Beatnik kids

The Offering

Here's another image for the Trick 'r Tiki show. This one is actually my favorite. Hope to see you all there Friday.

Trick 'r Tiki is coming

(Click above image to enlarge)

You are cordially invited to the Trick 'r Tiki event. Friday, October 7, 2011. 6 - 9 p.m. Come see my work up close and personal. The show also features the work of Joe Leonard of Monkey Wrench Tattoo, Donovan Kinyon of Garage Ink Tattoo, Kat Attack Photography, pinstriping by Kyle Martin, video presentation by Brian Werle, and paintings by Ray "Zero Tiki" Lawrason.

Trick 'r Tiki Facebook page
Wildcat Vintage Facebook page 
Trick 'r Tiki Napa Valley Register listing

Bikini Atol

This one just came naturally. I didn't have to do a lot of sketching for it and when I did the underdrawing, that too came as a snap. Really happy about how this one came out. A lot of time, watercolors on Bristol can have some strange accidents on the surface. This time, just enough accident, just enough control.

Bongo Island

Here's yet another illustration for the Trick 'r Tiki show. The inspiration for this is the early American space program, including the cold war, Cape Canaveral and the tiki/polynesian chic that was popular in that area of the country at the time. The bongos are a nod to physicist Richard Feynman, one of the most brilliant and entertaining figures of the 20th century. If you ever get a chance to hear his lecture "Los Alamos From Below," do so. It's a funny and fascinating insight into the Manhattan Project.

Tiki-lantern or The Frogmouth

Here’s another image I created for the Trick ’r Tiki show. This image and Fireboy, which I posted earlier are done in a style that grew out of printmaking.
After college, I would have loved to continue working in stone lithography, but it’s an expensive medium, and I didn’t have access to a studio that was equipped for it.
I found, however, that I could achieve a similar style with black China markers, and watercolor.
It’s not a very forgiving technique. You can’t erase China marker, and it takes a long time to build up dark areas. If you make heavy pencil sketches in the beginning, they can show up as white marks when you move to China markers. Mistakes are permanent, and you can end up ruining a drawing that took you forever with bad watercolor washes later on.
It’s not a technique I use often these days, but for misty, dreamlike subjects, it’s brilliant. I’ll try to post more works done in this style in the future.

Kinda sketchy: Fireboy

Fireboy original sketch.

Fireboy

I've been working on some work for an upcoming Tiki/Halloween themed show at Wildcat in Napa. The show is being curated by Jose Mendez and is being talked about as the Trick 'r Tiki show. Get it? Clever, eh?
I was a little worried about my ability to produce much tiki-themed work since it's not usually my forte, but it's coming along better than I'd hoped. I'll post more of the work I've completed as the days go by.
I've been referring to this guy as Fireboy, so that's probably going to be the title when it's finally slapped into a frame and nailed to a wall. A friend suggested that he should be turned into a table lighter. Although I agree that would be cool, I think production of said lighter is beyond my skill set.