Link to all related posts here.

Quilt Museum Project, 8-29-11

2011-08-29T23:42:00.002-07:00

It's been about a week since I updated, so here's some more. I spent a few hours this evening painting and painting, while listening to music, silence, and the audiobook of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood.

Link to all related posts here.

Quilt Museum Project, 8-21-11

2011-08-21T16:32:00.002-07:00

Here are some progression pics, while I have a bit of down time before I continue. These were taken a few days ago, before my brief presentation to the Museum, but I've been away from the computer since then.

Link to all related posts here.

Above is my checklist for the project's progress. I think today I'll have at least two more panels sketched out and inked in, and more paint on the Hotel Planter.

Quilt Museum Project, Night of Painting

2011-08-13T01:18:00.002-07:00

Link to all related posts here.

I got a good 3 hours of painting done on the project. And "reading" a book. I've been stuck halfway in Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves--about a painter, of course--and I decided to check out the local library's audiobook version to listen to while I paint. I was surprised how well I could follow the story and focus on my painting. I recommend you at least attempt it.

Anyways, here are shots from this evening's progress.

Quilt Museum Project, 8-12-11

2011-08-12T22:01:00.002-07:00

Alright, here's another update on my Quilt Museum Project (see related links at bottom of post), for those of you wanting to keep up.

Link to all related posts here.

I was going to post some of my explanations and almost-ranting on this project, but I've decided to save that for later. Here is a gallery of behind-the-scenes work happening so far.

Stitch in Time

2011-08-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peak at my yet-unannounced piece for an upcoming show I'm hoping to be in. More info will be available as I receive it. In the mean time, enjoy these snippits and start thinking what it may be.

Quilt Museum Project, Supplies

2011-07-31T22:00:00.003-07:00

In my last post about the Quilt Museum Project, I forgot to mention the supplies I have been using. I guess I'll just start this post about supplies, and I'll continue to update it as I progress each section.

Link to all related posts here.

Drafting / Roughing

Pencils (wood and mechanical)
Rulers (wood and metal)
Calculator
Watercolor paper
Right-angle triangle
White-nylon eraser-pen
Reference photos
Computer
Patience

Inking

Medium-sized dish
Container for water
Small dishes for mixing ink
Bottle of India ink
Brushes
Syringe for water
Calligraphy pen with nibs
Blotting tissue
Paper towels for messes
Steady hand
White-nylon eraser pen (after ink dries completely)
Patience

Painting

Brushes
Acrylic paints
Blotting tissues / paper towels
Syringe for water
Steady hand
Plastic palette
Dishes to mix water
Painter's knife
Forgiveness
Patience

Music (alphabetical):

Binarpilot - B-Sides
Binarpilot - Nordland
Chameleon Circuit - Chameleon Circuit
Chameleon Circuit - Still Got Legs
Charlie McDonnell - This Is Me
The Classic Crime - Vagabonds
Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves (audiobook)
Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood (audiobook)

Quilt Museum Project, The Basics

2011-07-20T03:00:00.002-07:00

Link to all related posts here.

I will explain my current project (as revealed here) as the process goes, as well as share some of the behind-the-scenes pictures.

For a big project, what you first need is a space to do your work and supplies. I just happened to have a large table, and a drawer-set full of art supplies.

[Yes, those are chalkboard walls]

From the beginning, I knew I needed to stock up on paper. For the last project, my supply budget was pricier, so I ended up using huge sheets of 300-lb. watercolor paper. This time, I figured I could scale it down on the costs and be more careful with the paints. I just had to figure out how many sheets to get--and this required measurements of the space in the museum, as well as those of the rendered buildings.

One problem with this was, even though I photographed progress on my last street-view project, I forgot to take / save meticulous notes on dimensions within the art. So, I had to do some sleuthing: I knew the painter's tape I used was 1" wide, so I measured, and did calculations from there.

[Resized the images on screen to match and calculated dimensions--this took a while]

Next, one needs reference pictures to work from. Since this current project is basically larger version of one I had done before, the reference photos and sketches still work.

[Rough sketches with pen and some notes]

Once I got the paper and figured out the "work space" on the sheets, then came the fun part of sketching guidelines, and then actually roughing out the buildings from references. This is what is taking a lot of time--some buildings are wider than one sheet, so drawing between two pieces I have to make sure everything will line up in the end result.

In reality, these two buildings are no where near each other. While saving paper, though, these two were the perfect size to fit on the same panel without encroaching on the margins to help with painting in the future.

Essentially, this is where I am in the project. Once I have all the pencil roughing done for all the panels, then I will ink each one, and finally paint. Keep an eye out for updates--I hope to really get creating in the next week or two.

New Project: Background Info

2011-07-19T13:38:00.002-07:00

Link to all related posts here.

I've been keeping this one in the shadows for literally the last year, but now that the project is actually rolling along--and I've gotten the go-ahead from the people I'm working with--I will shed some light on it. Also, to counter a deluge of links over words, there is a list of links at the bottom of the post.

So, last year (June 2010) at the Museum of Northwest Art's annual art auction, I did this piece*. It is a three-part painting of a section of downtown La Conner, from street-view. This was a big step for me, as I have never been really interested in architecture / buildings in general--that is until I stumbled upon BLDGBLOG. To my surprise, many people liked it, it sold, and I was approached by some people from the local Quilt & Textile Museum to work on a project with them.

What they wanted, was a very similar view of La Conner, but of the section of town that would showcase the Gaches Mansion, where the museum is housed. Part of this project was in part inspired by an old, Japanese scroll showing many houses and shops all lined up as you walked the road. This then inspired local quilters to do a similar thing, but with part of Anacortes--a neighboring city to La Conner--in a quilt, of course.

After a few meetings, we worked out that they wanted me to do larger paintings of buildings as I had done in my auction piece, and then those would be used as references for quilters to create a full, quilted version of my paintings. Right away, the Museum had told me that the show they wanted it for was in July 2012, which was when they would be hosting another exhibit of Japanese quilts, which fits, because all of this was initially inspired by an old Japanese scroll.

Very early on we made a rough timeline, where we would discuss the project fall 2010, I would complete my paintings by around summer 2011, which gave the quilters from fall 2011 to spring 2012 to create their quilt replicas of my work. Also, we agreed it was a good idea to have my paintings available for when the show opened in July 2012.

At the moment I am working on roughing out the buildings, inking, and painting several parts of the project, but I still wanted to let everyone in on the secret while I have a little bit of down time. In the next few weeks I'll update with some behind-the-scenes pics and explanations, so stay tuned, and enjoy the links below.
-----

Museum of Northwest Art's homepage.
* My original piece
La Conner's Chamber of Commerce page
BLDGBLOG's page -- lots of scrolling and exploring
Quilt & Textile Museum's homepage

Tattoos

2011-06-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I didn't do a First Try Friday last week because no one posted suggestions, and I kinda forgot in a rush to get home for the weekend.

I guess technically this can be a First Try Friday, but in a strange way. Just go ahead and look at the images for yourself.

Vector image of the typewriter tattoo (Inkscape)

Now, for the reveal. All of the above images were edited and manipulated.

After taking some photos of my arm (all slicked up with Egyptian Magic for effect), I think tinkered around with the vector image converted into GIMP. Mainly I used scaling, rotating, perspective, layers, duplicate, transparency, blur and IWarp to get the effect right.

Enjoy!