Work in Progress

These are some paintings and projects I am working on.

I have been doing alot of octopus paintings. I had a couple of live demonstrations where I did the two octopus paintings in the multiple painting image. I really wanted to try my hand at a jellyfish painting which I think turned out well. I still need to create some poetry for these painting. I may do one poem for the same size octopus paintings. I stopped doing prints a while ago which feels better to me. I like that I am making the same image and painting but it is going to be different each time. I feel like there is so much print and replicas that an art lover would like a unique piece. I feel more personally connected to those who own one of my pieces.

Crush the day.

-queen-

This a painting that I have recreated a few times. One version of this painting I won second place in the Del Mar fair. This is version is compelling to me for the solitary peace she seems to have. I placed broken glass and two different crystals inside her head. If you look inside her eyes it gives the appearance of a whole universe inside her mind. I feel we are all like that, all of use with our own universes inside of our minds. We are similar and all unique kind of like the different versions of this painting. After a few years of this just sitting around I finally added the final pieces to make me feel that it is finished. I have so many variations of this piece though the years in different mediums.

crest

I have had this painting in my head for 8 months and I finally have been in a good head space to put it down on canvas. I am still working on the poem but, all in all it is finished.

A portal painting

These paintings represent so much about life for me. These paintings are all about traveling down a path and you can stay here on this side with all the chaos and things that are known or push forward to the light and the unknown. Everyday I wake up and think about drinking and then I look at my past and the known. All the hardship and destruction from being all comfy in my drunken unaware mind. Then I look down the path and see all the light and fun unknown things in my future. I want to be aware of everything, I want to experience it all sober. So I keep going forward.

These paintings take me quite a while to do. I first put down the stucco layer by layer. I have to let each layer of stucco dry so I can get that overlap I like. Then I paint layer by layer. In this painting it is start with black and paint 4 layers to make sure I get everywhere. Then I paint in the white very thick on the inside of the rectangle then push out. I painted around 5 layers of white to make sure I get it bright enough. I mixed in glow in the dark paint on the last layer of white. I then add one more layer of glow in the dark paint.

WIP

This piece is moving along swimmingly. I used concrete and cheese cloth to get some texture and some earrings to add some charm. I am really enjoying the colors on this, the gold shimmers.

WIP

I have had this piece for two years now. I was playing around with pushing paint with static cling. The problem was I didnt like how it turned out till now. I started painting white over it "cleaning" it and boom the voice of this piece started to scream at me. I still have to write a poem about it but, it should be alot easier now as it is screaming at me.

WIP

I have been working on this piece for a bit and it has been so much fun. I have really enjoyed this piece, it was my calm during a rough patch. The spine glows in the dark so it adds a really neat element to it at night. I was getting stressed and normal pressure has been building, this painting has a soothing affect on me. I stare at it now and look at all the texture and feel calm by it.

"circle"

I wanted to see this on a different perspective which is why I hung it in the diamond shape. I heavily glossed the blue and the red is soft and muted as it is matte. I wanted to show the dichotomy within me, the struggles of the polar opposites that are my inner voices.  

"sullen" and "panhandle"

I have been working on all of these for a bit, they all glow in the dark not much just a light glow. I have just started on some and only have a few completed poems.

Color blind painting around

I am color blind which has me doing things different than most painters and graphic designers. I heavily rely on rgb, and cmyk inputs in the digital world, I can see what is in the color and know what it goes with. I see blues and purples as the same (it goes for reds and oranges, reds and browns, oranges and browns,  blues purples and black, greens and reds to name a few). I rely on the names on the sides of paints quite heavily, it is also why most of my work is more texture than color. I tend to use a few colors never getting to deep. For this piece I have purposely used blues and purples because they look the same. I see this project different than some people so I am curious as to what everyone else sees. I plan on doing a couple of these "tests" just to see and hear what others see.

Acrylic with stucco, eggshell, glitter, glass glaze, glow in the dark paint and salt.

Red unnamed WIP

Repainting an old project adding some texture to it. Still working on it and trying to wait for the inspiration from it to write a poem to complete it. I am really liking the texture and the colors.

update: I added white and now trying to play around with color and have the color underneath shine through. I am color blind so I may drop so many colors and stick to just a few. I have to sit back and get into an emotional space so I can write a poem and just find the voice for this piece.

WIP "lava" for now

Taking to calling this one "lava" for right now. I mixed in glow in the dark paint (lots of it) with the red and yellow so at night you can see it shining through the dark paint almost like when lava cools. I havent felt moved for a poem yet but still working on it. I hung it up near my kitchen so hopefully inspiration hits me soon. I mixed in chalk on this one as well as salt and glitter. Glitter doesn't show as much but the chalk wow so much good texture. I have taken to grind all the chalk and salts in a mortar and pestle. Canvas is 24x28 I think. 

WIP "Fred"

Calling him "Fred" for now. This piece is so much fun, I found a gloss with glass in it that I used for the water areas. I used stucco on his tentacles and around his body. I also used a sharpie pen to draw out some of the shading on him which was fun, I enjoy drawing with pen so much. I have been really into drawing octopus for a while now it was just pure joy to paint one. 

update: sweetwater defecator it is now for sale

This is a very large 36x50, I wanted to explore this tendril type of style I have been playing with for years. My girlfriend gifted me the largest canvas I have ever worked with. I just kind of went with the flow on this and used acrylic paint and sharpie markers. A lot of sharpie markers.

All images are original works of art created by and are the sole property of Joshua Browder. These works of art may not be used for commercial purposes.