Galleries in Harbor Country are having a charity event

Several galleries in our area are hosting a charity event this Saturday and I designed a poster for the gallery that represents me, the Craig Smith Gallery. I create a lot of the promotion material for Craig including ads and posters.


Here is the rough sketch that I started with to establish the design.


The finished poster which was created on the computer.


My fiancee, Gloria Bursey, Mary Kay representative, will be on hand for beauty consultations. She is also the author of 50 WAYS TO FIND ROMANCE AFTER 50 and will have her book available for sale. The painting in the photograph is one of my new paintings which the gallery will feature as well as the work of the other artists. A percentage of all Saturday's sales will benefit The New Buffalo Service League which supplies financial and volunteer support for various charitable organizations in Harbor Country.

More graphic design work

Here is another promotion brochure that I designed to show off some of the paintings in my new series.


I usually do a small sketch of what I have in mind and use this as a basis for the final design which I create on a Mac G4 computer.


Above is the finished cover. Craig Smith, of the Craig Smith Gallery in Harbert, Michigan, has this particular painting displayed in the Soe Cafe in Sawyer, my home town. Many residents of Chicago have second homes in our area and having paintings displayed in a popular restaurant gives my work a lot of exposure. Craig also has many of my paintings and sculpture on display at Port 412, another popular restaurant that is located in nearby in St. Joseph.


The rear cover and below, the inside spread.


Brochures like this can be given to potential buyers, art centers and museums. I always make sure that Craig has a lot of then avaiable in his gallery. It's essential that artists promote themselves whether they are in the fine art or commercial fields.

New computer sketch for a painting

The twelfth painting in my new series will be based on these new computer sketches that were just completed. The computer allows me to quickly create several versions of an idea for evaluation. These sketches are just a beginning point, the painting will most likely go through many changes before completion.




This version intrigues me quite a bit, I may base the painting on it.


Another interesting possibility.


I like the black shapes on the figure in this version. This version is actually a negative of the second study.




Doing studies like this on the computer has real advantages as once you establish an idea it's quite easy to do several versions. I could probably do thirty more without any problem. Using traditional mediums would be an arduous undertaking.
I'm probably going to start painting this afternoon, so I'll be making a decision on which sketch to base the painting on soon.

Have a happy Thanksgiving Day !!!

Digital experiments: New Landscapes

I've done a great deal of experimenting with my computer. These images are part of a series that I call NEW LANDSCAPES. I don't plan these images, but just start working on a white background building up the image gradually. I like working this way as often interesting effects and accidents happen that couldn't be planned. This technique seems most natural to me when working on the computer and it's a great way to practice color and design studies.










These were all done using the Photoshop program on a Mac computer.

Having fun with Dali

I was recently working on some self promotion brochures and found some images that I thought I'd share with you. When I first began working with the computer I did a whole series of parodies on the fine art world. My favorite artists to parody were Dali and DaVinci. Below are a few of the Dali parodies that I did in Photoshop 5.0 on a Mac computer.


ANTICIPATING A CALL FROM MAGRITTE


LONELY PINEAPPLE AND FALLING MANGOS


DALI'S BANK AT PORT LIGAT SUDDENLY EXPLODES


COMING STORM


THE DEATH OF AN AUTOMOBILE


POTATOES

I think that Dali would have loved the computer, he would have certainly come up with some wild photomontage ideas !

Predictions from the 1930's

On my last post I showed some of the posters that I design. I often do crazy ones just to send to friends. Recently I found a very old photo from the 1930's of my mother holding me and the ideas started flashing through my brain, it quickly became a funny poster. This is also a great way to practice and experiment on the computer.




My mother was right, Gloria did throw a big party for my 80th birthday !