Tag: Sakura Pigma Micron Pens

How do I use Social Media?

Does the word how also ask the question why?

How do I use social media? The short answer is not well if I am serious about branding and marketing myself, but my primary purpose is to document my work and share with others what interests me.
As an artist, it is a great way to share my work, get feedback, and comment on others’ work.
I like to document my work on ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com on my blog. It is incredible how long I have been posting there. A few years ago, Blue Host took my site down, and I had to move it to WordPress.com. So, some of the pictures are still missing, but it is becoming whole again.
I have two pages called Art Changes Lives on Facebook and LinkedIn. On those two pages, I share my artwork and other artists’ work or shows. This posting will be found on those two sites and on Tumblr.
I tend to use my Facebook account for more personal postings, such as saying hi to friends or sending birthday wishes. I also post some about my art interests and personal connections, such as birthdays and other messages.

Nice to have an opportunity to share why and how I use social media.

Sharing Some Recent Work

Art is the expression of those beauties and emotions that stir the human soul. ~ Howard Pyle

A drawing that I call Life Map - 042023. Drawn with Sakura Pigma Micron pens. Abstract Surrealism
Life Map – 042023, Pen and Ink – 9″ x 6″

 

New Work in Progress or A Continuation of my Autobiography?

“Every artist writes his own autobiography” ~ Havelock Ellis

Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) was a pioneer in the study of non-normative sexual practices. He is known for his objective study of homosexuality, which did not characterize it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. Ellis believed that “abnormal” expressions of sexuality were congenital and harmless. He advocated for the reform of laws that criminalized homosexual acts. (Source)

This drawing is in progress and titled Ribbons. It is mixed media... drawn chiefly with Pigma Sukura Pens
Ribbons, Mixed Media, Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Hendricks©2024

I’m back in Minnesota, settling in, and back in my studio. The last few days have mostly been spent reorganizing and participating in a few meetings. I started a new drawing, pictured above, and am learning Armorpaint. It is a free, non-subscription piece of software to texture 3D models that competes with Substance Painter, another software purchased by Adobe and now available by subscription only. Don’t get me wrong, I think Adobe products are great, but the subscription model and their dominance within the design community are unhealthy for visual artists and designers.

A blimp created and the materials assigned in Blender
Created and the Materials Assigned in Blender

 

What’s Bill Hendricks Been Doing?

My Sketchbooks, Hard Drives, and Blog are my Diaries.

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary”
~ Pablo Picasso

Six weeks is a long time away from my blog, and hope other artists will want to post on ArtChangeslives(Dot)Com to share their art and experiences of how art has changed their lives.

I put together a collage of images of my work. After working with Blender for a couple of years, uploading some of my Blender 3D objects into Second Life, and earning a couple of grants, I see a path of combining some of my tactile work with my 3D work to produce sort of a hybrid work works for the Metaverse and conventional viewing. Mainly, it involves the viewer,  akin to working in a more traditional gallery or exhibition hall. 

In grad school (MCAD), I produced several installations, and I was attracted to the participatory nature and how visitors could interact with them. Kara Walker and other artists engaged the visitor by incorporating the viewers’ shadow into the work, creating a relationship to the work that mere viewing does not necessarily achieve.

So, in the past few weeks, I have not created work that has been completed, which I normally post. I was also concerned about posting work that was not completed. I found that it kind of destroys the Ta-da moment. Hmm… I wonder how important that might be.

I am on my way to completing a project in Blender/Second Life. It is a simply built house that will be used in Second Life as a skybox. A skybox is a floating home on a parcel of digital space. The house is pictured in the image below, and you can see the documentation and the progression of the build here: Learning Blender Better. In short, I chose to produce a simple building to learn and become more proficient. 

I am finding that blogging is important to me ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com is over and is approaching its 20th year. I struggle with openly revealing myself here, but as I said earlier, my sketchbooks, hard drives, and blog are my diaries. It seems Picasso had his own diaries-one being his paintings. 

The image contains a smattering of artistic investigations. It shows a collection of recent work, including ink drawings and digital images created in Affinity Photo and Designer, watercolor, and Blender.
An Exploration of Artistic Techniques and Combinations of Media.

Art isn’t complete until it’s shared—Wondering what you think?

Stern Expression, as the gazer peers through various dimensions.
Stern Expression — Ink on paper — 7″ x 5″ approximately

Art isn’t complete until it’s shared.
                          ~  Seph Lawless 

As some who follow ArtChangesLives(Dot)Com know, I retired almost three years ago. I knew I would begin building a body of work. So, I began drawing before retirement. At the Friends General Conference (FGC) workshop titled Photography as a Contemplative Practice, Peter West Nutting jumpstarted my process. That workshop was followed by a Zentangling Workshop with Sadelle Wiltshire the next summer at the FGC Gathering. Both workshops provided a sufficient role in giving direction to my work.

After retirement, besides exploring my artistic leadings, I supported my meeting, the Minneapolis Monthly Meeting and Northern Yearly Meeting (NYM) (Quakers), designing and producing the yearly meeting’s monthly e-news and a quarterly publication, NYM Journal, with two skilled editors Doug Kirk and Tom Darrow. The journal features poets, articles, and artwork produced and shared with members of the yearly meeting.

I am excited to share some of my work in the journal’s current issue. I hope you enjoy it; along the way, you might enjoy several articles and poems.

Northern Yearly Meeting Journal/Winter 2024

Light—Tis the Season

“Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation.”
—James Turrell, (James Turrell, Art21, PBS)
It’s the season to think about Light.  Wishing all a wonderful holiday season.
The Tree of Life is a drawing that I completed yesterday. It is 6″x 6″ inches drawn with Sakura Pigma Micron Pens.

A surreal image... Three Trees, a ribbon, a bowl, and faces. It is 6"x 6" inches done withSakura Pigma Micron Pens. The title of the work is Tree of Life
Tree of Life –> Hendricks©2023