White Rooster Studio

It’s been a great couple of weeks – I think I have finally hit on an idea that I am extremely excited about and feel confident that this will add an interesting element to the Virtues Project.

I stumbled across an idea that I had abandoned after graduating from college while flipping though a sketchbook from that time and thought that this could be adapted into something that could incorporate the ideas that I had been working with for the past couple of years and push them into a fun, new direction:

So I tried a couple of different approaches, using some paper scraps from the Pismo Series that are approximately 9.5×22 inches:

Ultimately, I couldn’t resist trying this idea out on a 22×22 inch piece of paper – I like the idea… just wasn’t sure what to do with it:

I thought maybe adding a ink layer would help out a bit and found a irrigation tool that would be perfect and tested it on a couple of 9.5×22 sheets of paper:

I thought outlining the ink would make it more exciting and add some dimension:

I am extremely excited about the direction that this piece is going in, I know it need something more… so I’ve added it to the studio wall and am patiently waiting for some inspiration on how to finish this. I do have to say that I have been continuing to experiment with the Aquash Water Brushes and think that this may be a possible solution in regards to next steps. Also, I received some feedback on the White Rooster Studio Facebook page when I posted this work in progress pic and added some blue to the picture (thank you!!)… for a long time I shied away from adding color as I had quite a lot of failures a couple of years ago… but I like how this is coming out and am encouraged to give color another try 🙂

I suppose it is no surprise that I couldn’t resist trying this idea out on a 20×20 sheet of paper… I should mention that the “smiley” face in the bottom center circle was completely unintentional:

On this one, I tried to let the ink dictate the shapes and even incorporated some of the ink blotches into the circles:

I had the opportunity to work on this one outside for the first time this season… Honestly, can’t think of a better “studio” to be working in:

A couple of days ago, I was thinking on how I can “spice” this idea up even more and I thought of using sepia ink and even found some great drawing pens with brown ink. This could allow the project to evolve even more and allow for more colors to be added, so I am extremely impatient to try this idea out… just have to wait for the delivery!

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2021 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

I have been having some difficulty with my new project: lots of stops, starts, changing direction… changing size, do I use the water brushes or not? How about ink layers? UGH…

I haven’t really liked many of my experiments these past couple of weeks, which has resulted in too much time spent overthinking, over planning and not enough time playing.

Inevitably, I ended up overworking a picture two weeks ago, but managed to save the part that I thought was working for future ideas:

I tried out some new shapes and used a combination of the water brushes and the Sharpies and I believe that this has something interesting going for it, so I tried a different approach last week and am really enjoying the results:

I did stop at this point and added this to the studio wall for the time being. There is a idea that is slowly developing on how to finish this picture, but in the meantime, I wanted to move onto some other new ideas until the solution was more concrete in my head. Kind of looks like a snowflake right now, so maybe just adding some ink layers behind it would make it “pop” and give it a more finished look.

In 2017 I completed a picture called Totem (see below) that consisted of four 4×4 squares that I thought had some series potential, but really hadn’t managed to get around to exploring it and shelved the idea. That is, until yesterday.

I had been trying to use up some leftover paper and wanted to challenge myself when I started playing with a 9.5×22 piece of scrap paper and ended up thinking about Totem:

The idea is to “layer” the shapes, trying to give them a new look and maybe a new dimension. So far, I like way this is developing. Now back to playing 🙂

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.

You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers.

For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION, LE GALERISTE or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.

Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2021 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

I have mostly been focusing on trying new art tools, techniques and shapes for the Virtues Project for the past couple of weeks. No complete pictures yet, but some new designs and new looks:

I spent a couple of days working out the design for this picture and I love the way it came out… honestly, just not sure what to do with it yet, so I have added it to my studio wall confident that inspiration will strike soon:

I also tested out some inking techniques so I can work out the look of the project. I used several different ink washes using standard watercolor brushes – for the most part, I like results, just feel that I need more practice with the brushes as it has been far too long since I worked with them. Still, I do like the unpredictability of some of the tests :

I also spent a lot of time working with Aquash Water Brushes and find that I am torn between the Aquash brushes and the standard watercolor brushes. The are benefits and detractions for both and I am leaning towards a using a combination of both going forward with this project:

The picture above was inked using mostly the Aquash Water Brushes and I tried to keep the design simple while experimenting with the brushes. I feel that I am gaining some sense of control over the how the ink looks when applied, but even with labeling the brushes with light, medium or 100% ink in the barrels, there were some issues and it became difficult to keep things straight. Guess I just need to work out a better system going forward 🙂

Overall, I think that the one big thing holding me back with this project is that I am overthinking pretty much everything. My goal with this project is to develop a new look and I have been feeling that by trying to force this to happen, I am slowing down any progress I could be making. The successes that I experienced in my previous projects were attained by simply letting things go, allowing the design to develop naturally and observing what happens when accidents inevitably occur.

So I will be going back to the original idea behind my work and just play.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION, LE GALERISTE or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2021 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Now that the Pismo Series has been completed, I have been working on some ideas for my next project: Virtues. Some of the these ideas have been images in my head for a while and some are ideas I just wanted to play with. I expect that this process will continue for another couple of months until I have hit upon a “look” for the new project that I am exited to explore. Please see some of the initial ideas below:

My first experiment began with a new way to approach the knots – I stumbled up on the central knot below during a studio session and when I inked it in, I really liked the way it came out:

I added some new images to the picture in pencil – something I had not done before on this scale. My previous projects have focused on spontaneity and all biomorphic forms were added with gel pens. For this project, I wanted to create a new set of forms and language so I chose to use pencil first so that I could manipulate the forms prior to inking them… in this case, after I added the forms, I had another idea, so they were erased and this is the result so far:

I then decided that jumping right into a new series that was 22×22 inches without doing extensive tests and knowing that this is a process that will evolve over the next few months, I realized I should step back and try to use up some of the leftover sheets of paper from the Pismo Series:

Of course, that lead to: what if I take 2 of the 10×10 sheets and tape them together and use them during this process?

And just this morning I started another version. Right now, I am just playing with shapes and borders and will most likely spend the next few weeks just experimenting with this before I start adding more and more biomorphic forms and begin the next phase of the project.

Ultimately, the idea is to develop this series to be 52 pictures, all ~22×22 inches, mixed media: Sharpies, gel pens, technical drawing pens and traditional Chinese ink. I want to develop a new process in which I paint layers of ink washes onto the pictures in a more controlled look than the ink washes in the I Ching Series.

I am still debating on whether I will be adding touches of color to the pictures, but as much as the idea intrigues me, I may spend a good portion of the project exploring gray ink washes until I feel comfortable with the medium.

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION, LE GALERISTE or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2021 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

I am shocked to realize that the last update to the Pismo Series was June of 2020 – I honestly thought that I had posted an update since then.

At the time, I had just completed Pismo 17 Q and now the final 8 pictures in this series have been completed… the final 3 completed this just week: Pismo 27 & (completed on 1/15/21) and the 3rd version of Pismo 10 J and the 2nd version of Pismo 25 Y (both completed on 1/16/21).

Please see the final 8 below:

Last night I was thinking about the journey that this project had taken me on and came up with the following:

The Pismo Series began on 7/7/2018 and was completed on 1/16/21 – spanning a total of 29 months. Nine of those months was spent in development – there were quite a lot of starts and stops for this project as I worked out the original concept.

NO Pismo Series pictures were successfully completed in 2018, only 6 were completed in 2019 and I seem to have hit my stride in 2020 with 18 pictures completed and the final 3 in the 1st couple of weeks in January of 2021.

In all, I worked on a total of 48 pictures for this project as there were quite a few pictures that were re-worked ( a total of 21 pictures).

I will admit to feeling a little lost this morning – I spent almost 2.5 years on this project and now will be moving on to the next project that I have been working on the concept for the past couple of months. This new project will be called Virtues and will consist of 54 pictures. I have decided to experiment with more of a mandala design and a combination of Sharpie and ink “painting” and washes. I am excited to see where this new project will take me and am determined to more consistent in posting and documenting this projects better than I did the Pismo Series – 6 months is WAY too long between updates 🙂

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If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION, LE GALERISTE or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2021 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.