Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. A ball shaped creature named Ornoz stands convincingly cute. Tiny frail arms and small cloven feet sprout from a bulbous core. He plumps. Yet his teeth clench in a grimace. His arm and hand at left coil up in a twitch. Jittery brush strokes at his feet. Smearing clouds arc in the distance. The blow hole atop his head is cranked to the right. Featured Art Card Ornoz His orifice releases three illuminated bubbles. View...
9 days ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. I mixed up some rich reds and greens to start. I hate pure Christmas red and kelly-green, too festive. But I wanted the raw complement of fire and meadow to enliven the geometric puzzle of circle and square. Instead of staying flat, the fleshy torus is squished between two frames. The color intensity was managed through instinct. Shifting sap-yellow with olive-veridian and rust-orange with maroon-wine. Featured Art...
16 days ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. I started with a heavy wash of natural colors over line art. The background beauty adds a patchwork habitat, but it’s not grounding. The feral creature lunges forward. Fingers, claws, tusks displayed in a hunched sprint. The blocky billboard text “MiLK” was drawn as an after thought, completely unconscious. But it describes the creature’s pathway. Featured Art Card MiLK The milky stream leads to us. View Card Art...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. Watercolor flooded the background as I held the card upside down. Now upright, paint flowing upward makes the fish appear to sink. The words “with” and “myself” undulate above the stocky fish. The creature's bulbous eye goggles. Lurid orange and acid lime scales counter the cool gray of the sea. Featured Art Card With Myself A hook without a worm lies just out of reach. View Card Art Process Ceramic Palette Sometimes...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. The child’s tongue blends into his chin. A horn emerges from one side not the other. The creature cranes out of the water looking upward. The eyes sweetly strain to focus. His bloated hand finds the shoreline. The water says “NO TALKING” in all caps. Featured Art Card NO TALKING The shouting text fades downstream. View Card Art Process Black Gouache My favorite black. Warm black, highly pigmented by Caran D'Ache. About...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. Sometimes a voice in my head says “the tyranny of words.” I want to make art that stands alone as a symbol, independent of words. Then there’s this. Text fought its way into the composition. With arresting eyes, the youth insisted on the verb. “BE” carved in his head like an annunciation. “Like” wavers against the agitated woods. “Me” labels the shirt. Featured Art Card BE Like Me The arm is frail, forming barely a...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. The huge crown lacks symmetry. The fire red arms or tentacles twist and fold unpredictably. The portrait background fights forward. Light and shadow portray clavicle hollows and the thinness of the neck. The puffy eyes are slightly asymmetrical. Featured Art Card Poor Crown The stripped figure leans forward. View Card Art Process Caran D'Ache 8 Large round watercolor brush. Great for washing in large areas, hold lots...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. Three sizable forms crown the head, defined with an initial blue line. I soaked the background with water then let the sepia ink echo the figure while pushing color into a brown edge. The exposed tendons in the neck barely support the head. Featured Art Card Three Mostly, my eye is pulled to the almost human teeth. View Card Art Process Higgins Sepia Ink Very thin - like distilled water. Highly pigmented. About Art...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Strangely Familiar About weird art cards that mean something in your hand. This character was drawn in blue ink over an orange background, evolving from a flat layout. The forehead, eyes, and eyelashes are detailed and realistic. The nose is a flat block of thick, mixing white paint, while the rest features minimal shading. Both the ears and shirt preserve their original, angular shapes against a mostly bare background. Finally, the mouth is stylized like a comic book gasp. Featured Art Card...
2 months ago • 1 min read