Roxy's blog

Kwan Yin

2008-03-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a sketch of a figurine of Kwan Yin. I'm thinking of working it up into a finished still life. I'm working on drawing from life with colored pencils, and this is my latest attempt.

It's my birthday!

2008-03-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

It comes around once a year, and I'm one year older.

I've been working on some sketches from life to sharpen my skills. Here's a still life I did yesterday.

I found out many of my colored pencils are not lightfast. I'm going to have to decide what to do about that. I have so many pencils it's a shame to waste them. But then, it's not a good idea to have pictures that fade.

2008-03-02T12:17:00.001-08:00

Forgive the messy scan, but here's a sketch I did today. It's kind of a lazy day.

2008-03-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Welcome, March, the month of the beginning of Spring, and more importantly, St. Patrick's Day (which is also my birthday). To celebrate, here's a recent ACEO of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

I've gotten away from artwork for a while, once again. Work, of course, and now that I have some time off, I need to do some housework. I'll be working at the ACEO's again, soon. Part of the problem is finding photographs to work from.

At any rate, as usual, my artwork can be seen at Roxyart.com. I have some aeos up on eBay at the moment, too.

2008-02-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, a new ACEO. I'm sure you'll recognize it as the motif as twilight. Often, things are a matter of working out ideas, and sometimes redoing them. Of course, a skyline picture is bound to be more popular than a picture of queens.

As always, you can find more of my work at Roxyart.com.

2008-02-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

I'm doing a series of ACEO's. I'm finding I really like working small; I can finish them in a short time, without becoming bored. Anyway, it's a detail from New York's Grand Central Terminal.

As usual, my artwork can be found at Roxyart.com. I also now have a shop at Etsy, under the shop name Roxyart.

2008-02-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

So, I guess an artist's blog talks about the process of doing art. It's not an easy thing, so much of the process is nonverbal. What makes a person choose what subject matter? In my case, something I see just hits home and there's no good analysis of why that is. Color, composition, somethings you can't put into words. In drawing, you're analysing shapes and lines, but not, again in words. So what can I say about the process? Just enjoy the finished work, the process is all there.

I know I've been neglecting this blog. I've been doing work, it's just getting around to scanning that makes me procrastinate. Anyway, here's a new mini...."A New York Twilight".

As always, you can see my work at Roxyart.com.

2008-01-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

After putting this picture away for a while, I saw some improvements could be made. Here it is, again. I should say that this is 5 by 7 inches.

2008-01-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a new one in the series of miniatures I will be doing. This is another picture of the sycamore out front, just a branch, in winter.

I've been intrigued by the tree with its seed pods for a long time. It reminds me of the trees in children's books, a little fantastic, with goodies hanging from the branches. It always made me feel the delight I felt in those old books.

2008-01-24T13:14:00.001-08:00

2008-01-18T05:38:00.000-08:00

Well, nothing new today. Just wanted to remind folks that they can see my work at Roxyart.com.

2008-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Finally, something new. I've had to take a hiatus from doing artwork due to a particularly nasty and tenacious cold. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm starting a strategy for putting little pictures up on Ebay. Here's the first one, named Summer Sycamore.

2007-12-27T08:04:00.000-08:00

I'm trying again to post view. In the meantime, I've done more work on the dog. I'm not sure I like what I've done.

2007-12-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Christmas. I haven't much felt like doing much artwork, but I have been working on a picture of my sister's doggie. The first version didn't turn out too well, at least to my satisfaction, so I'm working on second. Sometimes, I have to do several versions to straighten out my ideas before I find one I'm happy with. For instance, here's an early version of a picture I call "View from L.I.C.". At some point, I will photograph and publish the final work. But in the meantime....

Oh, well, I can't find the file. So here's a bunny with a pancake on it's head instead.

2007-12-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

I finally have something new to post. It actually isn't all that new, I just got around to posting it now. It's the finish of the "Girl with Cat" portrait. It took partially clearing a diskette to do. I probably by some more diskettes. Do they even make them anymore?

Anyway, more of my artwork can be seen at Roxyart.com.

2007-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, I should be posting some recent work, I know. It's a matter of getting out the digital camera and taking pictures! Which, of course, means finding a diskette with some room on it. Whenever I think about doing that, I tend to wonder if there are any dishes that need washing, if the cats need feeding, or if I should have another cup of coffee.

I will get to it. In the meantime, here's another of my mixed media work. Yes, I know it looks like a vagina, it's not meant to. It's supposed to be a vortex.

Anyway, you can see more of my work at roxyart.com.

2007-12-15T06:35:00.000-08:00

Coming along with the artwork. Nothing to post right now, but I did practice sketching the Democratic candidates from the TV. It was challenging, since you only saw them such brief minutes at a time.

2007-12-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just haven't had much going on to report. So here's a picture I did a while ago, just to see my work when I was going through my abstract phase. It was fun, for a while, but I realized that my heart was really into drawing real subject matter, and evoking all that comes with people's and my associations. Oh, well, here's the piece.

http://roxyart.com

November 7, 2007

2007-11-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

It's been sometime since I wrote in this blog. Ah, life and money problems get in the way. I've been back at doing artwork, with the intention of doing portraits and miniatures and finally getting the quick sketch business up again. Meantime, here's my latest portrait.

2007-08-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

The issue of finding a job is taken care of. Therefore, I am back to doing artwork. I've decided to work on a landscape, and I've done the value drawing for it.

Right now, I've decided to have fun with my artwork. No rules, just do it.

2007-08-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a while. This is because my financial situation is making it hard to concentrate on artwork. Once that is settled, I should be doing some more work.

2007-07-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted recently due to work and family obligations. Also, I've been sick. I'm getting back to doing portrait samples.

2007-07-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've gone back for a while to doing portrait samples. I intend to do some pet portraits, too. This is a portrait of zydeco musician Rosie Ledet I've been working on. It has a ways to go yet...and I will update as I progress.

Once again, my work can be seen at Roxyart.com.

2007-07-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to post any artwork today, so here's a really bad joke:

A thief in Paris planned to steal some paintings from the Louvre. After careful planning, he got past security, stole the paintings and made it safely to his van.

However, he was captured only two blocks away when his van ran out of gas.

When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and still make such an obvious error, he replied,
"Monsieur, that is the reason I stole the paintings.
I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."

And now you're wondering how I had De Gaulle to send this on to someone else.

I figure I had nothing Toulouse......

See my work at http://roxyart.com

2007-07-05T11:00:00.001-07:00

If a in music there is such a thing as a ditty, then this is the equivalent in art. This is something I completed not too long ago, from an idea that has been incubating for a long time. There's something about the emptiness of a chair. It implies comfort to the viewer, perhaps, or it implies the absence of a person who's usually sitting in the chair.

I'm going to be going back to work on my picture of the Unisphere, hopefully sometime today.

Once again, you can see more of my work at roxyart.com.

2007-07-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Making a living can certainly take away from an artist's time. I try to think of ways to earn a living doing artwork. It's not easy. I see a lot of cat art sells, so I've made an attempt at painting of one. It's in acrylic, a picture of my Maine Coon Mix. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to serious artwork soon.

June 26, 2007

2007-06-26T11:25:00.001-07:00

I've been away from this blog, mainly, because I haven't accomplished anything with my art recently. I am trying to do outdoor pictures from life, but I'm still feeling my way to doing it. At any rate, it's way too hot to sit out and draw. Perhaps the evening. Just for the heck of it, though, I'm going to post a drawing I did a few months ago, but haven't had a chance to really photograph well.

It's called Cosmic Rose, and it's actually taken from a smaller work that I did long ago.

June 23, 2007

2007-06-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

This looks like it's going to be a day off from painting. I did some cat-sitting today, and I hope to get to some work later. I was working on the Unisphere, and although it's coming along, it's nowhere near good enough for posting...yet. I may work it into a larger version after I've done the small one.

I've been wanting to do a picture of the Unisphere since the 70's. Recently, people have used it for photography and movies. Men in Black comes to mind. At any rate, it has a surreal quality, seeing that globe in the middle of a landscape.

Oh, and since I finally remembered, I'll leave the URL to my gallery website. It's http://roxyart.com.

June 22, 2007

2007-06-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

I live in Queens.

Sometimes we miss the beauty in our own backyard. Media has trained us to believe only Manhattan in NYC is worth noting. The other extreme is landscapes that include nothing but countryside. Recently, I woke up to the beauty right here in this borough. I have started a series of little pictures just devoted to Queens.

This is the 59th Street Bridge, so called because when it goes into Manhattan, it exits at about 59th Street. It is also called the Queensboro Bridge, but older New Yorkers don't call it that.

I am presently working on a picture of the Unisphere. I will post it soon.

June 21, 2007

2007-06-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's time I put up some of my newer work, I suppose. This is a picture I just finished a few days ago, "Pigeon in the Park". The colors are muddier than they are in person, but it's the best I can do with this little camera. Until I can either get a new camera, or get these pictures professionally d0ne, this will be the best that I can do.

Anyway, the picture is 16 by 20, and is done in colored pencil on rag paper. Maybe because it's all around me, I'm getting used to New York images.