I have not posted anything in quite a long time. Actually in about 6 months, and I apologize for this although I really have no idea to whom I am apologizing. Please correct me if the grammar in that last sentence was wrong, I doodled my way through high school English. For some reason sentences that contain the word “whom” seem to be immune to grammatical chastisement, but that is coming from someone who doodled their way through high school English…and the cycle continues.

The truth is I put art on hold for a while while I gallivanted around the country for the summer in my sexy hybrid named AmyCar. That trip lasted a little longer than expected (as these things do). It is hard not to get distracted by the beauties of the USA and I confess I became completely entranced by life on the road.

Then I went to Egypt and Jordan with my beautiful mother. That was an experience in and of itself and maybe one day I will have the skills to mentally and emotionally process the travel lobotomy with which I am left. If there is one thing I know, it’s that I am going to “nail my fins to the floor” for a while here in California. I will, however, publish the crappy doodles I feel compelled to put here because you are a willing participant and that is your own issue to work out.

Cheers,

Tory

I’m happy to announce my new series, An Artist a Day, in which I will be featuring talented artists every Tuesday in May, that I am lucky enough to know in person.

I met Tory last year at Coachella Valley Art and Music Festival as part of an artist’s team.

Tory Van Wey is an artist and illustrator out of the San Francisco Bay Area. I like her work because it is a playful and insightful. She creates a bridge between the human and natural worlds. As her biography notes, she uses contrast and bold composition to lend a strong graphic quality to her work while her level of detail displays a dedication to finer crafts. Her works spans several mediums including silkscreen and letterpress printing with a primary focus on cut paper and ink illustration.

Tory remembers, “When I was a little girl I used to sit outside in my back yard and construct elaborate scenes using the materials around me. I would use seed pods from the ash tree to make a pair of fairy wings. A fuscia blossom would become a ballerina and acorns from the oak would be hats. I would peel the bark off a birch tree and shape it into houses for the creatures in my imagination. The tactile sense of dirt and leaves between my fingers left me with a great curiosity and love of organic forms. These daydreams from childhood are the roots of common themes present in my work; exploring the opposition and connection between the fantastic and the organic, the natural and man made and reweaving the threads that run throughout.

“The patience and tactility of paper cutting attracted me to the medium and it turned out to be a natural evolution of my drawings and design. I find the simplicity of the medium and the complexity of the final result to be a direct reflection of the contradictions in my art. ”

I think that Tory’s work is really dynamic because of her composition and use of color!

One piece from her blog, that I’d like to share was designed for Beach House the Indie soft rock group from Baltimore, Maryland.

She captures their organic sound so well in this piece. I could totally see it as their album art.

She draws inspiration from ancient Japanese woodblock carvings, vintage concert posters, European folk art, and music of all persuasions.More of Tory’s work can be seen on her blog at www.toryvanwey.com

For more of this series stop by next Tuesday, for images and a biography of artist Andrea Long Chavez.

“A self described ‘chronic doodler,’ Andrea is an artist who works from her environment. Finding inspiration in her interactions with kind people and old places, she likes drawing people on the bus and bargain hunters sifting through thrift stores for that gem.”

More to come!

Thanks Hilary!

I have emerged from the dust cloud that is the Coachella Valley Art and Music Festival/Stagecoach Country Music Festival. It was a lovely little vacation from reality. This was my third year working as a member of the art department and I met some wonderful folks, saw amazing bands, drank cheap beer, and pretty much got paid to have a good time and make art.

I was lucky enough to get to make art for Edwarde Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, which was also the standout performance of the weekend in my opinion.

The concept art for the print I made for them:

The final poster was a little rough looking with an eerie blue tinge which actually gave it a very a very sun washed look. I think I pulled it together nicely considering I had about three weeks to do 9 pieces of art for various bands.

I also did this piece for Beach House:

I was really feeling the red and black this year and apparently the performers were feeling it to, because all but one took their pieces home with them. Next year I am shooting for a 100% non-return rate.

The other band I was impressed with this year was a group from Australia called The Middle East.

But nothing was better than the now famous “drunk guy trying to put on sandals.”

Until next year Coachella!

I was driving home from my weekly printing press meeting tonight and having one of those great conversations with myself. You know, one of those convos where you call yourself out on your own absurdity. It went a little something like this:

Voice in head: Okay so then when I get home I am gonna go into the studio and work on some papercuts for the show in March, it will be great.
Other voice in head: No but first you want one of those World Market winter brew beers your relatives brought over.
VIH: Okay, yeah, I do want one of those. So first grab a World Market winter brew, then studio. But should I be drinking beer by myself? Isn’t that kinda like I’m a….you know?
OVIH: Let’s not worry about that. What music do I want to listen to? Music…oh shit! The calluses on my fingers are almost gone. I should practice the three chords I know until I have those awesome lines in my fingertips. Thats rad.
VIH: What a poser.

And what did I learn from this? Apart from questioning the ethics of drinking alone (I’m an artist man, semi-incoherent late night emails are a valid form of expression!), I came to the conclusion that I have artistic ADD.

I have very recently decided that it is my mission in life to play at least ONE musical instrument well enough to entertain friends with my delusional sense of rhythm. I find myself in possession of castoff/used/spur-of-the-moment-purchased instruments often, and the fact I haven’t learned to play one by sheer osmosis still baffles me.

Unfortunately my {inner-rock-star-awesomeness: natural-talent} ratio is WAY off. The only thing to do is to actually try to learn…by practicing, and practicing. Now I find myself with string calluses on my left hand, pen aches in my right hand, and nothing much to show for what both hands endure on behalf of my half-baked artistry. Hey I just said the word show…SHOW! I’m on a horse.

So speaking of shows (see how I bring it back full circle like that?), I just got some prints back from a show back in December and one of them sort of captures my split artistic attention span at the moment. Just be happy I don’t subject you to the other half just yet.

Cheers.

A walk page for you. A Seamule is an amphibious creature who has attained supreme enlightenment. Often seen staring into the distance and ignoring little girls in purple cloaks.

I have sat on this piece for a while, waiting for what I felt was the right time to post it to the blog. Then I remembered, there is never a “right time” and I could well be sitting on it for a century before I got it out the door.

My friend and fellow artist Miss Ashley Will posted a quote on her bloggedy-blog by author Chuck Palahniuk that reads:

“When they were in school, Peter used to say that everything you do is a self-portrait. It might look like Saint George and the Dragon or The Rape of the Sabine Women, but the angle you use, the lighting, the composition, the technique, they’re all you. Even the reason why you chose this scene, it’s you. You are every color and brushstroke.

Peter used to say, “The only thing an artist can do is describe his own face.”

You’re doomed to being you.

This, he says, leaves us free to draw anything, since we’re only drawing ourselves.

Your handwriting. The way you walk. Which china pattern you choose. It’s all giving you away. Everything you do shows your hand.

Everything is a self-portrait. Everything is a diary.”

P.S. My friend alerted me today to the website Zazzle.com where supposedly artists can make money selling their designs to be put on T-shirts and mouse pads and coffee mugs etc. Selling out or good opportunity? Please advise.

From my hand cut paper series for the Light and Dark show:

Samson 12×12 SOLD

All I Ever Meant to Say is that I Love the World 12×12 $90

The Message 12×12 $40

A-side/B-side 12×12 SOLD

Contrarywise 12×12 SOLD

A two year old piece I rediscovered while digging around in the closet:

The Velveteen Rabbit

And some works in progress:

6 O’Clock Hawk woodcut

Trapdoor Spider Papercut

Sketch for It’s Just a Pipe

Cheers.

Tagged: Alfons Mucha, E.B. white, nautical, paper cut, papercut, psychadelic, samson, velveteen rabbit, woodcut, woodcut print, zazzle, zazzle.com ]]> http://toryvanwey.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/never-stop-making-art/feed/ 6 toryvanwey Samson001 ILoveTheWorld001 TheMessage001 Aside-Bside001 Contrarywise001 Velveteen Tbirdwoodcut TrapdoorSpider JustAPipe http://toryvanwey.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/said-the-white-rabbit/ http://toryvanwey.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/said-the-white-rabbit/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:43:20 +0000 toryvanwey http://toryvanwey.wordpress.com/?p=130 ]]> Who are YOU? (Redux)

I have been busy cranking out some Dark and Light themed artwork for a fun show on November 20th at On the Corner Music in Campbell. Come if you are in the area and bring a six pack or some cheezy-poofs or the desire to dance and see some great art. I will be showing some brand spanking new pieces and getting my boogie on in the spirit of revelry.

I started this blog off with a drawing, and I find it appropriate now to revisit it in a different form, to illustrate the constant revising, remaking, and recycling of imagery, themes, and thoughts in art. I think a lot of artists find themselves dwelling on a particular story, form, note, chord, or aesthetic that seems to stir up those inspiration bugs inside us all. Even non artists (or those that haven’t yet found their medium) are inexplicably drawn to the same patterns when sizing up clothing, beer labels, or book covers.

In form I am constantly drawn to the art of the poster. I find the synthesis of information and imagery to be musical, like they were made to interact with each other. I salivate when I find posters with simple, clever imagery, good use of negative space, and thoughtful typography (although the last is not always necessary). Here are a couple that seem to sing of genius:

Dan Stiles

Dan McCarthy

And last but not least here is the information for the Dark and Light show in November 20th. Cheers!

Some of the spoilage from my first mushroom hunt of the season, and the happy result of a day of bushwacking through the Santa Cruz foothills.

Yum.

The Call

Mushroom season has barely started here in Northern California and I can hardly contain my excitement! Mushrooms are on my mind, like the above Cantharellus Californicus, or Chanterelle. The forest is an ample provider of deliciousness.

My critique group and I came up with a fun idea for a silly children’s book entitled “Good Mushroom, Bad Mushroom.” As you could probably guess, it is a picture book alternating prints of poisonous mushrooms with delicious ones. Lawsuits and hilarity ensue. Speaking of lawsuits, that idea is copyrighted RATTarts 2009. Steal and you will suffer a terrible blight of boils.

Cheers.