Scorched wood policy

My very first woodburn.  I decided I really wanted to try this out, but didn’t want to go for the expense of a whole kit.  So, I bought a cheap woodburning pen from Michael’s.  It’s made by Walnut Hollow, the same company that cuts my wood plaques.  Wow, and I just realized how evocative of country kitsch these materials are, nonetheless I’ve got some very cool and non-traditional ideas in store.  Just you wait.  And I intend to use reclaimed and rescued wood wherever I can, even if only prepared panels that someone else didn’t want (I’ve got enough of those for a few projects  yet).

Recent work for October

October was mostly all about a commission and then a couple of pieces here and there.  I did a bookplate for a contest at the blog “A Journey Around My Skull,” one of the musts that I have on my feed.

I recommend subscribing to A Journey Round My Skull if you are at all enamored of illustrations and books, especially those that are rare and hard to find.

I also did a drawing for what I hope to be a bookmark.  I plan to get a bunch of these printed up, as soon as I scrape together enough for a new and improved inkjet printer.

Other than that, nothing much else.  Why the sparse output?  Well, I may have mentioned it before, but I only do this for a hobby.  I actually make a living as a librarian, specializing in library IT.  It’s really only been recently that I’ve started pushing to get my work out there more and more, and to improve and develop as an artist.  The two go hand in hand for me, the exposure creates opportunities and deadlines, which pushes me to put more effort into my work than I otherwise might.

Pyrography

I’m thinking of taking up pyrography, since I’ve been planning to start using wood as a support for my artwork. As my “Creatures of the Arboretarium” series shows, I’ve already begun to appreciate the unique background that wood provides to a drawing. The only obstacle I can think of is, the reproductions, should I decide to make any, won’t be as crisp and nice as they would be on paper. The natural grain that makes wood such a good medium also tends to muck up a print, at least in my opinion.

If I can find an inexpensive kit, I may try it soon. I’ve got an idea that I think would really work well with this medium and a bit of watercolor or thinned out acrylic. I think this is one of those mediums that has a bad image, because of all those “Bless this House” plaques. Maybe if I started doing some “Damn Your Eyes” plaques . . .

Current works

Hiding out and trying to focus on art as much as possible.  Working on a mixed animal design for a commission, and also on this little painting here, on a 6×6 canvas.

First in a series of "golem" paintings.

It’s the first in a series of paintings that will focus on creatures, but with only a basic outline shape, and with the bulk of the detail focusing on design and color rather than the creature’s physical features.  I think of them as ornamented golems, hence I’m calling this the “golem” series.   The above painting, is, by the way, not nearly finished.  I’ve quite a bit more to do with it.  Hopefully, I’ll know where to stop.

The Koalabat cometh

What can I say?  The wings are an example of the dangers of crosshatch addiction.  Yes, they are crosshatched in.  I do, in fact, understand that there are mediums which can fill in dark spaces much more efficiently, but I prefer doing things the painful way.

All images © Eric Battaglia 2009

Some animals appearing on Etsy

About half of the Creatures of the Arboretarium weren’t available on my Etsy site, and were unique to Renegade.  Now I’m adding them day by day, so they should all be up by the end of the week.  So far, here’s the Octophant:

“The Octophant is the most intelligent creature on Earth.  It is the only Arboretarium dweller that has ever plotted to escape and take over the world.”

Octophant

I should mention that all of these animals are hand drawn with archival Micron pens, and some watercolor.  I had a few people ask if they were wood-burned images.  While the plaques are for wood-burning, I chose to stick with drawing, since that’s what I know.

Post-Renegade

Renegade was a lot of fun, and very inspirational.  Thanks to everyone who visited my tent, grabbed a card, and checked out this blog and my Etsy store.

The hybrid animals I’ve been drawing on wood plaques turned out to be a huge hit.  Not necessarily in immediate sales, but they were a draw nonetheless.  It was enough to convince me that I might want to go beyond the original limit of 11 or 12 creatures I was going to draw (I’m at 9 right now).  I was also pretty happy with my display, if I can say so myself.

I was also happy with the sign I made.  Originally, the devil face was a block print design meant for coasters, but as it turns out, the process of making a coaster that won’t smear with use is beyond my ken, so I stuck with what I knew and turned it into my new logo.

All in all, it was definitely worth everything that went into preparing for that weekend.  Seeing other vendors, I learned a lot about presentation and setup.

I split a tent with MoxieDoll, which was cool, sort of a yin/yang, good/evil, light and dark thing.  People were attracted to both our displays equally, although I heard at least twice that my Creatures of the Arboretarium display was creepy.   Is it bad that those comments filled my heart with joy?  But mostly, everyone seemed supportive of the concept, maybe because deep down inside, we’re all devils.

Nite.

See you at Renegade!

For anyone in Chicagoland, I’ll be at the Renegade Craft Fair on Division Street, by Damen Ave. this weekend.  Stop by, I’m sharing a tent with Moxiedoll.  The animals of the arboretarium will be there, along with some other stuff.

Mini Paintings

I’ve added a few miniature paintings to my Renegade stock.  Three of them look to be the kickoffs to a new series: paintings based on metal song titles.  Here they are, each 3×3″.

"Replicas of Life"

"Rainbow in the Dark"

Devilish Buddha

"Under a Serpent Sun"

Renegade Preparation

Working on some 3×3″ paintings for the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this upcoming weekend.  I’ll post them as I’ve completed them, but nothing’s going to be for sale until the fair.  I can say though, that the theme is going to be metal song titles, and the evil they inspire.