Category: art

art cards & business

John OtterLeave a comment

I read somewhere that an artist should invest approximately 10% of their income (if not more) on their art: supplies, marketing, etc. In the past couple months I’ve been adhering to this idea.

I recently purchased new art business cards through MOO cards. Semi-gloss, quality paper, I really like them and they didn’t cost as much as I thought they would. You can add up to 50 different designs, I opted for four. If you’re interested in purchasing cards use this referral link and get $15 off your first order: MOO cards

I also bought another Copic Multiliner set of pens (.03, .01, .003, .005) – they’re pigment based, waterproof, archival and acid free. They’ve become my go to pens for stippling and seem to last a long time. I believe it’s been over a year since I last ordered a set.

Lately I’ve been using a cheap mechanical pencil (plastic body, unknown lead type) that I found somewhere. It’s yellow and green, rather ugly – but I really like the line values and the lack of sharpening all the time. My next purchase (hopefully Saturday) will be a quality metal-bodied mechanical pencil, I can’t wait. (Little things bring me joy)

Work on display & for sale:
I now have about 13 pieces displayed at Community Brains in Pomona, CA.; work ranging from small mixed media on paper to larger paintings on canvas. All of them are for sale at very reasonable prices. It was nice to get some of the older paintings back out into the world and forced me to re-evaluate my art storage area, which everyone should do once in awhile.

And to wrap things up, here’s a recent small drawing. Watercolor, graphite, ink and colored pencil on watercolor paper. You can find more of my recent work on my Instagram account instagram.com/johnotterart/johnotterfeb2017001

Imperfection is beauty

John Otter1 Comment

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

~ Marilyn Monroe

I’ve been thinking about controlled chaos lately, or some form of struggle to control and embrace imperfection. Repeating patterns with slight variations. In my art I strive for perfection, knowing it’s unattainable. I must have certain tolerances, ranges of acceptability – if I go outside those I’m free to change course.

The other day at the start of a new drawing I thought I was a bit heavy handed with some watercolor, to lighten it up and bring it back I gessoed over it. I don’t think I have ever done that before. I’ve gessoed over paint on canvas but never over watercolor. It was quite liberating and I like the new surface.

In art school I was taught to embrace “happy accidents,” but accidents still frustrate me, even if barely perceptible. When I place a dot and it’s out of line I cringe ever so slightly on the inside. If it’s too far out of line I might consider changing directions, but usually I’ll let it slide. Stepping back, maybe blurring the eyes a bit, a tiny dot that’s slightly out of line doesn’t seem too bad.

 

 

recent “drawings”

John OtterLeave a comment

I hesitate to call these drawings; they contain mostly pencil, ink and watercolor – maybe they would be better categorized as mixed media. For these three I began each with very faint pencil lines and/or some watercolor washes, followed by ink and/or charcoal to define lines and add weight. The overall compositions happen organically, an element inserted in a certain place is balanced by another. Once the composition and outlines are complete colored pencil and/or gouache fill in some of the shapes. Patterns and details in ink are scattered throughout during the whole process, sometimes painted over.