Paris Print

forty dave cooper characters for Paris, 2011
is a 1-colour fine art Serigraph Print that was made to commemorate my visit to Paris in September of 2011. i was there attending a really exciting group show put on by the amazing “Hey” magazine. Hey is a wonderful periodical that chronicles the goings on of weird painters like myself… but Hey is also an amazing group of people! they put on an incredible show, and were terrific hosts. i have numbered Prints 44/85 – 85/85



“forty dave cooper characters for Paris, 2011″
Serigraph Print, edition of 85
19.5 x 27.5”
Rivoli paper, acid free, 280 gr. 1 colour
$78

Conor's thumb

my buddy Conor mangled his thumb a while back. he sent me before and after snapshots of the nastiness. so i adjusted those two pics and then made the third with my family– as a get well triptych. (click to enlarge)

tissue on melting ice. spring is coming

mini video interview by Bruce Deachman

well, isn't THIS a fine pear?

Peering Over/Looking Back, pt 5. colour and contrast…

here i keep adding some semi-opaque and translucent glazes to whatever areas seem to cry out for them. i push things back and pull some things forward by making them diffuse or sharp. again, these stages have no rhyme nor reason, and they can’t be easily quantified or rushed. i get really zen and just let the painting tell me what it needs. the moment you try to impose deadline or required outcome, you start digging a hole for yourself. if you let the painting dictate where it wants to go, you happily sidestep the hole and stroll along on the surface.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
hey, check it out– it’s starting to look a bit like a painting! very slight differences here, but they represent a lots of time and thought…

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
here you can see how i begin to address the black dead trunk. i find it way more effective to define the dark edges by stroking the edge with something light, rather than trying to darken, darken, darken. it’s SO easy to darken later with a super traslucent glaze. so i try to avoid that battle till closer to the end. for now, i just want to get something interesting happening in that quagmire.
you can see that i’m gradually trying to define the subtleties of what’s happening between the two figures’ heads,  and the light/shade, and negative space involved. that’s really the core of the image, so it’s important that that work well.

my French Venus

the good people at “Hey” invited me to paint on one of their blank, plaster Venus sculptures.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
it’s for a Parisian breast cancer fundraising organization. they send the blanks out all over the world to a bunch of groovy artists like me. we do our thing, then the pieces are all auctioned off.
she showed up in a nasty particle board crate a couple months ago, and leaves again for Paris tomorrow. but this time she’s got a bit of colour in her cheeks (and all over the rest of her). also, she sports a nice measure of cock-eyed insanity.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
my pal Ray (across the hall from me) said he was going to sneak into the crate and tag along. bring some sandwiches, Ray! and bon voyage!

brainiac

my good pal émilie found out she has a rare, messed-up brain thing called Chiari Malformation. it’s where the ass section of your brain literally squeezes out the back of your skull, cutting off the skull juice and making for big ouchy.

seriously though, she’s in a ton of pain– although you’d never know it because she’s as stunning as ever, and as hilarious as ever too! any of you who know my work, will recognize ém as a huge influence on me over the years. she’s modelled for me many many times, but like i said- more importantly, she’s a great friend. i thought it would be cool if tons of you readers sent her a little note of well-wishing etc. just comment here, and she’ll get ’em. thanks!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
also– this from ém (sung to the tune of I Like Big Butts, which she ALSO has, by the way!)
I like big brains and I can not lie,
You other doctors can’t deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty skull
And plump tonsils in your face,
You get sprung.
Wanna pull up tough,
Cuz you notice that brain was stuffed
Deep in her head it’s bulging
I’m hooked and I can’t stop staring,
Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your (MRI) picture.
My colleagues tried to warn me
But those brains you got
Make Me so horney!
Ooh, cerebellum,
You say you wanna get surgery?
Well use me, use me, cuz you ain’t that average patient!

Peering Over/Looking Back, pt 4. building up…

and now begins the long, tedious process of what i call establish, obscure, re-iterate, obscure, re-iterate, obscure, re-iterate, obscure, ad nauseum. the only way to get a drawing to look like a painting is to paint the shit out of it. no, i should say that’s the only way for ME to do it. i see lots of amazing painters accomplish it with economic approaches, but for me, it never looks like it’s coming alive unless there are layers and layers of give and take. so in the beginning i just start giving darks to the dark areas, and taking away from stuff what i want to be lighter (by painting over it semi-opaquely).

i’ll start to introduce a bit of colour at this point, but nothing literal. still sort of just pushing things a degree toward where they might end up. all the while i’m still trying to keep a messy colour mesh happening. so that nothing is ever “a colour” but rather a mess of hues. i’ll start to draw over the underdrawing with opaque colours so that things are not as clear and “drawingy”. still thinking of it all as a foundation for the real work to come.

next week, more of the same, ha ha! (not sure if i should start condensing entries during this long middle period. what do you think? long and detailed, or more concise? leave me a comment with your preference!)