Sancto Claro

@stevestclair.bsky.social

53 Followers 241 Following

I make and follow Art and things WIPs, reposts, randoms painting, multi, amateur builds, refurb, one-offs biz life: data arch, backends, process/documentation czar non-credited OPs are my IP 💨🥈 | 🐡🌳🌱(🍬)

black lines on paper; the space seems unplanned yet organized in obscure ways plus bonus cat
micron on weiss, an undulating collection of dotted-line nonsense including a badgerfish
so many dots so many lines hordes of tiny dots and lines all over the paper but no waldo
a picture of very active, medium grey storm clouds that are making interesting patterns like bands of roily turmoil shallowly vaulted between large lowered ridges that look a bit like tree roots and have small side branches that run into and across the vaults
DVD package for Peter Greenaway's film, "A Zed and Two Noughts"
shot of a sketchy pen drawing with random things going on with lines and marks; a lot more small lines and tiny dots than the last one. there's maybe a waterspout or, well, it could be a tree. i don't want to go there ; it was hard to find my way out last time
shot of a sketchy unfinished pen sketch with little lines and small dots
two small framed paintings and an iridescent glass heart sit on a sheet of leather surrounded by a larger frame, all of which sits upon what appears to be a workbench. the paintings are portraits of two skeletons, male and female. The male's hair is swept back and he is wearing a suit and holding a small bouquet of pink flowers; the female has three flowers in her braided hair and one is being visited by a hummingbird. the figures are shoulders-up and are 3/4 views, oriented to face towards each other with the glass heart between them. the heart is a chunky cast glass piece, clear with areas of pink, gold and blue iridescence and a thin vertical swirl in dark blue. the overall dimensions of the interior is roughly ledger size, the paintings are approximately 5x7 in their simple frames and the heart is a touch deeper than the small paintings and about 3 inches across. all of the framing elements and the leather backing are in complementary magenta-ish tones with the frame leaning just a bit to red in lighter areas.
a drawing of an eyeball with a limited case of nesting irises
A tall vertical assembly of lumber and odd boards bracing a white metal roof. The bottom is braced to minimize tipping and mounted on a flat surface, while the upper surface appears to be roughly triangular and a bit of an assemblage of small boards unites the triangular plate and the column. The column is comprised of a pair of 2x4s lagged and screwed to each side of a central 4x4. Janky! but functional
Article from today's Wirecutter showing an open can of sardines and titled "Tinned Fish Is Finally Having the Moment It Deserves."
Questor sitting in his observation room in the cave with a clear dome lowered around his head
photorealistic image of part of a painting in a black frame against a dark red or maroon background on which two sugar skulls are imprinted; the upper portion of what may be a heart is to the right of the painting. the painting seems to be include a skull with an old-fashioned hairstyle; the overall vibe is warm
snap of a spreadsheet with outlined rectangles and several series of numbers, some in boxes, some in rows. This is a worksheet for a WIP framing project where I worked out the initial raw spacing for shadowbox framing for two paintings (shown as two vertical 4x6 rectangles arranged horizontally within the 9.75 by 14.5 (v-h) rectangle). The rows at the top are just values and simple calcs for estimation and proportions. After working through these, I took the measurements and some pix and images to create mockups in Affinity and revision has continued there. Now have the final worked out and the materials, so hope to post a bit about it this year.
Mortensen's "Off to Sabbath" A buxom witch poses seductively upon a broom over village rooftops
a crow standing atop a pillar dominate a view that grows into a confusing array of lines and color areas at the top and left side. the background around the pillar is a dark bluish gray; the upper area is a curved area of pale yellow partially washed with dull blue-green to the left; it presses down above the pillar and crow and is contained on the left by a dark green diagonal line that runs upward from the crow's head. a tall beige rectangle lies along the left edge left border edge; it is divided vertically by a curved line. the left edge is red and the area to of dividing line is continuous while remainder is affected by overlapping areas. the crow faces left on the pillar, and its eye appears to be the vertex of three lines that project ahead at angles creating a light gray wedge that expands and intersects with the beige area. the upper border is the thin dark green line; it ascends at around 30 degrees. a horizontal line begins as dark blue but fades to a light ochre before fading away near the left edge, and the bottom line is red and the lower border of the wedge. the lower red line stops at the curved line dividing the beige areas, but the horizontal continues through before fading out; the green line quickly extends off the top edge. the crow has a silvery metal band or ring on one leg; the pillar it stands on is a greenish blue with darker green marbling. its capital is largely yellowish green and olive tones. The right side seems to have an ionian style scroll though with some extra mass; the left embellishment and a central one projecting in the viewer's direction are more unsual; the left appearing to be a human eye with a blue iris and the central resembles an insect's head, probably a wasp. all details and features of the capital are indistinct or obscured by the yellow-green material. the lower portion of the pillar appears to be above and amidst a dark sea with white-capped waves and a dark streaky sky above hints at heavy rain
Photo of the shadow of a hand and a refracted area on a wall. The background is a light neutral beigeish color, and a wrist and hand extend from the bottom edge very close to the left corner, tilted slightly to the right with the hand angled a bit more so. It appears to be a right hand, thumb on the down/inside, palms up and the fingers extend into the middle of the frame, where they are cast over and haloed by a bright oval sunspot as wide as the hand and has refracted to red on the upper edge and to blue on the lower which shows through between the base of the fingers. Appy polly loggies for the run-onnies
scribbly ink drawing on white paper of a tree on a lawn; a shadow projects from the tree toward the viewer and light shows through the tree revealing some of its structure. A large light area near the crown may be a strong light seen through the leaves Behind the tree there is a blank horizontal band, possibly water or some gap or distance and a shadowy area rises above that in a large semicircular area around the upper half of the tree, relatively uniform in tone, but with one larger and one smaller light, or bare, areas that extend from the tree on the sides. These are reasonably defined and seem significant but vague. The light source coming through the tree sits between them and the hints of tree limbs around the edge of the larger space indicate these may be gaps in some background foliage and a low moon or streetlamp is shining through from a distance, dramatically backlighting the tree.
Quick gestural sketch with a pair of figures in taking a step forward with one arm extending outward at waist level and the other curled above the head, possibly holding an object. The left figure is simplified with arms narrowing to points and a circular head with a large oval eye; the body is like a twisted ribbon with hatching for emphasis more than volume and gives the impression of wearing a robe or narrow gown. The righthand figure is more structural looking with more dynamic curved lines implying some musculature. The head is stylized and more oval with a similar large eye spot and an almost robotic or masklike appearance. Despite their stepping forward, both figures appear fairly balanced, but the left gives a touch more life and the right a more static pose.
cropped-up shot of a graphite sketch with a partially rendered area with a lizardlike thigh and foot with large claws next to some snakey bits; some stylized feathering on the thigh, possibly a three-toed dragon
Detail from The Temptation of St. Anthony triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, left panel, where a small boat with a broken mast is airborne atop a flattish flying beast not much larger than the boat, like a feathery wide-mouthed bat with a thick stubby scaly tail. The mast is broken almost halfway up and the mast top and crows nest extend forward over the bow at a 30 degree angle from level. Silhouetted figures are visible in the boat: one in the stern pulling on a line and one clinging to another line that runs from the top of the broken mast that to the tail of a huge fish that has jumped into the boat. In the bow stands a giant gray naked figure which has bent over in the direction of the stern and its upended head peers from between its knees at the view ahead. In the lower left corner of the frame, the isolated head, shoulders and praying hands of St. Anthony project into the space in a reclining position, adding a slight Gilliamesque vibe.
Close up of the left shoulder. The teardrop amethyst appears to be sitting in the first recess with the rounded upper edge sliding under the edge of the beetle wings which are joined above it at a 90 degree angle. A round plastic ring above the wings stands in for the button/head post, and reaches almost to the upper rim of the collar. Any further up they might be snagged earrings. Otherwise idea still looks fun and should work out nicely enough. (Certain to have plenty of opps to do more damage and play with bondo on other pieces.)
Close up of one of the molded epaulets which has been mostly shaved off, revealing white vinyl. A rough teardrop-shaped recess has opened a hole into the interior of the figure. ( Please avoid looking directly into the void. )
WIP. Cow skull hanging on a wall. The skull has horns without the outer layers. The entire skull has been embellished with various inks and dyes in an organic manner with a predominance of vibrant greens and dark reds with dark red in the eye sockets and a small area on the top of the skull. Areas of blotchy color cover the skull transitioning and overlaying each other across a neutral silvery gray, interrupted in places with dark and light gray or white dots and occasional networks of thin lines across the surface, usually extending from other features.
The usual messy workspace with small containers of loose gemstones of various types. An inset shows two arrangements of gems and iridescent insect wings that mimic the epaulets' shape. Teardrop amethysts stand in for the peacock eye, framed by two beetle wings and a head-like post. In one arrangement, the post is a pale citrine, and in the other is a blue topaz.
Gordo now sitting in a foam cradle. Chain links have been painted in silver over the ropy piping across the front of the jacket. Work may be passable if one doesn't look too closey, so here's a big picture... Not happy enough with it but also not going to get into repeated repainting of them right now. Starting to think outside the box on them, as I am the epaulets.
Gordo looking toothy.
Shot of the jacket back. Upper and lower patches are now a bit grayer than the jacket itself and stitching is still being worked out. Sheen and pebbling on the jacket is getting nicer. Pumpkin crab is more refined now and the border is now gray, matching the patch color, and a little more regular. The patch lettering def has irregularities but still just on this side of godawful. Still a vast improvement over the original lettering (which remains Not-To-Be-Seen lol). Pumpkin crab, itself, is not too bad; there's fair indication of pumpkin ridging and nice reddish feet and claws that have enough depth for what is nominally a patch. Feeling decent about it--enough to move on to another task for now.
Gordo in back 3/4 view. Teeth are visible on the side of the face and some rough coloring of the pumpkin crab is laid in with oranges and reds.
Profile view of Gordo's head with overlays of teeth and reference contours for positioning. Gordo should look respectably toothy if this works out.
Back of Gordo's jacket now has white lettering arching below that reads "LIVE to CREATE to LIVE."
Showing Gordo's back now. Jacket is solidly black with a light sheen. "Bones" extend up Gordo's legs around to a pelvis of sorts and his tail even has some little ones. Centered on the back of the jacket is a pumpkin crab (pumpkin body with crab legs and a single triangular cyclopic eye); the legs are a little more red and lobster-y than the pumpkin. White lettering arches around the top of the center image and spells out "DIA DE LOS GORDOS" in a heavily serifed typeface something like Playbill.
Gordo still wearing a shabby jacket, but face is a little less of a mess and he's showing off his white pseudo-phalanges.
"Sweaty Mime" state, looking a bit of a mess. Gordo's skin is a vivid medium blue and the jacket is black with silver piping. Cuffs are bare vinyl. Face has been painted white; black around eyes and nose but large portion of nose is rubbed clean. Crown is gold and eyes are metallic fuchsia. Some obvy patchy marker on jacket. The molded vinyl epaulets are painted silver with some cyan/purple/yellow on the central eyes.
Jim McKenzie's sculpture of his dog as King Gordo. Gordo is wearing a golden tentacled crown with a third/pineal eye and a fancy jacket of light sky blue (?) cloth with gold piping and gold satin buttons. Epaulets on each shoulder are formed from feathers, the eye of a peacock feather dominates each one. Gordo is sitting casually on his rump in a 3/4 pose with with his rear legs sticking forward and his brown eyes directed at the camera.
A pristine white vinyl King Gordo in a signed box.