Friday, November 02, 2007

Venetian Birds - The Series At Last!

After fooling around most of this year with doodles of birds in Venetian(esque) masks, and even a couple illustrations, I finally present to you the full series!

Each painting is 6" x 6", acrylic on canvas. They'll be hanging at the upcoming Tiny Show at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco, with a reception on Saturday, November 10th at 4pm. It's my favorite show of the year, so please drop by if you're in the area. There are literally hundreds of pieces hanging at any given time for seven weeks!

Without further ado:

"What a Hoot"

"Without a Paddle"

"How do I Look?"

"Cat's Meow"

"Chirrrp..."

"Up Past Bedtime"

"You Look Silly, Papa"

"No Umbrella (and I Spent My Last Dime on this Mask)" ... my personal favorite. I kinda hope it doesn't sell!


Here are some progress shots of the birds, freshly hatched:

Drawings all lined up. And that's my wife's Justice League Nutella jar above.

Thick canvas stretchers so you can hang them without a frame.

Underpainting/Washes on "No Umbrella" I dripped rubbing alcohol in areas to create the splotch effect.

The Lab.... err, Studio. Hmm, there are two extra canvases there.

Hope you enjoy them as I much as I enjoyed painting them!

7 comments:

Julien alday said...

I hope you will not sell "you look silly, papa", it's a great one, my fav' I think... I want it so much ! ;)
The cat behind "chirrrp" remember is Raven, right ?
Geez, that's an adorable bunch of pictures, Michael. It's just too cute ! ^^
Thanks for the update ! ^^
J.

Tom Scholes said...

HAAAA! These are awesome, love the format too.

Catalina Alvarez said...

This venetian birds are absolutely beautiful.
The colors, textures and bird's masks reminds me "Venetia in autunno".
Your art is so inspiring!
Bellissimo lavoro mi piace tanto!
Arrivederci.
Cata

Bruce said...

Ha, ha, fantastic Mike. this is a series that could go on for awhile, I think.

Tiffany prothero said...

KGAAA!! these are amazeing!!
your landscapes are awesome also. :)
Cheers,
-Tiffany

Unknown said...

pffff...lol at those not selling. Unless you are charging a $1000 each they are gone dude. Love them my friend- unique and charming.
Nice to see those progress shots too-they really looked good at every stage. I had a teacher who said your painting should look good at every stage once. I'm lucky if I get it to look good at any stage!

Bill Ferguson said...

The birds are all awesome. and the under painting technique you use is pretty neat!