Plodding along nicely....

I know I haven't posted much on my flickr page lately, but believe me when I say I am working on lots of things. I've got about 10 new pieces I haven't posted on there yet. Needless to say, I am feeling good about getting work accomplished. I completed the t-shirt design for the first project of The Honeycomb art collective I am part of. I finished it and emailed the file today. I also got the last piece for the show at Recoat Gallery done today. Now I can actually say "Hooray!" for real. Tomorrow I will scan stuff so I can send jpegs. I also will tackle the 3 drawings for a show in L.A. (currently 1/2 completed). Then it's on to a new piece for a show in Culver City and then, just maybe, I will get to this art collaboration that's been sitting in a drawer waiting to be worked on.

A lot of stuff coming up in January!

getting stuff done

I'm getting things accomplished today. I have one more piece I need to color, and then all the work that will be going to Recoat Gallery in Glasgow will be finished. Hooray. Well, I shouldn't really celebrate until that's actually done, but it will be soon. I also have a side project that I may have to work on today, instead of the Glasgow stuff because the deadline is quickly approaching.

Two shows coming up.

"Postcards from the Edge" in NY (which I did last year)

Hosted by ZieherSmith 516 West 20th Street (btw 10th & 11th Avenues), NYC

Saturday, January 9, 2010 from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday, January 10, 2010 from 12:00 noon - 4:00 PM

and

"Play for Keeps" at Tribute Gallery in Portland, OR.

Group Exhibition — New Works On Paper

January 7th through January 30th, 2010

Opening Reception January 7th, 2010 6pm-9pm

Tribute Gallery is located at 328 NW Broadway #117 Portland, OR 97209 and will be open Saturdays in January from 11am to 3pm and by appointment.

The Harpooners (Sold)

Just shipped "The Harpooners" to California the other day, where it will meet it's new owner. It's one of my older pieces, but one I still like. And so far it's the only piece I've done that involves a boat, so maybe I need to do some more with boats. I am getting into doing these water scenes anyway. It's also one piece that will be printed in the next issue of The Washington Square Review, coming out soon.

Late December update

I've been super busy lately and everything is sort of crazy right now. With trips and holidays and more stuff being piled on every week, it's a bit overwhelming. Not that I want the projects and opportunities to stop, but right now I've got plenty to work on. December is just stressful in general for everyone I think. In terms of art, I feel like I've been working on the same bunch of drawings forever. I've got six at the moment that I'm working on. I'm trying to get the line work done on all of them, and I have about one more to do. Then it's onto the color and wash stage.

I have two pieces sent off to Portland, OR for the show I will be in at Tribute Gallery in January.

More interviews pending, more publications soon to be released, and a bunch of other stuff I can't quite think of at the moment.

That's all for tonight.

Belio in the Mail!

I got my copy of Belio in the mail today, and boy was a happy! The printing of the book is excellent! One of the nicest publications I've been in yet by far. It's a rather thick book too, about 3/4" with 216 pages of interviews and beautiful artwork. They did a really good job of making it all go together. Definitely going to submit again! The book is 20 Euros, but I get my copy free, which I'm of course really happy about also.

here's the link again for Belio: http://www.beliomagazine.com/

cover

Ashley Lande

Bruno 9Li

Skinner

Robert Tirado

my work

ARDT

I have some work and an interview on the ARDT blog today.

http://ardentees.blogspot.com/2009/12/interview-with-jon-macnair.html

DG Design Network

I'm on DG Design Network today!

http://www.dgdesignnetwork.com.au/dgdn/

410 BC

A little post about me on 410 BC website:

http://www.410bc.com/blog_comments.php?blogid=210

Trend Hunter

I'm on Trend Hunter? Never heard of this site before...

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/jon-macnair-fine-art

The World's Best Ever.com

This post was brought to my attention by Scott Hassell. Thanks Scott :)

http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2009/12/07/jon-macnair/

Belio - Back to the Roots

Cool! Just found out my work will be printed in Belio magazine! The issue is called "Back to the Roots." The printing looks great! I'll post more pictures on here when I get my copy.

picture from the Belio website. You can buy the issue HERE.

Booooooom

My artwork was featured on this site yesterday.

http://www.booooooom.com/2009/12/04/illustrator-jon-macnair/

Also, I finished the second piece for the Portland show yesterday. It was a long day. 12 hours of drawing approximately and my eyes were sore by the end of the day. I had to redo this piece because of a problem with the way the paper I chose was absorbing the ink wash. What a pain. I almost didn't redo it because I always hate copying my own work, but in the end I was happy with the result. I knew it would eat away at me if I didn't. Anyway, now it's done and I can not think about it anymore.

Onto the next thing.

Brief Tuesday Update

I've been really busy lately, and it's been a challenge keeping everything straight. I made a list though, so I can be methodical about it and just refer to that ten times a day. Actually, I had to do two drafts just to get the list itself organized. Sheesh.

Okay, so first off I got good news the other day that I will have work featured in a special issue of Beautiful Decay. I'm extremely happy about this and still a little surprised. Didn't see something like that happening anytime soon, but I'm sure glad it did. It's for the special "Underdog" issue.

Now I am back to working on what I was doing before I got the random whim to submit to Beautiful Decay, which is stuff for a Portland show I mentioned earlier. One piece down and one to go. It's drawn out in pencil right now so inking is next. It'll probably take me a few days to get that done. Deadline is the 11th.

After that I need to send stuff for "The New Twenties", the book I will have work featured in, published by idN. I don't have to do any new pieces especially for that, so I have a lot I can choose from.

I also have to do a t-shirt design on the theme of "love" for the artist collective I am part of, then a couple pieces for a show in Los Angeles, a piece for a show in Culver City, and the a few pieces for a show at Recoat gallery in Glasgow.

Uh....not to mention a few side projects too. Whew!

Unfortunately, most of the work I'm doing right now, I can't post pictures of yet, so I guess for now it'll just have to stay under wraps.

Back to work now....

Test Everything Zine "I'll See You In My Dreams" now out!

This is my image.


Here are some pictures from the zine "I'll See You In My Dreams" which is by Test Everything and printed by It's a great little publication that I was happy to be a part of. It's screenprinted with love and care, so get one for yourself, or better yet, submit some work for the next theme!

http://www.flickr.com/people/testeverything/

Test Everything website

"Jekyll & Hyde" Interview!

The guys at the French Art and Culture website "Jekyll & Hyde" were kind enough ask me to do an interview with them about my art. I did a little drawing just for the interview as well. You can read the interview HERE!

Late Saturday Night update

I spent today working on some drawings for an Oregon show. Still in the final sketching stage. I think by tomorrow I will be starting to ink. I finished the large drawing I was working on a few days ago. It took a few weeks to do it, but it was on and off work. I'm pretty happy with it even though it stressed me out at times. I think for now I will be keeping it under wraps just because it's going to Glasgow for a show and I think it would be nice if it was unveiled there. I still have 3-4 pieces to do for that show, but this Oregon one is coming up sooner, sooo.......first things first.

Also, I need to do something for a group show in California I was invited to participate in. That's in February.

Beautiful Decay

Someone did a post on my work at the Beautiful Decay website!

http://beautifuldecay.com/2009/11/20/jon-mcnair/

Full Plate

I've got a lot on my plate right now preparing for various shows, so I may not be posting as often as usual, but I will try to keep you up to date on things.

Busy Busy

-Jon

Banner for Faesthetic Blog

This is the banner I created for the Think Faest! blog.

Lost At E Minor

A little post about me on this site:

http://www.lostateminor.com/2009/11/12/jon-macnai/

My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses

Today an image of mine appeared on the blog My Love For You Is A Stampede Of Horses, which I love and check everyday! It's a great blog so take a peek if you haven't before.

http://myloveforyou.typepad.com/my_love_for_you/2009/11/weekly-flickr-pool-open-swim.html

Interview on I Paint My Mind Blog

Recently did an interview for this blog. Check it out!

http://ipaintmymind.blogspot.com/2009/11/jon-macnair-ipmm-exclusive-interview.html

Sneak Peek

Here's a little preview of something I'm currently working on. This is just a tiny section of the drawing.

Fantastic Faesthetic!

Got my issue of Faesthetic in the mail today! Very exciting! I think the printing looks great. I did three pieces for them (two pages and a spread). It was a long wait to see the finished product, but well worth it!






You can buy the issue from the Faesthetic website HERE!

The original drawings can be seen on my flickr page HERE.

OK GREAT

There's a little write-up about my work on the Okay Great Blog.

http://www.okaygreat.com/?p=3604

bunch o links

I did some drawing today and am now in a more comfortable place to pick up from tomorrow.

Came across some links with my work.

http://www.changethethought.com/jon-macnair/

http://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/jon-macnair/

http://kidontology.com/2009/09/09/angels-in-the-architecture/

http://georgiebird.blogspot.com/2009/09/could-be-me.html

http://man-aeter.blogspot.com/2009/11/jon-macnair.html

http://lifeisbeautiful-jules.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html#853755775606594094

http://zmokingkillz.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-post_31.html

http://dailyobsessional.blogspot.com/2009/10/halloween-is-soon-approaching-and.html

http://iluminenme.blogspot.com/2009/10/compilar-1009_09.html

http://yayeveryday.com/post/937

http://iloapp.yesbutwhynot.com/blog/scrapbook?Home&post=96

Sketched out

I'm currently sketching out my fourth drawing of six, but I think after I finish this one I will start to ink them. I'm getting tired of all the sketching and my motivation is waning. Sketching out can just be boring sometimes, especially when you spend days doing it. Yeah, definitely inking after this.

:(

These are the photos I like

A picture of the two portraits I just sold in their new home.

MY FIRST RELEASE OF ART PRINTS OF MY WORK!

I recently remembered that I have failed to mention I am now selling 5 of my artworks as high quality giclee prints on the website Society6.com! If you are not familiar with the site, you should check it out. There's a lot of interesting work to be seen and opportunities to be snatched up by creative individuals (maybe you!).

So please check out my store and see if anything catches your eye! Bare walls love artwork!

http://www.society6.com/studio/jonmacnairportfolio/store

I plan on releasing more in the future, so check my store periodically and I will let you know about new items on here as well.

Thanks!

Sold these recently

Just shipped these two pieces to NY today. You may remember that they were a set of 6 originally displayed at Double Punch Gallery in San Francisco over the summer. I still have 3 of them left.

Sketching, sketching and more sketching

I'm continuing on with my list of artworks I want to make, and I'm currently in the sketching stage. So I'm lightly drawing in pencil right now and working on three drawings. I'm debating whether or not to continue to sketch out some more drawings before I tackle the ink and color stage, or just finish these three first. I really don't like the sketch stage too much, so I feel inclined to just get that part out of the way with these other drawings. I still have three large drawings to do after these current three.

Back on track

I finally got some things taken care of that were hanging over me, so now I'm back to making art. I just finished this piece today to submit to A5's theme of "Remix." You were supposed to interpret a song you like and this is what I came up with. My song was "Faraway Swimmingpool" by Mum. It's actually instrumental but I enjoy it a lot. It's got a sort of underwater video game sound to it.

Book Doodle No. 1 - SOLD

Just sold this piece and it's off to Tucson Arizona!

Short break

Been kinda busy and not making art lately. I was just about to start a graphite drawing but had to put it on hold until I got some other things done. I have a few interviews I was contacted for, and one had quite a few questions for me to answer. When I say interview, I don't mean a job interview, but an artist interview about me and my work. I've done a few of these before, so it's not unfamiliar. I like to think that I'm getting better at them. I always struggle way more than I probably should in answering the questions. I think it's because I really have to think about how I am going to answer a question in written form. It probably wouldn't be quite as hard if it were just a regular in person interview, or at least I wouldn't have so much time to dwell on my answers. Either way, it takes me a long time.

I also am working some things out with selling a piece. So that transaction is in motion.

And I was contacted by The Washington Square Review to have my artwork in their publication, which I am certainly excited about. I need to send them a bio and images. It's black and white, so my work fits well. The magazine has a small circulation, but it publishes work by some of the most established writers of today and has national distribution, so that's all good!

Once I get all this taken care of, it will be back to the work table.

Two Collages

"Amber Moon"



"Blushing Moon"


I have completed two of the things on my recent list of artwork to make. Over the weekend I finished two collages. I have to say that not having done any in a while, it was a little bit tough getting back into it, and I spent a lot of time staring at the scraps of paper on my table. I'm happy with how they turned out overall, although of course I always see things I could have done differently. I sort of decided to make a diptych with these two pieces. I had so many wonderful paper scraps just waiting to be used, and I got to utilize them pretty well here. I spent a good portion of the time preparing my papers I was going to use for collage, and also preparing the old book covers which serve as my paper or canvas in this instance. I had a random assortment of paper that I wanted to alter the color of. For example, I had a navy blue shade of paper which I made a brownish-green by applying numerous coats of diluted bleach, and then applying numerous coats of strong coffee. It gave it a wonderful earthy tone. I did the same thing with the bleach on some dark brown paper which created the golden yellow color of the moon in one of the collages. Some of the paper was aged/stained paper from old music and book pages. It didn't need much altering because it already looked great. I also did some distressing of surfaces with sandpaper, but not too much. Overall, I did a lot of layering. Right now I have a big mess on the table to clean up, but with collage that's inevitable.

list of materials: India ink, graphite, gesso, coffee, bleach, cut paper, colored ink, charcoal on old book covers

Scraps

So in tackling my list of art projects, I was going to start with the graphite drawing, but decided to go with the collages instead. I may just be a little blocked right now as to what to do for the graphite drawing. Today I have been staring at scraps of paper. Doing a little cutting and a lot of rearranging. I think the thing about collage that takes a while for me is the endless sorting through of the infinite compositional possibilities (moving the paper around and rearranging the elements). When you're drawing, it's much more labor intensive to do this, or you just stare at the blank paper and try to imagine things in indifferent configurations. With this I can actually move things around with ease and contemplate them until my brain hurts. And it does.

I'm on the verge of something here, but not there yet.

Note to self

I always have little random lists of things to do in various lined notepads. They sort of get a little confusing from time to time because I forget to cross things off and the lists are not all in the same place. Anyway, I thought I would make a little list on here for things that I want to accomplish in the hope that seeing it typed out and recorded in a blog post will keep me on track better.

1. 1 small graphite drawing (portrait)
2. 2 medium sized watercolor and ink drawings
3. 1 medium mixed media piece
3. 2 small collage/mixed media pieces on old book covers
4. 3 large ink drawings (approx. 18" x 24" - possibly with color)
5. Do SOMETHING on mounted wooden panels with paint

That's about 10 pieces I'd like to tackle.

Faesthetic #12 is out!

Issue #12 of Faesthetic it out! Featuring the work of 35 artists (including me) with high quality 2 color offset printing!

Can't wait to get mine and flip through it!

Check it out! http://www.faesthetic.com/

Seattle Trade

I recently traded artwork with an artist named Darin in Seattle. Not only did he draw on the envelope (which I always like), but he also threw in two of his zines and a few stickers!



"Mask with Ducks"
check out more of his work on his WEBSITE and his FLICKR page


This is the drawing I traded him

No More Tears

"Harvesting Tears"
SOLD

Just shipped this piece to Italy the other day. Earlier last year this piece was one of three that was displayed as part of the "Bailout" show at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore. About a year later this piece was finally sold to someone across the world who saw it online. Hurray for technology!

Graphite (second attempt)

"Woe-Be-Gone Soup"
graphite on paper - 8" x 8" (circle measures 6" in diameter)

This is my second attempt at a graphite drawing with this style. I think I am getting the hang of things. I like the softness of the drawing, although I would say it takes longer to do than ink wash. Still a nice effect though.