EPISODE 46 Workshop #1 Canvas Building Workshop

Hey guys and gals, I just finished a 2 week cleanse and visited the dentist twice, so Im feeling squeaky clean as I bring you this instalment. Episode 46 - Workshop #1, Canvas Building 101. Take a look!

EPISODE 42 - THE ANSWER

It may seem like i just pumped these last two episode out back to back. Well, they do go together and they represent how I spent my last two week-ends when not teaching. I'm pretty proud of what this one lone art guy is capable of accomplishing and I hope you think I'm doing a fine job too, because I do it for you!

Take a watch and pass it on, help me get more subscribers if you like what you see :D

https://youtu.be/j03xVtOZsHI

EPISODE 39 SCREW IT!

My latest episode offers a glimpse into the few times I wasn't at Home depot this week-end!

Building the dream

It is the new year and I am beginning to build a new venture. I have waited a year since dreaming up this dream and now I have the keys and I'm opening a private Atelier and hopefully you can join me.

Busy Bunny.  It takes a lot of work and even more money to put this together but someone said to me "do not compromise on your dream" so thats how I'm going about it.  I posted a new episode to bring the new year in and to introduce the space have a look:

Here are two pano shots of the empty room as I accepted it the day I got my keys.

I have about 800 sq. ft with bright North facing windows high on the fourth floor and looking onto the city. The building in a gold leed approved. My studio is housed in a turn o the century heritage school building. You can research the cSPACE King Edward Project to find out more.

 The north facing windows are perfect for a painter, they allow a constant light throughout the day and if I need I can open them at the top to let a breeze in, though as you can see there are good air filters in the room on both sides of the windows to help airflow and to cut down on the scent of art materials.

The chalkboards are original slate and all the doors and woodwork are heritage elements I am a steward to protect. The ceiling is very high and I need a ladder in order to reach the picture railing.
And why would I have to reach up there?......

To paint of course. I wanted to have a restful green for my atelier theme. The bright is to white and aggressive. I got this chicken drop colour in high quality Benjamin Moore donated to me, so the paint is free and so are my efforts. I had to protect all the hardwood and tape all the outlets before I could begin. I know every inch of this space now.

I left one wall white so I can project on it and continued the "temple gris" below the chair railing around the room. Im really happy with how it turned out and what the colour looks like with the wood.

So it went from big, bright and empty to.....

Just right as it turns to night.

Now to move in everything and get some furniture in here!!!


I began building a website in my spare 5 min, still a work in progress but you can sign up for updates at Http://Atelierartista.com

Sawdust in the hour glass

or

these boots are made for walking,

or

walk a mile in another persons shoes

The aftermath of studio labor.

Before heading to the studio, I had an optometry appointment followed by a hypnotherapy session that I booked the preceding week. I need healthy eyes to be an effective visual artist and my mind to overcome personal obstacles. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, the Doctor is convinced something happened in a past life that in order for me to move forward must be removed, that being said, it could just be the subconscious hiding something beneath layers like an onion.  A suitable metaphor for the work we are doing int he studio right now. My fingers are crossed time is of the essence as we peel away layers of wood and this artwork slowly comes to fruition.

Brendan has an impressively confident and steady hand.

There are 90 complex and individually designed segments to fabricate based on a #D renered design outputted to blueprint from MAya.  Its hard enough to wrap ones head around, we won't really see it take shape until the final assembly.  Last night we got really, really dusty removing material. Masks on, studio filled like a foggy British morning. I love this shop and getting back to my roots and working with wood under an insane timeline.  If nothing else we learned how to work under pressure at ACAD in order to complete the task. Often staying up super late the night before.

We are an effective team, there are three stations set up, here Jim is grinding away.

Step by step we must maintain order in this undertaking for it to come together. The pieces are curved and a challenge to create. The further we get the less reference to the original block, and thus it gets harder and harder to stabilize and handle the pieces.  The reason we are in a crunch is that the lumber that was ordered was delivered very late which means the start time was shifted much later on the project. Luckily, this is not any of our first rodeo's.

Brendam Mcgillicuddy  making it look easy.

What I love about Brendan's attitude is that he is focused while maintaining a calm demeanour in the face of pressure, any normal mortal would crack under this deadline, instead he makes us tools when we don't have them…..

Made in the blink of an eye.

These are the mallets he quickly made from some scraps of the Ash.  Jim and I named them, as if they are our girlfriends right now, Jezabel and Madeline.  They are effective, reliable and trustworthy. they are also spending the most time with us right now. lol. Clearly the mind goes a bit when one is so focused and working diligently, it is good to have the right tool for the job. Alright, its after 8am and there is a long day ahead, back to work.

Stop motion set fabrication class review

For my "partner in crime" in this class, Soha who has unfortunately been under the weather, which always sucks.Ii have been sick myself and not feeling up to the high standards I aim to keep. I know she regrets missing the class as much as we miss having her participation. Also to the the rest of my beloved students in hopes it helps remind them in some part of all the things we covered since we were without equipment to film the process for future reference. Also, as always my blog is for anyone and everyone out there who loves to learn more about the stuff I am so passionate about. So on with the show….

First I gave a general overview of the lecture. We discussed how to set up the table before and set up the camera and choose lenses we begin construction of the set pieces. The most important thing is to have a space and table that doesn't move. A good animation table is steel and sandbagged to fastened to the floor. You can top any table with a 4 X 4 piece of 1 nice plywood raised and fattened to 2 X4's. You can drill thru your table directly and skip building the platform if you can reach underneath and drill thru it to attach your tie down screws.  Remember when planning, framing the shot and building your set to try and best match your storyboard plans.

You probably have a lot of the tools you need for this portion but there a re a few good things you'll definitely need when working with the various materials such as rigid or floral foam. I got my folding japanese Dozuki from Lee Valley. Its a dangerous store to go into if you one tools as much as me, they have a great online service where your an order first then go in quick to pick up and get out before you break the bank. Have a good knife and scissors and a bunch of tools you've already been using for other projects in the class. Set building and fabrication is a huge subject and really depends on your goals but I attempted to cover some blanket techniques that are useful to everyone no matter what their end scene may be.

first we used cheap materials like foam core and cardboard to block out the elements and to see what scale they may be for their placement and how they look on camera. I can't emphasize the importance of preplanning. It'll save you time and money so don't skip this step.  I explained the idea of constructing islands as they are extremely versatile. The basics are make them on a surface like wood that can eventually be fastened to the table, yet they can be moved around and used to cheat shots since they are mobile. You can use a variety of materials like rigid foam, wood, papier mache, clay, plasticine etc to build them. Fasten them to the wood base for greater stability.

After a demo and giving the students some time to build elements we moved onto the next section which is to paint and texture their creations. This is one of my favourite steps and really adds to the quality and realism of the set elements. You need to know your products so that you can get the look that you want and so that the surfaces stick and hold up to the rigours of shooting. On the board are the steps we followed throughout the hands on demonstrations of various set piece examples.

These are the main products I use and they really aren't that expensive. To the far left is my new favourite spray adhesive by 3M, I picked it up at home depot and it is far superior and much cheaper than the stuff one can get at art supply stores. Then glue, and any glue from the cheap white glue to modge podge and/or wood glue is fine. I have my satin or matte medium from Golden for sealing and applying pigments. Pure pigments from pro tints. They are expensive but go a long way. You can also use any other paints you are comfortable with, like acrylic but you need to know the process and how to ensure they adhere t the many materials you may be using on your set construction. Some effect finishes to the right which patina silver and then baby powder or other release or anti tacking material.

this was a quick example I demonstrated with. carved foam with dollar store stir sticks, some paint effects after giving everything a hard sealing coat made with white glue mixed with water. The sphagnum moss and flocking give it an aged look. I did some splatter paint and marbling effect as well as dragged some halloween spider webbing across the gate.

Here are some other examples I used, a foam core silhouette piece to get the proper size for creating set pieces though arguable this can be used in the far background of a shot if need be. I created a fence piece with dollar store stir sticks and floral wire. The fun fur was an example of how to adhere it to the foam and stain it quickly for a more realistic grass look. I would recommend tan fun fur instead of the scrap of bright green, as the roots of it after painting will resemble dirt and look more natural on camera. We will continue with more examples for foliage, and how to cast and set up the backdrop and more when we reconvene for next weeks class. Ciao for now :D

Calgary Journal Article + Window farms

Talk about timing....
I just finished teaching my canvas building workshop, and then yesterday's blog post ended off with my belief in integrity and quality craftsmanship when building a support for painting. Then I get this link from writer Hannah Kost...

Check out the article Here:
 http://calgaryjournal.ca/index.php/calgary-arts/309-canvas-stretching-not-just-a-hobby


My two favourite bits:

"He helped give me that motivation because he's positive. He's patient and he's funny. He lives his life the way he wants to live his life. It's inspiring."
~Katie Dick (past participant)

"Batista's studio is full of his work, intricate oil paintings washed in gold and silver; the building is hushed, the wood floor scuffed and colour-stained. The quiet of the space is of great contrast to Batista himself, who is lively, engaging and quick."
~Hannah Kost

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Today, I pledged to Kickstarter to support windowfarms.org. You should check it out, its pure genius. The low down: Basically it's an automated system to start growing a vertical garden in your window. Its perfect for everybody who likes to eat, you can grow it yourself with minimal effort and nearly everybody has a window where they live. We each need to reduce our carbon foot print, and save money here is a simple solution!


Go here to pledge: http://kck.st/newwindowfarms 

Ted Talks video:


Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment 

I can't wait until March 2012 when my columns arrive!

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Aboriginal Youth Canvas Building Workshop

My past week has been very full. I taught a two day canvas building workshop to aboriginal teens. This is the second installation of a project put together by USAY (Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth). 

" Learn from a professional artist how to build your own canvases.  This free 2 day workshop gives participants the materials and the opportunity to learn the skills for canvas building and to mingle with some like-minded artists.

Participants receive bus tickets, lunch and snacks both days, and get to walk home at the end of the 2 days with the canvases they build!"

 Here is Artist Jesse Gouchey <-- (click here to see his work) stretching some canvases.

What an awesome opportunity, USAY generously provided this course for free and the participants get to take away the primed canvases they've stretched!  USAY also brought us lunch and all the tools and equipment necessary to run the workshop. I provided the space and know how. The Calgary Journal's writer Hanah Kosst did a story on us, so keep a look out for it.