Memory Beach! (also, prints for sale!)

I finally have prints in my shop!!! I'm really glad to make the leap and hopefully start getting my work out there a little farther and wider, but what's more I can finally offer it for less than $50 a pop. You're happy and you get artwork for your bedrooom, bathroom, and boudoir, I'm super freaking happy and I get $$$paid$$$

I am happy to present the first episode of "Memory Beach", a series I created over the Summer:

Here's the initial draft:

 I'm keeping the quality of these draft images low on purpose. Enjoy!

"Memory Beach" began as a commission. The owners of the pizza place I work at needed artwork to decorate a new business they were opening. I planned on creating 3 hand painted pixellated still lifes and 3 gel transfers from collages I would make on the computer. The commission fell through, but I decided to carry on and see where they'd take me.

I had no specific narrative in mind when I created the first piece, which ended up being part two in the series.  Sure enough, as I began to cast characters and ask questions about where they came from, a story emerged, albeit a weird one. Memory Beach is about an octopus who drives to the beach to forget about his ex-girlfriend, who has cheated on and/or left him.

This project is a milestone for me.

۰ᴥ۰ I normally do not work in series, instead flitting around from image to image, so for me to focus and really dig in across multiple vignettes is special; hopefully, it's a sign of maturation.

۰ᴥ۰ Narrative or storytelling don't usually incorporate into my work, or at least I don't feel they do. Maybe it takes a heartbroken octopus to bring out the Bard in me?

۰ᴥ۰ The series became an excellent opportunity to expand my understanding of composition. I went into this with a basic understanding of the rule of thirds, but when I read a little more and learned about rebatments in a rectangle/square, and the action points/"eyes of a rectangle" created by the intersections of the vertical and horizontal thirds in a picture, my use of composition really went from a middling kind of flailing about to a structured, guided application.

The process took months, but it cultivated a density and firmness about the pieces.

I feel really good about the series as a whole and I hope to add a few more episodes onto both ends, but for now, we'll just go through the trilogy as it stands.

You've seen the initial draft. Here's how it ended up after about 4 revisions:

Those scissors at the bottom center were an absolute bitch to find.

Also: sunburnt beach chicken!

You can purchase the Memory Beach series  in my etsy shop. $15 a piece, printed on #80 card stock.You can also see some really nice quality gel transfers of the series on my flickr.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Memory Beach is also available on Benjamin Benjamin Gallery's online shop. The version they have in stock is larger than the version on my etsy and it's printed with pigmented inks on archival Somerset Velvet 100% cotton rag paper.

Next time: Part 2!!!