Monkey King Collage

Yet another in the daily monkey series. This is a 4"x5" wood panel painted with black gesso. I made collage with vintage paper and added some acrylic paint here and there. I'm almost two and a half months into this...many more monkeys to make. Going to Boston to relax and hang with my best friends. Will be updating my website and maybe even doing a few tweaks to this blog.

Late Day Monkey

Between the extreme heat and taking care of some business, I am putting up a late monkey today. This is acrylic paint on 4"x5" wood panel. Not too much more to say. My brain is fried from all the 100 degree plus days we've had here in Central Texas. Thank the gods I'm going to Boston for a week in a few days where it has been cool and rainy.

Monkey On Paper

This monkey drawing was inspired by a page from a vintage 1900 era Nature magazine from my collection of ephemera. Very odd magazine that had really poor quality prints of stuffed animals from Science Museums and other collections. So this drawing kind of has that quality as well. It's prismacolor ink pen on sketch pad. A pretty poor quality photo on my part too. Fitting though I think.

Scratchboard demonstration went really well at Jerry's Artarama. Had a lot of folks who came out and went away with at least one or two sample boards scratched and finished. At the end there was this great little 5 year old girl who did an amazing cat drawing. I wish I would have taken a photo of it, dang it. She was a lot of fun to watch. Her parents and her little brother (who worked on his own cat drawing) were very sweet too. I just love bringing folks into the world of Scratchboard!

Monkey King

This is my new favorite monkey of the Daily Monkey series. Paint isn't even dry yet. It's on a 4"x5" board. Black Gesso, vintage paper collage, acrylic paint and black ink. I did prep on several of these last night...so I may be putting up many different versions of this in the next few days. I'm also doing my prep for the free scratchboard demonstration at Jerry's Artarama here in Austin TX. It's from 12-3pm today. Lot's of fun, samples to scratch on. My third demo. Love it...love scratchboard from Ampersand Art. http://www.ampersandart.com/

Bubbles

Thought I'd post a Bubbles the Chimp drawing today for MJ. Still reeling from yesterday. 'Off the Wall' and 'Thriller' were two all time favorite albums of mine (when they were still making record albums, remember those??) Those were my disco days in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Just down the road a bit from MJ hometown of Gary. I was pursuing a music career of my own at the time and dancing around to either recording was a great way to get 'amped up' and in shape for my own performances. So I found a photo on the web and drew this from that. It's in my 8"x10" sketchbook, Prismacolor black ink (08) over a rough pencil sketch.

Tomorrow (Saturday 27th) I'm doing a free scratchboard demonstration at Jerry's Artarama store here in Austin, TX from 12-3. Come on out!

Red Monkey

Cranked this out quickly. Black gesso on 4"x5"wood panel with red acrylic paint. Me scratching through with scratchboard tool before paint dried. Scraffito, folks...that's what they call it. I'm pushing these out while preparing for my trip to Boston next week. Six days with friends in cooler weather...yippie! No work, just fun...well maybe a little work as we are going to update my website and also I'll figure out a way to continue drawing and posting the daily monkey. But, honestly, this isn't work at all.

Monkeys Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

This is another in my series of vintage magazine ad conversions. It's a 5"x5" Creative Mark Edge Gallery canvas, black gesso with white gel pen and markers. I love the idea of Monkeys dancing over spilled milk, rather than crying! I pretty much have that attitude too. No used in focusing on what spilled, or who spilled it, or why, just clean it up and move on damn it! Let's dance and be happy.

St. Monkey

Well today's monkey is a bit of a surprise....I don't always know (or care to know) where these are going when I start them. I started off with the usual, black gesso base on a panel or canvas (this is a canvas of no particular note) and vintage paper. The canvas is 12"x16", the paper is old bible (don't get upset with me...it was falling apart and rather than throw it out I decided to give it new life!) and hand writing from someone's school project. Plus, my favorite gold and red acrylic paint. I don't know if it was the influence of the bible or what but rather than a crown or fez or nothing up above the head the halo just seemed right. So there you have it. A singing angel? Or monkey in the choir? How would I know? I just make these things, you can't expect me to know who they are and what they mean...wonder what tomorrow's monkey will be?

Monkey Meditation

Some folks have a daily meditation, or some other way of connecting to their inner self and possibly the universe. Me? I've currently got my 'Daily Monkey' series. It keeps me tethered to a routine, which is not bad for me. I need the routine, a daily habit, just like brushing my teeth, or morning coffee to keep me anchored and 'on a mission'. Otherwise I sometimes find myself in a daydream, floating without purpose, just drifting along. Don't get me wrong, the daily monkey is not something I do unconsciously or without much thought, like brushing my teeth. I think about it a lot, some days more than others, and of course it shows in the work. At times I just dash off a piece to get it out of the way and fulfill the commitment. Other times it is an intense joy and one of those pieces that transforms me. And then there are mid moments, like this one...I like this piece and yet I know it's not over the top great. It's also not a quick slap dash get it done piece. It is a 5"x5" Creative Mark Edge canvas from Jerry's. Vintage paper and paint. I like the implication of the two women whispering about the monkey who won the cup. Don't you know they think it is 'rigged' because the judge is also a monkey?

Monkey Man

So here is another of the small (3.5"x5") quick monkey drawings. Sketch pad and 'marks a lot' black marker. Simple and quick...that's where I'm at right now. I hope to get back into the studio later on today to do some different monkeys and other artwork. Nothing like feeling sick while it's a hundred degrees out. All I want to do is stay inside by the AC and be a slug.

Fast Monkey

Did a bunch of these quickly last night. Plain old small (3.5"x5") sketchpad with marks a lot marker. Not much to say today. Yesterday I was sick, and I'm wiped out from that today, but daily monkey project must go on...

Basic Monkey

This here is your basic scratchboard monkey. No frills, no color...nothing fancy. My old school design from way back when I started this monkey mania. It's on a 3"x5" scratchboard. Sprayed with Krylon Workable Fixative. That's it, all I got for today. I'm feeling kinda homespun and folksy....

Which brings us to....the adventure of way too much phone for Linda. I had been thinking I wanted a G1 from tmobile. Watched my neighbor tool around on the web with his for months. Yesterday I went to the store and signed up and brought it home. Now here's the thing...I hate it already. It's bigger than my other phone and kinda clunky and I have to read and memorize the freaking book to figure out how to use it. So I'm taking it back today and getting a new version of my other phone. I am indeed a dinosaur...proudly so!

Big Head Monkey

Another in the series of monkey collage from old journal pages (I hope no one ever xrays these and reads the ridiculous stuff I wrote a few years ago...) This one is 12"x16". I used 'Yes' glue which I really hate...takes too freaking long to dry and is sticky. Still waiting for Nori paste to come in at Jerry's Artarama here in Austin.

This glue thing and selling my house in town are both pretty much the extent of my current life problems. Not too bad, I am grateful for this simplicity.

Oh Monkey of Mine

I am on a 'kick' now of doing these larger scale monkey collages. This one is on a 12"x16" canvas panel painted with black gesso. I used various scraps of vintage paper and also pieces of old journals to make the basic shape and background. Then I went at it with cheap acrylic paint. This one is a favorite of mine so far. I've also taken the image and printed it and made magnets...looks great!
Getting ready for my free scratchboard demonstration at Jerry's Artarama here in Austin. Saturday, June 27th from noon to 3pm.

Monkey Heart Day

This is a 5"x5" collage monkey on Creative Mark Edge Canvas. The ususal, painted with black gesso, vintage 1940's paper and red ink. Not much else to say, a monkey is a monkey is a monkey....

Wonderful cool morning here. Soon it will be blistering hot. I'm off to the gym for the first time in a week after rib injury...I hope I don't make it hurt more. I just can't sit around waiting for it to get better!

Monday Monkey

Missed putting up a daily monkey yesterday. Spent much of the day in the truck driving to and from Bryan TX (Home of the Aggies at TX A&M) so I didn't have an opportunity to 'get my monkey on'!

Today's monkey is a mixed media collage on canvas panel. I'm calling it 'Monkey in a Tee Shirt With a Story'. I started out with the basic design from torn pages from old journals. (I decided to destroy them because who wants to read that crap....) They are pretty much painted over with acrylic so the 'secrets' are safe. The lines in the background are a story from a 1940's magazine. It's 10"x14". I had a lot of fun making this one. The eyes are recycled photos from a friend who is a casting agent. She had tons of 'head shots' and I got them before they went into the dumpster...I promised her I would only use pieces of them to protect the ever hopeful actors who sent them to her!!

Quick Monkey

I'm getting ready to go to a small town auction with some friends this morning so I whipped this up pretty quickly. Don't want to miss 'my daily monkey'. Now that I've been doing this for a while I feel like it is helping me to make more art everyday. And I'm having big fun making it. This is a page from a black sketchbook (8 1/2x11) with silver sharpie pen. When I am sketching out an idea for scratchboard I sometimes will do it this way first. Which brings up that subject...for the most part my scratchboards start out as a very rough idea from a photograph or just my head. I'll have the basic sketch, put it on the board lightly with pencil or charcoal pencil and then start scratching. I never really know what the end result will look like until I get there. I like it that way, makes it a big adventure for me. And I feel like I have to follow the lines where they want to go.

Here I go...."hey bidder, bidder, bidder" Oh, wait, is that baseball, or auction talk???

3 Monkeys

Well, thanks to Suzanne Lewis www.suzannelewisart.com for the idea of doing this subject matter. Had a great time scratchin' it out. I finished this piece the other day..will see if either gallery I'm in wants to hang it...and most importantly...sell it. http://www.wallyworkmangallery.com/ http://www.dahliawoodsgallery.com/ It's an 18"x24" Ampersand Art scratchboard http://www.ampersandart.com/ The paint is acrylic. I'll build a 3/4" framework on the back and maybe even build a 'floating' style frame for it. On to the next monkey...

I continue to recover from the cracked rib. Yesterday was bizarre, I kind of 'lost' the day (due to pain killin' drugs) so today I'm trying to just be without them. I've got one of those heat patch things on. Which, believe me, is difficult when it's already a jillion degrees out here in central Texas. I am burning up! Summer in Austin, hell on earth,in a place that is heavenly.

Spike Gillespie and Satch

Just got word that Spike Gillespie (a local writer here in Austin) received her scratchboard portrait of her beloved, recently passed dog Satch and loved it. I am so happy. It was an interesting project as that particular piece was a challenge. It kept changing on me. What I mean is, I did the initial scratch and then painted it one color, which I just knew wasn't right. Then when I sprayed it with fixative it fell, face down on the floor (think peanut butter toast falling...always lands on the peanut butter side doesn't it?) The scraps of vintage bible text were totally inspired after I had to deal with the aftermath of it falling wet on my dusty, dirty studio floor. I am pleased with the way it turned out. I love it when the piece has a mind of it's own. If you want to see it, she mentions and pictures it here in her blog. http://spikegillespie.blogspot.com/ It's a great blog, she is a wonderful writer and it sounds as though Satch was quite the dog! RIP Satch. I look forward to following her blog and maybe someday meeting up with her. Here are two other versions I did while working on the one she received last night. The photos are not the best...will take better photos later. The scratchboard is of course, from Ampersand Art http://www.ampersandart.com/ The paint acrylic and the bible text from a vintage 1800's family bible. (It was falling apart, so what else do you do with it but use it in collage??)

Monkey Inspiration

This is the monkey who started all of this 'monkey business' for me. I didn't make this, I just took the photo. Some friends of mine had this little wooden sculpture sitting on their mantle and I was over there doing a house/dog sit about 4-5 years ago. This really 'spoke' to me (not in the 'Hi, how are you Linda' sense, ok? I'm not too nutty!) and I couldn't get it out of my head so I took numerous photos and started scratching out monkeys. Of course, none of them even look like this little fellow anymore...but there you have it, the original inspiration for my monkey madness! I can't even say anymore how many monkeys I have made. I just keep coming back to them and they keep coming out of me.

Monkey Meeting

Here is my daily monkey....a 'meeting of monkeys' as it were. Found this in one of my vintage 1940's magazines. Could not help but add the monkey heads to this bunch of 'suits'. You can read into what you want. It amuses me, I hope it does the same for any of you folks looking.

I used sharpies and my favorite white gel pen, plus other scraps of vintage paper glued on to a foam core backing.

All is good here. Spent a good part of yesterday at the doctor's office to confirm what I already knew...I fractured a rib while riding a rollar coaster on Sunday. Hurts like hell, and the pain meds made me dull. Oh well, it was an incredible ride!

Homemaker Monkey

Here is a happy little 'Homemaker' monkey! Mixed media collage on Creative Mark Edge Gallery canvas, 5"x5". Funny, funny, image. Came from a vintage 1940's magazine, combined with pen and ink and other vintage paper. This daily monkey project is making me churn out art every day. Love this life. A little sad today though, not only did Koko Taylor 'Queen of the Blues' die recently but I just read that Kenny Rankin has died too. In my former life as a musician I listened to him and tried to play guitar and sing like he did. I was less than half as good as he. His version of 'Blackbird' still tumbles around in my head.

Makin' Monkeys

Missed two days of monkey makin', so I'm now back and raring to go again. This is another Creative Mark Edge Gallery canvas, 5"x5" with black gesso (Bob Ross brand, can you believe it!) with vintage paper collage and some pen and ink.

Had a wonderful weekend in Houston! Went to museums, and an outdoor accordian concert. The best.. and worst part was a rollar coaster ride in Kema outside of Galveston. It was an old school wooden coaster (I was checking bolts and wood frame on the way in...just to make sure) The first fast, and I mean really, really fast turn, I got bashed up against the side of the car and think I bruised or busted a rib. The remainder of the ride I held on tightly to keep from being bashed again! I'm guessing I'm not a kid any more...what a revolting development! On the other hand, it was so much fun, I would do it all again!

Double Monkey Day!

I decided to do a double monkey today...I won't be doing one tomorrow, and Sunday will be a late afternoon monkey of the day. So here they are, the happy couple. Got this image out of one of my 1940's vintage magazines. Added some vintage paper from someone's art history class and a little black ink scribbles and there you go! This is 5"x7" on half inch birch ply, painted with a black gesso. I'm going to Houston today for adventures...will go to museums and other exciting places...more on that later. Good Monkey Day to all.

Monkey In A Suit

So I am just sliding right into this routine now...I think about monkeys and make monkeys endlessly. Today's monkey is vintage paper on a 5"X5" Creative Mark Edge Gallery canvas painted with black gesso (I bought 9 of these in a package...just love them). This one is similar to an earlier post, and yet...not the same. I'm going away for the weekend and am trying to figure out if I should post three monkeys on Friday since I won't be at a computer on Sat & Sun. What's a monkey making girl to do?

Monkey Girl

Sweet Monkey Girl for today's Daily Monkey! Fun, fun, fun...Did I go to far? Or not far enough?? Is it art?? Do I care...nope! This is on a 5"x5" Creative Mark Edge Gallery canvas from Jerry's Artarama. Black gesso base with vintage papers glued on with my favorite Nori paste.

Monkey In The Frying Pan

Ok, now some may say I've taken this Daily Monkey thing a little too far. Maybe so, but after putting this one together and getting the image ready to post, I laughed so long and hard that tears shot out of my eyes. I'm still laughing as I type. Having so much fun and getting joy out of such a silly thing certainly can't be bad. Rest assured, I am making other kinds of art while doing this. And it is pushing me into new territory. What a funny life here in LindaLand. This morning I encouraged a skunk to chose a different place to hang out, while a roving band of emus and peacocks looked on. No one got sprayed and I didn't have to avoid going into the studio. A good day indeed!

I Love This Monkey!

I just threw this 'daily monkey' together in a rush. I almost forgot about doing and putting a monkey up today. I'm trying to get back into my life after 6 days of house/dog sitting...takes a while for me to re-enter LindaLand. This is a 5"X5" edge gallery canvas from Jerry's Artarama, painted with black gesso. I used a bunch of vintage paper in the collage assemblage of it...no paints or scratching, just Nori glue (which is my current favorite) and paper scraps. I'm a lovin' this monkey head...will have to rush a few more together this week.

The neighboring buffalo are in the pasture, the peacocks are singing and all is good and right in my world. Hope all y'all are good too.