"My Editor" from Curioddities & other artist on FaceBook

My Editor from Curioddities

Clara Boo's Curioddities just posted this to her FaceBook Fan page (http://www.facebook.com/curioddities)& I had to share. Love everything about this photo from the color & compostion to the doodles & kitty curator.

Funny thing. I was a FaceBook holdout for a long long time. I still find it a bit of a silly time sucker but one thing I love is being able to keep up with what my favorite artists are up to, especially the ones that have been kind enough to pop by the blog for a chat or studio tour.

Clara Boo is the latest featured artist & sponsoring next week's random drawing. If you missed last Thursday's visit & prize details, click here.

In my state of perpetual procrastination, I was messing about on FB & here is what a few past featured artist are up to:

Clara with Leaf Bag by Harry Boardman

Harry Boardman (of the 365 Monster project & this interview and studio tour) posted a fantastic portrait earlier tonight. Love his linework  & the model's personality feels like it is really coming through. Harry's FB is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Harry-Boardman/9012343994

from lesson 2 of Pam Carriker's online  journal workshop

Remember Pam Carriker? She kindly shared her studio with us in 2009. Not only does she have a new book published, Art At The Speed Of Life, she is still now traveling the globe teaching mixed media & journaling workshops. By the way, tonight (3/31) is the deadline to sign up for her Journal 365 online workshop. Visit her website for details or her facebook http://www.facebook.com/pamcarriker.

The Albatross (+ detail) by Myke Amend

The always fantastic Myke Amend (who shared his steamy-genius & a cool prize here last fall) never stops painting (real & digital) and shares his newest creations on his site as well as his facebook wall: http://www.facebook.com/mykeamend.

And the list goes on & on.... Actually this is kinda fun. Perhaps on the Thursdays I don't have a new interview or giveaway I should do a Where are they now? post. What do you think?

Well I've got to go. I've got to get the little guy off to bed & the grown-ups dinner on the table. Tomorrow I'm doing my first judging gig for a local photo competition so I'm pretty excited (& a wee bit nervous) about that. I'll let you know how it goes.... Till then, happy creating!

Saturday Studio Tour #11 - Harry Boardman & friends

1 - Monster Art by Harry

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.

128 Original Monster Art by Harry

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.

75 - Original Monster Art By Harry

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 Harry

Last 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":

365 - Original Monster Art by Harry

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!

Hooray for 365 Monsters! by Harry

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 Boardman

To 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!