new Sibling Revelry collaborative artwork

Colin and I have been working on some new collaborative pieces - what do you think?

ArtPrize at LaFontsee Gallery

Hollyhock oil painting

18x24 oil on canvas - I'm working on a series of at least 20 right now so I'm experimenting with backgrounds a little more.

Garden flower painting

Not the best pic... 30x48 inches

New art challenges, cheer me on!

Anyone following this blog will have seen the progress of my daily visual journal, which was started as a way to get myself to create art on a daily basis. A springboard for motivation and inspiration - it worked - I now have tons of projects lined up and I'm enjoying every minute of art making. My Daily Visual Journal - started June 5th 2009 and will be completed on June 4th, 2010 - a full 365 4 x 5 inch little creations - collage, drawing, painting, pencil... I haven't decided yet if I will continue this for another year... maybe with a particular theme.. or media... we'll see.

the following is a list my latest projects to challenge myself as an artist:

100 flowers - oil paintings that are essentially portraits of flowers. Most of the images are inspired by photos that I took myself of my own garden grown flowers or from my families gardens. I try to get a composition of the flowers that is not typical, something interesting and new but still recognizable as a flower. Regardless of the actual size of the flower, my interpretation is close up and large, for example an image of a small dianthis flower would fill a 24 x 36 canvas with bold color and lots of texture. I chose to create 100 Flower portraits for no particular reason - 100 is a big round number, a big challenge.

Recycled studio - I'm trying to offset my carbon footprint by using up all the scraps and miscellaneous materials in my studio to create new work - collages on handmade paper, plain handmade paper (I have lots of scrap paper), and possibly incorporate these materials into some new jewelry. The jewelry would be my favorite base of crocheted sterling silver wire with the collage elements woven into the process.

Sibling Revelry - I think this will be a lifetime project with my brother Colin. We have been collaborating under this title since 2007 and really have no plans to stop. We challenge and inspire each other by trading artwork for the other to finish, change, or completing re-do. Keep updated on the progress here: colindarke.com

Hummingbird 2

Here is the second piture I was talking to you about -- less dark, and it pops more. I am going to draw a map of detroit in the yellow background and add more detail throughout. The colors are actually better in person than in this scan. Let me know your thoughts.

Hope, against all odds

Thoughts?

3 New Pieces

Spring

Hey, let me know what you think.

Done w/ dots

Finally, I am done with this piece . . . I like it, what do you think?

Inspired by Water

Entomology

Here are the pieces I told you about. I am not sure why your watercolors inspired bug pictures -- but they did. (FYI, I figured out how to work the scanner, so I will be posting more pics.)

butterfly, altered