Geekin out

So one thing I'm good at is not making blog posts. It's not that I'm not doing anything anymore, it's just that I'm working and when I'm not working I'm fighting lethargy. When I'm not fighting lethargy, however I am doing stuff. Lately I haven't really been working on stuff directly art related. In one of my previous posts I posted up a Power Ranger's morpher which I got off of Ebay. I have to say finding that wasn't easy and finding one under $100 isn't easy either but I managed to do both. I can't really speak on the purpose of the power morpher just yet, but there was a reason behind getting one besides it looking cool.



When I first got it, it had the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers toy stickers on them. I did research on the morpher before getting it and let me tell you there are tons of videos on youtube that will tell you those stickers are wrong. They will also guide you to a site where u pay something like $8 and you can get "Show accurate" stickers sent to you. There are two reason I didn't do this: The first of which being that getting the morpher itself wasn't cheap and I wasn't trying to fork over that money, secondly and most importantly I'M A FRIGGEN ARTIST!!!!



One thing about me is that I am a habitual label peeler. Sometimes I don't even peep what I'm doing when I peel off labels, I just do it. I watched quite a few videos recommending using Goo Gone on the morpher to get the stickers off. I found it relatively easy to peel the stickers off with minimal residue and got a wet rag and loosened whatever I couldn't get from my tactical sticker peeling. Then I got to work. Before starting this project i remember purchasing gold paint (from people who didn't notice as a kid like I didn't Tommy's morpher was gold while every one else had silver ones) but after searching, I came up fruitless. I went to an art supply store and got some gold paint. Geez I think I could write a blog about how long I stood there trying to get the right shade of gold. But after an unexplectedly long trip to the store, I got home and went to work. After 3 layers of gold paint, 2 of red and black. I got some decent results.



Ultimately I'm happy with it and don't really care what those fanboys who go for show accuracy and display would think. I'm a PR fan, don't get me wrong but I'm not completely enthralled with my life emulating PR or collecting everything PR. Anywho, that's one of the projects I worked on recently. Currently I'm doing some stuff with hard drives, I'm probably gonna write about that at some point. Until next time guys may the power protect you.

One of those new ones

I made one fatal flaw in writing my last blog. I stated in the blog that my next blog would have a particular topic. Sadly this is not the case and in many circles I will be considered a liar. To all that were interested in the pic at the end of my last blog, all I will say now is that you will see it in the future. The reason I did push the side project post back was simply because between then and now I had a better idea. In mid to late December I started talks with a former classmate of mine who wants to get a painting made. Since then we've ironed out a good deal of the details and it's unofficially in the works. When it's official I may say something, but I may not until the piece is completed and paid for in full. The reason I am bringing up this project is because in essence this is the root of my idea or at least where it began.
      This week started off with a photoshoot that I wasn't really involved in, I was just hanging out with the children of the photographer and the subject. By hanging out I mean watching Nickelodeon with them while the shoot was going on and once in awhile saying "hey don't do that." It was an entertaining and somewhat drawn out afternoon but it got me out the house so I wasn't complaining. My whole purpose of being there was coordinating with the photographer and getting a shot or two for this portrait I'm working on because I'm smart and I thought it'd be easier to do that instead of scheduling another shoot so I could take my own pics. Plus I'm not a photographer so I leave it to the pros (that is unless you pay me enough.) So ideally the plan at the beginning of the day was to go there, get some useful shots and then hit up the art supply store to pick up some colors i recently used to depletion. Sad thing about ideals though is that sometimes the reality never pans out to work with them. That day was no exception. Ultimately I ended up getting to the store at 8:02 and the store closed at 8 and I walked away with the semi defeated look.

       As I was headed home listening to music I thought about change for some reason. Not in the Obamanian sense, but in a more mental sense. In particular I was thinking about changing something that you don't like about yourself , the struggle to change and the victory of success. It occurs to me that in the future I want to create a few paintings that represent that process. Recently I've been really into mirrors and masks and have been contemplating pieces relating to reflections and the act of looking into the mirror. I posted a new digital piece on my facebook page and I was pleased with the results I got so far but am only scratching the surface. More's going to come from the eventual research that will result from beginning this stage of interest. More to come next time and expect to see the Power Ranger's morpher in the forseeable future.

If only I could think of a logical name for this one

      January has come and gone and we are now in the month of February and we all know what that means? Black history month... Don't be shy, you can applause and don't worry I'm not gonna bog you down with black history facts. Hopefully that stopped people from running away so now I can move on to my blog... Before I move on I will address my thoughts on this month because I know some people will question why I am not a fan of he month. I think it's rediculous to give any period of time to an individual group of people. Black history month inexplicitly states that we should only consider black history this month and be reminded of the same select number of figures and what they did in that month. The worst people during this month are black people. You see more hypocrites than a little bit during this month. You encounter people with information about black history every day out of this brief month and then for the rest of the year it goes unheard and unacknowledged. Why even have this month? It's almost a slap in the face because it's the most intolerant form of tolerance. Why give any group of people a month when we should strive for equality and start taking color out of the equation. I'm black, when I wake up in the morning I'm black, when I go to sleep a night still black and while I'm sleeping too. There's no point in time where I can become hispanic, asian, indian or caucasian. Should I be proud of being black? Not really, I didn't have much of a choice did I? Nobody does that we know of, it's not like when we're born there's a character select screen.

Well I think I went on enough with my little spiel on that, here's an update on everything that's going on. In terms of videos, I have recently purchased a couple of backdrops and will soon be purchasing lights, a stand for the backdrop and cameras. It's a slow process but I feel like the outcome of these investments will be well worth it. In terms of my artwork, I took a bit of a break from oils and have just been focusing more on work lately. I recently did a digital piece which can be seen on my facebook page and I am planning out a couple of pieces. I'm really hoping things pan out in terms of getting this new equipment for film as well as the continued creation of my art. I appreciate everyone who has supported me even if they don't necessarily like all my work and I'ma keep at it and of course there's going to be more to come.





In my next blog I discuss side project

Limitations

       I think one of the things that I have always had a run in with are limitations. Sometimes I have an idea and I want it done a certain way and done by a certain period of time and I always run into a standstill. One example of this can be seen in my videos especially on my YouTube. One of the main problems I come across for some projects is that sometimes I find myself trying to do projects that are either out of my budget or require more people than I can get to agree to do a production with me. I've noticed that when I started making videos I really didn't let this get to me and as I created more and my standards began to rise I started letting it get to me more. It went from just making silly videos by myself because I couldn't get people to not making videos at all. That's an issue in and of itself. My problem wasn't just limited to videos, it started popping up in other projects I worked on whether it was a painting, some kind of digital work or any creative project. I found myself making more excuses than progress. When that happens there is a high level of stagnation and the audience you may have drawn when you were constantly making videos begin to lose interest once it becomes a once in awhile thing.


Painting I started in March or April that was left incomplete for almost half a year

           I've been thinking about this for awhile and this problem even comes through on this blog. I started this in the summer while I was traveling with the intention of having a way for me to post my progress on certain creative projects. Since then I have found that keeping something like this up to date was harder than I expected. Since I was not in my place of residence or even in my state of residence, I didn't always have access to the internet or a power supply. Not that far into my travels the battery for my laptop went bad so it put me into a situation where I had to have my laptop plugged in at all times in order to use it. Even now, half a year later I am still using the same laptop while I save up for a new one. After my summer adventures through this interesting country (I use the word interesting loosely) I found myself back in my city without a job much like a good number of people throughout this country. With a bit of money I saved up from the last destination from my summer travels I spent close to 3 months applying to as many jobs as I could, sending out my resume and looking on various websites for job postings. In essence my job search became a job in and of itself. With the time I was spending looking for a job, I found myself using the rest of my time working on making a better portfolio for graduate school. Through this process I was more stressed than ever because I was worried about my constantly diminishing savings from my adventures, my living situation, whether I would be able to complete my grad apps on time and finding a job. My decision to major in art in undergrad began to be used against me as time went on and I received no call backs from these places I applied to. "It's because you majored in art and employers can't quantify useful skills from that major." Someone close to me constantly hounded as the days went on and my prospects for employment were not increasing. I'm not going to lie, it almost started getting to me and the fact that I wasn't receiving as much as a call back was really getting to me, but I didn't stop because I knew in my mind I couldn't stop.


Final Product as of December 2011

           The last thing on my mind through this whole ordeal was keeping my blog updated. There was something in the back of my mind, however, that kept telling me to write a blog. I wanted to keep my blog related to projects I was working on. This also proved to be a difficult thing due to the fact that I only work on so many paintings or projects at a time and I can only write so much about them. I think it was in November that I made a blog posting about the series I was working on and I described each of the paintings that were either complete or in progress. I thought about writing something about individual pieces but I realized the redundancy that would come from such a posting. I let the monster of non-creation win in terms of my writing. What I didn't realize is that even though I wasn't making art, I was still making short videos on YouTube at the time that were completely unrelated to my art, but I could still have totally blogged about it. I mean it's my blog and even though it's called Dane Artwork, I can still make posts about whatever I want. I mean it's never going to be anything inappropriate for a blog but I have my own creative freedom and over the years I have slowly been limiting it.

         December was a month where I had many different ideas for blogs, but for one reason or another I stopped writing them and as a replacement I posted nothing. Life happens often and there were some crazy things that I wanted to discuss and I may discuss them in the future depending on if my feelings about those particular writings I started change and I work on completing the entries. I think one of the things about being a blogger is that there sometimes is an unspoken intensity and a level of insecurity when creating posts. Sometimes you are comfortable with putting yourself out there. Sometimes through certain discoveries you make that you feel are worth writing about, you begin to realize through writing about a certain topic you are putting yourself in a light that you may not be comfortable putting yourself in.

         Fast forward to now, I'm still in the process of getting my video productions back together. I have to buy new filming equipment, new software and a new computer. I finished all that I needed to complete in terms of graduate applications and I have a number of projects on the horizon. Will I blog about all of them? Possibly not. Can I blog about them? SMURF YEA!!!! I'm still making videos and while it's not the type of stuff I would rather be making at the moment, something is better than nothing. I have learned my lesson and will not let small things evolve into bigger things that inhibit my creativity. The only thing that was really stopping me was me and as I work towards gaining the momentum I lost, I am going to work harder to make sure I don't get in my way again.

Some things for you to check out:

My Facebook: www.facebook.com/daneartwork

Youtube vids:

Happy New Year!!!!

First and foremost it's 2012!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!
        Now down to business, last month I managed to do just as bad as I have been doing with updating this blog as I have every been. For that I apologize and I am trying to work on making it something I post in frequently to keep those updated and hopefully gain readers as time progresses. I have come to the conclusion that just writing about my work may not be exactly the greatest idea being as though creative projects are a process to make and I can only make so many posts about one particular project before it becomes redundant. Not to mention that there have been things I have wanted to write about outside of the realm of just my art being as I do many different creative projects. Ideally I wanted to get back into digital portraiture again, but I have not been taking full advantage of the time I have to do these things. I coulda lied and said I've been way too busy, but that's not my style.While I have spent the last month getting situated with my new job as well as working to complete these grad school applications, I have had time to relax and play video games. Now anybody who works probably enjoys time winding down after a long day of work but I have to admit, sometimes I take too much time to wind down and by time I really get the urge to do something, it's usually around 10-11 o'clock at night and I'm fighting irregular sleep patterns right now.
         Now as these deadlines approach, my nerves are breakdancing which is not a fun thing. I am trying to stay focused as well as work on other projects outside of the realm of oil painting until it gets a bit warmer and slightly more comfortable for me to work in my current studio space. I am also in the early parts of trying to resurrect Cracked Lemonade Productions. One thing you have to do is really keep track of your tools and have back-ups in case anything happens. Well my primary camera as well as my back-ups have all kicked the bucket and my laptop is not doing well either. It's going to be a long process, but I hope to be back in the flow of filming,editing and producing videos by the spring. Sorry for the brevity of this post, but I really don't have a particular subject to really go on about so to avoid sounding redundant I'ma end it here. I'm gonna also stop trying to post more often and post more often. If I get the try out of my head and just do there won't be any excuses. Happy 2012!!!!

I'm not done here

First off let me preface this by saying I have been really bad at keeping this blog up to date. Originally I wanted to go with weekly updates and when that failed I wanted to go with by-weekly. I just missed the one month mark since my last blog. It's not that I haven't had things to discuss, it's just that life has been really hectic lately. I honestly have several incomplete blogs saved on Microsoft word that one day may see the light of day. In the future I am going to take a different approach with my blogs and hopefully that will result in more consistency with posts.

Here's an update on what's been going on with me and my artwork. The last blog I wrote about was about my tentatively titled series. Since then I have completed two more paintings and have been working on my portfolio to grad school which is my ultimate goal. Last summer I hit the road and got to see the country with a good friend and old roommate. I got so much out of the experience but at the end of it all I was ready to go home, buckle down and get things going with my life. It wasn't easy but things are finally back on track and now I have far less free time than I did when I was sitting around not posting blogs. I recently started to get back in the rhythm of doing youtube videos again and I have been trying to keep my facebook page updated as well. Ultimately the goal would be to make all of these pages more engaging and put a higher demand on me to want to do these. I'm not there yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day. So that's basically it for now gonna leave  with some videos and links. If you like my videos please take a trip over to my youtube and hit that subscribe button, leave a comment and show a brotha some love.


My latest video


My "Make me a Power Ranger" video


Radio Demo


Video preview that really got me back into making videos once again.

Also Check out my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Daneartwork

Dane vs. Dane 2: An update

When I started this particular blog, I didn’t realize that keeping it up on the road would be as difficult as it was. Over the course of this past summer I traveled through a good portion of the country and at some point my laptop battery decided to stop working. Battery power is important when you don’t have a steady source of electricity. Getting an internet connection is a hassle as well, especially when you don’t have a vehicle to travel around in. Now that I got that out my system, time to get to the point of this particular writing.

After returning from four months of traveling, a good deal of my time has been spent trying to find work, looking at ways to continue my education and most importantly doing my artwork. As my college career as an undergraduate student came to a close I had to really do a bit of reflecting in terms of my artwork and what I want to do with it. With the rejection of my application to graduate school looming in my mind, I had to figure out my direction now that I was leaving the cushion of undergraduate education. Upon reflecting the work I had done in order to get my application to school together I realized that at the time I wasn’t completely ready to go to that next level just yet. I also made a promise to myself that when admissions time rolled around again I would be ready and I would come at the schools I decide to apply to with full force.  

With the Dane vs. Dane series completed I originally had the idea to take a step back and reflect upon my work from before I went to college. I had so many notebooks filled with drawings and all these old ideas that before I buckled down and decided to become an art student went unheard. I started to conceptualize this series, yet the work I was still creating deviated from the concept of a retrospective series of paintings. The fact was I was moving on from my life as a college student and I was making work based on that, thus the beginning of Dane vs. Dane 2. So far I have completed four paintings out of this series, with one more still in development and more coming. This particular blog entry is my way of introducing those pieces and talking a little bit about each of them.

The first painting I have developed for the series is also the incomplete painting from the series. This particular piece was inspired by The Roots and their album Rising Down. Around the time of developing this piece I had been listening to that album frequently and usually music helps me move to different stages of my art and this time proved to be no different. I went from listening to Eminem’s albums Relapse and Recovery which assisted in the motivation to complete the Dane vs. Dane series to listening to The Roots. The main idea behind this painting was that I was moving on from school and part of me was dying, but the other part was moving on. One thing I must mention is that I have the tendency to overcomplicate ideas so that I end up needing to create an idea to finish my original idea. If I lost you there I’m sorry because I do not have a simpler way to explain it. Part of this reason why this painting is incomplete is because originally I was going to make a time lapsed video of me painting it to create a visual story of the thought process behind the painting. The other part is I wanted to paint something I never tried painting before which was turning the ends of the hair on the living side into roots. I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to do that and I couldn’t figure out how to do it and make it read as roots. Needless to say, I’m going to go with a simpler idea to complete this painting. I will tentatively have it completed in the near future.

This painting is currently incomplete.

The second painting took about 3 months to develop and is one of my last paintings to be completed. This painting is titled “Sacrifice” and depicts a pencil like gun being shot through the subject’s head with the lead of the pencil going through the other side of his head. This painting mainly has to deal with the fact that since I graduated with a degree in art I have been sacrificed to the world of art. What I mean by this is that creating art is not a hobby of mine at this point, it is a way of life and now I have to live and breathe art every day. If you were to look in my sketchbooks, I have this particular painting sketched about three or four times. The reason being is I wasn’t quite sure about particular details. In the final painting you cannot see who is pulling the trigger on the pencil gun. I did this because there are multiple possibilities as to who could pull the trigger. The subject could be pulling the trigger, sacrificing himself to the world of art or it could be society sacrificing him because of what it says on his degree from college. I wanted the piece to be open to interpret and for people to develop their own answers as to who is actually pulling the trigger. This painting was inspired by the Eminem song When I’m Gone. Personally as someone who enjoys music and listens to is constantly I develop my own interpretations of the music and I consider that song to be the moment where Eminem decided to get rid of his Slim Shady persona and move on with his music. I also needed to move on from the negative feelings of being rejected from the school I applied to and take my work to the next level.

This piece is titled "Sacrifice" it is oil on canvas.

After I initially developed those first two paintings I graduated and soon after graduation I began to travel. This became a transitional stage for me and I started to do work outside of my comfort zone and out of my particular style with stylized screaming faces. I also began oil painting on wood which is change of pace when you are used to painting on canvas. I created three paintings on wood and ultimately only two made it into the series.

The first of the two paintings I completed on the road was my attempt to step out of my style and it yielded interesting results.  As I sit here trying to describe this painting, words fail me. This piece is about losing yourself in a sense, the subject is not complete as there are pieces missing from his face and he has no body. This subject could be read as a mask but I don’t believe that would be correct due to the fact that he has eyes and the face has the depth and articulation that skin has. At the time I was experimenting with painting on wood boards for the first time and wasn’t sure how it was going to come out. I also created a sketch in which pieces of the face were purposefully missing and I liked the concept.

 

The second painting was an expansion of my first idea. I got rid of the confines of facial structure and just drew parts of the face on a piece of paper. The idea of day and night developed as I sketched the painting on the board and it gained a life of its own at that point. The main idea behind this piece is stepping away from what I know in one aspect and making something else out of it. I also consider both to be very dream-like. I consider this series to be about the death and rebirth of my creative side, much like a star explodes and destroys things within its radius and the remains begin to form together to create new stars.

This piece is called "New Life" represent current transitions.

The last painting so far in this series was created after my travels. Much like my piece relating to losing yourself, the subject is incomplete. In my opinion the subject is forming back together after being destroyed which is why he is not complete. This can also attribute to the blue background as opposed to the red background of the previous painting. Since the painting is relying on a subject that is not “complete” I rely heavily on contrast in this painting for people to get exactly what he is. 

Portraiture is something I thoroughly enjoy and while not fully deviating from the face, I did step away from the style I have been using doing portraits. While this variation of Dane vs. Dane is incomplete, I still thought it would be worth sharing what I am currently working on as opposed to talking about older pieces like I have done in my older blog entries. I hope you enjoyed it and I will work harder on making these more frequent.