Mythogenesis

I have embarked on what might be the biggest art project I've ever done in my life. The series will be called Mythogenesis. Here's the pitch.

I'm creating new mythology! Meet your new gods.

I have embarked on a grand project that I have been toying with since before I attended art school at the UofA. I have done a lot of work in the realm of comparative religions independently for most of my life. My fascination with ancient pantheons began in 6th grade when I first learned about the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and Greece. I devoured books on mythology, learning symbolic alphabets of iconography. As I grew up, I learned about even more pantheons, Norse, Celtic, Hindu, Arabic, Roman, and many more. I learned about Catholic saints, Kachina spirits, Orishas, animal spirits and myriad more fantastic creatures that inhabit our invisible, spiritual world. And the most fascinating things lie in the parallels between these spirits, and ultimately, that they come from the same place and are, in fact, the same spirit.

"Mythogenesis" will be a series of illustrations and later paintings that bring similar spirits back together, using all of the iconographies of each parallel spirit to create a composite image that reflects the dominant aspect of the deity. The title of each piece will be the name of the new God(dess) depicted, and the final piece will be done in the style of medieval sacred icons. The final paintings will be done in oil paint and gold leaf on panel. I'm attempting not only to create new myths, but pay tribute to the new spirits that these myths give rise to. I am drawing inspiration from ancient religious art, relief sculpture and statues, Russian icons, modern cartoons, pop culture and a host of modern artists and illustrators.

By fusing similar deities back together, I hope to impress upon the viewer that all of them are one. All of the thunder gods are thunder gods at the end of the day, be they Norse or Native American. No one religion is correct, but all draw upon the same wonder and awe, and the same spirit is present in each of them.

Here's what I've worked on so far.

Savior:

Chrysalis:

I'm hoping to develop a stylistic language that can give new life to philosophical concepts and characters alike. Savior is a conglomeration of the mythical Saviors of Mankind from 5 ancient cultures, and Chrysalis is my commentary on sacred metamorphosis.

My room mate told me to do what I can right now. And the way I interpreted it isn't just to keep plodding along, but to do what you can RIGHT NOW. I can't worry about the huge finished product yet, it's way far off! I have experiments and small pieces to do before I sit down and begin work the huge finished products. So, baby steps. First Chrysalis to test out the gold leafing process, then some other experiments to work out paint and techniques and progression. After all of that, I'll start on Savior. And when Savior is done, I'll begin work on the other 7 pieces to go with it.

The broader scope of this project includes many tribute pieces to spirits, deities and sacred concepts. I plan to do multiple versions of the same image that focus on different aspects of the same deity and all kinds of fun stuff.

Super excited and super inspired. The frankincense helps. ; )

Update

Finished the first knitting project I ever started. It's a short scarf with yellow buttons. : )

I've been out of the neck brace since the 10th. And it's been SO nice. I'm recovering quickly and have lost a bit of strength and muscle, but there hasn't been much pain aside from stiffness.

I begin work again full time next week. Yay paycheck!

I've made a rag tag list of resolutions to guide me through my next year. Very few are physical goals, but I can make those once my body is in working condition again.

Read 5 Classics

Read 5 books from personal library

Circus Bacchus Act Posters

Love Paintings

Kris' Angels

Elementals

Burn Unit Story and Character Sketches

Geb & Nut (legend in Burn Unit universe)

Finish 2 video games

Kitten Head Paintings

Beanie the Premie

Mittens, Chessie, Ginger, Mica

Finish Character Backgrounds

Sculpt a little

Knit a bit

Go to 2 raves

Rebuild lost strength

More trumpet

Bike (later in year)

Hip Hop Dance Class (later in year)

Save monies

A1c 8 or lower

Tiny Update

Work is so fun! I get to make things every day!

A company called R.T. Henderson chose my logo out of the ones that the other designers and I sent for proofing. It was the first time my design has been chosen ever! I was super excited about it. Here it is:

I've finally gotten settled enough that I've started working on my own artwork again. And I even got hit up to illustrate a children's book by one of our clients! It's a cute story about a Moose and a Goose and a mystery bird with low self esteem. The mystery bird is very self conscious about the way he looks and is afraid that others don't like him because he is different. By the end, the Moose and the Goose present him in all of his glory to the other animals. The mystery bird is a Peacock and all of the animals crown him king of a festival because he is so delightfully unique and beautiful. Cute story, I'll be getting sketches of that done this coming week if all goes well.

Wow, life is good.

The figure journal goes as planned. I am first deconstructing and then reconstructing the figure to relearn it. It ought to work, and it might take a while.

I've been taking a break from sketching to write! Yes! I am using my words! I'm creating a background for a character concept I thought up over St. Paddy's Day.

Consequently, I have very few words left for here.

Smallish Update

I've been doing a TON of sketching lately. Mostly on the circus stuff. Which clued me in to a gigantic problem that's developed, probably over the last couple of years. My hand for the human figure has atrophied alarmingly. I mean, I can't even draw coherently these days. The reason I've been doing so much sketching is because that's all I can do!

In lieu of this, I've started a figure sketchbook. I'll be going through all of my Bridgeman books on figure drawing and human anatomy and movement, trying to recover the skill I've lost over the past couple of years. I'm begining with "Constructive Anatomy", the unofficial textbook for one of the most important figure drawing classes I took in college. That class helped my perspective a lot, but is responsible for half of the problems I currently have with the figure. Seriously, it should be a year-long class. The problem is that it takes you through the entire figure and then the semester ends, and you're left without adequate time to practice ALL that you learned. Half of it slips away over winter break, and then it's on to painting (which I took a whole YEAR late).

So, most of my figurative projects will be put on the back burner until I've addressed the problem of regaining my hand. Until then, I have plenty of painting to do!

Also, this is cool... mrdoob.com/projects/harmony/

Super Late Update

I'm an artist, and I rhyme! I can do it all the time!

Enough of that.

Flagstaff will be my new place of residence. California made itself unmanageable when my room mates decided to bail. No hard feelings though, I'm 90% sure I have a job waiting for me in Flag at a printing company called Print Raven. If (when) hired, I'll be an in house graphic designer and print producer! This, if I haven't mentioned it before, is the part of the field I wanted to get into in the first place. Hoorah!

I fixed my car all up! It is ready for sale! Almost. The new fender is white, the door panels are installed as best as I could install them, headlight is fixed, just waiting on the compressor. I'm going to want 'till the end of the month to put it up for sale officially to see if my mechanic friend can get ahold of the equipment needed to install the compressor, which may or may not work (install and/or compressor itself). But with all the changes, I can put it up for sale for more monies! Then some of the other goals on the previous post's list will take care of themselves.

Tucson is a giant energy suck that makes it hard to create things. Having said that, the Elementals will be done before the end of the month, I hope.

I've also been working on my circus series. I'm in the developmental sketches phase. Gotta make characters for the paintings. I think I should definitely figure out a fun place to work, I get my best sketching done away from the house.

Soon, I'll need to call my potential models to pose for reference photos for the "Love" series. Totally not going to actually call it that if I can help it...

MythoLogic is officially over. It was fun. I'll find out if I sold anything today. I have two galleries in Flagstaff that I'd like to pitch a show to, they seemed interested when I asked them about showing my stuff the first time, so we'll see!

Apartment hunting in Flag this month, and trimming the material fatz. Excitement.

Fits of Creativity...

I mean let's face it, my creativity tends to come on in fits. I'll suddenly feel compelled to draw or paint or make things. It's strange, and annoying because it's less productive this way. Having said that, here's what my last 24 hour mind storm has produced.



I've sketched members of the Addams Family, redesigned my favorite Vampire: The Masquerade character (Crystal) and story-boarded the Jabberwocky for illustration.

I have a postcard design due on Monday and I just earned a bunch of money doing brand identity for my sister's massage business. It feels really weird and satisfying to make money off of my work.