HOLIDAY IN FORT LAUDERDALE

I decided to try something different for my Christmas break this year. After finishing up with the Alice in Wonderland production in Baltimore, Brandon and I headed back to NYC for a few days before flying down to Fort Lauderdale to visit friends, hang out at the shore and relax for a bit.

FORT LAUDERDALE BEACH


BRANDON LACY CAMPOS


FLOWER CLOSE-UP


SEAGULL SCULPTURE


All in all, it was a wonderful trip. A few funky days inland in the beginning were quickly forgotten once we arrived at the shore for the remainder of the trip. Most of my previous trips to Ft. Lauderdale revolved around the beach, the patio of my friends apartment and drawing, painting and relaxing. This time, Brandon and I actually trekked around a bit and headed to the Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale to check out an amazing exhibit of Carlos Luna's paintings paired up with a selection of Picasso's ceramic works. An interesting comparison because of their "exile" status and politically infused imagry but in my opinion completely unnecessary as Luna's work can and certainly does hold it's own. I stood in awe over his technical mastery his choice of subject matter, usage of typography in his work and the passion apparent in each and every painting shown.




May the new year bring all of you Peace, Love, Joy and tons of creativity. I know Brandon and I are looking forward to the new year and all of the possibilities it holds for us.

Peace - David

THINKING OF FLORIDA

The other night I discovered a linoleum piece that I had drawn on to while I was in Ft. Lauderdale for my birthday this past September. It's a small piece and apparently very easy to misplace in the pigsty that is my desk/work area because up until this week I had forgotten that it even existed. I've had another crazy work week outside of the studio which usually translates to being frustrated about not doing enough artwork, so it was the perfect project to do late night after a day of work. Cutting out an already drawn image is a bit like going into a Zen state for me. I can sit there and cut out a little piece like this in about 1 - 1 1/2 hours and feel like I've been there for 10 minutes. The printing part takes a little more focus, especially when doing it with this technique, called Chine-Cole, (not sure if that's the correct spelling). This process involves inking the linoleum first, strategically placing pieces of paper on to the inked lino. Depending on the opacity of the papers, by overlapping different color you can get all kinds of variations in colors. You have to glue any overlapping pieces so that they'll stick together and then put a layer of glue on all of the paper still exposed. You then move it to the press, place the base paper you're printing over it and run it through the press. A lot of variables here = Many disasters possible. The Gods were smiling on me last night as I printed up 5 different variations of this piece without a hitch. The nice part about this print is that I can picture myself at the exact time I was drawing the image and immediately be transported to the time, place, temperature, and mood that was involved in the initial drawing. Being that it's Winter here in NYC, it was a great reminder of a warm and wonderful vacation. If anyone is interested in purchasing a piece, let me know.