MY BRUSH WITH FRISKET

So I bought a jar of liquid frisket last week and I've completed my first experiment with the stuff. Improvements will surely be made on future projects but, for now, you have to look at this thing.

IVAN SEAL

I first saw Ivan Seal's art on the cover of The Caretaker album An Empty Bliss Beyond This World. The cover art featured a still life of what seemed to be a larger-than-a-human-head ball of grey clay and a single match stick poked shallowly into its side. Because of this design, the form and shadow-play were simple yet highly visually intriguing. At the time, I figured the art to be a one-off made perhaps by the musician himself.
After almost a year later the same musician had released a couple more albums, each featuring artwork in the same style as the previous cover. My interest had peaked and a quick Google search revealed Ivan Seal to be the culprit behind these mysterious still life paintings.
Ivan's work is quickly becoming an inspiration to me as well as a challenge to explore color in my own art. His eye for the minimal combined with a knack for precisely executing a piece leave the viewer with a crude looking beast that draws you right into its world. I'm thinking I should never look Mr. Seal directly in the eyes if I were to meet him, or my own soul will be stolen and captured away into his next painting.

the image below is Ivan Seal artwork for the album Bleaklow by The Stranger. Incredible depiction of nearly no light source here.

 

DAILY REFLECTION

It's noon on Sunday and I'm indifferently anticipating the odd hours I'm scheduled to work tonight. From 6pm Sunday to 6am Monday I will be a part of a six person team assembled to rearrange a large portion of the art material store where I'm employed. Although the job will be tedious, we'll obviously be working  while the store is closed so we'll have some liberties on our side; i.e: Hopefully I'll be able to listen to my mp3 player, for which I'm constructing a handful of time-destroying playlists! Overall, This should be an interesting change of pace. A pathetic change of pace, perhaps, but I've been taking my spices of life in small and modest doses.
My typical week is made up of days that almost mirror each other. With the exception of working either the morning shift or the evening shift, it's often a "same sh!t different day" kind of world when I'm working 9-5. Sure, the world around me pokes back in different ways at almost every turn: I'll run into a friend at a random place and time, or a car almost runs me over at a random place and time. So really the week days are more accurately a series of funhouse mirrors; each one adding a bit more distortion to the last, or one mirror might even cancel out some distortion from the previous one. Who knows?!
So I'll take my tedious shift and be utterly exhausted and delirious by Monday morning, and try to master the whole thing with a smile on my face. After all, the funhouse mirror is the cheapest and safest thrill in the amusement park. I think I'm tall enough to ride the roller coaster though...