Such Are the Ways

"Such are the Ways"
8" x 10"
Cut Paper and Glaze on Wood
Based on Proverbs 1:18-19

Shirt Design: Angry Viking

I made a t-shirt design this weekend, commissioned by my cousin Daniel, aka El Patron.  The process for the final design is kind of interesting, I think, so it will be described below.

I'll be making and selling t-shirts with various designs and art work on them for $25 a piece.  Let me know if you're interested in a custom shirt, or in this one in particular.

All in all, I think it's a pretty badass viking.


Check out other t-shirts I've designed here.

Plastic Wrap—Who Knew?

I watered down some green paint, poured it over a piece of paper, scrunched plastic wrap and smushed it down onto the paper between two pieces of wood.  After that dried, I repeated the process with watered down blue paint.  I was extremely pleased with the result.
I then drew on the paper, resulting in this drawing:

Untitled
8" x 12"
Acrylic and pen on paper

Spread Out

Nothing is anywhere that I can guess on the first try
So I lose myself in wondering where
and the white space strangles ideas,
Use them
QUICK
before they get killed.

"Broken Teeth"
18" x 24"
Sumi and acrylic inks, colored chalk,
charcoal, and paint markers

Learn more about Laura Converse here

I Lose Things.

I got up early this morning . . . something like 4:45.  Getting up early has its benefits (of course, not ONLY benefits).  I brought a large, rolled up drawing I'd worked on for approximately 5 hours yesterday to work on in a coffee shop this early morning. It was rather chaotically sticking out of my bag.  Until it wasn't.

Somewhere on the walk I lost it.  Having gone over my route 4 times,  I decided to say goodbye.  I must admit, though,  I really liked that drawing.  And I'm really sad that my airheadedness has such unfortunate consequences.

In attempts to move on, I pulled out a 3" x 5" piece of plexiglass, and painted it backwards.  I started with black paint on the back side, moving on to red, then grey, and finishing with white.  there's about 4 mm of plexiglass between what you can touch and what you can see.

"untitled on plexiglass"

Overall, I'm happy with the results of the experiment, but I'm still brooding about the loss of that drawing.  I was really excited about it.  I wish I could show you why.

Learn more about Laura Converse here

It's Your Call

At least half is in how it's taken.

Who touches it, and where

One must remember that motives matter,

[hunger for meaning or unused time]

and so does the life that preceded the glance

[broken from labor or lost at home]

whether clutching shredded bits into gut like tentacles of anemone

or reassembling the whole under microscope

or shredding with aimless scalpel

I have no part in any

and all happens as it will.

"Her Head"
12" x 12"

She Can't Remember

"She Can't Remember"
18" x 24"
Chalk on Paper

I'm really happy with how the expression in this one came out.



Get to know Laura Converse.

"Cold Inside"

"Cold Inside"
18" x 24"
Colored Chalk on Paper

I lost a big chunk of my thumbnail while working on this one.
It was worth it.




See other chalk drawings.
Learn more about Laura Converse.

Grace

I finally used this piece of paper I'd experimented upon with leftover watercolor droppings, salt, and some clamps (to keep it from warping).  I've learned that wasting things is completely unnecessary in art making, and supplies don't have to be fancy in order for the art to be good.

For the drawing part, I used orange and white chalk, charcoal, and an eraser.

 

"Grace"

Yeah, but . . .

This snarky watercolor was the second watercolor-only piece I've made.  I soaked the paper after I drew a pencil outline.  I sprinkled the painting with salt, to experiment.  That yielded the slightly speckled texture.

It's available on my store.

See more pieces with watercolor here.

Knife Painting

This was an experiment with both painting style and with art supplies.  I used two gessoed sketchbook backs and the under-frame of a torn canvas, and I tried my hand at knife painting for the first time.

 

The tools I used.

See more paintings.

La Inferma

I used two little blobs of paint for this.  Watercolor is so much different than any medium I've ever used, and I think I like it.
As an experiment I soaked the paper in my sink for about ten minutes, and then used some clamps to hold it to a piece of wood and keep it from wrinkling.  It stayed evenly damp throughout the whole process, which helped the colors merge better.

I think for my first watercolor-only piece, it turned out pretty well.

See other portraits, art pieces involving watercolor, or check this piece out on my store.

She's Underneath

How this was made:

• First, I affixed some patterned paper to a piece of wood.
• Second, I created a stencil using a piece of scrap paper.
• Once the stencil was complete, I taped it at the edges to the wood and sprayed it with lime-green paint.
• Finally, I added a layer of red tissue paper, and scraped off bits of it.

See more mixed-media art here.

Prints and the original are available on my store.

Please Stop Me

I used some strange materials to create this image.  I started with a crumpled up piece of hp photo paper that was bound for the garbage.  I then did the sketch with a uniball pen, and splattered on some orange-red ink and—strangely enough—vanilla extract.

This small picture is available for sale in my store.

See more of my mixed media portraits.

Lau: a spray-painted portrait

"Lau." Made with a 12" x 12" piece of wood, spray paint, and glaze.

Into the Light (spray paint portrait)

Made of two 12" x 12" wood panels and dark green & grey spray paint.

Watercolor experiment: Unauthorized

5" x 7", watercolor and sharpie.

How It Feels to Know Too Much

This is one of my early spray paintings.  It's 12" x 12", with black, red, and grey gloss spray paints on wood.

See more stencil work here.

Aftershock

Aftershock
by Michael Rumley-Wells

Flames leaped into the sky
and music roared and burst
and a thousand ideas for making
Life just what we want
crashed through my head
like the waterfall
where we sat quietly and listened
to its roaring; now it roared
inside and I knew
I knew I knew
I had what I wanted
and we would
never go back
there.

The serpent scratched
its ear with its hind leg
and I looked at the fruit
in my bare hand,
and I tried to pick one
out of the thousand.
They were fading now
along with the flames
and I wanted more;
another bite.


See other collaborative pieces.

The First Spray Painting

Making this picture opened the door to new medium experimentation for me. It was my first attempt at stencil-cutting and spray paint.

This piece is part of my Philippians series.

8" x 8"
spray paint and watercolor on vellum

See more spray paint art.