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COINS

2010-11-20T16:39:00.001-08:00

This here's my Buffalo Nickel painting. Just completed today. This one was commissioned and is getting delivered tomorrow. The Buffalo Nickel is painted on wood with acrylics. The awesome circle frame is from a broken mirror I found in the alley some years back. I wanted to make sure I had the right painting for such an amazing frame. I think it worked out well. This one is just under 45" in diameter.

Not sure which coins will be next. Maybe I can start the state Quarters.

Coins

2010-11-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

So, I have now inadvertently started a series of coin paintings. I think I'll start a whole series. The first was this penny I did in 2008. It was for a Lincoln's Birthday show at Chicago Art Department in Pilsen in February 2008.

americanadia vid.

2010-11-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

VIDEO: making of AMERICANADIA

AMERICANADIA, details

2010-09-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

AMERICANADIA

2010-09-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

FINAL VERSION ABOVE.

I originally was going to finish the painting at this point, but came back to it for the final version above.

It's been a while for a post. This is my latest painting, AMERICANADIA. The compositions within the painting are all based off of vivid memories from a road trip to the Tetons and Alberta, Canada.

OWLS

2010-01-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

The owls were also part of The Big Picture Press sale in December 2009. Look out for more in poster form soon!! I made 12 originals in this set. All of them are acrylic on canvas, 8x8.

Two Glass Paintings, Summer 2009

2010-01-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

These are two separate pieces made on found vanity cabinet doors (as far as i can tell.) I painted on the back of the glass in reverse order to get these images done. It was interesting to have to go about working in a different order, for instance the black outlines were the first thing to go on these paintings, and with canvas or wood, it's always the very last thing I do.
Anyways. These were made for a small sale I had in December with my artist friend, Brett Neiman. We're gonna start a company with screenprinted goods called The Big Picture Press. Since I didn't know how to screenprint yet (still learning...) I made paintings that I could see being turned into posters. Most of my work can I think. These two are specifically influenced by Jay Ryan, Chicago poster man extraordinaire. He's got some amazing stuff, check out his books and posters at birdmachine.com

Surprise Trees, Summer 2009

2010-01-12T20:25:00.001-08:00

This piece is five trees on five canvasses. I really like how the backgrounds of these pieces came out, with the "underpainting" as they call it. The different layers of color in the back really help the trees stand out.
I was commissioned to make this one as a surprise birthday gift. From what I hear all parties were pleased including myself. I really like how this came out as a set.

Wedding Trees, Summer 2009

2010-01-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a pair of trees I made for a wedding gift. Day and night, fall thru summer - Marriage is forever.
I just made up that meaning now. It's just two pretty trees, slightly out of focus here as well.
The arrow design in the sun and moon is based off a small design I did for a poster making class a year or two ago.

US. THEM. REPEAT. 2007 (finished 2009)

2010-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

This painting was originally created in the summer of 2007. Originally, the left Lower48 was left blank white, but I added all the letters and stripes this summer 2009.
Titled Us. Them. Repeat.

MAAF SHOW, SUMMER 2009

2010-01-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

So, I don't remember taking these pics, but they're of the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Fest I was in in July of 2009. The map in the window of the building is mine. The show was in an empty store front on Milwaukee near Diversey. The top pic shows my piece "The Science Behind the Circus" over the window.

2009-11-16T17:20:00.001-08:00

I have 4 pieces up at New Wave Coffee, in Logan Square this month. They'll be up til 12/03/09. This one is POLL THIS, 2008.

Seven Suns, 2009.

2009-10-12T11:02:00.001-07:00

Got a new Star stencil!!! Supposed to be some sort of sunrise over mountains. For a man who's lived most of his life in Illinois, and hasn't been able to afford to leave the state for a year, I really got a mountain fetish going on these days. I like the natural wood still in the background of this one.

The Laziest Owl. 2009.

2009-10-12T10:58:00.001-07:00

Had this owl idea in my head for a long time. First time I put it to paint. Simple, cute and I like it. (PS. He's lazy because it's supposed to be 3 times of the day, and he hasn't moved.) This one's gonna be in a raffle to help benefit another artist without medical insurance. Make's me want to keep my day job (the only reason.)

TETONS 2, SUMMER 2009

2009-10-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

Been working alot on this one lately. Making a forest. Ran out of tape, hence the left panel. Just bought some new tape and gray paint. Hope to finish this by the end of the week.

TETONS 2, SUMMER 2009 (commission, Greg)

2009-09-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

09.12.09 (In Progress)

This is a commission for Greg. I know Greg liked the mountain painting I did for Jen last year, so I've continued with that theme in this one; not a single tree but it'll be a landscape. I've been bouncing between the tree paintings and more political map pieces quite frequently lately. It's a good thing. The maps are usually direct responses to things happening in the world that piss me off that I can't control. The trees are definitely more relaxing to look at and to make. No wonder the trees sell more. ;)

This one is acrylic on found boards, 5 total. I think I've said it before, but one of my favorite things in painting is creating the "canvas" from whatever I can and then figuring out how to fill in that specific space with some art.

This first photo is a rough one of the background only.

The black triangles at the top will be mountains. The brown stripes throughout the 4 shades of green in the middle are the beginnings of tree trunks. Gonna be a lot of trees in this one. Blue water reflects on the bottom portion.

I really like the background in this one. One thing I consciously try to do with the nature scenes is to make a landscape while using "urban" techniques, ie stencils, modern design and composition. I think I inadvertently did that here with the background layers. It turned out to look kinda like the painted rectangles you find all over chicago that are slopped over graffiti by landowners and the mayor. Say what you will of graffiti and the sterile yet sloppy reply to it, but I love looking at the results on the walls of the city. And sometimes the painted on portions (nearly always black white or a chalky brown) become perfect new canvasses for the graffiti kids, and the landowners paint right over again, layer piled on top of layer. It's like the walls are alive and changing all the time from this ancient tribal graffiti scribble to an inadvertent Rothko and back and forth again.

Marwan. 2009.

2009-08-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

ASHRAF MARWAN, 2009

Got idea while watching a 60Minutes story about Ashraf Marwan, a double agent/arms dealer in the MidEast. Can’t say I like what he did/stood for, but the image struck me. The man was claimed by both Egypt and Israel as their top spy ever. There’s something to be said about that. He duped ‘em all. Then he used all his spy connections to become a great arms dealer and that’s no good.
Anyways, there were only a few known photos of the man, and in this one he’s all decked out hanging with some sheiks. It looks like it’s at some swank club, Scarface style, but he still had his shades on.
Captured the image off of the internet. Second attempt ever at a person. Still need to work on the mouth/lips. Does not look right.
Good map in background. Freehand drawn map. Used lots of tape to paint pattern.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CIRCUS. 2009.

2009-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CIRCUS. 2009. Acrylic on canvas. For sale.

I got into the show at the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Fesitival which was held three weeks ago. (post more often, i know.) I really liked the layout of the whole festival. It stretched for at least mile on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square with a pretty impressive stage with live music on the Square itself. All along that mile there were random empty store fronts which were converted into galleries just for the weekend. The neighborhood looked really good.

This piece was made the week before that show. I wanted to bring something brand new. I also brought the following two pieces - Poll This and The Great Get Along. Check out the slides for those two at the web gallery-
http://picasaweb.google.com/bolsingatron/PaintingSlides#

THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE CIRCUS is on canvas. I covered up an old painting in white and
sketched out the star and target pattern first. Before painting I drew the two US maps on there as well. I had to use a lot of masking tape in the painting of this one.

WORLD MAP TRIPTYCH, COMPLETE 07/2009

2009-07-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

since the last.
-all finished! hung in d's house 07/03/2009.
-cleaned up everything and added the yellow border.
-signed it and covered it in a clearcoat.
-had to transport piece 2oo mi. in my pick up truck, Monica. no damage to the piece, and Monica made it all the way both ways for a total of 400 mi. good times. getting out of the city. windows down. going 70.

til the next.
-new paint job for Monica and new slides of new work.
-new commissions sketching and planning.
-applying to Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival this week. Festival starts July 31.

WORLD MAP TRIPTYCH, 04/2009

2009-06-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

ONE (four to five step) STEP FROM FINISHED

since the last..
-painted the letters and numbers random design. does say Fbi on the east and TSAR on the west boundary of russia. unintentional.
-dotted dave's cities.

until next time..
-clean up arrows.
-whitewash white.
-clean up stencils and dots.
-border?

TREE WITH REFLECTING SKY (Up for grabs)

2009-04-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

This was started last winter. (One Board 37"H x &'W) I started on the background then, and went thru a few different variations, but wasn't quite sure where it would go. It turned into this tree on a lake.

WORLD MAP TRIPTYCH, 04/2009 (commission, dave)

2009-04-26T20:23:00.001-07:00

this is another commission - in progress. (3 boards - 14"H x 67" each.)
dave really liked an earlier tree piece i did and showed me a specific wall where he was interested in having one on these specific boards. the boards are some book shelves from the alley. needless to say i decided against another tree here. i was in full swing on my map theme when i started this one, so this is what it became. dave and his wife are big travelers, so i figured this would work as well. i've only done three paintings by commision so far, and i've quickly realized that people are asking for my stuff cause they trust my eye, or whatever you want to call it. it's a good feeling and i thank them.
the arrows are a remixed theme from another world map i made on a skid in 2008. on that one the arrow theme runs through the whole painting, on this one i want to differentiate the design on the land. i'm still milling the land design over in my head, but i'm thinking some lettering and various stencil work collaged together in a pleasing way for the land. i need to sketch more, but i never really do.
i drew the map off a googled image which i built a grid on in photoshop to enlarge. then i drew in every arrow outline off a homemade stencil. just drawing took 8 hours over four nights after my day job.
then i painted in the arrows, choosing seven blues to be the water- the only guideline being that no two same blues could touch along the sides of any two arrows. painting in the arrows took 23 total hours over a month after the day job. (it's so easy to choose something else to do than paint blue arrows when you come home.) the arrows need to be touched up before it is completed. i'll keep posting updates. i hope to get to the land parts this week. i've always been into jasper johns, but this painting got me looking at his map paintings again. also awesome.

TETON 04/2009 (private commission, jen)

2009-04-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

this piece took forever for some reason. not the actual painting of the final draft (about 22 hours total work over 1.5 mos.), but i just put it off forever. (15"H x 79"W - full image on top, detail on bottom) when jen first asked for a painting two years ago, she specifically picked out this board as what she wanted. the board is one of two closet doors i found in the alley at my old place in west town, chicago. her only request was it be horizontal, and i knew she liked my previous work with trees cause she told me. this was the first piece i was going to make where someone just asked for a painting, site unseen. there's a certain stress that comes along with that. things are so much easier when you just make stuff and someone comes in, points, and says "ooh, i like that one." that said, this turned out to be a very good thing though. it was put off for so long (2 friggin' years, jen's an old and understanding friend) for many reasons, mostly lame ones. confidence is a bitch sometimes, and you got to whip it in the ass. finally after having the board stare at me painted with the green, grey and rust squares i originally put on it when i found it, i had to erase it all with white and start over. like most paintings this idea started from a basic composition idea. i knew i wanted a sun on the right, with some wide landscape. at first it was gonna be a cherry branch idea with an owl sitting in silhouette of the moon, but that also got painted over because it just didn't satisfy. then one day came the idea for a mountain scene, something i've never tried before. the final composition is loosely based on a memory from the first time i saw mountains, getting out of the car at the tetons after a long nap when i was about 10. i'm trying to use my more urban/stencil heavy style and apply it to nature scenes. i've been looking at a lot of hiroshige and hokusai prints lately as well. man they were awesome.

FIRST POST

2009-04-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

so this is the beginning, huh? feel free to visit this blog to see works in progress and for various updates on anything art in my world. i'll be updating with pictures and comments on new pieces as i work on them, hopefully all the way thru to completion. mostly i hope to use this blog (what an ugly friggin' word) to keep myself in line, as a motivation against procrastination. trying to paint after working the day job leads to putting things off. help keep me on my toes please.

you can see most of my completed works and photography at www.bolsingatron.com
as well in the slideshow here.