Month: December 2016

Coolest Work of Art I saw in 2016

If you’re unaware, 2016 is rapidly drawing to a close. It’s been a bananas year. BUT despite all of that, some cool art got made!

I recently went to the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, WI where I live, and saw what I can hands down classify as the coolest and most awe-inspiring work of art I saw in 2016.

Rebirth, by Manabu Ikeda is jaw dropping. It’s a 10 feet by 13 feet work that is somehow monstrous in size, but unending delicate and complex. Created over a three year residency in Madison and with a dip pen and ink (yes, you read that right) there is nothing like seeing it in person. I feel genuinely lucky to have been able to do so.

final-manabu

The article written about it here shows more close-up details of the piece, and includes a small section of the 26 minute documentary about the piece that was shown at the museum. I highly recommend watching it.

It is truly an opus, and Ikeda is a genius.

CC:Otherworlds, a Patreon Project

I’ve hinted at this  long enough… time to actually spill the beans! The cat is out of the bag elsewhere on the internet (I have posted about it on my tumblr account as well as on my instagram account) and it’s long past time I mention it here, too.

I’m partnering with a friend (and overall awesome human) who is an author, to participate in a year-long art project called CC:Otherworlds that is running from September 2016-August 2017. Every fortnight (2 weeks) we draw a prompt out of a hat. Cislyn goes off and writes an amazing short story, and I go off and draw or paint something to the prompt. Then, at the end of the fortnight, we come together to share what we made.

We’re doing this project on Patreon, so our supporters on that site receive goodies based on their support level. Some patrons receive email copies of what we created and some super rad supporters receive (and this is the part we’re most excited about) mail copies.

We think getting things in the mail is neat, and we really want to brighten people’s days with little imagination packages. 🙂

The work we do for the project is shared just with our supporters, so it’s even more special.

But here’s a quick peak at what you might see if you support us!

We seal all our letters and stories with wax..

And we sign all our letters and art!

We’ve been working on this project since April, and started officially in September, and it’s one we’re both super proud of.

We love what we’re making, and we love that we get to share it.

If you want more information, or want to join us in our journey, check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/CC_Otherworlds

 

Snapshots of my sketchbook…

So I’m working on something Pretty Darned Cool (capitals required) and it’s also something I’m really proud of… but I’m going to reserve a whole post for it. Curious? Stay tuned!

(Hint: it’s called CC:Otherworlds, and it’s a year long, joint art project I’m participating in!)

BUT that is a post for tomorrow. 🙂
Today I figured I would share some of the things I’ve been doing in my sketchbook recently. Many of these have been posted to my instagram (@seeclairedraw) which you should follow if you like off-the-cuff snapshots of my work!

These were done using a little strathmore notebook I keep in my backpack, a waterbrush pre-filled with water, and my watercolor set and a set of water soluble pencils. In one case, I also used a dip pen.