What a Catch!

The small lake that we enjoy in Michigan has been bustling with activity this year - like no other year.  There was a narrated tour with a local biologist leading an armada of 30+ canoes and kayaks, more than a dozen pontoon boats cruising or towing tubes with bouncing children on weekends, and a handful of anglers casting lines and apparently catching fish.  Off on the far shore we can still hear the loons, so know the activity has not scared them away, and from time to time I can hear the screeching and clacking of the sandhill cranes.

On his way to prepare for jet skiing, our nephew landed the beautiful largemouth bass, seen below.  The fish was clearly not too pleased to be out of the water and anxious to return to the lake (which he soon did!)

LJ with his Largemouth Bass catch!  Biggest we have seen out of this little lake!!!!

Jet skiing on a warm summer day!  It's great fun!!

Yep, here I am on a jet ski - awesome!!!! 

FYI - Cupcake #5 won on the 28th voting!  Thanks to all of you who participated!!!

Revisiting the Scribble

Remember, the creation of the corals all started with this technique of finding dimension in squiggles and scribbles. 

Notice in both of these sketches that the overlapping is the most powerful 3-D tool. 

...And the winner on Ben's Birthday is.......

On Ben's special day, it is time to vote for your favorite cupcake flavor from the choices below!  Please select ONE favorite by the end of the month and send it on the link below!!

Lemon chiffon cupcake with orange frosting

Dark chocolate cupcake with orange and milk chocolate swirl frosting

Chocolate cupcake with lavendar essence frosting

Orangecicle cupcake with vanilla frosting

Confetti cupcake with Mandarin frosting

Write in choice is the #6 option!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

Variations

It's mostly about color AND a little bit of detail in the bottom coral.....do you have a favorite????

Orientation Only

The only variation here is the orientation - I am fascinated by these every time I compare the images.......

Do you have a favorite???

Fair is Fair - There is a Free-Form Component Here!

With a basic foundation, making multiples is still just as time consuming, but the results are so intriguing to see, that trying each new one can be mesmerizing. 

These three images all have the same orientation, but the colors make them so different.......

...it is only fair to recognize that the quantity, volume and color of the base corals are all unique, as well, and contribute to the variations in aesthetics! 

Multiples

The complexity of each of the coral compositions makes each image unique and appropriate for one environment and not another.  Many artists, myself included, sometimes have to wrestle with that difficult decision of when to stop and when to try 'just one more' similar to the last one.......  Starting with a relief block makes the creation of multiples TOO easy.

Hand painted and inked relief print.  Arches 90 lb watercolor paper, FW acrylic ink, Inktense pencils activated with water and non-watersoluble pens.

......and it all started here.

Original image printed from relief block onto Arches 90 pound watercolor paper.

So Subtle

These two images are the same colors as those yesterday- - in fact they are the same images, but rotated. 

Does the shape of these rotated images feel different to you than the images you studied yesterday?  They should. 

These are the types of subtle differences that make us love or hate a painting or a photograph and help us decide what we want to hang on our living room wall and what painting we wouldn't carry through the front door.

Artistic Decisions-Do They Make Much Difference?

OK - you have probably figured out my pattern.  The two images on the past two pages are exactly the same, but rotated.  Because the base image is created with printed block, the resulting relief print can be manipulated in a variety of ways.  Below you will see the same orientation of the printed image, but the use of different colors.

Is there one image that looks busier to you than the other?  Does the addition of bottom coral on the bottom picture change the movement or layering of the coral arms above it because the bottom coral extends so much farther from the hub than on the top picture? 

What about the colors?  On the top image, the contrasting colors also vary in intensity while the intensity of the colors in the bottom picture are very uniform.  All of these artistic decisions impact the final product created by the artist.

Another Opportunity

Below are two more opportunities to check your vision and make some decisions about the two images.

Are these two images the same or slightly different????

What are your clues?

Checking for Details

Notice that the bottom-most coral in the first image is actually two different tones of purple.  just this use of color helps create visual questions about depth and distance that help the 3-D illusion of the image.

When color is added to the arms and leaves, a richness of depth is created.  Notice in the image below that the bottom most coral is also composed of two tones of green.  the darkest purple is also 'underneath' the arms of the aqua corals, which appear to be closest to the surface.

Here's another chance to move back and forth between two images to look for subtle differences.  Are they the same images or two different, but very similar prints - look carefully for clues.......it's a good Monday morning visual test!!!!

....with Intension

So, how do squiggles and scribbles move from warm-ups to something more deliberate?  The image below is actually a large relief print.  The sketch to create it began with scribbles emerging from a central hub.  My inspiration was different types of coral and  seaweed looking straight down through the water to the bottom of the ocean floor. 

I printed this image several times, using different colors, then began adding details and colors to create the richness of textures and colors in the ocean.  Below is an example of the addition of the bottom-most coral that everything is anchored to.

If you scroll back and forth between these two images, you will soon see more and more space created between the "arms" than appeared to be present when just looking at the first relief image.  These spaces provide many opportunities to push the 3-D illusion by forcing the appearance of overlapping and layering.  Check tomorrow for the added layering effect with the addition of color to the arms of the corals and the leaves of the seaweed.

...on Father's Special Day........

On this Father's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to share a "father anecdote."  My father was an avid hunter.  He began hunting at a very early age as a way of contributing to the family meals and socializing with friends who were also hunters.  In the off-hunting season, one of the things he worked to create (when he was not doing farm chores, working at the local dairy, or going to school, ) were duck decoys.  These hand made ducks were carved wood.  They usually had a screw-eye on the front of the breast to attach a heavy string with a weight on the bottom to anchor the ducks in place in the water.  They usually had a rudder-shaped steel weight running along the belly to help stabilize each in choppy water.  Each duck was hand painted and most resembled male mallards.

Mallard decoy hand carved and used many, many times - notice the wound to the head behind the bill and at 4 o'clock to the eye.

I am lucky enough to have a couple of these.  At one time, we had more than a dozen.  Decoys have changed tremendously since my dad made this beauty, but from start to finish, this was a labor of love for him.  Even when I look at the wooden blanks now available for the decoy assembler, they do not resemble a real duck in the way these do - of course, I am bias. 

Duck bill and head of the hand made duck decoy.

I think it is fabulous that LEGO is getting on board with animal representations - one of which includes the male mallard.  Pieces have been designed specifically for this representation  (such as the bill,) but it still looks like a LEGO creation at it's core!

LEGO mallard male.

There are some obvious differences between the two when placed side by side -

A mallard comparison.....

Size is the most obvious difference that you see right up front!  The decoy really floats and the LEGO model is not designed to be a floater.  I think the eyes on the LEGO duck are endearing and help him look cute.  Notice how small the eyes are on the decoy.  Beak color is very different, as well, and more accurate on the decoy.  Although not visible on the decoy, orange feet are appropriate for both.

Today it's a father ducks day!

What I love about the LEGO set is that the father duck is the one leading the baby ducks.  Although it is unfortunate that the mother duck is not a part of the set, I think it is very interesting that LEGO has decided the father is the one to feature with the offspring.

Thanks to LEGO for recognizing the important role fathers play in the lives of their children and Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere.   

3-D Techniques

Several techniques can be useful to help the scribbles emerge as three dimensional including patterned curves, overlapping and layering, one shape appearing to pass through another shape, and spacing of layered bands. 

A great warm up sketch!

Once completed, the red drawing, above, will be much more credible when all of the pencil lines have been removed and only the ink is visible.  It is important to let the ink dry completely before attacking the pencil, however.  One red smudge and the 3-D illusion is broken!!!

Does it look different when it is anchored to the wall instead of the floor? 

Creating Three Dimensions

There is something very intriguing about creating a three-dimensional illusion on a two-dimensional surface.  Pulling shapes with volume from a mass a squiggly scribbles is one way to push your skills in manipulating the space.  Notice the pencil lines on the surface of the paper.  The black lines reveal the first attempts to pull shape from those pencil lines. 

Early stages of the three dimensional push!

Being careful to define shapes in front AND shapes behind further defines depth and distance on the entire page.

These types of drawings are useful for galactic images - nothing has to be anchored!

Even though it is very simplistic, the combination of curved and straight lines also contribute to the illusion of volume.Notice that the largest "piece" appears to have anti-gravitational properties since it is not anchored to anything....it hovers.

Always Intriguing!!

At the same time I was working on the octobook, I was also working on the glass jelly fish that I featured on this blog's header a couple of months ago.  The Mote Aquarium, in Sarasota, maintains several tanks of different jelly species that are mesmerizing to watch.

Since I had a renegade jelly sketch from my sketches and thoughts about creating a glass version, I have included one of the sketches on the inside, back cover.  It's just a quicky sketch and placed on the back cover so that it would not remain blank.  It would be a good study to learn more about the relationship between the octopus and the jelly fish - who attacks who, who eats who ?????????  Kind of a sociological study, just the like the work environment studies.........you know, who attacks who, who stings who, who eats who.........hmmmmmmm?????????

Small Man-O-War Jellyfish - Swimmers beware!

Below, you can catch a glimpse of that second pocket page, with tags, as well.......

These jellies, in isolation, won't kill you, but from what I have heard, it is a VERY unpleasant interaction - one to be avoided!!

So where is the octopus, you ask.  As quickly as she frenzied into a rage and turned intense shades of burgundy, purple and ochre-gold, she turned a combination of milky beige and grayish white, and went into hiding at the bottom of the tank, behind a stack of cinder-blocks.  Road rage can't hold a candle to this lady's aggression; it sure would be nice if tempers calmed as quickly on the road as this octopus demonstrated in the tank!!

Notes???

The Cricut program I used for this particular minibook also contains pocket folders that fit right in to the binding system.  When packed with custom-made octo-tags, there is a built in way to catch some portable notes, and return them to be housed with the octo-book later.

I think these tags would look great with raffia ties, but I am afraid they will be way to bulky...

Raffia would add a nice texture to to aesthetic look, however!!!

Are Cuttlefish Cuddley???

Every time I see a cuttlefish, I think it should be looking for it's shell-home and that shell should look like a little Nautilus.....appropriate, I guess, since they are in the same family, genus, family, species in the biological sense.   The cuttlefish does not appear to have scales, and looks soft and fleshy (although not slimy.)  When I recently asked a S.C.U.B.A. diving friend if he had ever seen these on dives, he responded that he has occasionally seen little ones in the Mediterranean, but not the Gulf of Mexico. 

The inspiration for this drawing is actually about 3 1/2 to 4 inches long.  From the top of the snouty arms (8 of them in all) and tentacles (2 of them,) to the tip, it a max of 2 inches.  A ruffle runs from behind one eye, all the way around the length of the body, and stops just behind the second eye.  This ruffle is constantly furling and appears to be the propulsion and steering device all in one.

I know there are bigger varieties of the cuttlefish, but the largest I have seen in an aquarium is 4 1/2 inches in length.  There is a flamboyant cuttlefish in the Tampa aquarium that is illuminated by black light and it is filled with neon highlights and bumps on a beautiful purple body.  Structurally it look just like these beige, pink, and sandy-colored cuttlefish, however.

Cuttlefish have 4 types of body changes that are used in deliberate combinations, to communicate.  These visible polyphenisms (body changes for communication,) are:
     Chromatic - skin color
     Textural skin rough or skin smooth
     Posture
     Locomotion

Of these 4 observed polyphenisms,  there are 34 chromatic, 6 textural, 8 posture and 6 locomotion patterns in most observed cuttlefish and more in the flamboyant cuttlefish variety.

Flamboyant cuttlefish:
     Chromatic 42 - 75 variations
     Textural 7
     Posturing  14
     Locomotion 7

Three color patterns have also be documented:
     Uniform
     Mottled
     Disruptive
Each cuttlefish can display one "message" on one side of the body and a different "message" on the other.  Handy for courting a mate AND fending off a possible rival at the same time.

Cuttlefish sometimes use of these polyphenisms and patterning to signal future intent.  For example, a male will adopt a zebra pattern on the body and a "dark face" when threatening to attack.  A female can visually distinguish a male from a female and will only display "splotch" patterning to another female.  She has a different color and patterning display when interested in mating and will only display to a male.

What interesting molluscs these are - know more than you wanted OR are you intrigued???