I have not been able to spend much time at my easels lately. I’m slowly making progress on these two oil paintings. The scorpion and cockroach painting was inspired by Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Monday, November 8, 2021
Studio Pics
While I wait for paint to dry, and gird my loins for more effort at the easel and watercolor table I like to read and play a bit with photography. Here are some more pics from around the studio.
I’m currently working on an oil painting of a large bird skull with an infant skull, and a very pornographic little watercolor with the working title “It’s A Sin”.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Monday, November 1, 2021
STI Rates Are At Their Highest EVER. Watercolor Painting.
Poor public health outcome: sexually-transmitted infections are at their highest levels EVER.
Untitled Self-Portrait, Pencil, Watercolor, Gouache on Ampersand Aquabord, 8X10”
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Be groovy and please be careful when you’re loving each other!
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Monday, October 18, 2021
Acrylic Skull Painting
Skull, Acrylic on canvas 24X36”.
Another damn skull, this time playing with Golden Artist Colors metallic gold and black mica flake.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Sunday, October 17, 2021
From My Sketchbooks: Thinking of Toys and Play
Three drawings from one of my pencil drawing notebooks. The Rhodia paper is lovely with pencil.
I was collecting thoughts on creative backyard play, and remembered how much fun it was to build temporary play structures, you know, forts and such.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
I seem to have custom toys on my mind a lot, and made this sketch of a goofy custom figure that I could sculpt and cast for the barnebarn.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Puppets are something I adore, and here is an idea for a naughty hyper-sexed puppet who likes beads.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Studio Pics
Atelier Luteiventris pics.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Painting: “Nowhere To Hide”
“Nowhere To Hide” 16x20” Watercolor and gouache on Aquabord.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
A trippy painting…I started painting this soon after this summer’s Heat Dome in the midst of the current pandemic and opioid epidemic. As I look on it now, I think it reflects my feeling of dread of the new regimes taking over our lives: a new climatic regime and an authoritarian regime rising. Both happening with no apparent purposeful reaction or resistance.
Please vote. Every Election.
Monday, October 11, 2021
Painting: “Falling For It”
Their System,
Ensures Our Precarity
Their Religion,
Encourages Our Nightmares
And, As Ever, We’re All Falling For It.
“Falling For It” 24x36” Watercolor and gouache on canvas.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Don’t fall for it. VOTE!
PadPucks by Artograph
Artograph PadPucks are a favorite tool of mine in the studio. Every once in a while I do use them to support an iPad while drawing; but mostly they’re used as project supports.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Great all-around support in the studio. They come in sets of four, and you’ll find that you use them in your painting and craft practices nearly every day.
https://www.dickblick.com/products/artograph-padpucks/
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
They’re not just for painting edges; I find all kinds of uses for them. Here they are being used to support green branches while waterproof glue is being applied to the ends.
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| ©️2021 Momtgomery J Nelson |
Some primers and adhesives cause the PadPucks to be permanently sticky, so I cover mine with wax paper or baggies.
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Basswood Carvings
Two more basswood heads in Scandinavian flat-plane style carving. Painted with Gamblin Artist Oils.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Monday, October 4, 2021
An Inordinate Fondness for, and the Conspicuous Consumption of, BLUE
Here I demonstrate my inordinate fondness for blue; and my ongoing conspicuous consumption of blue.
YInMin Blue is said to be the first new blue in 200 years.
https://chemistry.oregonstate.edu/content/story-yinmn-blue
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J. Nelson |
Gamblin YInMin Blue. https://gamblinstore.com/yinmn-blue/
I’m totally that “little guy” in Eiffel 65’s song “Blue”.
Cuz “I’m blue Da ba dee da ba di”
and oh YInMin Blue I paid serious bucks for thee.
This memorializes my crazed caeruleus consumerism.
New blue? Mother-Fucker, I bought two!
Alas, I must reveal that my True Blue love is COBALT BLUE.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
YInMin is super cool; but Cobalt Blue is my favorite, and you’ll see it as the background color in many of my paintings.
Sunday, October 3, 2021
Pics From our Caffe’ Zingaro Art Show
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| ©️2021 Christina Tengelin |
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| ©️2021 RJ Clarke |
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| ©️2021 Lexi Bradley, photo by RJ Clarke |
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| ©️2021RJ Clarke |
Paintings For Sale At Caffe’ Zingaro In Seattle
RJ Clarke, Christina Teneglin, Lexi Bradley, and I will have art hanging at Caffe’ Zingaro 127 Mercer Street, Seattle,WA 98109 all through the month of October. These are the paintings I have hanging for sale.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Monday, September 27, 2021
Quick Sketches in Soft Monster Clay
I wanted to give Monster Clay a try for sculpting potential toy designs. I ordered a sample pack with their soft, medium, and hard clay. Last night I made two quick sketches from the soft Monster Clay.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson |
The soft Monster Clay was fun to use, but I think the medium and soft will be better to cast. It’s fun to get in the mindset of sketching in clay just as you would using newsprint with drawing media. New characters can quickly be discovered (or quickly discarded).
Sunday, September 26, 2021
FaceTime Art Class With My Barnebarn
My barnebarn Natalia let me do art class with her via FaceTime today! Our lesson was about Color and Value.
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| ©️2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
We did practical work with primary and secondary colors. We also did some practical work with value: we looked at a nice group of Gamblin whites, grays, and blacks; and tinted, toned, and shaded a beautiful red!
Bestefar learned lots today, thanks Natalia!
Monday, September 20, 2021
Castilene Sculpting: Maggot King
I’ve thought quite a lot about doing some designer toys / figurines, and have posted different designs several times (See my September 2013 and August 2016 &c.) The only ones I’ve sculpted so far are; Maggot Paratrooper, Dick Maggot, and Fish Surfing.
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson 2021 |
This morning I started a Castilene sculpture of Maggot King of TARF. Castilene is a Chavant product that models like a hybrid between hard clay and wax.
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson 2021 |
I like to warm the block of Castilene under a heat lamp for easier modeling.
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson 2021 |
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson 2021 |
The basic shaping of the Castilene over an aluminum foil armature is almost done, then I’ll get going with the detail work such as his crown and the skull’s features.
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| ©️Montgomery J Nelson |
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Artist Trading Cards
I was getting low on ATCs, so I drew and painted six today.
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
I used pencil, India ink pen and brush pen, and watercolors on Strathmore Watercolor Artist Trading Cards.
Friday, September 10, 2021
More Block Printing
Block print cards are fun and pretty easy to do.
An infant skull I carved on one of McClaine’s linoleum blocks. https://www.imcclains.com/
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
This is a Speedball “Speedy Carve”. https://www.dickblick.com/products/speedball-speedy-carve-blocks/ They are quick and easy to carve. Here I combined the printed ink image with a single watercolor stroke.
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Monday, September 6, 2021
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Wash Your Brushes!
This is the stuff I use to clean my brushes. I hate to clean my brushes.
I love clean brushes.
For my oil brushes Gamblin’s Gamsol and Escoda’s olive oil brush soap do the trick. Allback’s linseed oil soap is my heavy-hitting back-up for really difficult brush cleaning and other disasters.. During a recent hot spell I leaned against a wet oil painting in a white linen shirt. The Allback’s got that shirt clean. The Anderson & Sons Stainless Steel Brush Washers filled with Gamsol work great for me.
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J. Nelson |
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J. Nelson |
Saturday, September 4, 2021
Sketchbook Odds-N-Ends
Ink sketch of a dead bird on an Oregon beach.
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J. Nelson |
Monday, August 30, 2021
Skull and Bowl
Watercolor and pencil on board, 8X10.
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| Copyright 2021 Montgomery J Nelson |
The two themes I was reflecting on with this painting are death and renewal. On my mind as I drew and painted it: Momento mori and Mono No Aware. That is, remember that that you will die; and that we need to stay aware of our impermanence. My further intent was to counter momento mori / mono no aware with a spirit of mottaini and mushin with the kintsugi-repaired bowl and and the gold tooth.
This painting also reflects my love and appreciation of the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of Wabi-Sabi.
Leonard Koren wrote a lovely book on Wabi-Sabi, I believe it to be required reading for every artist.
In honor of the late Dr. Kathy Taylor, may a make a note on terminology? She was a delightful stickler on such things. The skull refers to all the bones of the head, including the facial bones (which of course includes the mandible). Cranium refers to the cranial bones that protect your brain.
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