It's Cozy Up Here

This painting titled "It's Cozy Up Here" has just made its way back to my studio after being exhibited at Art Whino and is now available in my online shop HERE. Let me know if you think I should paint more monsters. I've mostly been doing them in ACEO (2.5"x3.5") size lately.

Bryan

Press Start at FNDTN Gallery

The video game fanatic in me has been itching to be part of an art exhibit focused on the same and the time has finally come. I have created two new pieces in the new media-combo I've been pursuing lately. Each piece is colored pencil and acrylic paint on wood and will be debuted by FNDTN Gallery on opening night.

"PRESS START" is a group show featuring artwork by local (Maryland area) and national artists inspired by video games. The show will run from Friday, May 10th, to Saturday, May 25th, with an opening reception for the event on May 10th at 7PM.

More info at http://www.fndtnarts.com/events/press-start-opening/

12 Custom Monster Dunnys

This dozen custom Dunny set was commissioned by one collector who turned me loose on a monster theme. He also sent me three bags of whole bean coffee to help keep me fueled in the creative process. If you would like to talk about a commission for yourself or a friend, send an email to bryancollinsart@gmail.com or check out my SHOP to see what pieces are currently available.

God bless,
Bryan Collins / Color Chemist

Pajama Painting Progression

Here we go with another painting progression of a piece for my "Inside Out" exhibit with Aaron Jasinski at Art Whino. Like the other three I've completed so far for this exhibit, this one is 11"x14", acrylic on gessoed basswood. The story here is the proverbial dream some folks have about coming to school in pajamas. If you've had the dream yourself, you know how troubling it can be. If you haven't had it, I'm sure you can image the awkward feelings a dream like that can produce.

I approached this piece "coloring book style" where I drew it all out directly on the gesso and painted everything piece by piece. This process is more tedious than painting the whole background, establishing an under-painting for the subject and foreground, and gradually layering details, but since I have very specific ideas for this show, I want to make sure each piece comes through exactly as planned.

The chalkboard has a list of things I really got in trouble for during my years in school. If you can't read the list you will just have to come to the opening at Art Whino on June 23rd to see the painting in person.

God bless,

Bryan Collins

Purchase Bryan Collins originals, prints, and more at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Inked in Pink painting progression

Here we go with the second painting for the upcoming "Outside In" exhibit at Art Whino. This one is being called "Inked in Pink", as she will have pink tattoos covering her arms. The cherry blossoms and airplanes are being painted pink as well.

For these "Outside In" paintings I am using a technique different than my usual one where I paint the entire background first. Since I am doing all of these pieces on gessoed basswood, I am making somewhat detailed pencil drawings on the wood first and painting over top of the drawings. So far I am pleased with this process as it allows me to really plan out a piece in advance of attacking it.

This process is also much closer to what I am used to as a dry-media artist. I have been working exclusively in pen-and-ink and colored pencil for nearly my whole life, and just really started using paint in 2006. This cell-shading style of getting the paint on the board is much more like I am used to and seems to have me painting much faster.

You may notice a slight change to her wardrobe in the above photo. Once I started adding the tattoos to her arms I really wanted to have some across her chest as well, so I painted over the dark grey tank top she was wearing under the blue and black stripped one. Now she is "Inked in Pink". Time for a background.

Now that I am laying in the background and adding all the special details, this will be the last preview I will show until the opening night of "Outside In". I have to save some surprises for the exhibit!

"Outside In" will be a two-man show with Aaron Jasinski and opens June 23 at Art Whino.

God bless,
Bryan

Original art and prints available in my Etsy Shop.

Skunk Punk progress 2

Day 2 of this painting and I have most of the difficult detail out of the way. Being that this is just an 11"x14" piece, the lettering in those patches almost made my eyes burst.


"Skunk Punk" - acrylic on 11"x14" cradled basswood


For my 2-man show with Aaron Jasinski. "Outside In" at Art Whino - opens June 23th, 2012

Originals, prints, and more at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Modification to Daily Drawings

Yesterday I completed my 84th daily drawing. This has been a fun and challenging few months of completing one small drawing each day. At this point I am going to modify the daily drawing format to more of a "what I worked on today" type of thing. The difference will be that the daily drawings will not always be a completed piece in addition to my other daily work, but a look at what progress I made during the day with whatever it may be that I am engaging in. I have a few shows coming up this summer that will consume my time and I need to knock out a great deal of new paintings. I am also a couple-dozen deep on custom art-toy commissions. So, day by day, I will be sharing one photo of whatever I worked on during that day. Sometimes it will be completed work, sometimes it will be work in progress, but there will still be at least one post per day.

This will start once I get settled in to the new place in Florida. I will need the next week or so to finish packing up and make the drive out there from Colorado.

In the meantime, this is the piece I was working on today. It's called "It's Cozy Up Here" and is being shipped out with another piece to G40 in Richmond, VA. More info on G40 at www.artwhino.com

"It's Cozy Up Here"

6"x12" acrylic on canvas

Please contact Art Whino for purchase information

Phone: 301.567.8210

info@artwhino.com

God bless,

Bryan

Daily Drawing 75

Daily Drawing 75, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

There was a tattoo show on the TV while I was drawing.

"Soul" (daily drawing 75) - 5"x7" watercolor, acrylic, ink, marker, and colored pencil on watercolor paper - Daily drawings can be purchased at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 72

Daily Drawing 72, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

Daily Drawing 72 - 5"x7" watercolor, ink, marker, and colored pencil on watercolor paper.

Daily drawings can be purchased at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 70

Daily Drawing 70, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

This is another idea I am playing with for an upcoming painting. The theme of the show has already been decided, so I am playing with concepts within the theme.

5"x7" watercolor, acrylic, ink, and colored pencil on watercolor paper.

Daily drawings can be purchased at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 65

Daily Drawing 65, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

Today I decided to tackle one of my weaker areas, which is portraits. I haven't done many of them and frankly I purposely avoid them. I've been feeling convicted about that lately because even as a "whimsical surrealist", I know there is room for me to learn from realism.

For my daily drawing, I pondered a moment over who I think has been an encouraging influence in my life and C.S. Lewis came to mind, so I took a crack at drawing him.

5"x7" watercolor, ink, and colored pencil on watercolor paper.

Purchase daily drawings and other art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 58

Daily Drawing 58, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

Watercolor, ink, marker, and pencil on 5"x7" watercolor paper.

You can purchase daily drawings at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 55

Daily Drawing 55, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

I've been hearing so much nonsense lately, I needed to draw some. Daily drawing 55 - 5"x7" watercolor, ink, marker, and pencil on watercolor paper.

You can purchase daily drawings at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 53

Daily Drawing 53, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

A little seahorse drawing today. Watercolor, ink, and colored pencil on 5"x7" watercolor paper.

Purchase daily drawings at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily Drawing 47

Daily Drawing 47, a photo by BryanACollins on Flickr.

I'm still enjoying drawing on these papers that I've watercolored. It's been fun working with a variety of media. I'll probably keep doing it for a while.

5"x7" watercolor, ink, marker, and pencil on watercolor paper.

Purchase available daily drawings at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

God bless,
Bryan

Daily drawing 22

"Mental Puke" - acrylic paint and ball point pen on 5"x7" bristol.

Having been out of town for the past two weeks, it's been difficult, if not impossible, to post my daily drawings. I have been doing them, but rather than posting two week's worth all at once, I will just pick up where I left off. If you want to see the others, check out my personal Facebook page.

God bless,
Bryan

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart
Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Skeleton Boy with Eggs

I just finished this painting for a collector who requested a unique version of the "Skeleton with Bird" piece I made for the "It's ALIVE!!!" exhibit at Rendition Gallery. It's has been painted on pine, cut from the same board that I salvaged from a home improvement project. (My dad and I turned a window into a door in my house, the pine was for exterior trim.) I've actually been enjoying painting on the wood so much that I will most likely purchase more when I run out of what I have.

To prep the wood I cut a piece in the desired length. The width of the board is 3.5". This painting measures 6" top to bottom. I then use 150 grit sand paper to round the corners and soften the edges by hand. The surface to be painted gets a coat of gesso which dries for twenty-four hours, then a second coat to dry another twenty-four. After painting the piece with acrylics I gave it two coats of archival gloss varnish.

If you would like to add a Skeleton Boy painting to your collection, please reach out to me at bryan@bacstudio.com

God bless,

Bryan

www.bacstudio.com

Twitter - @useeverycolor

Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart

Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Stages of a Painting

Since I just started this painting and it has a deadline of November 11th, I figure it's a good opportunity to share the entire process. I utilize many approaches to creating a painting, so this is just one of them. I will keep updating this same blog post with pics and descriptions as the stages progress. Feel free to engage in conversation with me through Twitter @useeverycolor

This painting has been commissioned to celebrate an engagement of marriage. The client gave me a few elements she wanted in the piece: Mountains in the distance, trees around the engaged couple holding hands, with a faint rainbow to symbolize eternal promise. I began with a very rough sketch to map out the elements requested by the client. At this point I already know of a few things I will change for the painting, but this is enough to get started.

The next step for me is just to get some paint on the canvas. A blank one is exhilarating, but can be intimidating as well, so getting some color down gets me started in the right direction. I painted the whole canvas black and then blended some dark browns, chromium oxide green, and transparent sienna to get my mind focused on outdoorsy colors. Some or none of this may be seen in the finished piece but that's okay. The point isn't to begin the images, but to begin the painting.

I now have most of the base colors in for the sky, mountains, and grassy areas. It's all still pretty rough at this point, but I will start forming out shapes next, starting with the mountains and then some signature Colorado aspen trees. (The clients live in Denver.)

Now we have some aspen tree trunks and about half of the rainbow. I am doing the rainbow in a bunch of highly diluted layers so it will have some transparency to it, like a real rainbow would. I've also defined some of the mountains on the right side. Next I will finish the mountains on the left and add some snow all the way across. Leaves will be on the trees next, too.

Leaves are on the trees now and more will probably be added later. I've also added more detail and tones to the bark of the trees. The rest of the details will come at the end. The focus now is on the couple, who are obviously the center of this painting. I have penciled them both in with a white (and purple over the light blue sky) Prismacolor pencil. The waxy colored pencil erases from the acrylic paint better than graphite so I am able to play around with the arm positions and such. The next step of course is to fill in the people with paint!

So here you can see the couple looking a little like Jim Henson's Muppets. The hands/arms are in different positions that on the original pencil sketch, since in the original it looked too much like they were giving a high-five. The man's shirt and woman's skirt will be plaid, but these base tones give me a bit of a map for shadows, highlights, and textures.

The man is now starting to have some detail and little-by-little I am getting things shaped out and shaded how I like them. Once all the plaid lines in his shirt are in, I can highlight areas of the stripes to give the shirt a more flowing look. His jeans will be given some wrinkles, too. The "blockyness" of the people will begin to relax as these features are completed.

Now come the most tedious part of the painting: Getting all the little details in and polishing up the loose places that need more contrast and definition. The man's plaid shirt still needs a lighter blue strip pattern added, and the female's skirt has a lot more plaid work to do as well. The progress made since the last photo is the highlights in the man's jeans, the base skin tones in the female, as well has her glasses. I've also added highlights to the man's hair and started making the female's hair to look wavy. Small grassy details are now in the area between the couple and more will come in around them. The next photo will be of the finished piece.



Here we have the final painting.
"Engagement"
8"x10" acrylic on canvas

Comments welcomed.

Bryan

Small Monster Paintings

Now that the "It's ALIVE!!!" exhibit is open at Rendition Gallery, I have made these two pieces available online at just $40 each. They will remain at Rendition until the exhibit closes, but you can purchase them now so they will marked "SOLD" at the gallery and you don't have to make the trip to Colorado to get them! More details at the listings for each. Just click the monsters to see the listings on Etsy.


Bryan A. Collins

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart
Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com

Hand Painted Skateboard Decks

"Man For All Colors"
Acrylic on maple skateboard deck
Approximately 32"x8" - $300 HERE


"From Above"
Acrylic on maple skateboard deck
Approximately 32"x8" - $300 HERE


"Singing a Chorus of Color"
Acrylic on maple skateboard deck
Approximately 32"x8" - $300 HERE

God bless,
Bryan A. Collins

www.bacstudio.com
Twitter - @useeverycolor
Facebook - www.facebook.com/bryancollinsart
Shop for art at www.bryancollins.etsy.com