Chuck again - 'Swampbeardthing'

                                                       Chuck again - 'Swampbeardthing'

 Haven't done an Inky caricature for a while, here's one of my favourite subjects: my teutonic muse- Karla

My future self did this in the new year and emailed back to me, myself & I. "Thanks me, I owe you/me one!"

'Mastery' Robert Greene

I feel I need to highly recommend an amazing book. For anyone that struggles with any kind of creativity, on a daily basis, this book is very inspiring. To stay motivated is always difficult, we all reach plateaus. This book uses real life examples of those who achieved mastery through sheer hard work -is there any other way? - Everyone from Mozart, Faraday, Leonardo da Vinci and Darwin has undertaken this process, he advocates the (now disparaged) apprenticeship system.

"The problem with all students, he said, is that they inevitably stop somewhere. They hear an idea and they hold onto it until it becomes dead; they want to flatter themselves that they know the truth. But true Zen never stops, never congeals into such truths. That is why everyone must be pushed to the abyss, starting over and feeling their utter worthlessness as a student. Without suffering and doubts, the mind will come to rest on clichés and stay there, until the spirit dies as well. Not even enlightenment is enough. you must continually start over and challenge yourself" -Shoju - 'Mastery' Robert Greene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My1BiC1saaQ&feature=share&list=LLi74w90HQMDM53s7wm3Oy3g&index=1

http://addicted2success.com/success-advice/20-powerful-lessons-in-the-art-of-mastery-by-robert-greene/

20 Lessons Of Mastery Learned From Robert Greene
 1 - Understand who you truly are, and what kind of vocation or career you feel called to do.
2 - Commit to an apprenticeship, in which you undergo years of humble observation, skill acquisition, and experimentation.
3 - Revert to a feeling of inferiority, and possess and deep humility and eagerness to learn from others.
4 - Move toward resistance and pain, let go of need for comfort/security, and cross the threshold past the initial tedious stages of learning.
5 - After apprenticeship phase, you must become bold, confident, and willing to test out skills and make connections between different ideas.
6 - Learn to embrace criticism and failure, and be grateful for the opportunity to learn and improve as a result of your mistakes.
7 - Understand that there is an emotional component, not intellectual, that separates the true masters from others.
8 - Develop your social intelligence, and your ability to empathetically put yourself in another person’s shoes and see/understand things from his or her perspective.
9 - Move past the habitual tendency to judge others or idealize/demonize them, and simply observe them rather than projecting your own thoughts, emotions, or insecurities onto them.
10 - You must be wary of many peoples’ tendencies to display certain vices that could hinder your progress, such as: envy, conformism, rigidity, self-obsessiveness, laziness, flightiness, and passive aggression.
11 - Learn to speak through your work, and to win others to your side of thinking by being patient and letting what you have done speak for itself.
12 - Try to see yourself as other see you, so that you can remain emotionally detached and try to improve upon your flaws and shortcomings.
13 - Suffer fools gladly, and don’t take criticism seriously or personally from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
14 - Return to your childlike sense of wonder and endless curiosity about all things in order to stimulate your creative energy.
15 - Drop all preconceived notions about he world, and utilize the power of your imagination to the fullest.
16 - Always be open and receptive to new ideas that challenge conventionality, and don’t be afraid of thinking something that is unpopular.
17 - Love learning for its own sake, and connect a wide array of ideas from different fields of study and disciplines.
18 - Maintain a sense of destiny/purpose and feel consciously connected to it.
19 - Qualities that will help you succeed: Self-discipline, desire, persistence, focus, effort, patience, energy, obsessiveness, observance, confidence, trust in self, emotional commitment, humility, adaptability, boldness, openness.
20 - Qualities that hinder your success: Complacency, conservatism, dependency, impatience, grandiosity, inflexibility, distractibility, becoming egotistical, close-mindedness.

70's Freddie Mercury -water colour- purple

                                                   70's Freddie Mercury- water colour

This has a nice loose feel but I'm pleased I've kept his animated expression. The secret is to stop before it become 'wooden'. The colours are translucent and not muddy, I'm actually pleased with this for a change..

80's Freddie Mercury - water colour

                                                   80's Freddie Mercury  - water colour

Freddie Mercury - 70's water colour

                                        I've done this before in sepia, now with added colour

These are two separate paintings, I usually add colour to the sepia version..but this time I did a second one.

Lzzy Hale in a floppy Gandalf hat on a sunny day...

                                        Lzzy Hale in a floppy Gandalf hat on a sunny day...water colour

Freddie - I'm going slightly mad

                                                       Freddie - I'm going slightly mad
This video was always bitter sweet, another Queen video but it was obvious something was wrong. I have added more colour, more vibrancy as if Freddie was channeling some mystical creative force into being. I tried to summon my inner Sir William Russell Flint...

Walter White airbrushed T-shirt

 Walter White airbrushed T-shirt - I did this shirt before the others on here, but when Walt just has the moustache and not the full goatie he somehow lack the gravitas of his later incarnation..

 Badger 'spectra- tex' paint and OMNI -4000 airbrush by Badger/Thayer & Chandler - a winning combination!!

'Spectra-tex' paint by Badger - airbrush paint: '55-130 Fern Green' and '132- Moss Green' or 'Breaking Bad' greens as I have Christened them.

Heisenberg - pork pie hat

                                                         Heisenberg - pork pie hat

Gustavo "Gus" Fring - Giancarlo Esposito

                                            Gustavo "Gus" Fring - Giancarlo Esposito. 
Everyone's favourite bad guy but as Walt progressively became darker and the moral compass in your own mind becomes skewed, how bad does a bad guy have to be to still allow the protagonist to remain sympathetic? A brilliantly quiet performance from Giancarlo Esposito.

"..and I thank you all"

                                                             "..and I thank you all"

Walter White -'Heisenberg' leather jacket - Bryan Cranston

Walter White - 'Heisenberg' leather jacket - Forget rock stars!! Breaking Bad is where it's at...

Aaron Paul - Jesse Pinkman - Water Colour Bitch

Water colour Bitch! Aaron Paul - Jesse Pinkman. The Colour palette with so much green made this difficult, it threw the colour balance into the 'cold' range.

Walter White - 'Heisenberg' airbrushed T-shirt

                                                 Walter White -Bryan Cranson- 'Heisenberg' airbrushed T-shirt-
As we all wallow in the fallout of empty nothingness left us by the brilliant series finale to 'Breaking Bad', let's rejoice in the knowledge that Vince Gilligan and his excellent team of writer's succeeded in achieving the seemingly impossible. To write a TV series that managed to hold your attention for each and every episode, to suffer no 'lag', no 'duff' episodes. Then to build the tension season after season resulting in season 5 being a TV masterclass. Part spaghetti western, part black comedy, 'Breaking bad' had arguably the best lead actor in America, the remarkable Bryan Cranston, supported by the equally remarkable Aaron Paul. The superb scenery of New Mexico filmed so evocatively in HD widescreen was a joy, Albuquerque was a city not overused in the paradigm of American movie making, it's stark empty vistas were a welcome contrast to the freeways of LA or New york. So long 'Breaking Bad' you have changed our lives, you have changed televison drama as we know it..

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/mar/23/bryan-cranston-i-scare-people-breaking-bad-walter-white

70's Freddie Mercury - water colour- purple..

    
                              Kept this one loose..it has photographed a bit pale.. — I like it..

"I can't face this life alone..." 80's Freddie Mercury

                                                      "I can't face this life alone..."

"Yeah Bitch! Jesse Pinkman - Aaron Paul airbrushed T-shirt.

                            Jesse Pinkman - Aaron Paul airbrushed T-shirt. "Yeah Bitch! Airbrush Yo!"

Alongside Bryan Cranston, this young actor is one of America's best actors working today. Admittedly, the superb scripts by Vince Gilligan and his team have given both actors (and the supporting cast) something meaty to get their teeth into.

                                                         "Yeah Bitch! Badger Krome"

Walter White - water colour "I am the one who knocks!"

Walter White - water colour   "Yeah! Water colour, Bitch!"

Y'know when you watch 3 'Breaking bads' in a row, you want to end each sentence with "Yeah Bitch!" Jesse Pinkman style, but this may be misconstrued and scare old ladies...

My melancholy blues - water colour

 My melancholy blues - water colour

A bit sloppy this one, I like them when they are looser than this, but the likeness is ok..I should have done more with the background, I made it too dark too early on and couldn't throw down any colour to rescue the flatness. Still it might have detracted from the face so maybe it was for the best? 

Airbrushed canvas of Freddie

                                             An airbrush on canvas painting of Freddie

Happy Birthday Freddie!

Over worked this one a bit..and lost the likeness somewhat, but hey! Happy Birthday Freddie!

Freddie Mr Bad Guy - water colour

                            Freddie Mr Bad Guy - water colour

 

I have a reticence about doing the images that are 'too familiar', this photo session for the 'Mr Bad guy' album is sort of over used. The image although shot in bright daylight has his face partially in shade, which is always a difficult lighting scenario to pull off in water colour.

 

 

80's Freddie Mercury

80's Freddie Mercury -  Hair was a tad bouffant-y during this period.

Brian's Knees Op'!

In Honour of Brian's Knee joint replacement Operation. Here's wishing him a swift recuperation!!
Knees-op Doctor May
Knees-op Doctor May
Under the knife you must go
Ee-aye, Ee-aye, Ee-aye-oh
If they catch you bending notes
it's time to recover, not emote
Knees op, knees op
Never get the breeze up
Knees-op Doctor May

Freddie looking evil?

 This is a weird one, Freddie's ended up looking evil, like some sort of super villain!

70's Freddie looking pensive

70's Freddie water colour - Looking pensive

80's Freddie Mercury - Montreal

                                                      80's Freddie Mercury - Montreal
This has photographed a bit pale..looks better in the flesh..

70's Gauntlet Freddie Mercury in colour

                                             70's Gauntlet Freddie Mercury in colour
 This is from that black and white photo that most people are familiar with...

This isn't quite finished..the bottom 1/3 still needs work...