automatism, con drawings, etc

The sun ate my face today, but let me share some art with you.

Lets start with the most recent and work our way back!
Last night I saw "Dismantled" - Industrial band signed by Metropolis -
I was very inspired by their show, - good thing I had my sketchbook with me!
When the show ended, I did some doodling in the bar while the DJ played more industrial.
These 2 images aren't directly related to the band, but rather inspired by the band, and a live industrial setting.


 Both images are black sharpie, the second one was a gift for one of the members, who saw
the first pieces and kindly demanded that I do something for him. *grin* Amused, I complied. 

And now for some drawings done at FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FESTIVAL! (Louisville, KY)
Great show by the way, thanks to those who stopped by!

My favorite first!! A commission to put one of my 'women' related pieces in someone's sketchbook. 



Two sharpie sketches in a brain candy book.


5" x 7" commission for a giraffe related piece.



Book page commission for my booth neighbor's child. 
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Inspirations as of late:
 MURCURY MEN!!
The INVASION has begun!
Really awesome SyFy short series featuring my friend Mark Tierno, about 6 minutes each. 3 episodes so far, I highly recommend it!
Check it out here!

The Butterfly Circus
Very inspirational well filmed 20 minute short film about the Butterfly Circus.
Check it out
A 20 minute short

The Beginning Ate the END

"Beginning Ate The End, Because Beginning Was The Trend.
The End Ran In Terror, Because The End Was An Error."
(The first words you see in my new sketchbook)

I've been in Connecticut the past 2 weeks visiting with Dave's family. We've also been to VT during this time to visit some of my family, and went to NY to visit with a friend and visit the Metropolitan Museum of ART. I am rejuvenated with inspiration!

sketchbooks! Art and books and STUFF!
Hallelujah! I have my SEAWHITE OF BRIGHTON Jumbo square sketchbooks of England again, thanks to my friend Erich who found some in Paris!! *JOY*
(10" x 10" nice smooth paper, sewn in, not merely glued) 
We met in NY where he gave me 3 books and I gave him a painting -
By the way, if you ever plan on visiting the Metropolitan museum of art, do not plan on carrying any art inside with you - they will not check paintings due to liability issues. Thankfully, he was staying at an apartment fairly close, so he could store the painting there. Here's a peek at the first bits of sketchbook joy. I'll show a more full pic once I get back to my scanner.


I was very AWE inspired by the oceanic and african art collection at the Met. This guy is a mental conglomeration of my own creation remembering bits and pieces from various works. 

I have never seen such large african/oceanic art of extreme SRANGENESS in person. I could have spent an hour in the main room just staring at and being in the presence of everything. There are some images I had never encountered before which made me VERY excited. Especially the Baining Night Dance Masks.


(google Baining Night Dance Masks for more fun)

Here is another Sketchbook image

I helped organize the basement while I was here - thus the LYDIA MOLE.

BOOKS
THE BOOK BARN!!
Hours of a beautiful book laden environment - gardens, cats, decorations, buildings of books, little alcoves, etc etc. Visit for yourself in Niantic, CT. 


~
And now I must get ready to leave for home. Here's hoping for a good day of driving!!

quick commissions, wip, and filling the spaces

Pluggin along!
infrequent posts due to merely extreme busyness.
:D
I am currently on vacation in Connecticut - but still trying to work on projects while I'm here.
One of my better paying jobs in August didn't pan out due to low enrollment (teaching art appreciation at a tech college) - so, hopefully something else will come along to fill in the gaps. (especially if I want to attend the SPECTRUM LIVE convention that got announced recently! OMG) Thankfully, I now have my downtown studio in Indy, and it gives me something to look forward to coming home!
I need to take a picture of the 2 sweet studio gifts people have given me - a little work of assemblage art and an antique 'murcury' bottle. That can come later!

For now, Let me share some images from the Days of the Dead Convention
*Here is a small drawing in my brain candy book - a photographer wanted a monster portrait of his camera.


*Here is a convention commission- 9" x 12" color. I took it home that evening to finish it. watercolor and Ink. If I thought about it, I could've added white acrylic to highlight certain areas, but it came out pretty sweet I think.
 
... Some of my friends were debating what kind of salad dressing would go good with this conglomeration of organic plant matter. *chuckle*


*A sketchbook commission - someone wanted a hippo related work - so I of course drew a hippo-tree!


*The coolest t-shirt I saw at the Days of the Dead convention. 
It reminded me of Clive Barker's Nightbreed, thematically - all these monsters coming together with different backgrounds and lives and purposes. Easy to discriminate against, but all of them are precious in some way.


*I was able to finally present my Sammy Terry painting and print at Days of the Dead - my painting of him is on the back of the comic book. After acquiring the proper permissions, I now present the 11" x 17" limited first edition print. I have 15 of 30 (Sammy has the other 15)And they are all SIGNED!(They are selling at $50 each)


***
And last, here is a sneak peek at part of one of my paintings for a movie project.




_________
Other News:

I am realizing how much I need to get more Ayreon music. :) I am very inspired by it. We listened to some on the way to Connecticut and I've spun into the beginnings of obsession - so I'm going to keep my eye open (or my ears open?) for opportunities to get some more of their music.
Thats all for now!

My blogging river has run dry, but here are some drawings.

Just like the pile of un-archived reciepts, my blog is waiting to be written, with things to say, and half formed images and ideas, and before I can write those things here, they become stagnant and old news, because by then, everyone on facebook already knows, and I don't feel like writing it again somewhere else online.

Also, I've been working on a lot of projects that are not my own projects, so I do not want to share
them, they are secret!

This was supposed to be a place to share my daily output of practice and art experiments.
A place for myself to improve and have fun.

So perhaps I won't wait for the big update. I won't show ALL my art happenings and special advertisements...I will again make a simple attempt to post experiments, sketches, and works I'm working on for myself.  For the big more occasional important updates, you'll have to sign up for my mailing list. (email lydiaburris@gmail.com and say 'YES' to be on the mailing list)

SO, without further delay, here are the most recent things I did that I felt I can share.
I did these drawings at the last convention I was at: Contamination in St. Louis.



This was a sketch done in a brain candy book - with Sharpies.




Dick Starr and Johnny Bopp drew in my 'book of monsters' and the 2 drawings on brown paper, I did as a thank you. (The book of monsters was originally a 60th birthday gift for mother, but one that I would keep to travel and gather more drawings for her. Something for both of us to share. Now that she is gone, I'm still carrying on the tradition)

This was a watercolor painting I had started before but didn't like. I added ink while sitting at the booth, and faded the background to my liking.


This was a quick 'sketch' I did in someone's sketchbook. I love drawing in sketchbooks. I love the quick braincandy sketches too. My mind works so much faster and I come up with great ideas when I am on a laid back but 'do it now' mindset.

If you stop by 'Days of the Dead' in Indianapolis this weekend, come by and get a sketch.

a very magical weekend, studio, and an INTERVIEW

This weekend I was honoured to be a part of the Indy Magic Monthly crew, as our producer Taylor Martin had booked the world famous magician: Jeff McBride. Indy Magic Monthly has survived for 3 years and has grown from the ground up. Jeff happened to be coming through, and wanted to know who booked the magic shows in Indy - he happened to write to Taylor - and Taylor was able to respond "Me!". Not long after, we had him for a 90 minute show, 90 minute lecture, and a 4 hour class the next day, starting with a lunch.
Jeff McBride is perhaps one of the most inspiring and creative people out there - I was able to attend all the events and I am pumped up!! Even though I am not a ~magician~ (my bf is), I can apply almost everything he said to art. Someday D and I will get to his 'Magic and Mystery' school in Las Vegas.

I was also honoured to do the cover of the programs - I decided to do a painting. At the end of the events, I gifted the painting to Jeff. I think everyone that encountered him felt like they made a new friend. Jeff also gave me permission to make prints of the image (so if anyone would like to pre-order a print, let me know!)
Here's the program image (the print will just be the image)

acrylic and ink on bristol paper. 
original size: 11" x 14"

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While I'm talking about Indy Magic Monthly, and Taylor Martin, he is putting on a Show during the Indianapolis Fringe in August - I also designed the logo for that: 



Ink with digital coloring and text.

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Back to the McBride painting - I thought I'd show you my progress -

I started with a drawing, moved to acrylic painting (with no gesso!) and finally added the ink.



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in other news
I am going back to the STUTZ building to have a studio downtown!
I signed the paperwork and put a deposit down.
It should be ready by the end of the month. I cannot wait.
I will be offering workshops and tutoring in the space as well.
:) :) :) :) :)

INTERVIEW
I almost forgot to post this!
I was interviewed for the Days of the Dead convention!
Check it out!

Manic art with infinite colors and asymmetrical dreams

I've recently been wanting to make more manic art.
I'm inspired by cluttered madness. The crazier works of Gustave Moreau, Nick Bantock, Bill Seinkiewicz, Dave McKean and many many more.
I don't care if I have an audience, I find it nearly impossible to follow any convention (believe me I have tried!) So I am just having fun here.

First of all, let me show you an old digital layering piece I did.


I mixed about 3 paintings here and applied various layering techniques. I did this in 2009. I love the effect so much, I decided that I should not only do more digital remixes of my work, I should also try to emulate the effect in a physical work of art with paint and collage.

Here is a very recent digital layering.


(Text: "Stage III The inhibition experiment.
With great visual disturbance and complex asymmetrical dreams.")

And here is a work in progress of an actual painted work on canvas.
Its getting pretty manic - some colors possibly need to be darker/more muddy.

32" wide. Work in progress.

I'm not sure what I think of it so far, and this recent COLORFUL twist to my works, but I'm going to do some shows with them. We shall see!

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In other news, its very hot today, and I just might pass out in front of a fan. Time to put the AC in the window finally!

SELF DRIVE AGAIN?

Whoa nelly! Looks like I fell off the bandwagon for a while.
But it only LOOKS like I have!! Ok ok, I did ... a little.

But thats ok. Sometimes we need some time to process things, and sort things, and spend time with family and help with garage sales and prepare for work and thinking of ideas and sending things off to a CA gallery.

My sketchbook has been sorta ~blah~ lately because I still feel like I'm waiting for the right book. (that perfect sketchbook from England that I havn't ordered yet because shipping and VAT taxes are too expensive, and my plan of ordering several and selling them is even more expensive.)
But I'll share the latest anyway.



The second image above was a study inside the Palace Theatre in Louisville KY.
 
The second page is my own personal study of a bag-worm sac. I was curious.


** I'm also wanting to pursue studies and sketches of things I normally don't study and sketch (like anything real besides faces) So I did a digital landscape, based on a photo from D's and my drive to Vermont.


** I also sent a work to the Hive Gallery's "Circus Circus" show in Los Angeles CA.
I will not show that one here until it gets put on their website - but I will show the first one I created. It didn't turn out as circusy as I wanted, so I created a different piece to send.
This one seems to be a back-and-forth metaphor for life and death, youth and old age, and the energy that transfers between them.

7.25"  x 7.25"  acrylic, collage and oil on wood. ... available

** And finally, this is a gift for a friend who inspired me and gave me an exercise bike. Our conversation led me to do this piece. (Jeffrey, if you see this, ah well, the surprise is ruined, but I didn't want to wait before posting it! - It will be in the mail as of Thurs afternoon) 

7.25"  x 7.25" mixed media on paper, mounted on wood