2 Hugging Monkeys

I'm grooving on this scratchboard of two monkeys hugging. Based this on some work I saw by America Martin. It has already been painted since I took this shot. Will post that later. Spent most of the day in the woodshop working on a piece of 'franken-furniture' for my display at the upcoming shows. Will post a photo of that soon too. Also using some scrap cedar that I got for free from my neighbor's fence project to build some little 'houses'. Not sure how they are going to look in the end, but I am so drawn to the house shape I can't help myself. And hey, if I make something I can sell at shows, even better.

More Monkey

Daily Monkey Mania continues. This is a 5"x7" Ampersand Art scratchboard. It's not done of course...adding color as I speak. I've been working on 5-6 scratchboards at a time to get ready for the East Studio Tour coming up in November. I love my life!

Monkey With Snake

Yet another 5"x7" Ampersand Art scratchboard. This one is 'Monkey with Snake'. Just about done with the color on it. Like the post before, I will take a photo and post finished product.
All gone here, finally cool and feeling like fall in Central Texas, at least for a few days...

2 Monkeys in Dresses

I was at Wally Workman Gallery last week getting photos taken of my recent work and I saw another artists work that inspired me. I grabbed a 5"x7" scratchboard and commenced to scratch this out. She of course did not have monkeys in her work...but I just can't help myself! Her name is America Martin. website is www.americamartin.com I love her work. It has a Picasso look to it. Very loose and sweet.
I will be adding color to this soon. Will post the finished piece.

2 Monkeys

Well this is a crappy photo of a current 5"x7" Daily Monkey. I forgot to shoot until late in the day and didn't have enough light. Oh well. You get the general idea. I'll be adding color and finish this later. I currently have about 6 scratchboards going at once. Got to produce for the shows. Last night I heard some creature wailing outside. Couldn't tell if it was a peacock or what but I think a coyote got dinner. Ah, sweet nature!

4 More Monkeys

Here are 4 more monkeys in the same style as the last post. Lino cuts printed on vintage paper and then embelished with prismacolor markers. I need to do more of these for the upcoming shows. I like the way this looks, so I may frame them 4 up.

4 Monkeys

I'm back in the 'Monkey Business'! I just needed to take a few days off from the Daily Monkey. These are some lino cut prints on vintage paper then hand colored with prismacolor markers.

More Dallas Scratchboard Demo

Just a few more images from my Rockwall School demo. I love sharing scratchboard with folks!

Dallas Scratchboard Demo

Here are a few of the Rockwall Tx High School students I met with in Dallas Tuesday morning. Our gallery space fell through so the teacher, Justin Clumpner and I decided to hold the Ampersand Art Supply scratchboard demo in a sweet little park area. All of the students were great, they jumped in and started scratching! I really enjoyed working with them and hope to return to work with some of the other art teachers and students in this school system. Another post will follow with additional photos.

New Scratchboards

Just a few of the new scratchboards I've been working on. Most are 5"x7" Genial Dog is 8"x10".

Off to Dallas to do an Ampersand Art sponsored demo for Rockwall High School Students.

Monkeys Not Over

Well, after hitting the wall with the Daily Monkey project yesterday I decided to try and carry on, at least for a bit longer. So I took an old scrapbook album cover and a bunch of misc. vintage paper I have and threw this collage together. It may not be done yet, but it was wet so here it is for now. I'm off to Dallas tomorrow to spend the night and prep for a Tuesday morning scratchboard demo with 25 High School students. I'm excited, should be great! Stopping by the Dahlia Woods Gallery to pick up a check and artwork from the show that just closed. Sold a monkey there and two monkey scratchboards at Wally Workman Gallery. So, I will continue to make monkeys...go figure. Who am I to argue???

Too Many Monkeys!

Ok, I have to admit it, I am freaking boring myself with the Daily Monkey project. I'm just a little over 6 months into it, and frankly for this Aries personality it's becoming torture...I'm so ready to move on to something else. So, maybe this is over. Maybe I've explored the depths of this and there is no more. I've learned a lot, and made many, many different versions of the monkey. I think I've got enough for a book. But, then again, more torture in my thinking. Does this mean I'm a 'quitter', unable to keep my focus on a project for a year? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what is this artist to do? Maybe it's just how I'm feeling today...that's it, post this monkey and see how I feel tomorrow. Will do. This is a huge scratchboard that I did last year while in the midst of a relationship unraveling. It's 2'x3' (that's 2 feet by 3 feet folks!)Ampersand Art scratchboard. www.ampersandart.com It didn't take as long as you might think...mostly because I was emotionally a mess and this kept me sane! The title is "Too Many Monkeys To Count". It was sold at the Wally Workman Gallery. www.wallyworkmangallery.com Word was that it was the only thing in the gallery the buyers were interested in. Not bad to be chosen out of a crowd of 49 artists work eh?

Ampersand Art Scratchboard Demos Boston/Cambridge

Thought I'd share a few photos from the most recent Ampersand Art Scratchboard demos. I was in Boston last week so I did one at the Cambridge Utrecht and then the Boston Utrecht. The back story about all this is that about 6-7 years ago I was in Cambridge visiting friends and we stopped at the Utrecht just to shop around. I picked up a couple of free samples of Black Clayboard (as it was known at the time) took it back to my friends house and scratched out a couple of snake designs with a pocket knife. And I fell totally in love with it. Those sweet little boards are now in the collection of Wally Workman's son Paul who is one of my biggest collectors. And now I am traveling around doing demonstrations for the company that makes it. Success in such a great way. And really, this propelled me on to revisiting art as a career choice, as a major life changing choice in fact.

Monkey With An Idea

Today I spent much of the day traveling so I'm a bit burnt around the edges...Here is a daily monkey scratchboard. The usual medium,
Ampersand Art scratchboard www.ampersandart.com. I've got tons of work in progress....will post tomorrow.
I spent most of the flight from Boston to Houston listening or trying not to listen to the man and woman next to me talk about work endlessly. I wanted to put a bullet through my head. Or maybe theirs??!! Seemed like it was a lot of talk about nothing. Lots of business speak. Ugh.

Monkey Suit

Almost went to bed without putting up a daily monkey....dang I'm slipping. Well, actually I was in Boston today doing an Ampersand Art Scratchboard demo at Utrecht, so it's not like I'm sitting around eating bon bons. I really like altering and collaging and painting these monkeys. And while waiting for folks at the demos I knocked out several new scratchboards which makes me happy. Tomorrow I fly home. Will try and post new boards tomorrow night. All good in Bean town. Cool, rainy, just like Fall should be!

4 Monkeys

Missed the daily monkey yesterday....caught myself a nice cold here in Boston. Taking meds and lots of rest to try and get over it. Went to the Topsfield Fair today with friends. Lots of people and fun. Ampersand Art scratchboard demo tomorrow at the Boston Store from 12-3pm!!

Blue Blue Monkey

Collage assemblage for my daily monkey today. Went to Utrecht Cambridge to do a free Ampersand Scratchboard demo www.ampersndart.com Had a great time with all who showed up! I love me some scratchboard!! Will post photos of that and more tomorrow.

4 Monkeys and a Girl

Yet another of my altered vintage magazine collage daily monkeys. This one was from an ad for hair products and basically said that if these guys had better hair they'd get the girl. Whoa...is THAT what it's all about?? Who would'a thunk?

I'm in Boston fixin' ta' have a little r&r before giving an Ampersand Art www.ampersandart.com scratchboard demo in Cambridge tomorrow at the Utrecht store. Having a great time in the cooler weather with great friends.

2 Monkeys On A Hike

Daily Monkey time! Visiting friends in Boston and today was "2 Monkeys On A Hike". We walked around downtown Boston for hours. Oysters and Mussels at the Old Union Oyster House. Great day. Even saw Ben Afleck filming a movie in the North End!
Saturday is a scratchboard demo for Ampersand Art at the Cambridge Utrecht art store from 12-3.

Monkey Business

I spent most of the morning laying out and pasting a series of 'Daily Monkeys' so I could just post them easily while away for a week. Nothing like hours of choosing images and listening to music to get me to thinking...While doing this project now for about 6 months I've been wondering if I will be able to do a year of this. And if it even means anything at all...to me or anyone else. Today I realized that some of the meaning for me has been that I do this for pure joy! It helps me to not take myself and my art too seriously, which is a good thing I think. It brought to mind the artist Ray Johnson (google him folks!)and his various collage pieces, and most importantly his 'bunny' drawings. He did them over and over again. Until they became an extension of him, a symbol of sorts. They were not realistic or 'pretty' drawings by any stretch. But they had enough of a resemblance to identify. And Ray identified them as bunny so the eye and mind made it so.
I'm drawn to the monkeys, as I was the first time I saw the wooden monkey carving on the mantel at my friend's house. That was about 6 years ago. The images I do today don't even resemble that monkey, or even any real monkeys. But they do say 'monkey' to me. I wonder how all of this will evolve eventually?

Monkey in a Top Hat

Daily Monkey today is "Monkey in a Monkey Suit" Older Ampersand Art scratchboard. 16"x20". About to take off for Boston for a week of hanging with friends, scratchboard demos at two Utrecht stores and going to the Topsfield Fair! Yahoo, cool weather, color in the trees and junk food on a stick...what more could you ask for? With all this excitement I'll try to keep up with the daily monkey and so forth.

Scratchboard Demo Jerry's Artarama

Some of the great folks who came by Jerry's Artarama yesterday for the free Ampersand Art Scratchboard demo. I had a wonderful time and saw some sweet art made with my favorite product!

Blue Chimp

I scratched this 'Blue Chimp' out yesterday after getting home from my Ampersand Art Scratchboard demo at Jerry's Artarama here in Austin. This is a 5"x5" clayboard black scratchboard. Haven't used this size before...and I had some influence from the folks in the class regarding laying color on and taking it back off. The blue is Liquitex acrylic ink that I brushed on and then used a paper towel to remove. Fun stuff. I'll post images from the demo here in a bit.

Scratchpaper Monkey

Daily Monkey on scratchpaper rather than my preferred ampersand art scratchboard. www.ampersandart.com Bizarre little monkey. Just got word today that I got into Blue Genie Art Bazaar that starts Dec. 2-24th. www.bluegenieart.com Can't wait, I always have a great time with those folks. I'm doing a free scratchboard demonstration at Jerry's Artarama tomorrow from noon to 3pm. North I-35 here in Austin. More fun than the ACL concert!

Monkey King

Not one of my favorite scratches. I did this ages ago when I was still experimenting with scratchboard. This is scratchpaper which is inferior to Ampersand Art scratchboard. And I'm not just saying that because I now do demonstrations for them with their product. This stuff tears and doesn't really have the depth that scratchboard has. But, none the less, this is my daily monkey. Missed yesterday due to raging headache, fever and nausea. Flu I think. Still woozy today.