K-18: A Tomato in Winter

Well, I haven't made one of these for a while so here's a "K" series improvisation. The "K" series is based on the idea of visual improvisation on the model of modernist artist Paul Klee. These are done in purely digital media, which is a lot of fun to play with, like an infinite set of "Colorforms." You may remember these enchanting visual toys where you put the colorful plastic shapes on a shiny black background. If I had to do this design with paint it would be a big job even for a small art piece. There is an image of a tomato in the picture which was my original inspiration, a red square the color of a tomato.

Photoshop, about 6 1/2" x 6 1/2", January 6, 2018.

A Jewish Detective on Darkover : More

Here's Dr. Levich, PhD in ExoSociology, still occupying his office at the Darkover Recontact Terran Agency. This illustration was never used in a magazine, but I think it makes a fair character portrait. I went to college with any number of guys who looked like this, but they didn't go on to be space detectives.

Original art is black ink on illustration board, 6" x 8", Spring 1983.

642: Prism Prison

This prompt from "642" was "a prism." I immediately re-read it as "prison." So I knew what to draw, a prison in the shape of a prism. It looks like there are five cells in this block and that there are many more prism prisons in this remote, rugged area. What crime do you commit to be sentenced to do time here? I would say, the use of "it's" as the possessive, but that is so common that there would be not enough space to put the offenders. 

Black tech pen ink on 642 sketchbook page, 4 1/2" x 7", January 5, 2018.

Overcast Twilight, Maryland August

Colored pencils, as I tell my friends, are instant gratification. You can be on site or at an event and as long as you have a place to put your pencils and sketchbook, you can capture the subject in painting-like accuracy. In August of 2006 I took a road and sketch trip through Pennsylvania and Maryland and encountered many different scenes of color and light. I did this landscape in central Maryland late in the day, with rain approaching. With that natural deadline I drew as much as I could, matching the darkening, muted colors of trees that were almost black in the oncoming cloud light. Though I struggled with the color balance on this one, I was able to catch enough of it to make a landscape moment.

Colored pencils on sketchbook page, 7 1/2" x 5 1/2", August 10, 2006.

Alpine Castle of Darkover

I dismantled one of my Darkover frontispieces for this piece, which I found in the family archive. I cut off the decorative border with an X-acto knife and glued the image to a little sheet of black matboard. The scene is inspired by the Alps and if I colored it in, it would look like imitation Maxfield Parrish. Which would look kind a good, maybe I should try it with the magic of Photoshop. I need to find the rest of these designs, even now many of them have not  been shown here.

Black ink and copier paper, 4" x 7", 1978.

They do NOT rot my brain!

As you would suspect, this is me, in the middle to late 60s, doing my favorite thing, namely reading comic books. (Note the ugly "cat-eye" glasses I wore at the time.) I had quite a collection in my high school years, of both DC and Marvel. My favorite characters were Dr. Strange and the X-men from Marvel, and Legion of Super-Heroes and Hawkman from DC. I often drew legions of my own invented super-heroes as well. My parents weren't pleased that I read comics, since they were not intellectual elite literature, but they didn't actively oppose my comics habit.

The usual outcome is that my parents threw the comic books out, but that wasn't really what happened. I did lose most of them, some due to reading it so much it fell apart, and others I just gave away to whoever wanted them. I returned to reading and collecting in the 1970s and I still have some of the great issues from that era such as Conan the Barbarian and the X-men saga of Phoenix. These are in bad shape unfortunately so I cannot make huge bucks selling them off.

I am now collecting comics again though not very many. I've watched different styles come and go and sometimes I "de-accession" (museum talk for "get rid of") them to other fans. But I never stop and I still have my own graphic projects waiting for me to continue my comics life.

Black ink on illustration board, 6" x 3", 1980.

The Cat of Amber

This piece was a commission from a Washington area fan, to be given to her brother, whose cat had just passed away. The elaborate setting is the City of Amber, my madly-detailed rendering of Roger Zelazny's enchanted built-up mountain. I published an excerpt of the City painting on this By-product in 2014. I think this picture is one of the best black and white pieces I ever did.

Black ink on Strathmore board, 7” x 10",  November 2001. Click on image for a larger view.

And with this Cat I let Year 2018 in the door. I do this with some trepidation given the deaths. disasters, and chaos of the past two years. I wearily say to myself and my friends and relatives, if we want to bring change or defend our way of life, the only way it will happen is if we make the effort ourselves, even if that effort is cultural rather than political or social. 2018
will also mark the 10th year of this Blog.