tattoos and art

art and tattoos naturally go hand in hand. if a person has an interest in tattoos, then they automatically have an interest in art. art and tattoos have always fascinated me. ever since i got my first tattoo i have been researching them and other tattoo related things. while looking through magazines and looking at the internet one artist immediately caught my eye. that artist is shawn barber. alot of the art that i have seen from him are portraits of people with tattoos. however, these portraits are not done in a normal way. the people being painted are represented in a variety of different ways to highlightthe tattoos of the person. he also has a unique style of painting. he paints portraits with a high degree of realism, yet he style has a very painterly quality to alot of his works.

here are a couple of pieces by him:

Grad School Porfolio

here is my grad school portfolio as of right now. i will be adding more to it eventually, but some applications are due on jan 15th so this is what i will be sending to them. for the most part im pleased with it. i do not have the titles or dimensions, but i will add them tomorrow.

if any one reads this then i would love some feed back. thanks so much, and i hope people like it.

"Trees are my only company"

Watercolor on Rives BFK

9" X 22 1/2"

"No awkward silences, no hiding any truths"

Watercolor and thread on Rives BFK

12 1/4" X 13 3/4"

"Migrane"

Watercolor, Pen and Ink on Rives BFK

11" X 5  3/4"

"Waste Management"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Rives BFK

13" X 10 1/4"

"Oozing Emotions"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

9" X 5 3/4"

"Urbanized"

Watercolor, Pen and Ink on Digital Print

11" X 8 1/2"

"Filtration"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

6 1/4" X 11 1/2"

"Screaming from the inside"

Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

9" X 24"

"You can have the best of me"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

16" X 17 3/4"

"White collar ambitions"

Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

12 1/2" X 15 1/2"

"Protect what you got"

Watercolor, Pen and Ink on Rives BFK

1 1/4" X 5"

"Skin Deep"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on Rives BFK

27" X 11 1/4"

"Empty Stomach"

Acrylic and Sumi Ink on Wood panels with hand-sewn creatures

41" X 28 1/2"

"Behind the Mask"

Acrylic and Sumi Ink on Wood Panels

each panel: 49" X 24"

"Keep em' seperated"

Acrylic and wire on canvas panels

22 1/2" X 12"

"Is it good, friend?"

Watercolor and Sumi Ink on tea-stained Rives BFK

14" X 11"

"It's your burden now"

Acrylic and Sumi Ink on Wood panel with wire and hand-sewn heart

24 1/2" X 23 1/2"

"It's not much, but its all I got"

Acrylic and Sumi Ink on Wood panels

each panel: 24 1/2" X 16 1/2"

detail of "It's not much, but it's all I got"

long time..

so, its been a long time since i have updated or posted anything. i feel really bad. i have a problem when it comes to journals and other daily chronicle things. but i have been getting alot done. my art has been progress greatly and i am currently working on applications for grad schools. my next post will be the majority of my porfolio except for a couple pieces that are in the wrong format.

here is the list of schools that i will be applying to:

American University

Temple University

MassArt

Towson University

MICA

University of Delaware

William Patterson University

those are the schools as of right now. getting my portfolio and grad applications done has been very stressful. before september i did not have any work that could be included in my portfolio, therefore it made it very hard to get everything together. i am very pleased with how well my portfolio looks, and how much i have accomplished in the last 5 months.

Seth Adelsberger, Joy and Panic

i attended another show in the gallery at mcdaniel. this new exhibit was for seth adelsberger, a towson alum who graduated in 2002. i knew before i went to the show that it was going to be all abstract, and i think when anyone plans on attending an abstract exhibit there is really no way to prepare yourself for what you may see. there is no way to build up expectations as you would if you were goin to see an exhibit on figure paintings. with figure paintings you know what your getting into before you get there. with seth's work, even after i was in the show and walking around i still didnt know what to make of it. there were definitely pieces that i was more fond of than others. my own personal opinion is that his pen and ink drawings are the strongest pieces. there is a exactness to them that his larger, colorful pieces dont seem to portray. he also had one piece that i believed to be his strongest that was cut out of museum board. the intriquite pattern and detail really made this piece stand out to me. below ive included a couple of the larger paintings that were at the show. these were some of the paintings i was not too fond of, and unfortunately i could find the ones i liked online...

Plastic Galactica

Acrylic and Enamel on Canvas

42inx35in

2008

Big Night

55inx60in

Acrylic and Enamel on Canvas

2008

No Tiki, No Whammy

Acrylic and Enamel on Canvas

64inx60in

2008

to view more work and his artist statement go to:

http://www.sethadelsberger.com/

The Studio

At McDaniel College, due to our size, we have smaller art facilities compared to larger, state schools. this may sound bad to an outsider, but this limited space has worked well for the advanced studio artists at my school. we have been given an old storage room as our "studio". we are beneath the old gym in a basement-like area. there are pipes showing and concrete floors and walls. to some people this sounds like a horrible environment, but it just the place i like to work. i like feeling like i can make a mess and i wont get yelled at. in high school i would have to clean up the smallest drop of paint when i would spill it. at my current studio i paint whatever i want on the walls and spill paint with no repercussions. its how i always pictured my home studio looking and its gonna be sad when i have to leave my space after this semester. 

Above is a picture of my area that i was given, my only complaint is that i wish i had more space, i like to stretch out. sometimes when other students are no there ill just put my stuff on their desks so i can have a little more room. i think its good to have a space where it doesnt matter if you mess it up, it removes any restrictions you may put on yourself.

Fight Club

"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything"-Fight Club

This quote always stuck out to me when i would watch Fight Club. Every time i would watch the movie i would always think about this quote and all the possible things it could mean. its apparent that it can be interpreted in more ways than one, but i thought it was fitting to look at it from an artistic point of view...

Alot of artists will trap themselves into "style boxes" and only create art that they feel comfortable creating. for example, i would feel very comfortable working in pencil and create realistic portraits, or doodling little creatures on my class notes. it wasnt until recently that i started branching out of my comfort levels and producing art with different mediums and tools. ive started using sumi and india ink to render my creatures, as well as acrylic and watercolor paints. the variation has not only made me more comfortable with these new medias, but has also made me a more rounded artist.  this experimentation with different artistic approaches makes me think of the fight club quote...

i abandoned all the ways that i was used to creating art and i was free to do anything artistically. its a liberating feeling when you have no boundaries or parameters. all the art that i have been creating since the summer has been some of the stronger pieces that i think i have ever created. this can be attributed to the fact that i allowed my self to branch out and be artistically free.

Recent Inspiration

“At the end of the day I’d like, ideally, for all of my art to be technically sound. That, to me, is what makes a successful artist.” - derek hess


the artist is derek hess, and if you dont know of him you need to look him up. it appears that he creates his art so fast because it is all done with gestural, sketchy lines. although, he has great knowledge of the human anatomy.

it appears that he works in mostly pen and ink, but adds alittle color to bring his scenes to life. the more i look at his work, the more i sketch and try to draw human figures in a short amount of time. i think it will be very beneficial for me as an artist to grasp a better knowledge of the human body. also, i hope i can portray the human figure correctly in just a few strokes of a pen or brush.

i had never heard or seen much of anything from derek hess until i stumbled upon him, and this puzzles me. i find it odd that someone who is as skilled as him isnt more publicized. or perhaps ive just been looking in the wrong places. whatever the case, i will continue to use derek hess as inspiration and i feel that any aspiring artist who tries tor represent the human anatomy in an accurate way should look him up.

art page:

http://www.derekhess.com/

clothing company:

http://www.strhess.com/