The New Projects

Soon, there will be a relaunch of my site which will feature the first images of two projects that I had envisioned last autumn. Both were formed from disparate image ideas which evolved into two different conceptual series’. It has taken a while to really formulate the ideas and create a visual language or look for both. There has been some failed ideas and experimenting along the way and it has been a frustration for me that it is now spring and I am just getting the first solid imagery of each.

However, I suppose I should have seen that coming. Life had gotten in the way on a few occasions, various holidays, birthdays and other social engagements and then the normal obstacle of having to work a job to support my work and etc, etc. If my approach was simply that of a photographer, then I would be further along. But the photos I shoot of the model may as well be a base sketch for me. The real work comes after as I manipulate, rework, combine, draw/paint (digitally or analog), add other elements, etc to make a final image. Plus, I'm basically self-taught when it comes to the digital side of things and I haven't been working that way for very long, relatively speaking, so I feel as if I am still discovering new ways of doing things. There’s a lot of trying things out and starting over…it’s time consuming! Sometimes, I feel that because it often starts with the camera, some of the models I work with may not quite understand that, being used to working with proper photographers.

A model had recently asked me if I felt that I bit off more than I can chew or some equivalent of that meaning that I shoot more than I can get to. Perhaps that’s true but I see the shoots as a well of sketches I can constantly dip into over time. This is the reason I prefer to pay a model rather than do TFP because the model is then paid for their time and has gotten something out of it and doesn’t expect to see a wealth of finished images in a short space of time.

Anyway, on to the upcoming projects:

Requiem In Oblivion Is going to be a series of imagery dealing with figures in dystopian landscapes or some sort of undefined limbo or netherworld (or perhaps a series of such places). It originally arose out of an image I was starting for a commission which fell through. However, I liked the image concept that I had come up with and it began to open up and evolve a bit in my mind and I realized that this was an allegorical context that I could explore further to express many different things. The first images of this series “Twilight”, “Idyll” and “Light I” will be up on the site when it is re-launched.

The Dark Carnival Is a series that will be somewhat more diverse dealing with concepts of death, suffering, the arcane, myth, religion, atrocity, oppression, violence, the human condition and the darker aspects of the human psyche. “Memento Mori” will be the first image of the series appearing on the revamped site.

As with everything I do, I expect that these projects may change or grow in scope as I continue.

The Blog

So, for now at least, it seems I am joining the legions of online bloggers and will begin posting my own brand of narcissistic self-absorbtion that clutters the internet. I am unsure of what this blog will be exactly; the subtitle insinuates that it can be about just about anything….I suppose that is my “out”, justifying whatever mental meanderings are to come. Mainly, this blog is intended for art related subjects, but I am sure it will veer off into other areas….

For awhile I have wanted to work out some of my artistic ideas, thoughts, etc I’ve tried to do this on paper, but that never gets very far for whatever reason. Such is the age we live in I suppose. Maybe I have been trained to somehow think there is something more meaningful or something more final to neatly presented text on a screen as opposed to my often illegible handwritten scribblings. At any rate, I suppose this blog will really be for me, to organize my ideas and theories….especially since it is doubtful anyone else will have the interest to read it!