cogwurx (cogwurx)

Vivaldi (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:52:34 -0700

This piece went through so many revisions. I started concepting this back in December 2011 and began the painting process in January. This was partially an experiment in Painter but it ended up in Photoshop. I reached the limit of what Painter could do through my sheer ignorance of the program. The challenge was that my brain is wired for Photoshop and it's interface. It was great to have a dialog for so long with this piece and I often struggle with getting a great abstract textural surface and "background" which becomes my brick wall that I can't get passed. Walking away from the piece from time to time helped solve what was missing, it was a great exercise. I had may ideas for a focal point, the lack thereof was my issue, and at one stage I put in a retro styled rocket instead of a leaf. This got my creative juices flowing and I was going to go down that route but the organics in this piece vetoed that direction. The leaf brought everything together. During the final stages of this piece when I was inching toward a retro angle, I was graciously given some retro ephemera from a fellow artist that I will be using in another piece as there is much inspiration happening at the moment!

Robots! I was promised Robots! - Steampunk (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:48:01 -0700

The Steampunk variant of my retro-future print

Robots! I was promised Robots! (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:11:06 -0700

This was designed for the Retro Future T-shirt contest at deviantArt, but I worked with the idea that I probably wasn't going to finish it in time, but I did. Anyway, here's the "poster" version. I'm also going to post a variant that is more in line with Steampunk images. I'll be changing the modes of transportation and the skyline a bit so I should hope to have that up in a couple of days.

Robot Roast (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:33:49 -0700

Back in 2008 I had this concept of using some of my robot characters for a branding exercise. I decided to make coffee labels, with visions of several different "roasts". But alas, I got distracted and I only was able to make this image. I should revisit this concept.

Reclamation (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:50:52 -0700

Painted over 6 months or so. My biggest painting in a very long time. This painting is mixed media on canvas, I used oils, acrylics, and wall paper. This was a fun painting. It evolved so much during the process as I took a lot of time to work on the painting. You can see the progress here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.171021686242042.41765.147151108629100

Cool Breeze (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:20:00 -0700

I had some fun with this one. I wanted to do something with hot air balloons or something and after a bit of concepting this image popped up. I chose a more cool color scheme because I didn't want to do the cliched brightly colored hot air balloons.

Light Breeze (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:34:43 -0700

This one was a great challenge for me. I really limited my palette by only using about 5 colors. I'm not counting the white and black that was used. I also was really cognizant about the textures in this. I really wanted to the textures to be part of this piece's overall movement.

Hot off the Press (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:24:19 -0700

This piece started off really differently. This started off with the greenish portion on top (I can't photograph worth crap). I had no real direction with it. I just hadn't painted in a while and so I just when to town with something abstract. But as I was working on this portion, which didn't take too long surprisingly, I painted some really cool textures and color combination. I was truly amazed at the result. Then, I was stuck. I had a really awesome textured background. So for the next 2 months I stared at this painting trying to come up with something that wouldn't hide or destroy the coolness that I had painting. (I know I'm talking it up but the photo doesn't to it justice just yet...eventually, I'll get a better photo and you'll see what I mean). So after the staring contest with the painting I photographed it and took it into Photoshop and started to concept some more. After about another month I came up with the composition that you see before you. So I reclaimed another panel and set to paint the bottom portion of this image.

clairvoyance (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:45:20 -0700

I've been trying to push myself with my work. I've been trying to get more complex with it, hopefully this was successful experiment/next step in my work. My wife really helped me out with the top layer. She was very instrumental in helping me push this piece further than I could have gone by myself.

Neptune's Vineyard (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:25:06 -0700

This is a triptych painting, each canvas is about 3" x 2' and separated by an inch.

Sprout (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:19:34 -0700

I was trying to achieve a cycle or growth.

Tuscan Evergreen (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:09:32 -0700

I fought this image like crazy! As with most of my work recently I've found that my paintings change drastically from the initial concept. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I'm thinking it's a good thing since it pushed me in a direction that I wasn't sure about.

Communion (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:56:50 -0700

I started working on this one after I finished "Renew". I had many elements in mind for this, but when I was about to go to the next step with it I found that I didn't to add anything to it. Though, a part of me still feels as if something is still missing. Not quite sure.

Pisces (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:49:47 -0700

I'm probably going to go back and do some touch ups on this. I'm happy with the way the copper half-circle turned out. I have several more pieces in the works like this. I've always wanted to incorporate the organic in my work and I'm now trying to figure out and push my work into bridge the organic and geometric. We'll see where this leads.

Renew (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:39:06 -0700

Trying to incorporate more organics in my work.

Shattered (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:22:54 -0700

Like most of my work, the concept of this piece evolved dramatically. The vertical strips were the first to be painted on a gessoed piece of BFK Reeves. After it was completed, the painting didn't look as complete as the concept sketch. Not wanting to let it go to waste I began revisions to the concept, which to the idea of painting a larger painting on canvas and using that composition to frame the initial painting. Well...when that was done and I put it all together ...the painting didn't work. So I fought with if for a bit, shook my fist at it and put the painting away for a couple of weeks. I finally came back to this piece and with utter contempt decided that since the piece was ruined and didn't go according to plan that I would just run with it. I texturized the background with a layer of white and took my wife's suggestion to cut up the smaller painting and TA-DA! the painting you see before you.

Bounce (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:02:57 -0700

I think I've found my painting colors...at least the ones that I enjoy using the most. Not sure what else to say about this...my hope is that the title and the visuals speak for themselves.

Serenity (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:55:20 -0700

I really enjoyed making the organics in this and playing with the green color...my only complaint was that the green too forever to dry, but this allowed me to take my time with the piece and allowing it to come into its own.

Navajo (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:36:38 -0700

A bit of constructivist styling.

Cerulean (For Sale)

cogwurx (cogwurx) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:11:17 -0700

As with most of my work recently, I've allowed the painting to evolve by itself. I've taken a different approach to painting since Dynasty. I've been putting the painting aside and walking away from it for a bit and then coming back to it. I'm not fighting the art, like I use to, but we are still figuring out how to communicate with each other. This painting has gone through many compositional changes. I really like this. The best part about it is that I was not intending this to be a "landscape".