swoon.

So being an artist is a lot more work than I had originally thought... I've come up with my plan, and have completed a first draft of my first stencil, I had even transferred my drawing to matte board but I had encountered a few problems with the image, parts looked a little off and it definitely needed something. After browsing the forums at bombingscience.com (which I am now officially a member of) I realized that my one layer stencil was the root of my problem, as it only allowed me to show one level of highlights or low lights... I've re-created my design to include 3 layers and will hopefully have photos up sometime soon. I haven't drawn it out on matte board, but will begin working on that in the next couple of weeks...

While researching, browsing and finding inspiration I looked through some of my old graff books I had laying around and have fallen in love all over again with some of the artists I never knew about before. One of the artists I've come to really enjoy is a female artist by the name of Swoon. She is from New York City and and creates life-size paper cut out portraits. They look similar to stencils but rather than painting the negative space through the page she posts the whole page on the wall. Her cut outs are generally one color but the detail is added after via pen or marker. The image included here is from a piece she pasted while in Berlin, Germany.

I like the idea of pasting cut-outs similar to stenciling a lot and once attempted to do something similar with a picture of John Lennon - I'm sure this idea will find its way into my graffiti at some point.

wish list.

I've recently come across the website www.bombingscience.com, they have some pretty cool stuff there and the prices seem okay. Here is my wishlist!

1. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) Black; $5.95.
2. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) R-1021 Light Yellow; $5.95
3. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) R-2004 Orange; $5.95
4. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) R-3001 Intense Red; $5.95
5. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) RV-27 Vampire Violet; $5.95
6. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) RV-8 Light Blue; $5.95
7. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) Silver Chrome; $5.95
8. Montana Nitro 2G (500ml) White; $5.95
9. Montana 94 (400ml) R-6018 Valley Green; $5.95
10. Gold Dots Caps (25-pack); $6.95
    
11. Grey Dots Caps (25-pack); $6.95
12. Orange Dots Caps (25-pack); $6.95
13. Pink Dots Caps (25-pack); $6.95
14. Krink Paint Marker Black; $4.95
15. Krink Paint Marker White; $4.95
16. Krink Paint Marker Red; $4.95
17. Krink Paint Marker Green; $4.95
18. Krink Paint Marker Yellow; $4.95
19. Krink Paint Marker Blue; $4.95
20. Krink Paint Marker Pink; $4.95
21. Krink Paint Marker Purple; $4.95
22. Krink Paint Marker Orange; $4.95

I don't necessarily need all of this (or every color right away), but that is where I would like to see my regular stock some day.

the studio.

As promised here are a few pictures of the studio. We set up in an old garage so please excuse all the storage and mess. The basic set up has matte board storage on one side, an old bedroom dresser for storage (our art supplies are stacked on top) the couch cuts the room in half (provides me a place to rest, relax and smoke) and in front of that with enough room to walk around freely is the table with C's easel set up. See more below.

This is taken from the front of the studio (at the garage door) - most of the actual "art" supplies belong to C - as do the canvas'. The bags to the left of the couch contain matte board which is what I will be creating my stencils in. You can see the couch there, it's pretty comfy and I'm glad it's there for when I take breaks.

This is taken from right behind the couch. You can see a bit more of the studio, some of the storage space and the table set up. C's easel is taking up most of the space now, but I have another small table set up behind the couch where I can grid my matte's. I've gridded off a 18" x 13.5" matte board that I'm currently preparing a stencil design for. Hopefully I can have some photos of some actual tags up in the next couple of weeks.

now you see me.

Just did a quick profile update, loaded the photos from the camera. Will update the blog tomorrow with studio pics (it's mostly set up for C who has a show coming up next Spring)... Anyway - here's the profile photo, now you see me! I'll have more tomorrow. peace.

the far north.

It's crazy living in Northern Alberta (even crazier living in the territories and further north I'd imagine...) because there is very little night. I was out late an evening not to long ago and happened to notice how short the period with true night-time darkness was. It started at around 1:30-2:00 am and ended no later than 3:00 am. Then the sun that just went down began to rise again... - This means that if I want to paint under the comfort of dark skies and black clothing I'm probably not going to be heading out for another couple of weeks. That's good for me, gives me time to create some more stuff and plan my locations and plus the days will be shorter again (Summer Soulstice is just shortly passed).

Today though, I think I'm going to clean up the studio space, set up the couch, tables and C's easel/paint supplies. She hasn't painted in a while and her show in March is definitely creeping up. Plus, then I can use the space to make stencils and the such. When I finish I'll snap a few photos and include them in my next post.

Also, I registered for twitter today, follow me: https://twitter.com/fastforwords !

welcome.

My name is Fastforwords and I'm a new artist located in Alberta, Canada. I wanted a place to keep track of my stories, ideas and projects and this seems as good a place as any. I hope to keep updating this regularly as I continue to work and develop my art. Peace.