Zoidberg jesus- I help those who help themselves... and squid paintings with gold leaf

More gold leaf squid paintings.

Shrag- Devastating Bones

Hooray! My painting was included on Shrag's new 45 single Devastating Bones. From the amazing album Canines. I would describe it as in the vein of pop punk, maybe think underground railroad to candyland? I am not the best at describing music. Or better yet check out their video for one of my favorites. Rabbit Kids.

Other paintings of bones.

DIY Block Printed Christmas Wrapping Paper.

As the trend towards artisanal wrapping paper continues Mike Is Bored presents: Printing your own wrapping paper.

Block print DIY Wrapping paper- Thanks for the photo Rubidium Wu

Needed is:
Linoleum Cutter
Linoleum Blocks
Soft Rubber Brayer (AKA that roller thingy)
Graph Paper.
Paint of some sort.
Other paper to print on (TBD)

Well I guess we can start out with how to make any wallpaper pattern in case trees are not your thing.

1) The stately square without which wallpaper is but the fevered dream of a madman. 6x6 in this case. Easy to see how we can line them buggers up to make a consistent pattern. If you don't understand how to do that you can look at your trusty graph paper for an example. 

2) Now to modify the square. Any square in the graph paper can be slid to the opposite side and they will still lock up just fine. 

3) Ah. Looks like a tree already. 

4) draft of the final image is done on paper. 

5) GOOOLDEN RINGS!.... or a cut out of the pattern to trace on to the linoleum sheet.  

6) after tracing on the pattern on to the linoleum I cut it out with a box cutter. 

7) cut away all the parts of the linoleum that are not the tree using a Linoleum Cutter 

8) Roll on your ink and stamp away. 

9) I added decorations to the trees using nail polish. 

10) after making the original I had the photo printed as an engineering print at staples.

Please keep in mind that most people on your gift list might prefer squid or octopus wrapping paper.

DIY frame for canvas painting from hardware store

Molding seen on edge. The thin
end will be the outside of the frame.

This project used:
-molding which can be purchased at a hardware store seen on end to the right.
-wood glue
-corner clamp
-cheap mitre box
-black stain
-gold acrylic paint.

1) Calculate the needed length of wood. To do this first measure the size of the object to be framed. In this case the painting was 24x4". Next measure the width of the molding being used. In this case it was ____. The sides of the frame will need to be the length of the object + 2 times the width of the molding. This length will be the outside length of your wood. The inner length will be the size of the object to be framed.

The frame being glued with
pony corner clamp 

2) Cut the frame with your mitre box. Make 110% sure you are cutting the correct way. It is easy to cut the angles in the reversedirectopn. Measure the inner length of the object and mark those cuts as that number is exact and the outer length is less accurate.

Painted Black

3) Glue it together with the corner clamps. Shown here with the Pony 9166 CORNER CLAMP . This has only OK reviews on amazon but I have had good luck with it at its price.

4) Hmm so pretty all glued together.

5) Paint it as desired. I used a black stain and then I painted highlights with gold acrylic paint from the art shop.

With trim added

squid painting

in progress...... oil and acrylic on canvas 4x24".

octopus wall paper print

Print of octopus wall paper. Duo aqua oils linoleum block print.

still life with octopus wallpaper (in progress)

Help me make the wallpaper look more real? more texture? a seam? peeling? any other tricks?

bird of paradise flower painting

Squid on woodblock with pencil and stain.

The Animals

Art all night 2011 My favorites

Gatoropolis by Ian Olson. This 13yo has a lot of nerve posting it as NFS as it was the one painting I was most interested in purchasing this year.

Arivals by Heidi Tucker was super sweet

My own entry elephant

how to build a cheap frame for a painting

So I start buy buying molding from the hardware store

measure (on the inside of the inner rim) and cut 45deg angles with a Mitre Box
After cutting I tape the inside, and open the outside and put in woodglue. 

Then clamp while the glue dries.

wow. done. that was quick.

squid painting

Rothko/threepixel minimalism inspired Zoidberg painting

Looking at and thinking about these:


Made me make this:

explaination of the sources
 On the left is #10 by Mark Rothko at the Seattle Art Museum, The middle one is a three pixel minimalist rendition of Dr. Zoidberg. more info on that here, the right side is the subject of the piece.

More posts about Zoidberg and Futurama.

Any thoughts on how to improve this? Change any colors? add eyes? cut down the detail? Tell me in the comment section.

Ilium, Ischium, Pubis hip bone painting

Oil on bristol. Posterior view. I use this great atlas Rohen's Color Atlas of Anatomy and Anatomy For The Artist.

This was done with Holbein Duo Aqua Oil paints on Bristol.