Hat Tossings

Well, it looks like my entries for this year's Spectrum arrived on time via Fed Ex. Surprisingly, I didn't do much painting in 2009. Instead, I worked on fewer pieces over an extended period of time.

I've also started a thread over at CGSociety for their B-Movie challenge. There, I'm developing a movie poster about a monster made of movie posters, tentatively named "Pulpo". These challenges are always a good way for me to reflect on my own process, particularly the things I do first, and the things I tend to avoid until I absolutely have to do them. Right now, the need to build a paper model of the creature is knawing at me. I also expect to need to paint an urban street scene, possibly with people running around. Crowds and buildings seem to be a challenge for me at the moment.

I'm also enjoying my weekly "drawing circus" class meetings with Edward Stanton at the Richmond Art Center. I spent the last class cutting silhouettes from pages torn form an old issue of Art Forum magazine while the model, Lala, posed and danced. The forms I ended up with were for the most part figurative, some grotesque and distorted. Many would make great creature designs. "Drawing" with a sharp pair of scissors is a lot of fun and seems to come naturally.