Rosemary's Finished

I think I'm finished with this piece, I might go back and put in more graphite details or do a background wash if I don't like how the white looks in the frame.



Here is the progression from drawing to finished painting:



And here are the paints/tools I used... in case someone out there is wondering:



The Winsor & Newton Series 7 #5 brush is expensive, but I do almost ALL of my gouache painting with it because it is so well made and has such a fine, natural tip. Definitely more than worth every penny.

This piece will be on display and for sale at the upcoming Horrorwood show at the WWA Gallery in Culver City, which opens October 15th. See you there!

Rosemary's Progress

The transferred drawing. (graphite on Stonehenge paper, mounted on museum board)



The first washes of ink. (Dr. Ph Martin's "Black Star" waterproof ink; matte)



Finished with the ink tones:





I might lay in some more tones with graphite... undecided... either way I'm going to start laying in the color today!

Rosemary's Baby

I will have a piece in the upcoming "Horrorwood" show at the WWA Gallery opening October 15th. I chose to do a painting inspired by the classic horror film "Rosemary's Baby." The first time I saw this film I hated it but I came to love it in subsequent viewings and I wanted to capture the creepyness of a Rosemary's blind love for her child.

Here was the initial sketch of Rosemary and her "baby."

*THIS DRAWING SOLD*


I wanted to fill in the space around her in an oval with satan... here was the separate sketch:



Here is a comp of the two sketches put together. I think I'll fade the devil away into feathers or something since the legs read funny when partially obscured. I'm planning on calling this painting "His Father's Eyes.":



Photos from my desk:



Other random sketches from my desk; I particularly like the fighter pilot rabbit-girl:

LA Weekly: Minions

Out on newstands today! Here is my piece for this weeks LA Weekly.

"Minions"



From thumbnail to sketch.



From drawing to graphite tones.



I worked a little differently on this one, laying in all the tones in graphite rather than ink and then washing over with gouache and building it up from there. I have to say, I love the control and detail of graphite but the tones are not as smooth as with ink (duh). I think my ideal would be a mix of both.... next time....

As always a giant thank you to art directors Jason Jones and Darrick Rainey!

Lastly, thank you again everyone who came out to Sweet Streets 2! It was so nice to see familiar faces and I met some really lovely new ones like Jennifer, who's enthusiasm made my night. Here are a couple photos from the show:

(photos above by Bigwhitebazooka Photography)


Sunny Gu and I in front of my piece (left) and her piece (right):



Jennifer and I at the end of the night as people were leaving:



P.S. I may have used my own shirt as reference for the LA Weekly piece. Awkward.

Prints!

I've been receiving (and rejecting) a lot of requests for prints lately. I used to make prints on a case-by-case basis but stopped because it was more of a pain-in-the-ass than it was worth... what with the driving to the other side of town to drop off the file at the printers, then again to pick it up when it's printed, then to cut it down to size, then to pack and ship it, and finally to work out payment logistics. So I would basically break even but lose a shit-load of time.

Well, I'm going to give it another try and I have started "JAW Cooper's Print Blog" to answer your questions and handle your requests. I have a number of available prints posted, though I am capable of making prints of any painting on my blog/website, so feel free to contact me with specific requests. Please note; I will not make prints of any unsold gallery paintings.

Everything will still be done on a case-by-case basis (through email), but now I've worked out a system that should involve less driving around. That said, I will still only accept requests for prints as my schedule allows.

Don't forget to check out Clickforart's selection of my work! Shop online without having to negotiate/coordinate with me!

Moro Cameo

I just finished my LA Weekly piece for this month and I have to say it one was the most fun to work on thus far. The concept for this one was "Minions..." I may or may not have shamelessly snuck my dog Moro in there. By which I mean I absolutely did.

I don't want to reveal the whole image until it is out on newsstands later this week, so here is a teaser of the drawing with areas of the final painting showing through:



I'll post the full painting this week along with all the process thumbnails/sketches/drawings.

Beautiful Freaks

The Sweet Streets 2 show last night at Gallery Nucleus was amazing (way to go Caro!). Thank you to everyone who came out! If you couldn't make it, the show will be up through the 4th of October and if you live in a land far far away you can see it online by clicking the show title above.

Here is a link to "Beautiful Freaks," my contribution to the show.

"Beautiful Freaks"
20.5" x 26.5" framed (18"x24"image)
Gouache, ink, and pencil on 300lb watercolor paper
*SOLD*

Well hello... ladies.

Just finished this commission, don't want to say who/what it's for just yet:



A very good friend of mine (Fuser Paullada) bought me a year-long subscription to "Suicide Girls." (A site dedicated to beautiful/scandalous photos of tattooed girls.) I've found it to be a fantastic resource, perfect for practicing figure-drawing...







(⇧ From photos of the model "Fatality.")

Reminder: Sweet Streets 2 show at Gallery Nucleus opens this Saturday the 11th.

Long time, no blog...

So... I'm not dead, I just fell waaaay behind on everything. Sorry! I'm back now and raring to post every couple of days again!

Here is a painting I'm working on, should be done in a couple of days. (Almost done with the background, haven't started the figure yet...)



A couple random sketches from my desk:


⇧The sketch on the left was meant for the upcoming Sweet Streets 2 show but I ran out of time.

This has a lot to do with why I fell behind; I just adopted my first dog. I named her "Moro" after the wolf from Princess Mononoke... she's a BEAST!



Last order of business:
I'm in the upcoming "Sweet Streets 2" show at Gallery Nucleus which opens Sept 11th (this Saturday) from 7pm till 11pm! I'll be there and I hope to see some of you too!



As I mentioned before, this will surely be an amazing show, featuring work from Amy Sol, Danni Shinya Luo, Fawn Fruits, Tessar Lo, Veronica Hebard, Yuta Onoda, and myself, just to name a few.