Still alive?

I had fun painting a still life the other day, thought I would share. We have a lovely neighbor with particularly green thumbs. She grew the Dragon Fruit and Guava in her yard.

public.jpeg

Workshop in October

Excited to announce I will be teaching a workshop in ST. Augustine, FL.

Check out the St. Augustine Arts Association website for more details

 

IMG_0019.jpg

NudeNite!

NudeNite is a Florida local art “experience” with everything from graphic arts to body painting and burlesque performance art. I have been a part of it for the last couple of years, staring with doing a kind of ErotiCatures (humorously erotic caricatures). It’s a very fun event, and a great thing to do on Valentines Day weekend. Here are the pieces I have submitted for this years show. 

 

The Illustrated Man...on a toilet

It started about four years ago, I was just sitting there (like you do), and I started thinking of some pretty entertaining characters sitting on the toilet in all their different and unique ways. I didn't  know what I would do with it at the time, but I wrote a book title in my sketchbook, "Pooping Postures". I didn't know what it would be about, or if it would even have a narrative, but I did have a few funny characters in my head, and a title. Over the next year, I thought about it, after that, I thought some more, and finally in the summer of 2015 I did a few sketches. As the next two years went by I would have little flashes of inspiration and finish a few more and water color a couple concept. After way more time than I would like to admit, I am finally getting some proofs printed this week and hope to be selling this funny little bathroom companion soon. Here are a couple samples of the illustrations.

This book is now available in my store.

I have a few other titles in my sketchbook, so at least now I can start procrastinating those... :)

 

Busy busy busy.

As an artist I would say the fun of the pursuit is often the adventure and discovery of new and unexplored. At the same time there is a pressure in the arts community for consistency and style. If you want to explore the realms of art, you should either be a student or a teacher, and maybe that's true... I think a really great artist embodies both of those at the same time.

I like to explore, and usually have a few different themes on my mind simultaneously, all with very different goals and "style" leading the way. right now I have been working on a series of antique and old (usually metal) utilities; I love painting the rusted metal and textures. I also continue to craft my landscapes. Continuously looking to  design, Impressionism and tonalism. Another subject that has been fun lately are my under water pool paintings. Being much more modern and focused on compositional design, they keep me thinking differently and the process is very relaxing, which I find to be a good sign considering that's what I want the paintings to evoke in the viewer.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. follow my Instagram @antwan.ramar to keep exploring with me. 

Art Fairs with new art

This winter I plan on doing a few art festivals along with a half a'dozen plein air Festivals thrown in there for good measure. I find it to be both wildly exciting and nerve racking as household printers..but I guess that's how all new and unexplored adventures are. 

This was my first one of the season, so I got to see how my booth looks and do a shake down. I have a few more things to streamline, but overall am very happy with how it all looked, I even won a medal for my paintings! 

Beautiful Costa Rica

Since July, Natalia and I have been living in the mountains of Costa Rica. A few years ago we starting housesitting through an online service that helps people find responsible caretakers for their house and pets. We spent awhile doing short, week to month long sits and got to stay in some fantastic places last summer.  At the beginning of this year we set the goal to go somewhere outside the states and spend more time. The time spent in Costa has been awesome to say the least. The house we were taking care of is way up in the mountains in the center of the country, located 10km from Costa’s highest point, Cerro Chirripo.

 

Moving toward some new goals in my art, I took this time to paint, paint and more painting. There are absolutely no shortages of breathtaking views around here, but a lot harder to capture than one might think. Weather changes really quickly and horizon lines are almost irrelevant, maybe most of all, some of beauty is so breathtaking it’s really hard to do it justice J. I did a lot of plein air while we were here. I tried to go out at least 3-4 times a week; sometimes finishing paintings in one session, other times it took 2-3 sessions. I learned a ton, lots of paintings were not working at first, I went through many that I worked hours on, but in the end they just weren’t working. As time went on I just got so much more familiar with oils and working with them. There were still hiccups and times in artistic lulls, but playing around with them everyday brings a sense of understanding and excitement when painting now.

 

I have been posting art on Instagram as time has gone by, but here are the higher-res finished paintings. Enjoy!

a lot of these are for sale if you're interested, just contact me.

 

Time well spent

For the last ten years, caricatures have been a big part of my life. Sometimes 3 hour gigs, and other times months of slaving away in theme parks. Nothing has taught me more than the long hours grinding graphite into the porous tooth of yet another blank sheet of paper. I have been ready to move on to new adventures for the past 2 years or so, and my feet have fully left the diving platform now. I have made the decision to put amusement parks behind me, not caricatures as a whole. It will be Difficult on a few levels, and of those the hardest will probably be the comradery; because damn, nobody can self loath and judgmentally discuss humanity and philosophy like a group of theme park caricaturists! I mean that in the best way, a way that only another frontl ine, war-scarred artist could relate to. Truly the stories and good company make it all so fun and easy going that it's really a hard workplace to leave. I always felt there are two things that can kill an artist: hubris, and Rattlesnakes.. or rather, kill their sense of creative wonder. Hubris or Humility, either, can lead to a stagnant mind. On the road of art, the universally relevant highway signs would read, "Inertia Killz, kids!" I always said I would transition through anything I wasn't actively learning anymore, and caricatures had become so much more of a muscle response than an active pursuit of knowledge and excitement. I will miss it, but new unexplored roads lie ahead. Here are some of my drawing from my last two weeks, and thanks to my friend Robert for the video.

What the heck is Plein Air?

I would have told you 8 years ago that painting landscapes looked like the most boring and uninteresting pursuit in art, but now the bug has me feverish with excitement. The roots may be deeper in the past, but I would say it was about 3 years ago when fellow artist and good friend Marc Anderson and I started going out in our free time to paint the beauty of nature's wonders. I think anyone with a passion would agree, the first few years are the BEST. Everything is fresh, you are learning at an expedited rate and just soaking in all the knowledge you can, just like a kid. And you feel like a kid because you are more accepting of your failures; heck, you are so naive in the beginning of any new endeavor you don't even know what "failure" looks like. I think the best environment for growth as an artist is one in which you create and explore from that inner child, and you balance it with encouraging and articulate inner critic. So for me Plein air is my new playground to learn and have fun. In addition to doing more paintings, I also am making an effort to be a part of the Plein Air community.

Natalia and I went down to the Lighthouse Plein Air Festival in south Florida last weekend and had a blast, here are some of the photos...  Not a bad spot to spend an afternoon painting with fellow artists.

ErOtiCatures

Natalia and I just got done with the Valentines weekend festivities for Orlando's Nude Nite, which is a very cool adult art show with all kinds of fun stuff; from gallery pieces to burlesque shows. I was fortunate to be a part of it and "perform" Erotic Caricatures for the event, which is basically just a caricature with a lot more "R" rated freedom. Lots of fun, and was lucky to work with the very talented Alex Ray who had some hilarious body situations. Good time!

IMG_4420.JPG