In General, In Progress, In Situ
In General, acrylic on found wood, shown in progress, 2008.
In General will be in my upcoming solo show, Idiolect. (Idiolect is a word that means personal language.) Idiolect opens Friday, May 2, at AKA Gallery in OKC's Paseo District. The show runs through the end of June and will be open during the annual Paseo Art Fest.
Here's a closer look:
In General, shown in progress, detail view, 2008
Normal, OK: Pernell Foster
Normal, OK: Pernell Foster. Mixed media, 2008
Pernell Foster is fixin' to say somethin'.
Pernell Foster lives next door to Katie Hennepin, on his grandfather's homestead. He finds Katie's geodesic dome offensive, but harbors a crush on her. His repressed feelings gradually steer him into organic farming.
The background of this piece is acrylic on Rives BFK paper stretched over a particle board panel. (The swirly colors represent his feelings.)
Pernell was created using the acrylic gel transfer method detailed here and here.
Normal, OK: Pernell Foster. Ink on paper, 2008
Normal, OK: Pernell Foster. Conceptual sketch, collage on paper, 2007.
This is the kind of quick collage-sketch I often use to begin a character. I bring together many visual sources and compile them into a new conglomeration. It's quick and dirty, a great visual tool.
Scarlet Letters' Art-Making Advice
This, another good list of creative process tips (I seem to be on a kick lately), could be boiled down to one crucial point: Do the work. Do the work. Do the work.
I have to remind myself of this quite often.
Normal, OK: Signs
Philli I. Acrylic on found plywood, 2007
Oklahomans, myself included, spend a lot of time on the road. Route 66 is an integral part of our heritage. Arterial interstates whisk us from state to state. Along the road, an archaeology of advertisement emerges: billboards with missing panels, hand-painted text, and panels rearranged so the ads become illegible. Advertising is supposed to be shiny and bright; signs that are old, awkward, or broken are uniquely endearing.
Los Tres. Mixed media sketch, 2007.
Using copious reference photos taken along Interstate 40, I create mixed-media paintings, allowing the forms and typography to become increasingly abstract. Objects like gas meters, dilapidated sheds, silos, water towers, and corrugated steel warehouses punctuate the sharp horizon. Institutional greens and rusty whitewash clash with the blue expanse of sky. These lonely inhabitants of the landscape creep into my abstract compositions, taking on their own identities. Character follows form follows function.
Normal, OK: Edmond "Mundy" Tulsa
Mundy Tulsa, Present Day. Acrylic and collage on found panel, 2007
Edmond Tulsa was born to a man who was hoping for a boy. Everyone calls her Mundy. She is a prodigious baker, and wins many bake-offs and Opteemah County Fair ribbons. Her family's money went down with Penn State Bank when the bottom dropped out. But Grampa Dewright Tulsa had placed gold and silver coins inside sections of pipe and buried them in the backyard. One day Mundy undertakes to dig a vegetable garden and discovers the coins. This becomes the startup capital for Miz Mundy Cookies, and later Mundy Buns. Mundy Buns grows so successful that Mundy gets a buyout offer from Nabisco. She declines for reasons of personal integrity. Soon after, she strikes a deal with Dobbin Wynn to be the exclusive concessions distributor for the Dobbin & Dixie Family Film Fest. The Mundy Buns plant remains the economic heart of Normal. In 1998, Mundy hires Katie Hennepin to help her branch out into organic baked goods.
Mundy was created using the acrylic gel transfer process detailed here and here. I applied the image transfer to a former cabinet door that I found at Habitat For Humanity's OKC thrift store, Renovation Station. That shiny knob in the lower right corner is the door handle.
This is the original drawing:
