Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 8

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 8, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Maizena Duryea, and Pelikan pens and inks.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 6

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 6, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Horch 8 ad.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 5a

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 5a, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Cafiaspirina Bayer ad.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 4

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 4, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Kodak ad.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 3

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 3, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Radio Corporation of America and Sociedade Ibérica de Construções Eléctricas Limitada. Photo of Eleanor Gosa, recording her own voice.

Christian Schad, Café d'Italia, 1921

Christian Schad, Café d'Italia, 1921, originally uploaded by kraftgenie.

http://weimarart.blogspot.com/

Pop Sculpture: New Video Is Live!

In case you're interested to know exactly what topics we'll be covering in the upcoming book Pop Sculpture (due out October 19, 2010), this video breaks down the contents for you, complete with some luscious imagery courtesy of sculptor and co-author Tim Bruckner. Tim also edited the video, and Zach narrated. Music by our man Beethoven.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 2

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 2, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Telefunken ad.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 1

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 1, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Fiat 514 l.

Almanaque Ilustrado de Fafe, Couraça Toothpaste, 1939

Almanaque Ilustrado de Fafe, Couraça Toothpaste, 1939, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Via Blog da Rua Onze

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - back-cover

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - back-cover, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Ovolmatine.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 60

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 60, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Waterman's Patrician pens.

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 56

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - 56, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Lincoln cars.

René Magritte, The Giantess, 1929

René Magritte, The Giantess, 1929, originally uploaded by kraftgenie.

THE JAILHOUSE: Behind the Scenes, Behind the Bars - PART 3

Kat Sapene is one of the finest painters I’ve known. And that’s saying something. I’m a geezer, I’ve have been around a long time and have known many painters. She is one of the best. Aside from her chops, one of the things make makes her work so good is her focus on the needs of the sculpture. She never showboats. She never does more or less than what will make sculpture the best it can be. And speaking as a sculptor, ain’t nothing better than that. Take a good look at how she handled the Jailhouse; the rust on the bars, the cast light from the lantern, the wear on the stone work. And those stripes! Those stripes! No small feat that. So, ladies and gentlemen, its my pleasure to introduce, the Princess of Paint, the Queen of Color. The one. The only. Kat Sapene! - THB

This is one of my favorite pieces. With all the little details that Tim threw in, it was a real pleasure to paint this scene.

Luckily for me, the figures and the base were left as separate pieces. Something that isn’t always the case, but with a piece as large as this, it allowed me to tackle one section at a time. As with any project, I started by collecting all the reference I could find. The client was able to supply me with a number of images he had taken in a behind the scenes tour of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. And with all the Disney pieces I have painted I have been collecting Disney movies, shorts and odd snippets on DVD for a number of years now. (Disney also has a nasty habit of throwing movies in their “Vault”, so get ‘em while they’re out or the movies won’t be available when you need them!) In one of these collections of shorts I happen to have a copy of an old TV show where Walt Disney takes you on a tour through the Pirates ride. This was perfect for capturing the mood of the ride.

With all my reference at hand I started by painting the figures. I mixed all the colors I would need to paint the figures and the dog, making sure to keep all colors fairly muted and dingy. But the biggest obstacle with these pirates was all those stripes! In small areas, like the socks and bandanas, stripes are easier since there isn’t really enough space to mess up. But with a full shirt like the blonde pirate, plan ahead! If you’re really nervous about stripes, take a pencil and lightly sketch out your stripe placement. Then make sure to seal it with some dullcote, otherwise your pencil markings will smear all over the place. Use thin layers of color so as not to build up too much paint, and breathe gently. Another thing to keep in mind is how stripes change when they wrinkle, meet an edge, or are tied in a knot. Something as simple as creating a seam by slightly offsetting where your stripes meet can give your piece a nice touch of realism

Next, I painted the base. Even though I’ve painted stone a million and one times, I never try to just duplicate what I’ve done in the past. While the basic techniques may be the same, the colors vary depending on the setting. For this base, I made sure to add some browns and raw umber to my colors to keep in line with the dirt on the figures. This helps to unify the piece as a whole instead of having a base and figures that don’t look like they are in the same world. Adding drips and stains to the walls adds to the dirtiness of the jailhouse. The final touch on the base was to add a bit of glow from the lantern to the wall. This was achieved by taking the highlight color I used on the stone and mixing in the colors of the light. Then I did a simple dry brush of these new colors on the wall where the light would hit.

Pega-me ao Colo, 1938

Pega-me ao Colo, 1938, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

From the book "Passa por Mim no Rossio", by Filipe La Féria, 1991. Click image for 1203 x 1521 size.

Franz Sedlacek, Nightly Return, 1927

Franz Sedlacek, Nightly Return, 1927, originally uploaded by kraftgenie.

Júlio de Sousa, cards for theatre shows, 1935

Júlio de Sousa, cards for theatre shows, 1935, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 636 x 862 size. From the book Do livro "Passa por Mim no Rossio", by Filipe La Féria, 1991.

Café com Leite, poster, 1935

Café com Leite, poster, 1935, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

From the book "Passa por Mim no Rossio", by Filipe La Féria, 1991. Click image for 1344 x 1353 size.

A theatre musical production, starring Mariamélia and Beatriz Costa.

Rain, not words

N. Raghavan, Rain V (2009)

One reason I like zapping through artist's pages instead of always looking carefuly at their artist's statements and curator's notes is that I don't need to undo the damage of their own thoughts about their work.
The latter often makes the experience of the work dull, as if our aesthetic wings were cut by the discursive blade. It is not that it isn't informative, which it often is. It's that it is rarely inspiring.
(Then again, this very blog may also be seen at such an angle).

Almanaque Bertrand, 1934

Almanaque Bertrand, 1934 - Blancard medicine back cover, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad for Blancard medicine.

Almanaque Bertrand, 1934

Almanaque Bertrand, 1934 - Families' Golden Book 76, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Ad to The Families' Golden Book.

Beatriz Costa, 1930s

Beatriz Costa, 1930s, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Portuguese actress.

Leon de Smet, A still life with flowers in a vase, 1928

A still life with flowers in a vase 1928, originally uploaded by artinconnu.

Leon de Smet [Belgian Painter, 1881-1966]

THE JAILHOUSE: Behind the scenes, Behind the bars. PART 2

After the clays were approved, Tim made a series of waste molds and cast a set of wax copies to take to finish.

1: “The mutt is a breed my mom used to call Heinz 57, because he had a little bit of everything in him. The challenge with the dog was to balance the anthropomorphism. He is, after all, a Disney dog. The fur had to work in porcelain, so I went for a slightly sleeker pooch, with a wavy coat." -THB

2: “One of the great things about working on this project was, it came with a back story. All I had to do was supply details to amplify each pirate’s character. This guy had the bone, which was probably the remnants of their last meal. He’s got the worried look of a natural born pessimist. I added as many back view details as I could. The patch on his pants shows they’ve been mended at least twice, with whatever bit a scarp he could scrounge." - THB

3: “In better times, he was the cook. He’s the ‘bone pirate’s’ back up. The dog gets close enough and his job is to snare the mangy beast. He’s probably pretty good at it. His full figure testifies to his talent with a noose or a trap." - THB

4: “This guy hasn’t got all his oars in the water, so to speak. He’ll do his best to try and lure the dog within reach. Like his cell mates, he wants that key. But he hasn’t had a decent meal in a while. And he remembers hearing that dog tastes a lot like chicken.” - THB (Note: In the full body profile, you can see he has a peg leg. Its not visible from the front. Although pirates and peg legs go together like a Yo-Ho and Rum, it was decided to go with a more traditional two legged pirate for the final version.)

5: With all the figures approved, molded as cast, Tim made a mock up of the set out of foam core. The hands would have to be sculpted separately. The actual characters grip the bars in a full finger curl. These guys would need to be positioned after the set was manufactured, so their hands would need to be “C” hands to allow them to be slide onto the bars as opposed to the bars being slid through them.

6: Although not in the original design, Tim added a few props to help flesh out the story. A set of pewter plates, bowls, spoons and mugs gave the set a more lived-in look. Note how he constructed the water bucket with a separate clear resin water plug to add a little more realism. The mice just seemed like a natural addition. What’s a dungeon cell without a few mice? And we all know how fond mice are of drop or two a ale.

7/8: This is completed statue, fully assembled for a final approval. Next stop, the magic hands and talent of the Princess of Paint, The Queen of Color, the one, the only Kat Sapene!

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - cover

Ilustração, No. 120, Christmas, December 16 1930 - cover, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

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Illustration by José Tagarro.

Mysterious Hindu Linga Sing, 1935

I was contacted by Nigel Dutt, the grandson of Linga Singh, whose real name was Amar Nath Dutt (see poster above), a stage magician from 1910-1937. Nigel graciously decided to share the bellow images with us, thank you!

1931

1925

c. 1919

NO MORE MR. STICKY FINGERS!

Superglue! The Pop Sculptor's best friend! Well, maybe not a sculptor's best friend, but way up there. But it can be difficult now and then, like some best friends can be. Especially if you use a thin viscosity mercury adhesive. The thin stuff sets up quicker and can get into places the medium of thick stuff just can't. But the thin stuff has a mind of its own. You want it to go here and it wants to go anywhere but here or there. Before you know it, you've not only over glued your part but you've managed to glue yourself to the part as well. What the solution? Micro Teflon Tubing! Its available at most hobby stores and comes is a variety of gauges. And its cheap! You snip off a short piece, insert the tube into the pour spout of the glue bottle and you have the accuracy of William Tell. No more Mr. Sticky Fingers!