New Art from Joe, "Cancer"

I just finished a new painting/drawing.  It is entitled "Cancer".  I started the piece by applying watercolor washes to a piece of cold press illustration board, the nice thick stuff. Then, started adding detail with a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph pen. Came back with some colored pencil, and some more pen. The picture was originally 24 X 30 inches, but I did not like some areas, so cropped it to the final size of 15 X 15 inches. This may sound crazy, but it was not really unusual for me, as I have done this same thing many times. Sometimes, the entire image just does not work for me, but there may be something salvageable. Anyway, in this case, I thought it was appropriate that I cut away a large portion of a drawing called Cancer. To me, this was similar to the way in which we often try to treat cancer, continuously cutting it away, but often not getting it all. Maybe this was a dark topic, I don't know. Many people tell me that my art is dark, but I don't usually feel that way about it. However, this one is not really happy and is about the insidious growth of cancer both physically in our bodies and metaphorically in our society.

Cancer, by Joe MacGown

Some people have told me that they think the "growths" in this image look rather happy, instead of appearing to be devious, insidious, angry creatures. Now that I think about it, if cancer could be personified, would that being (or creature) feel bad about doing what it does? Probably not. Do parasites feel bad about feeding on something that nourishes them? Do they feel at all? We as humans often eat meat, and even express feelings of happiness when devouring a juicy steak. Does that mean we are bad people? Or, does that simply mean we are doing what is natural to us. So, if cancer cells were thoughtful living creatures, why not show them as being happy, or show them with various mixed emotions.  I was not feeling particularly unhappy when drawing this. And, I was not thinking about cancer at the time I was drawing this. However, after I was about halfway through, it suddenly came to me that this could be interpreted as a a cancerous type growth. In fact, the way this drawing spread across the board was cancer-like in its movement. For us humans, as the recipient of a cancerous growth, there can be no worse form of pervasive evil. Cancer strikes down the weak to the strong, with no rhyme or reason. My father died of cancer a few years ago. He lived with me at the time, and I saw first hand what it does to a person. Interestingly, he was an artist, scientist, and musician. Even at the end, he was taking cells from his body to examine under a high powered compound microscope in vain attempts to find some answer.  I guess in the end, this image should be perceived as slightly dark, at least from our human vantage point.

An earlier state of Cancer, before I had cut and cropped large areas away. 

Animal Planet Video about crazy ants with Joe MacGown

Well, this is not exactly art related, but comes from my other life as an entomologist.  I was interviewed by the producers of "Infested" on the Animal Planet network for an episode about crazy ants. The show recently aired and will be seen periodically throughout the season. You can also watch the video online at: http://animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/infested/videos/hairy-crazy-ant.htm

Please note that this is not really a scientific show, but in this case is more or less accurate. The format of the show is somewhat strange in that interviews done are of me and the homeowners, but the video at the property is of actors who supposedly look somewhat like us. Kind of strange, but that is how they do it. Anyway, I was on Animal Planet, so that is pretty cool.

New Collaboration Finished, "Nemo's Surprise"

I just finished an Exquisite Corpse collaborative drawing with Sander Jansen of the Netherlands. He started this graphite piece by drawing on the bottom half of a piece of drawing paper, then covering his side with thick paper except for a one inch strip along the top edge of his half, which he left exposed. He mailed the image to me, and I finished up the top half of the drawing using the one inch exposed strip as a guide. Sometimes this is difficult, but not so much in this case, because Sander was smart enough to show enough of his style in the one inch that he left exposed.    Additionally, I am quite familiar with his work and style, which helps a lot! After I finished my half, I took the covering off of his part to view the entire image. Very cool. This collab turned out very nice. Typically, I don't do graphite drawings, and really, my technique leaves a lot to be desired! In fact, of all of the graphite collaborations I have done with various artists, my technique was always inferior to my partners. It is always an honor to be able to work with these wonderful artists! Despite my ineptitude, I think the end result here was pretty good. Because I finished the piece up, I had the privilege of giving it a title. I called the piece "Nemo's Surprise". See the images of the piece below.  See more of Sander's work at http://sanderjansen.deviantart.com/?rnrd=15191

'Nemos Surprise" by Sander Jansen and Joe MacGown. 

Nemo's Surprise

New Art

Just finished up a collaborations with Elle Gottzi (http://ellegottzi.deviantart.com/). Ella is an awesome artist as well as a tattoo artist. She has blue hair. I like that. Its pretty cool. For the collab, I put some abstract watercolor down on a piece of illustration board and drew weird stuff on the right side, covered my part except for a one inch strip down the middle, and left the left side for her to complete. Mailed it to her, but forgot to tell her which side my part was done on. Stupid Joe. So, she flipped it upside down and did the right side of that. It still worked out quite well, because it is all weird crazy stuff, and it does not really matter how it goes. Elle titled the finished piece "Incubation". See it below....I think this might look good on a ceiling?

Incubation by Joe MacGown and Elle Gottzi

Here is the image of my half of the collab by itself. I call this "Orangish Madness". My scanner apparently gives a different color to the image as compared to Elle's. But, you get the idea.

Orangish Madness, by Joe MacGown

I also just finished up another colored ink and Rapidograph pen drawing on birch plywood. This one is 8 X 24 inches. I could not come up with a great name for this one. Ended up calling it "Going Green".  Why not, right? Its the thing to do.

Going Green, by Joe MacGown

Work in progress-experiments in art

I guess I am a bit scatter brained, but I like to have many things going on at once. Its nice to experiment too, of course not all of the experiments work! Sure, everyone knows I like to draw super detailed pen drawings and have been doing that literally for at least 40 years, but I also like to do some color works. Of course, because I like ink so much, I seem to have the need to include it in my paintings as well. I actually first started drawing this way as a kid with ink or pen mixed with different types of color such as pastel or watercolor.  Times really have not changed that much I guess, because I still love experimenting with different on different surfaces to see what happens.

As you can see in the above image, I have lots of things going on at once. Some of them I started years ago, and come back to just in case. The problem is that I apply paint, ink, or whatever to different surfaces in often completely random ways. Sometimes this works, sometimes not. 

A view of the top of one of my drawing tables with scattered works in progress. I like to try a variety of surfaces in addition to different media. The greenish image on the left is watercolor on illustration board, beneath that is watercolor on bristol paper with a vellum finish mounted on illustration board, the  small blue one is ink and spray paint on clay coated masonite, the larger blue/green one just below that is colored ink on illustration board, and the large yellow and brown image below everything is colored ink on primed birch plywood.  

Stuff on my other table. The three green pieces are all colored ink and pen on birch plywood (primed white).  Originally, they were all on the same board, which I painted at one time, then cut into pieces. 

Top left, watercolor and pen on clayboard and bottom, watercolor and ink on illustration board. 

The weird blue maybe to become jelly fish type creatures were painted with acrylic paint on birch. This is 2 X 2 feet. I will add layers and detail. It will take a while, then probably more detail with a pen. I am happy that my Rapidograph pens work for this. Disposable pens such as those made by Micron don't work so well, as the ink takes longer to dry and is easily smeared. 

Watercolor and ink on watercolor paper (heavy paper). I probably started this about 10 years ago. 

Watercolor on clay board 

Watercolor on illustration board. 

Acrylic paint and ink on birch

detail of above work (in progress)

another detail

watercolor and ink on illustration board

Acrylic on black matte board. I seem to really like fish-like creatures. 

drawers with old experiments. Some of these got too dark! Part of the fun of doing art for me, if you want to call it art, is figuring how to make something interesting out of the mess that I start with. Its like a weird puzzle. 

Another shot of "something to think about". 

This is a photo of a cool base of a tree. Looks kind of like a fist, or a weird face. Could be fodder for a weird drawing one day!

Inquisitive Fish Painting/Drawing finished

Just finished up another mixed media acrylic and pen painting/drawing deal. First primed some smooth birch plywood, then did the painting. Added detail with a Rapidograph later. Not sure whether to call these drawings or paintings??  Decided to call this one "Inquisitive Fish".  It is 16 X 16 inches.

"Inquisitive Fish", Acrylic and Pen on Birch, 16 X 16 inches, 2012. 

Mayan Awakening

Well, I finally seem to be getting back in the swing of things artwise. Somehow making some time to do some artwork. Lots of things started in the studio, with most of them being mixed media with pen for detail. Just finished one up, which I called Mayan Awakening. I was working on this for quite some time. Its only about 14 X 24 inches, but pretty detailed. Done with multiple washes of colored ink, then with lots of detail with a Raphidograph pen. I love this stuff.

Look for more updates soon. Just about finished with a trippy fish painting...