2010--A Year of Year Years.

I ripped so many bags in 2010 that my world will never be the same.  Year.  Year.
The tone of Steve Perry rips in a florid guitar ripping crusher.
A perfect sound of 2010 years.
A technical ripp-crush of perfect technical riff-ripping
Crush.
Perfect production in synth-land.
Excellence.

Upcoming Art Show! January 7th Opening Night!

Hello:

I got accepted into the Ice Cube Gallery 2.0 show:

http://www.icecubegallery.com/i/Upcoming_Exhibit.html

I am showing three pieces:

"Smerdy"

"It Has Disturbed My Sleep"
and

"Beast Battle"

All of which can be seen by clicking on the titles above.

I am quite excited to be showing in the Denver area for the first time EVER, (if one doesn't include the yearly St. Vrain Valley School District Art Shows which I had pieces accepted to when I was a youngster)

I looked online at some of the other artists whose work was accepted and it looks like I'm in pretty good company. (or bad company, if you define "bad" as being really good...or if you're a big fan of the band Bad Company, which I am not except for the song " Shooting Star").

Sincerely

Dan Groth

Habadasher

Hats, hats, hats!

Smerdy, finished.

Smerdy, finished.  Scroll down to see earlier versions.  Take note of the large ink splotch on the neck in earlier versions.  I used Chinese White Gauche to cover up it's immensity.  Also take note of the earliest version, which seems really different to me.  It ended up being more grotesque.

Other Art from the Past Year.

CLICK ON IMAGES FOR FULL VIEW

All pieces are 11"x15"

This piece is called "Dude, Stuck in the Arroyo", created in June, '10.  It is inspired by Durango, CO, Southwest US culture, and Kraftwerk's song/album "Autobahn.  It is a wedding gift for a friend.

This is a quick-sketch pen-and-ink wash off of a photograph I took of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, OR.  I did it in about 45 minutes and bested any effort to replicate it with watercolor (I was rusty in the watercolor department)

This piece is the result of a tragic occurrence, but I actually like how it looks.  I was putting a lot of effort into this odd little piece when a tea-bag tragedy struck.  That is a saturated tea-bag fell out of my mug and onto this picture.  I actually did some brush work to make it look a little better.  So yes, it does look kind of good--but not really something I want to hang up at an art show.

Restarted work on "Smerdyakov" (Working title).

Piece is approximately 18.5"x20"

Click on it for full view

I restarted work on this piece which I "finished" back at the beginning of June '10.  It's working title was "Smerdyakov", though that may change as I don't feel like it befits that character from Brothers Karamazov as much anymore.

Click on it for full view

This is the original "Finished product" that was Displayed at the Stumptown and Beulahland art shows, finished in one week's time--tons of dots rendered in a short amount of time.  I felt like I needed one more piece for Stumptown, and it seemed finished enough for display.  After having to look at it a lot, I realized I'd need to work on it some more.

Click on it for full view

A close-up of the updated version

Click on it for full view

Even closer.

Let me emphasize that I'm not finished with this piece.  I need to darken the neck, the "shirt" and the background some more.  It's quite an undertaking, my friends.  It's quite easy to get sucked into the minutiae and lose sight of the big picture, so to speak.  Such is the nature of doing large-scale dot-detail.  I look forward to starting a new one soon--possibly doing some color-work.  I owe my Aunt and Uncle a piece of artwork, so I need to get crackin' on a landscape pretty soon.

"Parable of the Blind", by Pieter Breughel

I did not paint this.  Pieter Breughel the Elder did.  This piece is an inspiration.

I have finally set up my art space at my new dwelling.  I am working on "finishing" a piece I'd made last summer--one that I made the week before the Stumptown art show which I never felt was fully complete.  I will post the results of that revision, along with the original, once I am finished.

T-Shirts!! I had t-shirts made.

American Apparel:  Available S,M,L,XL in men's and women's style.  $15. 
Special sale on men's Extra Large:  2 for 10 dollars (apparently no one wants men's XL). 

Beast Battle

"Beast Battle"--displayed at the July art show at Beulahland.  Size=approximately 18"x23"

John Denver

His music was gentle, yet bold.
He was John Denver.
His music like a chunk of gold,
Panned from a cold
Mountain stream.
He didn't scold
He never grew old.
He swallowed gravel
Which lay in his gizzard,
For he was actually part-human,
Part-eagle,
And was born from the trunk of a tree.

An Artistic Plan for the Next Year: The Poodle Parade.

I have been working the last 5 years with a particular style and subject matter that developed from sketchbooks, landscapes, archaeological illustration, and artist-schooling (amongst other things).  It is distinct and interesting, but I would like to take the opportunity to move forth and re-connect to other styles and subject matter, notably landscape art (especially now that I will be moving back (however temporarily) to my homeland of the Boulder/Longmont/Niwot, CO vicinity).  I want to re-visit many facets of observational art that I have, for various reasons, abandoned.  I would like to take many of the skills I've developed and apply them towards more traditional pursuits--for I believe that the original surrealists and abstract artists were rooted in the past and tradition.  I would hope that this would broaden my emotional palette via an expansion of the range of available material.  In short, I'd like to move out of my head and more into the common experience.  I am curious to see where I'll be next year at this time.  In Portland, OR summer is just beginning and I always tend to have a glut of happenings occur around this time--things seem to be going according to schedule here in 2010.  I'll have to revisit this "blog" "entry" next year.  I have a schedule function on my phone which allows me to schedule an event far in advance.  I'll go ahead and schedule an event for July 2, 2011, and will title it, "Poodle Parade".  I am certain there will be a poodle parade on that date.

"Geese Created". 20"x18"

I might do more work on this piece...it was an experiment with a different style, but I'm not sure if my idea, of geese being spontaneously-generated from a pond's edge, was adequately elucidated.  If I work further on it, I would add some detail work on the bottom of the feathers.  I will display it as-is at my art show at Beulahland next week.

Look

Thanks to local illustrator Maryanna Hoggatt for pickin' up one of my postcards of "Infernal Contraption" and featuring it on her blog
www.littlewolfblog.wordpress.com
Check out her cool illustrations whilst you're at it.

One show goes down, another goes up

Hello.
My show at Stumptown Division goes down this Thursday the 1st.  If you haven't checked it out, now would be the time.
However, there will be a show going up on the 5th  of July at Beulahland Lounge and Cafe, (118 NE 28th ave. PDX) with my artist-friend Allison Dewilde finetiphen.blogspot.com/
This show will include the new stuff I didn't sell at the last show, as well as some XTREME new stuff from new pile--some not completed as of this moment.
In the meantime,  please enjoy your lives.  I will be enjoying my life.
I love my life
Dan Groth

"It has Disturbed my Sleep"

My first stab at larger scale work--(about 22"x18").  Pretty happy with the results.

"Ape Genesis"

This is a big piece with over a million dots, though I wasn't counting.  The photo quality isn't the best, unfortunately.

"Smerdyakov"

This is based on a character, Smerdyakov, from the novel The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. Not sure if it would pass muster with ol' Fyodor Mikhailovich, but maybe it would.

"The Infernal Contraption"

Art Show for June: "Opening" on June 4th!

Hello!
I am showing art for the month of June at Stumptown Coffee on Division, (4525 SE Division, PDX)
The opening will be on Friday June 4th from 4-6pm.  I will be posting images from the show and of new pieces in the next few days.
Yep.

Pro Wrestling

I will wrestle professionally.

Bazooka Geese

One day, I will purchase an elephant.