Robert Reeves: Oil & Dust

Here’s a quick update on what’s happening:

A quick reminder that you can still show up for Drawing classes Monday and Wednesdays nights at the Des Moines Social Club. Beginner’s Drawing class runs from 6-8pm Mondays and costs $10/session. You do NOT need any prior experience to attend. In some cases it’s preferable. It’s always easier to fill an empty cup. The full ones just keep spilling over.
Drawing II classes run from 6-8pm Wednesdays and are $12/session. I do require either prior attendance at my Drawing I class or some level of demonstrable skill.

Now for the big news:
Mark your calendars for Friday, March 5th. I’ve got a solo show coming up at The Lift and I’d love to see you all there (and your friends, their friends, their imaginary friends, relatives, pets… you get the idea). Drinks will be served. Food will be eaten. People will talk. Art (and people) will be stared at, potentially discussed and hopefully purchased.
The Art. Not the People.

More details to follow.

Cheers!

R

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So I come to on the couch with my laptop half on and half off my lap and the TV on static. I get up. I grumble a bit and blearily slouch off to the bed… such as it is. I get up. I go to work. Then it happens. I start getting FaceBook comments about my blog post. Hmmm… last thing I remember I’d clicked “Save Now”.

or was it “Publish Post”?

Somehow I managed to publish the last entry from behind the wall of sleep.

At any rate I meant to include some pics.

It needs some work yet and I’m not much for interior design, but I can tell you this much… it feels good.

Cheers,

R

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Took a break. Had to take a break. That’s just how it is after the whole Holidays hoopla.

The Sensory Overload show at the Instinct Gallery was a great success. Loads of ultra-cool Art and an always eclectic crowd. My boys even had their shirts screen-printed while we were there. Pretty sure that was their favorite part. Naturally they picked some awesome designs. They ARE my kids after all.

After waaaaayyyy too long I’ve finally moved into my studio space. There’s a lot of work to be done for sure, but I’m off to a good start. I’ve had the opportunity to get in a few days this last week and to be honest… it felt pretty good. One of my biggest hang-ups has always been that I rarely, if ever, got to start painting before 10:30 pm. That gives me a couple of hours of painting at best. Having a space of my own away from the house gives me the opportunity to paint for longer periods of time at different hours of the day… basically whenever I can get time away.

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Gonna be a great show. Hope to see you there!

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Well if you ever wanted to know what my Id looks like… this isn’t quite it, but it’s getting there. My latest painting, the first in a series I’m calling “Cocktails with the Crimson King” is called “The Numbers Man”. I originally was going to call this guy “The Messenger”, but another character popped into my head that fit the bill for the name a little better. He’ll be coming along presently. At least I hope he will. This dirty birdie is keeping the books and keeping his eye on you. Apparently you’ve “accrued” some sort of debt.

I had a lot of fun painting this piece. From the happy accident with the crow’s head to spending loads of time fiddling with the glasses it was a joy to work on it went fairly smoothly from beginning to end. Like anything there are parts about it I don’t feel 100% about, but when it’s time it’s time. Plus I had a deadline which always helps in the decision-making process.

It’s been a good exercise in both spontaneous and technical painting. I like the feeling of not… feeling like I have to paint a certain way. Once you start doing a thing it’s easy to get stuck doing that thing. That’s fine for a production painter, but it’s not much for self-discovery. When you’re producing art for the sole purpose of selling it you can lose touch with the drive that caused you to start creating in the first place. I’ve seen others get stuck producing a certain type of work because it sells. I have nothing at all against that. Lord knows we can all use a leg up, but I’ve seen the frustration it can cause. I hadn’t reached that point, but I was severely questioning what I was doing. I had a bit of an epiphany and realized I had to let go of the idea of “Me” that I’d put together over the years. You grow accustomed to yourself and who you think you should be much like you grow accustomed to a well-worn set of shoes. You know they’re well past their prime, but you can’t bear to part with them.

That being said I’m still going to keep producing the cityscapes, but I plan to put some more emphasis on these new pieces. I’m wondering how, if ever, they’ll come together. I find that I’m not as concerned about selling them or whether or not people like or approve of them. I like them. I want to produce Art that I like. My tastes vary. Why shouldn’t my work? This isn’t just about a vocation. It’s about looking back at the end of my life and saying, “I’m glad I did that”.

Cheers,

R

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Hello one and all. I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend (if you were lucky enough to have one at all). Just a short note to remind everyone that I will be teaching drawing at the Des Moines Social Club again. I’ll be teaching both a beginner’s and an advanced course one night per week. A little different from the last time around…

Classes start Monday, January 18th. Here are the details:



Principals of Drawing 1

Facilitator: Robert Reeves

10 sessions: Mondays 6pm to 8pm, January 18th to March 22nd

Price: $10 per class or $30 per month

With a focus on the concepts of Line, Perspective, Gesture, Values, and Proportion, this class will show students how to draw what they see vs. drawing their ideal of a given subject. In-class drawing assignments will be limited to simple objects to begin and moving to more complex objects and figure drawing as sessions continue.

Principals of Drawing 2

Facilitator: Robert Reeves

10 sessions: Wednesdays 6pm to 8pm, January 20th to March 24th

Price: $12 per individual class or $40 per month

This class is designed for the student looking to improve their basic understanding of Line, Perspective, Gesture, etc. In-class drawing assignments will include figure drawing and complex compositions. Each class will begin with a 15 minute “warm-up” session involving quick gesture drawings, still-life or figure drawing and will wrap up with light critiques and short Q&A session.

You can sign up by contacting either myself via this blog or my email address, rob@robreevesstudio.com, or the DMSC directly. Bring your paper. I’ll supply the rest.

See you there!

Cheers,

R

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Sometimes things just sneak up on you. I’ve said many times that I’m looking to make some fundamental changes in my work. I still enjoy doing the Urban Landscape thing, but I’m looking to incorporate more narrative. To create stories… or at least some questions.

Looking to incorporate more figurative study into my work I started preparations for a portrait of sorts. More of a themed piece based around a photo than an accurate painting if you know what I mean. I did the early, rough sketches. Did a lot of thinking about how I was going to lay it out. So I put brush to canvas and within 20 minutes pretty much all of that had gone out the window and my friend was starting to develop what was looking strangely like the head of a crow. It wasn’t planned. Totally not my intention. He was supposed to keep his own head. Although I’d considered inserting my own I ultimately decided against.

So here he is with this crow’s head thing going on and I’m left with a choice: Keep heading in the direction I’d intended or Go with it. There mere fact that this happenstance occurred was enough to convince me to go with it. It more or less flowed out of me at that point. After two sessions I’m very pleased with what’s come out. I plan on putting a lot of emphasis on the hands and glasses in the foreground. The head is nearly done. Plus there’s this really great wallpaper in the shot that I’m looking forward to painting. I won’t show you the whole thing yet though. Here are some details of the work in progress. If you want to see if in person you’ll have to come to the “Sensory Overload” show at Instinct Gallery here in good ol’ DSM on January 8th. I’ll post the final after the show opens.

Spent some time in the new studio space this week. The walls are painted a lovely shade of eggshell. I’ll be painting up the chalkboard wall this weekend hopefully. The floor timbers need a good scrub and a little oil soap to make them look good again as well. Once that’s done (Sunday maybe?) I’ll start moving my stuff in. I’ll be looking for some furniture and little amenities to “home it up” a bit. I think I hear Craigslist and the local thrift stores calling my name. I’ll post some pics when it’s a little more in-progress.

Until then I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or whatever you happen to be celebrating (like an extended weekend). Tonight I’m celebrating my first son’s tenth birthday. Who knew I’d have a 10 year old kid? Clearly I’m far too young…

Cheers,

R

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It took some doing but I finally wrapped up my Christmas commissions. There were 2 good-sized charcoals and a painting going to the same person… presumably for Christmas presents. They should be arriving at their final destination this week. I sincerely hope the client is as happy with them as I was. It was nice to have a chance to bone up on my drafting skills. I’m trying to get less literal in my work, but it’s always good to keep your technical skills sharp.

After taking a couple of days off I’m back on the job and working on a couple of projects. I’ve got a piece in mind for a show that’s coming up very soon called, “Sensory Overload” at the Instinct Gallery in Des Moines. I’ve unfortunately run out of good canvases and don’t really have time to place an order. Instead I’ve pulled out a damaged and rather large canvas I’ve been sitting on for a couple of years. One of the bars was crushed in transit from the supplier. They immediately replaced the order, but they never retrieved the damaged merchandise. I finally broke down, disassembled the stretcher bars and am going to re-cut and join the frame. It will be a bit smaller than its original 60″x48″, but it will be much stronger… and in one piece.

It’s when you start a project like this that you realize what little odds and ends you’re missing. I miss having a corner vice, for instance.

I also started work on my studio space. The interior walls are primed. Now to prime the exterior and start painting. I’m going to have a red door I’ve decided. I’m also going to have some chalkboard space on the wall. It should help me with keeping track of random ideas as well as give my boys something to do when they visit. It might also be handy for teaching which is something I plan to do in this space.

I’m looking forward to being able to instruct oil painting as well as drawing. I’ll have all of the materials there and plenty of room. Sooo… uh, if you know anyone who’s looking for painting lessons… just uh throwin’ that out there. Classes are coming soon.

Cheers,

R

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I’ve been busy.
I’ve been able to get a lot of work going lately. Sometimes the ideas have a way of coming out on their own.

I’ve been doing a lot of talking about changing things up and some of that involves ceasing to censor myself while I’m working. That pretty much means anything goes and that frame of mind has helped me to lighten up and paint whatever comes to me…

I’ve got some paying projects in progress, but sometimes you have to take a break and let go a bit. The commissioned work is a bit out of my norm in certain ways as well which is a good thing. The drawings have been much more detail oriented than I’m used to, but it’s been a good exercise. I’ve had to pay more attention to detail… something I tend to let slide.

So here’s the work: Some of it is finished. Some of it is not. Some of it is commissioned work. Some of it is studio work bound for the gallery. Some of it is personal.

One came from a dream I had when I was younger and one came from a strangely unsettling scene briefly glimpsed during a perilous drive through dense fog at an unappetizing hour.

Two of them are tributes by way of imitation of an influence, but they are still mine.

They are all mine… for now.

Cheers,

R

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It’s been a long time in coming, but I finally signed on for some studio space outside of my home. I’ve been debating it for a few months now as I’m looking to move out of my current house and into an apartment/condo/rental home… pretty much whatever I can find that suits my budget and appeals to me. No matter how I slice it odds are that I won’t find something with a lot of room for studio space. I’m finding that as my kids grow the amount of space they require grows exponentially… no matter how tight I wrap them.

So I’ve signed on for some space at the up-and-coming Northland Studio. I was introduced to the space last week and really enjoyed what I saw. The space is monstrous with some great old features like exposed brick and massive timbers. The owner has agreed to build studio space to suit our needs. I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes. Granted the building is old… and all that that implies. I’m betting there will be issues with dust and snags with heating or something on that level. Additionally the owner rents some of the space to local bands. Your mileage may vary with that kind of thing. The last time I visited the building the band that was practicing was actually quite enjoyable: instrumental trip-rock. We’ll see if the other acts pan out as well.

The westward side of the space features a great view of downtown. I’ve picked an eastward-facing space for the time being because of the size and availability. We’ll see if I change my mind.

Interested in some space for yourself? Here: http://desmoines.craigslist.org/ats/1463767418.html

Cheers,

R

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