Filed under: 2013.FEBRUARY, SCRAPS | Tags: art, asian art, California art, Chinese calligraphy, contemporary art, ink painting, Orange County art
163 Pedestrians (Tread) – DETAIL 1
30×22 inches
Ink on paper
I’ve been working on my Pedestrian Series since I moved from Taiwan to California in late 2011. So far all the pieces are ink on paper. I like scribbling out rough-looking figures and arranging them in neat grids, something like the looser styles of Chinese calligraphy. In my earlier works from the series, I lined the figures up in a very straightforward manner. Every figure in a piece took up the same amount of space, and they were placed in simple columns and rows.
Above and below are details from my latest piece in the series, 163 Pedestrians (Tread). The full piece can be viewed here. Recently I’ve been toying with patterns, and I came up with the layout of Tread while thinking about basic weave patterns. I like the way the picture plane looks three-dimensional from different angles.
163 Pedestrians (Tread) – DETAIL 2
163 Pedestrians (Tread) – DETAIL 3
163 Pedestrians (Tread) – DETAIL 4
Once I get a few more images of my newer work ready, I’ll compare the different patterns I’ve been experimenting with.
Filed under: 2012.NOVEMBER, SCRAPS | Tags: art, art technique, calligraphy, China, chinese art, Chinese calligraphy, contemporary art, drawing, ink, modern art, scroll painting
In my previous post I noted how differently pieces from my Pedestrian Series look in real life and in photographs. Here are more close-ups, this time from 255 Pedestrians, a piece I finished yesterday. Watch the figure above as you scroll down. Starting with her, I zoom out to show the surrounding eight figures, then the sixteen figures surrounding those, and etc, up to the finished work.
Filed under: 2012.OCTOBER, SHOWTIME | Tags: California Artist, Chinese calligraphy, contemporary art, Huntington Beach art, Laguna Beach art, Orange County art
The last picture above features two of my works and Larry, the owner and sole employee of the frame shop up the street. This morning I dropped off the last few pieces for my show next month, so I had a chance to see what Larry’s done. The man is incredible. The frames and mats are exactly what I wanted — sleek and modern to highlight the grid-like composition and contrast with the rough, expressive line in my drawings. Even better, Larry’s giving me a bulk rate that’s so good that I can afford to custom frame 19 pieces for the show.
Filed under: 2012.JULY, SCRAPS | Tags: Archival ink pens, Chinese calligraphy, Sakura Pigma series, scooter, Taipei
Just finished a new scooter drawing here in California, thanks to high-quality vehicle pictures I imported from Taipei. I used pens from the Sakura Pigma series. The Micron 08 worked well throughout, but the larger, bullet-shaped nibs on the Graphic 1 broke apart quickly and I went through three of them. For the last scooter drawing this size I used Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens, but the “B” (bold I guess) nib came apart just like the Sakura nibs did this time. Still searching for the perfect nib on an “archival” pen.
BLAKE CARTER | GERMS 
