Got Monsters?
Harry Boardman does! 1 year ago Harry started an ambitious project - to create a monster a day "from Halloween to Halloween" and post them on his blog 365monsters.blogspot.com and etsy shop 365monsters.etsy.com. His creatures are created out of a variety of material and have a quite a mix of personalities. Each also has a brief bio in the listings.
Lucky for us, Harry has stopped by to share a bit about his creations and to give us a tour of his studio space:
HB: A little more than a year ago I wanted to challenge myself and exercise my creative muscle. The point was to put myself on edge and take on the sort of task that normal sane people wouldn’t attempt. Aside from doing all of that, this project looked simple as a whole but became difficult fast.
HB: The first week was hard. It wasn’t easy to get into a routine, produce consistently good work, and to be creative each and every day. It seems strange now that monster # 25 was a big milestone for me.
25 - Original Monster Art By Harry HB: This has been an amazing yearlong project. I’ve posted monsters while traveling around the world, produced a large body of work that I’m happy with, included friends & family in my work, and found new avenues of business like custom monster portraits starting at $65.
Custom Monster Project by HarryLast Friday, Harry had a live-action drawing gig over at Estetiks in Doylestown, PA where he finished off his year of monsters with these critters and the advice to "know your footwear":
Now on with the Studio Tour!
HB: Welcome to the studio of Harry Boardman. Artist, monster fan, and recovering packrat. Although not a frontiersman, I live in the woods with my wonderful wife Heather (a lampwork glass artist and jewelry designer) with our 2 cats and dog-boy Morty. Even though my studio is in a subterranean situation with one small window, it’s really great. The space is large enough to continuously find new equipment to squeeze in and it’s always good to be down here. Besides, when the zombies attack it’ll be safer down here underground.
HB: This is what you see as you come into the door. It’s a lot to take in at once. I feel like this space is jam-packed with organized chaos. Good things are packed in here for inspiration, cool projects, and lots of choices when the right tool or medium calls.
HB: When my wife and I bought this house my current studio was a small woodshop with long wide short cabinets in it. Most of those cabinets were moved to an undisclosed location but one remained as a place to store and mix oil paints. I do most of my painting on this easel and large pieces go on an open wall behind this area
HB: Another piece of heavy duty industrial metal furniture, the drafting table is a super spot to sketch, layout portraits and paintings on boards, all of the monsters are inked on this table. This shot also shows my white board of insanity covered in color-coded thoughts, my wonderful Epson printer for reproducing my artwork, and extra storage that came as a gift from beyond the grave (the story is way too long).
HB: I keep all of my reference pics in the computer and do a ton of research on it. It’s handy for doing research, marketing, making excellent and timely playlists, and managing my etsy stores.
HB: The cutting/matting/assembly/layout desk is the most recent work space addition to the studio. I’m glad I have it every time I use it. Be sure to stop by Harry's blog where he celebrated finishing the monster project by creating .... another monster!
He also talks about his next big project 52 Farms. Here's a sneak peek of Harry's artistic plans for the coming year
HB: My next blog project called 52 Farms will start in Spring or Summer of 2010. This one will feature weekly pieces that are larger and more ambitious than the monster pieces. I’ll be creating artwork based on 52 different working farms within an hour or so drive time from my studio in Montgomery county, PA.
HB: When not involved in a blog project, I take commissions for portraits of people, pets, and houses. Oil paintings and mixed media pieces of local landscapes, nature scenes, wildlife, plants, and animals are the majority of my other work.
Want to see some of Harry's non- monster art? Check out his 2nd etsy shop HarryBoardman.etsy.com as well as these other online locations:
http://www.portraitsbyharry.com/
http://www.harryboardman.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harry-Boardman/9012343994
Want to win a piece of Harry's art? Simply leave a comment on this blog before noon (EST) on Nov. 5 to enter the random drawing for the 8 x 10 matted print Sunset Parking Lot
Sunset Parking Lot by Harry BoardmanTo read about the creation of this piece & visit a few more monsters, CLICK HERE for last Thursday Giveaway/ Artist Feature. Thanks for your patience with this belated post. And for stopping by today. And Extra Special Thanks to Harry for sharing his menagerie & creative space with us today!
Now that's my kind of studio, large enough to have a station to work on each step!!! And to move around, moving stimulates creativity in me. Sitting in one place stagnates my muse! Great studio, thanks for sharing Harry and Stacey!
ReplyDeleteWow! I am so very envious of all that space and the various stations. Sure does bring basements from the "doom and gloom". I'm also looking forward to following Harry's new project. Thanks for another great artist to follow, Stacey.
ReplyDeleteI have huge respect for people who can make such a commitment to their art. It's amazing really that he's been able to produce so many monsters! How fun :D
ReplyDeleteNow that is what an artist should be like! What a fabulous creator of wonderfulness! Thanks for sharing him with us, Stacey, you, too, are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteGreat studio and I love the monster art!! Definitely an ambitious project!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing
Hugs
SueAnn
His next project about the farms sounds very cool! Thanks for writing more about Harry and his work! (I'm off to check out his monster blog!)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project! The "a year of" concept seems like a great way to really push yourself creatively while also having an intrinsic structure. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteI like his style!
ReplyDeleteI like this blog post ALOT!!
ReplyDeletehave you ever seen Theo Ellsworth work?! He is amazing, http://theoellsworth.blogspot.com/
xo!!