A place for Dojo Members to post Usagi Yojimbo "Otaku" art and fiction. Display your artistic and/or literary works based on Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo here!
paper size is about 10 x 10" They are all basically the same composition - as you can see. I decided to stick with it because I think at this point there's a lot of learning in working within relatively tight parameters. I am getting a handle on the messyness of the oilbars - taping the edges works wonders! Also creating mood and space, trying limited colour palettes and experimenting with the blending stick. Still using the landscape as a jumping off point but diverging from it as my whim dictates. And of course just practicing with this new medium.
I appreciate any feedback anyone would care to give.
Hmmm, those compositions strangely remind me some of Salvador Dalí's works. A potential title for the latest one could be 'Cottonwool Swans Floating Above A Lake of Metaphysical Quicksilver'.
(Aaaah, Dalí. This man could dare absolutely anything. A real artist.)
Thank you Stan and Cosmo! That's definitely the first time my work's been compared to Dali. -kool! I usually get Klee or Miro or Kandinsky (which I don't really get) and I'm thinking a bit Lawren Harris with the landscapey ones but Dali! wow
anyhoo, here's a dark one for a change in palette:
I'm not sure how long I can justify keeping this going without Usagi content. Thanks to everyone who looked and especially all of you who gave me feedback.
morna-san wrote:I'm not sure how long I can justify keeping this going without Usagi content.
Not a big deal (to me). I like abstract art. (You could always start a non-Usagi art thread, I suppose.)
I know these are abstractions, but some remind me of a pokemon and his pokeball (or whatever its called where they compress and store them). So there's your Japanese related content.
august 27
this was my first plein-air piece. It's an abstraction of a bunch of rocks with some bridge structure in the background. As I was finishing it up an old guy walked up and said something like - oh a Picasso eh? I wasn't very happy with it at that point (I like it just fine now) and I was making self deprecating noises about I'm hardly the master he was and it's not my best work. He felt compelled to give me a pep talk and said if I don't believe in myself who will... kinda cute even though I felt my privacy invaded a bit but I guess one has to expect that kind of thing when one paints outside. People are just curious. Anyway I now realize he was referring to the fact that it's abstract and possibly a bit cubist looking. ha ha
august 28
From memory (and imagination) of a burn site we visited in Atlin - This is the second in a series of (so far) four. I am fascinated by this little green swampy area surrounded by burnt black tree trunks. I have done a couple of similar composition imagining how it was when the place was ablaze and just after the fire.
well, people are still looking so I'll post another one - This one I'm really excited about. It's number 16 out of the 17 (if you count the one I'm hiding from right now - it's being difficult) I've done since August 17
enjoy
... and remember feedback is more than welcome - even if it's negative!
here's that pesky one I was having trouble with earlier. Now it's one of my favorites. It was done au plein aire (outside) at Cattle Point which is a senic outlook on the water in Victoria where I live. Everyone was looking out at the water but I liked the rocks they had lined up as stops in the parking lot and the small Garry Oaks behind them.
... and here'a a pretty faithful rendering of a night sky we experienced two nights in a row up at Yellow Point. It was a Lawren Harris already so I just copied what was there - no need for abstraction! This was quite fast like an hour but the trend is for them to take more and more time - the one I just finished last night took over six hours!
thanks for lookin'
I still may do an Usagi in this medium one day if I figure how to abstract him in a worthy manner.
Gary and I went to my favorite painting spot and he shot photos while I painted, as a result I have two paintings with a photo reference of the spots I was looking at. The paintings were done the previous day and the light was completely different but you may recognise some common aspects to the photo and the painting. Also I tend to take liberties with composition so the big yellow in the piece was actually a bit off camera in the photo.
and the other one:
it's such a beautiful place. The colours and the textures and the wildness enthrall me. I am completely in love with those grasses - they show up in all my recent paintings
once again thanks for your indulgence and please leave a comment if you have a thought or two.
ps here's one of me at work under a Garry oak in this same park
I love looking at your work, especially with the photo references, but I just am not an art connoisseur or aficionado and am not knowledgable enough about modern art technics or styles to make any kind of meaningful comment concerning the work you are producing. It looks cool to me, but I have no reference point to compare or contrast it against in order to judge it.
I do hope you keep working at it since you seem to know what you are trying to do and definitely seem to enjoy attempting to do it. And I hope you keep posting your work for us non-artistic types to enjoy.
There is a lot of growth in your work. It now has a lot of confidence, expecially when compared to the ones right after you returned from your Alaska art course. Though there is a nice innocence in your early landscapes.
ok I wanted to wait to post again 'till I had this one photographed.... but first I want to say thank you to everyone who posted on here. It's been very encouraging to have you guys to show stuff to. Stan, thank you especially. I know how busy you are and it is really an honour to have your insightful comments here too.
On with the show! This is the big one so far. 14x18 " on wood panel with real gesso and all that! scary. It's based on Gary's birthday card, which is why I wanted to put it here - so one can compare the two. Sure the little guy is more dynamic - it's almost a given, but I do really like this piece especially considering the jump in scale and the completely different surface. I worked on it for three days and finished it Nov 1.
