A True Believer

Another series of drawings I have been working on is for a graphic novel called the Man in the Basement. It is a ghost story. I have about 25 of the drawings done so I will be posting them here. Here is one from the book

"A True Believer", Charcoal on paper, 9"x6", 2009-10-11

A coloring book for Christmas

I drew a ten page coloring book for Christmas this year and gave them away. The parents wouldn't let the kids draw in them because they all felt they were to precious. It was a coloring book, I brought crayons.

Here is the cover and an interior picture. The entire book can be found here:

http://www.braindeadaesthetic.com/pages/Neeko_coloring_book.htm

Grasshopper

Over the summer I have been drawing a lot of insects, this is the most recent. Currently almost all the other drawings are in a gallery show. I became much more fascinated this summer with cicadas than normal and collected over twenty nymph husks, which they leave hanging on trees after they emrege from the ground.

This grasshopper was caught while out walking the dog and I took it home. In the big picture it means nothing but I killed it before using it in my studio.

“Grasshopper”, Charcoal pastel on paper, 15” x 22”, 2009-10-03

Portrait of a Young Woman

I drew a portrait of my nephews girlfriend yesterday. I met her at his graduation last spring but didn't catch her name.

"Young Woman", Graphite Pencil on paper, 7"x5", 2009-10-04

Halloween Art Trading Cards

Here are a couple little Art Cards I drew while watching Project Runway on TV. Shading under the flickering light of the old tube.

"Poor Yorick", Graphite pencil, 2.5"x3.5", 2009-09-10



"Happy Skull", Graphite pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-09-10

Color Wheel

For this drawing of a color wheel I used cast off husks from cicada nymphs they left hanging to tree trunks.

“Color Wheel”, Color Pencil on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-09-01

Wasp, Swatted

A couple days ago I was eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. A wasp landed on the middle of the paper and started pouring over the editorial page. I got up, went to the pantry, grabbed a fly swatter, and went back to the kitchen. whatever the newsmen had written must have been of great interest to the wasp because it was still crawling along the text, I guess it was a slow reader. I gave it a swat with the fly swatter which pretty much did it in as much as it curled up with its head on backwards. Every the optimist I took it up to my studio and put it under the magnifier.

End of story here is the drawing. “Wasp, Swatted”, Charcoal on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-09-10

End of the Serenade

Here is another drawing in my new series of Insects. This cicada had been run over in the middle of the street and I peeled it up from the pavement. It is drawn in charcoal with gray pastel and just a hint of green.

“End of the Serenade”, Charcoal pastel on paper, 15” x 22”, 2009-09-04

Woodcut Little Dog

I finally pulled the edition on this Art Trading Card sized print and let it dry. It is of a little dog my niece had at my parents last year. The dog was mostly black and white and I put it on a green background.

"Little Doggy" 2.5"Wx3.5"T, Wood Cut Print, Three color, 2009, Edition of 10

What is brown and sounds like a bell?

Dung. Or a Dung beetle to be precise. I found a dung beetle in my basement, it had crawled out of the ash pit under the fireplace. I have never used the fireplace but the grackles drop all sorts of crap down the chimney including themselves. Beetle Heaven.

This drawing has over twenty hours of work into it, I find color pencil can be very tedious to use but has a look that can be worth it. For me the color study was about texture and the nature of the grid work applied to the background and the beetle.

“Dung Beetle”, Color Pencil on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-08-18

Bat, After the Fall

“Bat, After the Fall”, Charcoal pastel on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-07-11

I found a dead bat in my studio a while ago and I set it on a plate and left it to molder. The wings and legs came off the carcas when I last moved it so I did this drawing. It is still on it's plate in my studio.

dragon fly in charcoal

I found a dead dragonfly while walking the dog and took it home, robbing the ants of their lunch.

“Dragonfly”, Charcoal on paper, 14” x 17”, 2009-07-10

Portrait of a Young man in graphite

"Young Man", Graphite Pencil on paper, 7"x5", 2009-06-24

Aquatic Hobby Horse

I jammed out another in my hobby horse series, this one based on a sea horse shaped hobby horse. The hobby horse itself is a solid royal blue and sits in a play area with other animal themed hobby horses. This one is located in Waite Park in Minneapolis.

“Aquatic Hobby Horse”, Pastel on paper, 22” x 30”, 2009-06-21



The original drawing as well as fine art prints are available for sale at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=19343

Protrait of Bob

Last week I started making small portrait drawings in the 5x7 size with color pencil. Here is the third one I did.

"Bob", Color Pencil on paper, 7"x5", 2009-06-21

Spring Art Party

Last weekend was the Spring Art Party located in Weber park Minneapolis MN. The day was perfect and a lot of people came out to the park. I only had time to do one drawing while there and I did a 6x9 greyhound.

"Green and Red Greyhound", color pencil, 6"x9", 2009-06-08



The original drawing and fine art prints of it can be purchased online at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=18174

A Bad Heart

In this drawing I use the biohazard symbol in the center of the chest region of the figure.
“A Bad Heart”, Pastel and charcoal on paper, 22” x 30”, 2009-04-04

Sniffing

A green and yellow dog is shown sniffing around a blue background.

"Sniffing", color pencil, 6"x9", 2009-04-26

Doggy Reverberations

Here is another drawing of a dog in which I focus on lines in and outside of the dogs silhouette. I chose a lavender base for the interior with green on the outside and yellow tying the whole together.

"Doggy Reverberations", color pencil, 6"x9", 2009-04-25



This original drawing as well as fine art prints can be purchased at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=2749

Blue Belly dog

Another little dog drawn while I waited. This last batch was all drawn at six by nine inches because this size scales exactly to four by six for postcards. I will be matting the originals to eleven by fourteen for display and sale at art festivals.

"Blue Belly", color pencil, 6"x9", 2009-04-25



This original drawing as well as fine art prints can be purchased online at:

http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=607

Intense

Last weekend was spent at the Saint Paul Art crawl. I had a space in the hallway of the Rossmor building which is a nice converted wharehouse full of artists lofts/condos. Interesting to see gentrification in action as many of the units are owned by non-artists and demand and prices go up.

Foot traffic through the building was slow where I was set up, possibly because there were no open artist studios on the floor I was on, possibly because the building is so big the space becomes to diffuse. End result is sales were very slow for me so I worked on some little drawings. Here is the first one I did.

"Intense", color pencil, 6"x9", 2009-04-25

Woodcut print "Five in the Sky"

This is the first of a new series of woodcut prints which are going to be 5x5 printed on 6x6 paper. They will all be treetop pictures.

"Five in the Sky", 5"Tx5"W Wood Cut Print, Four color, 2009 Edition of 10



Originals from this edition can be purchased on at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/Prints.html?i=3246

"A Bad Heart" a new drawing

This drawing started out as an idea about a shadow figure with a biohazard symbol in the chest area. As I was working I decided to add the text in a scumbled blue lettering with just a tinting of green inside the figure.

“A Bad Heart”, Pastel and charcoal on paper, 22” x 30”, 2009-04-04



The original and prints are available at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=8310

Skinned naked Under the Lights

The figure in this drawing is red with dark blue undertones and a hint of a spine contorted in an impossible manner. The background is a swirling spiky mass of ochre and brown.

"Skinned naked Under the Lights", Pastel and Charcoal on Paper, 22"x30", 1991, John Terwilliger

Newly photographed old work

I finally started rephotographing old work which has hung in my studio or been stored in a flat file since 1989. They were originally all documented on slides which did not scan very well so I have not been posting these. I also never showed any but one from this series of shadow drawings outside my studio.

"Consideration of a Dream", Pastel and Charcoal on Paper, 22"x30", 1989, John Terwilliger



Purchase the original or fine art prints on line at:
http://www.yessy.com/braindead/drawings.html?i=27637

Fire Dance

"Fire Dance", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-01-04
This is another ACEO (art card editions originals) I have made this year. I have been doing quite a number of these as they sell well and I get my name in front of active collectors. This one is based on a photo of a guy limbo dancing around a fire at a beach party.

Heart Art Trading Cards

I did a bunch of drawings of hearts running up to Valentines day. Here are three of them. Prints are avaiable at http://www.yessy.com/braindead/hearts.html

"Moving in Heart", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-01-08



"Blue dot Heart", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-01-08



"Checkered Heart", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2009-01-08

Calico Maple Leaf

"Calico Maple Leaf", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-24

That-A-Way

"That-a-Way", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-27

Green Moon Elm

"Green Moon Elm", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-24

Plaid Dancer

"Plaid Dancer", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-18

Spotted Elm Leaf

"Spotted Elm Leaf", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-15

Turning Maple Leaf

"Turning Maple Leaf", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-15

Ginkgo Leaf

"Ginkgo Leaf", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-14

Red Oak Leaf

"Red Oak Leaf ", colored pencil, 3.5"x2.5", 2008-12-12