02/29 - Over the river and to New Bedford and then off to New York we go...

This afternoon I head to NY for first Thursday gallery night in DUMBO http://www.facebook.com/DumboCulture411, to meet with the curator of my show (CAM http://www.craiganthonymiller.com/) in the first of several trips leading up to my show opening next month. I can't believe it's almost here! 

Have a lot to do today (pick up prints at Just In Advertising, pick up paintings at storage and Muse Studios, drop off work at UGLY, get my hair cut, come back to Prov. pack, make veg juice, etc ) but before I go I want to post the print I made yesterday. I'm incredibly proud of this one:

Do to the nature of silk screen, each print is it's own individual work.

Please note: Prints of this work are available as part of several pledge/investment packages in Kickstarter thru March 18th, 2012: http://kck.st/xcgP15

Okay - gotta go!

02/27 - Just got photos back from photographer

Took some work to my portfolio photographer Chuck Pappas and I'm really excited. Chuck knows how to make the colors in my work POP! His work is incredible - I'd be sunk without him.

As a reminder - copies of the work are available as part of the rewards program for investors on my Kickstarter page: http://kck.st/xcgP15. However, both prints and the original works will be available at my one man show this April at ReBar, 145 Front Street, Brooklyn.

"Stay out of the pool" - oil on acrylic and aerosol, chalk and oil crayon on 4' x 5' canvas $4,800

"

"Un simple soldat" - oil on acrylic, pencil, marker and oil crayon on 4' x 4' masonite $3,400

"Waiting" - oil on acrylic and aerosol, oil pastel, chalk and pencil on (one of a two panel piece) 3' x 5' canvas. Price to be determined.

"Men in bear suits, men in jail" - oil on acrylic, and oil pastel on canvas 16" (?) x 24" (?). $850

02/27 - A little worn down

A bit exhausted but have to keep working....just posted my 5th blog update on Kickstarter http://kck.st/xcgP15 - I'm really excited I get to start working on my new brochere and having posters/color prints of my work made because my photographer just called to say "I'm all done!". I'm also psyched bc I have 9 Kickvestors - 20 days to go and the project is 18% funded!

Have tyo go showere and get to the photog's studio but here's some picks of silk screen work I've been printing and reworking at AS220 this last week:

I've added, in pencil, the title:  "My toe points me in the appropriate direction" up the side of the print. 

Title - "Private property: Not for use without expressed permission from owner"

"Un bridled enthusiam" and "Pride. I am a man" drying on the rack.

"Ek het ongebreidelde entoesiasme wat nie verlore

gaan, maak nie saak wat jy doen vir my" ( I have unbridled enthusiam, that cannot be lost, no matter what you do to me)

"My toe" on black

"Pride: I am a man, I am here, I am here. And everyday I earn my place" - finally fini!

Untitled for now. Working on appropriate text - they are boys who dug for coal during the depression. Rethinking the print though....it needs a little brown...

1/2 of "Waiting" - just like the oil painting, the print "Waiting" is a 2 panel.

2nd 1/2 of "Waiting"

Oh, so tired but off we go to get on with the projects of the day....

02/21 Tuesday at AS220

So, after doing repair on a damaged canvas I headed off to AS220. Only got one piece done but for the show and as a Kickstarter reward but there we are...

And the base illustration for a print tomorrow (below):

"My toe points me in the appropriate direction"

This work, like all the work I'm doing right now, is for both New York and in prperation for Kickstarter pledge rewards. To help support my one man show in New york this April please go to:  http://kck.st/xcgP15  and pledge. Whether it's a $5 pledge or a $500 pledge every penny will help me reach my goal and every donation has it's rewards...!

02/21 - more work on Kickstarter

Yesterday I put together a video - I think it would take maybe an hour....2 1/2 hours later and I have a video. Will have to try again but at least I have a start:

 http://kck.st/xcgP15
I also learend how to make a QR for the Kick page, which'll be made into stickers and posted around town....so much work!!!!

02/21 - Is it today already?

Although I don't really take a "day off" I'm still dissapointed that my work week has started again. I'd really appreciate having more time ot get things done....

Yesterday, Tues. the 20th, I lost most of the day making a vid for Kickstarter and then, at the end of the day, had a catastrophe happen. One of my paintings fell over, hit the back of a chair and suffered a huge rip in the canvas - it's one of the best paintings I've ever produced so I'm devasted but I'm hoping my efforts to repair the damage will pay off.

This is the 2nd time I've done this portrait and, although this one is MUCH larger than the first and has a completely different feel, the 2nd portrait has been damaged and in the exact same spot as the first, however, I'm not just going to throw the work away this time. This time I'm going to use patience, diligence, a little bit of know how and some welcome advice to repair the piece..... before falling into complete dispair and ripping it off the stretcher.

I feel like I spend 1/2 my time fixing mistakes and redoing work that should have been done right the first time - I hate wasting time. Hopefully I'll find my rhythm today - I'm headed to AS220 this afternoon to print two designs and emboss some already printed silk screen illustration. Fingers crossed that today will go smoothly......and focus, focus.

To see my Kickstarter vid, read about my Kick project and to review rewards for investing in my project please go to: goo.gl/Xzj7p

Okay off we go to try again.

02/19 Sunday - paintings

My focus is the production of 18 or so prints right now but before I head out to the printshop, everday, I spend my some time working on the production of paintings. This is what I've been up to the last few mornings:

 "Where he is eaten" is a piece I developed a couple of summers ago. I kinda loved it, kinda thought it was what I wanted it to be but after I pulled it out of storage the other day I saw how raw it really is and knew exactly what I could do to make him come alive.

The colours are pushing the image and emotions ( his sadnes, his disappointment) out - it's popped.

"Un simple soldat" is based on a picture of a young Russian soldier during WWII. He's always felt a little off to me, not quite finished but having time away from him has given me the clarity to know what has to be done to make him a completed piece -  I smoothed out some spaces that have bothered me, added text and NOW I  painting I wanted.

If Google translation is correct the text should read:

       " Alone in my sorrow, alone in war, my heart does not feel my mother's heart"

"Madame" is a portrait of Madame Chiang Kai- shek a key figure in recent Chinese history. I've been a little obsessed with her face since I first saw it as a child.

Detail of "Madame" so far.

All the work posted is being created for my one man show coming up in Brooklyn this April. For further information on the show, my progress, my plans, how you can help and more  -follow me on Kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/becklaneartist/beck-lane-artist-taking-my-work-to-ny?ref=email

02/19 Sunday

So tired and so much work to get done but here's pics of what I've been up to at the AS220  Printshop http://www.as220.org/printshop/ the last few days:

Prepping paper

Blocking out 3 images to print out one color layer at a time

Work on the drying racks. Printed illusrtation of a young girl ( design is untitled as of yet) waiting for the last color while the cscreen for "Pride", on the right, is prepped and ready to go. 

"Pride", on the right, underway

Was going to add one more colour but I'm going to leave it the way it is. I like her delicate resignation.

The colours for "Pride", like most of the colours in all of my work, were a fluke - unplanned, last minute and random in choice but I like them. 

His face is more sinister than I wanted but I'm going to leave him be, let him be who he is - I enjoy accidents. There's magic in the boo boos and people have reacted well to him.

"Pirde" drying, "My pet" being printed.

The bottom grey coat of "My pet" is a silver colour. I grabbed a container of what I thought was white off the AS220 shared inks shelf, started mixing and got a silvery tone. Shocked me at first but I really like. 

The work is sitting and drying - Sunday I'm going to try to emboss them with doilies and other shapes. They feel finished but I want to take my work one step further and make it totally tight.

02/17 - Kickstarter

Kickstarter link: http://kck.st/xcgP15
Beck Lane: my first one man show in Brooklyn NY!

Okay the pressure is ON! Finally got my project posted on Kickstarter - take a look see, like, share, donate! But, in the meantime, over the next few weeks, I'm going ahead with plans:

• Copies of my paintings will be printed starting next week
• Some of the new work is headed to my photographer on Wednesday
• A new work/portfolio brochure will be developed and produced by Newport graphic designer Lori Bates the 2nd week in March
• and I  will be spending at least 3 days a week at AS220 printing illustrations for Kickstarter investors and the Brooklyn show

Today, Saturday 02/18 - I'm off to AS220 to pull silk screen illustrations. Time to work, work, work, work, work...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/becklaneartist/beck-lane-artist-taking-my-work-to-ny?ref=email

02/16 - One work in stages

Although I have several projects going including a large, small print project I'm looking forward to having the time to finish this one up - the colors are what I'd wanted, the look is almost spot on. I just want to get it finished:

The glare is distracting but that's what I got - the painting is only a few steps away from being done but. However, on top of working on the usual amount of paintings (5-7) at once, I'm juggling several other projects including developing and printing 18 or so illustrations, setting up a Kickstarter account to help fund my upcoming show, organizing work for the photographer and brochere desgner, developing tshirt designs, getting the new wedsite done and up, organizing work for the printer so I can start selling small posters of some of my paintings. There's a few other bits going on but that's the bulk. That and trying to take Bugsy and Tigers into consideration - it's easy for me to get lost in all my work and leave these two behind.

A piece of work that's always in stages.