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Friday, November 6th, 2009
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We at The Despair Faction & Official AFI Message Board would like to wish you a happy birthday today!
The above photo was from Halloween. 1000 pts to anyone that guesses my costume. Two hints:
1. it has nothing to do with Eyes Wide Shut (i've never seen the film)
2. Comic book geeks i'm looking your way.
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Comments: Read 15 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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"Alas, I knew him!"
An illustration of Sam Worthington from the movie Terminator Salvation
oil on board
11" x 14"
Illustration By Tristan
Finally got the thumbs up on this guy and sent it off to the Society of Illustrators this morning. I had a ton of fun with this especially the skull as you may imagine. I feel like i pushed the mood on this piece more than any of my other work in the past. That's a technique i have to keep in mind going on.
if you've got any questions about it just ask. This guy's my favourite illustration and now hangs above my bedroom door.
( here are some yummy detail shots )
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Comments: Read 13 or Add Your Own.
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Monday, September 7th, 2009
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5"x5" goauche on watercolour paper
This was a fun still life that got me painting after a month of Freelancing with Macy's.
My wife wanted a new piece of art to fit this silver frame in our kitchen. she asked for bottles and colours that match the nesting dolls.
I pulled a few bottles from above our cabinets and sat down with some gouache. I've never done a real painting with the medium and it wasn't bad. I've always wanted to do gouache colour studies.
I told her they're fast and easy so if she needs anything else just let me know!
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Comments: Read 4 or Add Your Own.
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Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
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Dis-info-nation, a fold out album cover for the band Feeding the Fire
11 x 14
oil on panel
find more illustration at thewhiteleaf.com
This piece was essentially done AGES ago but i've been having a few creative differences with the client.
After lots of going back and forth through emails, phone calls and eventually photoshopped changes. The band agreed that my version was better than what they had in mind and the illustration should go to print in its original form.
This job was an interesting one.
You can now find me on tumblr, http://thewhiteleaf.tumblr.com/
( detail )
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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. .
About two blocks from home.
Believe it or not this is my wife and I after we've abruptly turned around to avoid the storm behind us! You know you're in a sobering situation when you champion walking into this!
As always, I was hoping for a Tornado to touch down. For some reason i felt as though 500+ mph winds would have no adverse effects on me or my neighborhood. I guess it's just the kid in me.
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Comments: Read 16 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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So i've been on a baby kick.
we've got SOME TIME so hold your horses but it's been increasingly on my mind.
After seeing Paris and Prince Jackson yesterday that pretty much sealed the deal.
i also think i NEED a little girl.
All my life i've been told i look like Michael Jackson. whip these genes up with my wife and I'm pretty sure i got great shot at brewing some GORGEOUS children.
Of course comes the inevitable name game.
I decided that all great black men have names that start with the letter M, e.g. Malcom, Michael, Michael, Michael, Martin, Marcus etc
So I gave Robin my suggestions for names and her replies went something like this:
Boys:
Megatron: No (had to throw it out there)
Marious : eeeeh maaaaaaaaybe
Maco: No (yes as in the shark!)
Mercutio: No (wtf why not?!)
Maxwell: Yes
Girls:
Gretchen, Gertrude or Guenevere (NOT GWEN NEVER GWEN!). She liked Guenevere the most but i like Gretchen. She thinks it's too granny but i say HEY that's the point! it's throwback! Told her if we have three girls expect the trifecta
Akasha: She all but refuses! COME ON! QUEEN OF THE DAMNED!!!
whatcha think? it's about time i father some US Royalty!
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Comments: Read 40 or Add Your Own.
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oh my goodness. Paris Jackson breaking down at her father's memorial today.
Not a dry eye in this house.
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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. .
Lady Justice, private commission,
16 x 20
Oil on Panel
find more illustration at thewhiteleaf.com
This is a painting I was commissioned to do. The painting will be given to the family of a young lawyer who passed away.
This painting got me thinking in limited colours again and more importantly about speed. I like larger pieces but for the sake of time i'm going to keep tighter deadlines smaller in size.
You'll find detail shots and progress images below.
( clever latin phrase )
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Comments: Read 14 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
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. .
I cashed in my credit card world points the other day and snagged a free deep fryer.
This is most dangerous to cool ratio item i own. It gets what i describe as "deadly hot" within seconds.
Keep all the health jokes and comments to yourself because everyone that has seen this thing in action has had the exact same reaction:
Gleeful delight and squealing followed by, "OHMG!" these french fries are awesome.
This thing cooks what i describe as "damn-good-sporting-event-concession-stand-quality-french-fries" in under a minute. Think i'm exaggerating? come on over I'm making spicy crispy chicken wings this FRYDAY!
On the polar opposite end of the spectrum we snagged the crock pot i've been pining for. So far we've made Mexican Casserole and baked four cheese pasta, both with about a 5-7 hour cooking time. The flavour this slow cooker opens up is unprecedented. I've never seen spices amplified like this. My fridge is busting at the seems with food. The Crock makes meals that feed dinner parties. I keep inviting people over and giving away food but there's still plenty left.
I'm currently gearing up for the 10 hour 3 packet pot roast; that's 3lbs of chuck! Who wants in?
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Comments: Read 20 or Add Your Own.
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. .
My buddy Justin ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) angryblue sent me a nice care package that arrived today. Gorgeous letterpress on this print.
You can find more of his work here angryblue.com and on the t shirts of people you see on the street if you pay attention.
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Comments: Read 7 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
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. .
This is something i've wanted to do for a while. We're packing up to move and my wife wanted me to take a picture of my setup...or should i say HER set up.
As usual one day i came home and my life was a lot easier due to my wife's redecorating/organizing gift. She moved my supplies to this tray and put the paints in these buckets. From there our IKEA addiction took over.
Here's the spread and how one can efficiently oil painting in an NY apt.
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Comments: Read 15 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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. . . .
. .
Sometimes i see it coming but more often i don't. Just like a bird that's firing around your house it's better to let it settle before you attempt to get a grip on it.
My wife doesn't doodle she decorates!
The above left photo is a corner of our kitchen. I had no idea what she had planned for those hanging baskets when she picked them up but at almost one year of marriage i've learned to stop asking "what are we gonna need that for." That's rookie talk!
First it held coffee, then something else, then something else i can't remember, then i think wine, then we got a wine rack and now it holds, 4 RED glasses, the current RED bottle of wine i cracked open this week, an empty milk glass with reeds and RED something or anothers. Clearly this matches the RED lunch box on the top shelf and the RED outlined bingo spinner she found online. Oh yeah what's that on the microwave? RED and white vintage S+P shakers. As i'm writing this she says she wishes the cabinets were painted something else but we're not allowed to do that.
In the photo on the top right we have the metal shelf that used to be on the right wall of her sewing nitch. It contains an assortment of old vintage sewing stuff that match. Not to mention the plastic containers that used to be ABOVE the cabinets in our kitchen, I have no idea how she got up there i just remember seeing them up there one day and now they're not.
Finally in the third photo almost nothing you see here was here before and I'm sure it won't stay there before our lease is up in a month. I did get her that Panasonic TNT 8 track player for the win.
What's my point here? I understand how and why everything goes where it does but i sure as hell could never put any of this together myself. There's a reason why rich men have black EVERYTHING in their homes. Expensive electronics are designed by men for men because we have no "real" taste in decoration; all men know this. Save for the few blessed with the gift of Jeffery Lewis <3 most men see organizing as putting things in a nice stacked PILE. We see decorating as throwing up a poster on the wall, framed if you really like it, signed and hard to find if you're trying to impress.
I'm learning though. I'm EXCELLENT at keeping things clean and i'm even getting better at putting things back where i found them. The latter gets difficult when where i found them changes so frequently. Nonetheless I enjoy my living, breathing apt of decor. I realized this when i threw a fit this week when we missed Target's sale on a bright RED crock pot. I NEED TO SLOW COOK POT ROAST OVER NIGHT! Today, i used my old World Points to purchase a deep fryer instead of a DVD or some other typical guy electronic toy. As i flipped through my options i couldn't help but appreciate how many home goods they had to offer. I later questioned what demographic i fit into now that I care more about appliances than portable entertainment equipment.
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Comments: Read 16 or Add Your Own.
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Saturday, March 14th, 2009
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Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
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Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
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Friday, February 27th, 2009
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Johnnie Walker Black on the rocks while I start tonight's painting, "see you in my nightmares."
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Thursday, February 26th, 2009
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Soooooooooooooooo i'm thinking atelier.
Grand Central Academy is here in NY:
The Water Street Atelier
Do i really have the time and or money for this?
am i too old?
someone talk me in or out of the idea of becoming one of these Atelier guys.
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Comments: Read 11 or Add Your Own.
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Thursday, February 19th, 2009
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. .
Holy crap!
the wife txt me saying UPS package arrived yesterday. I opened it to find that there's a certain friend out there who wanted to take my oil painting spread up a notch.
We're talkin TWENTY Mother Eff'n Holbein oil colours, 3 fresh tiny brushes, an Atelier drawing book, Williamsburg Cadmium Yellow Extra Deep and a Gamblin shirt that reads, "Galkyd Rocks!"
Hawt Damn!
I have a prejudice against Williamsburg paint of 1950's, deep south proportions. That single tube of paint is comparable in price to my current oils combined so i'll show leniency.
20 Holbein artist colours? wtf man?! That just changed the whole game:
Tri3's Pallet two days ago = minor
Tri3's Pallet today = MAJOR!
The Classical Drawing Atelier book is sick reading. With a buzz word as popular as "atelier", if you're an artist in NY and you don't know someone that isn't up on Atelier you shouldn't be calling yourself an artist. Some suggestions for your new title would be: common house fly, belly button lint, eff'n JOKE!
Atelier isn't the end all and be all of art, it certainly has it's criticisms but demands respect. I admire those that have the privileged of drawing for literally TEN hours a day at least 5 days a week for two years.
With artists like Jacob Collins and Steve Assael peppered through out the pages i'm going to have fun learning from this gift.
To my loving friend who just changed my game, i got your back. just you wait this gift-arms race has but just begun!
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Comments: Read 29 or Add Your Own.
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Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
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I'm not so much a "no excuses" person as much as I am a "just be honest with yourself and others" person.
First of all you're not fooling anyone you're just taking advantage of social etiquette. I personally believe most people know what truth someone's excuse is covering up. We're just too polite to call people out. We also do the same thing ourselves when it's convenient so wouldn't that just be the pot calling the kettle black?
Excuses cover up peoples real feelings because the truth leaves us vulnerable. We should expose our vulnerability. once we admit a weak characteristic we're much more likely to actually do something to change who we are. Hopefully we change into something we want to become instead of fabricating a more intricate excuse.
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Comments: Read 9 or Add Your Own.
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Sunday, February 15th, 2009
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I have my Pidge and Hunk models. Concept sketches to come.
I'm thinking 18 x 24 per painting.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Saturday, February 14th, 2009
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Hundreds of photos for reference
Countless concept sketches
Six oil paintings
Five lions and pilots
One Defender of the Universe.
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Friday, February 13th, 2009
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People should stop saying, "I'm too busy to create art" and should start saying what they really mean, "I don't have what it takes to create art."
For now on when people ask me, "what do you do for a living." I'm going to respond with, "Why do you ask?"
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Comments: Read 20 or Add Your Own.
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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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. .
. .
a couple shots of me in the Brooklyn Lab Brewin up something yummy. As always you can follow the progress here thewhiteleaf
updates later tonight.
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Comments: Read 11 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
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