Illustrators Lunch April 27th

This week's lunch is at Green Papaya! Hope to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/events/1550263051941947/

Ohioana Book Festival

The Ohioana Book Festival is this Saturday in Columbus. Lots of Ohio illustrators and authors will be there with their books including Cincinnati illustrator/authors Jeffrey Ebbeler, Sarah Jones and Christina Wald.

Get the details here: http://www.ohioana.org/

STUDIO SPACE: Sarah Rocheleau

I am an artist from Cincinnati, OH.  I graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor’s in Illustration from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. That same year I received an Award for Excellence in the Visual from the Independent College and Universities of Ohio. Since 2013, I have been working out of my studio at the Pendleton Art Center in Over-the Rhine, Cincinnati. My art is on display in Studio 414 in the Pendleton Art Center and also on display at MiCA 12/v in Over-the-Rhine. My work has been featured in two motion pictures. I have instructed art privately, in after school programs and fine art centers. I paint, sculpt, draw and digitally collage artwork inspired by my fascination with historical fashion, the natural world and philosophy. I create to enhance and elucidate the underlying structure of my personal life the world around me. 

Location: 1321 Pendleton St. Suite 200 Cincinnati, OH 45202

Website: rocheleauart.com
On the Drawing Table: Barking Deer Diorama  
Coming out soon: An Art Show Amatory Matters, April 8^th, 2016 6pm-9pm

3^rd floor of York St. Café, 738 York St, Newport, KY 41071

How did you get your start as a professional artist?

In 2012, I had my art featured at a store MiCA 12/v at the corner of 12^th and Vine in Over-the-Rhine. I had graduated 2009 from the Art Academy of Cincinnati but my career really didn’t take off until that show.

Describe your work. 

My work is whimsical, spooky, detailed and evocative. Its full of imagery from the Victorian time period and animal human hybrids .

Tell about your workspace. 

It modulates between, clean and absolute chaos. A paper whale shark hovers over the room suspended from the rafters. The walls are lined with book shelves full of art books and crammed with curiosities. There is an old anatomical model of a male torso, a collection of geisha dolls, various shells, coral and a bird’s nest. Three desks are covered with various projects from sculpture to sketching. An easle stands at attention with a newly started oil painting. 

 

What are your favorite materials digital and traditional?

 My favorite traditional materials are colored pencil, water color, oil paint, polymer clay and paper. My favorite digital media is Photoshop. It lets me use a Victorian scrapbook as a source for a collage without destroying the original.

The Operating Table

What’s your typical workday/work session like?

I try to be at work by 8am and make myself coffee. I try to journal for the first half an hour and figure out what my project priorities are for that day. From 9am-10am, I answer e-mails, work on promotions and apply for different art opportunities. From 10am-11:30am I begin work on my most pressing project. If there is a yoga class at the YWCA I walk down to the gym for a class from 12pm-1pm. If there isn’t an yoga, I take an hour for lunch and get back to work. I try work from 1pm-5pm on different projects. I try to not work on anything for more than two hours because I find I become too micro-focused. I mix it up to get some perspective. From 3pm-4pm I will run and swim at the gym if there was no yoga earlier in the afternoon. At 5pm I either go home to cook dinner or if I’m in a good groove I continue working to 8pm. 

What do you do to keep yourself motivated as you work?

 I set clear deadlines for myself. If there isn’t one I make one up for myself. I look over them every morning and drink copious amounts of coffee. I imagine the relief of having a piece of art brought to completion. I also will go to the zoo, conservatory or art museum to sketch and get out of whatever rut I’ve found myself in.

What is your dream job?

A dream job for me would be designing the look of a film or theatre production. I’d love to breathe life into the world of a story.

 

Do you keep a sketchbook? 

 Yes, I do. I rarely reread something I’ve written. I use my sketches for reference, particularly for the dolls.

 

What do you listen to while you work?

I listen to classical music in the morning to wake up, college lectures in the afternoon to keep myself thinking, Amy Winehouse to run, documentary or audio book in the afternoon. If I work late I listen to some angst ridden alternative rock or gaudy pop music to stay awake.

What are you reading/listening to on Audible?

Just Finished “Women Who Run With Wolves,” I’m finally starting the to listen to the “Harry Potter,” series.

Who are your artistic influences?

Heronemous Bosch, Victorian Dioramas and Scientific Illustration

What do you do that is not art related that inspires you?

I’m interested in history particularly the Victorian time period but my interests are not restricted to that era. Yoga relaxes me, lets me think clearly and get the kinks out of my neck. Writing does similar things for my brain.

What was the best advice you got in your career so far?

 Get prints made.  It’s gotten my art that way to more people than I possibly could with the originals.

What is your favorite color?

My favorite color is iridescent blue, like on a Blue Morpho Butterflies wing.

How can we get best follow your art online/on social media?

My website is: rocheleauart.com

My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/rocheleauart/

Sarah Rocheleau Presents Amatory Matters at York Street Cafe

On Friday April 8th I will be having a Gallery Show at
York Street Cafe 738 York Street Newport, Kentucky 41071
Our Friend Matt Gill will be playing Music.

York Street will be providing some wonderful appetizers.

If you have one of the mini postcards, you can get 30% off any piece of original art!

Let us know if you want one of the postcards, we'll get it to

Hope to see you there smile emoticon

Illustrators Lunch Wednesday the 6th; Taft Museum Visit After

Claude Monet, Houses on the Achterzaan, 1871, oil on canvas.

After lunch next Wednesday, we are heading over to the Taft Museum to see the Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape Exhibition.

http://www.taftmuseum.org/cur_exhib

Hope to see you!

STUDIO SPACE: Anthony “Tank” Mansfield

Location: Kenwood (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Social Media: Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram: anthonytankmansfield Twitter: tankofalltrades
On the Drawing Table: Currently it has been a lot of Mr. Redlegs drawings because I am excited for the season to start, even though I realize it’s going to be pretty painful.
Coming out soon: My friend Jaimie Filer and I are going to be doing a series of live art events this spring and summer. 

How did you get your start as a professional artist? 
I remember one time, shortly after graduating from art school, someone asked me, “So are you working here because the fine arts painting factory isn’t hiring?” While I learned a number of things in college, how to market my work and be a businessman definitely wasn’t part of the curriculum. Over the past 15 years, I’ve acquired those skills from a lot of hard work, learning from my mistakes, and my biggest strength/weakness of being too hard-headed to quit doing art. During that time, I have taken part in over 100 art shows across the United States including Chicago, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. Last year, I took part in my first international show in Germany.

Describe your work.  
In short, I would call it Lowbrow/Pop Surrealism because that is the style of artwork I’ve always identified with. My current work has a lot of stoner-metal qualities to it as I’ve been influenced by Heavy Metal magazine, Brian Bolland’s work on Judge Dredd/2000 AD, Jack Kirby, and album covers and T-shirts whose subject matter includes monsters, space, battle axes, etc. I’ve been working on putting more straight lines into my work to create textures and shadows. 

 

Tell about your workspace.

I work from my couch. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom condo that is part home office, part library, and part art storage. I work from a large IKEA coffee table and art boards. I also do a lot of work in my sketchbook to lay things out. I also store things in plastic drawers and pint glasses. 

 

 

What are your favorite materials digital and traditional?
I enjoy working with 2D media such as graphite, acrylic paint, or color markers. Currently I am working with inks because it fits the size of my workspace and I really enjoy what I am doing with them. They give me an opportunity to move what I do in new directions.  

What’s your typical workday/work session like?

Sit down. Put something on TV to listen to or watch or listen to a podcast. I rarely listen to music unless I am doing live art or I am on a time crunch. I’ve started to work in warm-up sketches before working on my current project. 

What do you do to keep yourself motivated as you work?

I can’t stop drawing. It’s a habit at this point and I am constantly sketching things. I see people like Mike Maydak, Big Meas, Skinner, Aziritt, and more just putting out incredible stuff and it makes me want to create things.

What is your dream job? 
To create a fictional world that others are emotionally invested in.

Do you keep a sketchbook?

Yes, I think it is one of the most important things an artist can have. I need a place to work out ideas and write reminders down for things I need to do. 

 

 

 

What do you listen to while you work?  
Either I am listening to something that is on TV or I have a podcast on. My go-to podcasts are the Joe Rogan Experience, Fighter and the Kid, Knife Edge Chop, the Watching Dead, Game of Thrones the Podcast, Straight Shoot, and the MLW Network.

What are you reading/listening to on Audible? 
I’ve started to get back into comic books lately actually. Currently I am reading The Walking Dead and The Humans. I am planning on picking up Southern Bastards next.

Who are your artistic influences? 
Derek Hess, Robert Williams, Brian Bolland, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Tom Neely, Skinner, Aziritt, and more. Locally I am surrounded by so talented friends and peers who push and encourage me whether they know it or not: Jaimie Filer, Mike Maydak, Christina Wald, Justin Stewart, Pam Kravetz, Carol Tyler, Jason Snell, and James Billiter.

What do you do that is not art related that inspires you? 
I’ve always found playing video games to be inspiring and it’s definitely my go to stress reliever (along with lifting weights). The modern era of video games are beautiful and I love exploring the worlds in Bioshock, the Fallout universe, and Gears of War. I am always going to be a sucker for a dystopian future. 

What was the best advice you got in your career so far? 
One of my former professors who I never saw eye-to-eye with said, “Great painters don’t paint when they want to paint; they paint when they don’t want to paint.” That really hit home for me because I’ve seen a lot of people who play artist and work when it’s convenient, but I’ve learned that if you want to get better, you must constantly be producing work and trying new things even when you don’t want to.

What is your favorite color?  
Black. It defines things and creates contrast.