ford sketchbook

Oil Project

This weekend I laid the oil folios out in a grid on the floor of the studio to see what the over-all piece was becoming. This grid format is an interesting way to view the pieces. I had intended to bind the piece and turn it into a book, but after looking at it as a large grid, I am reconsidering. The problem I have with this format is that there are some beautiful visual textures on the back side of each of these pages that would not be visible.

 Below is a digital thumbnail of what the pricing information that I have been considering might look like loaded onto the page. I would use stamps and possibly oil rather than ink. These two contain the same information, but each page would be a progression through the months that these pages spent under the pickup. 

Ruddy Duck

Here are three frames from the Ruddy Duck animation, below is the animated gif, you may have to click on it to get it to run. 

There are still some decisions with this piece that need to be made. At www.perspectiveblend.com/ruddy_duck.html I have split the animation into rows and stacked them. The navigation will not lead anywhere at this point, but eventually each of the pages would contain information that relates in one way or another to the animation / subject matter. The gif's load at different intervals, so the animation breaks, if you scroll over the whole piece at the correct speed you can get it all aligned. This requires a bit of participation / interaction from the viewer, which is something that the sketchbook site has been lacking. So, this may lead me in another direction.

ford sketchbook

 The pages that were part of the type book transfer their toner when spray painted and pressed against the adjoining page. 

Ruddy Duck explorations again

ford sketchbook

thanks Banksy

Ruddy duck making another appearance.

water fowl

The studio is really starting to feel 'lived in' at this point. I still have a ton of work to do, but it is good enough to work in comfortably.

Some explorations toward the Ruddy Duck project, I feel like This drawing captures part of what I do in my sketchbooks on an individual sheet of paper (18x24). The thought with the project, is to do twenty four drawings like this with the duck at a slightly different angle and put those pieces into a 'cell animation' . . . 

Here is a detail that gets a bit washed out by flash. 

A detail from the tar paper and gloss white spray paint combination (24 x 50). This may be cut into strips and turned into an accordion fold book.

ruddy duck

From the "Ford" book, I am looking at repetitive imagery and the variations that occur within the reinterpretation. This is an example of a Diamond Dove that I have drawn a few different times in several of my books over the years. Working with that idea in mind, I am beginning a project where I will use the same subject over and over again. 

Here's a sketch of the fellow, a taxidermy ruddy duck on loan from the science department. My plan is to set some parameters and draw the bird daily from a slightly different angle, leading to a series that can be scanned into the computer and made into a cell animation. 

This sketch has some fairly significant texture surrounding it, but the hue and value combine to create an interesting image with the pen and ink drawing (center right page). 

It is always interesting to contradict of type face with the word that it is communicating. A bit of visual irony for your enjoyment.