Been a While....

My receding hair line accompanied by my growing pant size (and I aint talking about the height, neither) is a harsh  reminder that I’m one year older. And this last year has been no different than the years before it. Work, Family, Rest, and Repeat. Day after day. Like the song goes, “It’s just another day.” And (much like my Planet Fitness membership) so to sits my blog going neglected, unappreciated, and not seeing the light of day. But all that changes today! Yes, I am renewed with the creative energy that will burst forth! Like a might explosion onto my paper, my creative juices will spill onto the page for all to see. Or until of course until Game of Thrones starts again. Then I will be obviously be unreachable for several weeks. But until then, feast yer eyes on some of the latest sketches, paintings, and all manner of my mediocre artistic endeavors.

O'Dell Brewery Mural at Dempsey's Biscuit Co

So I was fortunate enough to be approached by O'Dell Brewery in collaboration with Dempsey's Biscuit Co to paint a mural on their back patio. Total time spent on this was about a month. Working mainly weekends and evenings after the day job when weather would allow it. Which weather did not allow much on a few of those weekends. Wet and cold are not an ideal combination when painting outdoors. But eventually we got there.

Artshow 2017

So this is the flyer that I had for my artshow this month. Didn't sell many pieces. (insert heavy sigh), but it was a pretty fun night. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed prior to this opening, and I talk more about the show amongst other things. Here is the link to podcast, yours truly is Episode #16.

https://www.wearewichita.com/podcast/2017/9/28/episode-16-john-pirtle

Illustration Process

Here is a little peek into the process. I love it when artists show the method to there madness, so I figured I would do the same.

Dempsey's Biscuit Co Mural-2017

So this year for the Douglas Design District's Avenue Art Days I was fortunate enough to paint the wall at Dempsey's Biscuit Co. It was of course the hottest weekend in recent memory, and I used almost as much sunscreen as I did paint, but the results I couldn't be happier with. This was a challenge working by myself on such a big scale, but after several hot and sweaty days you have before you: Don't Fear the Reaper.......Sauce.

Illustration for Notre Dame

Here is a detail shot of an illustration I did for the University of Notre Dame. Ultimately, the drawing was not used. Bummer, but this project was a fun one to work on. This was my favorite little section of the drawing.

Tis the Season

With the Christmas season rapidly approaching I always get texts and or the occasional email from folks that I know ( or some I don't) wanting me to draw something for them for Christmas. The best ones are the people that email me a family picture of 7-8 people wanting a portrait style drawing of the whole fam. They need it in 3 days and only have a budget of $100. To them I say Bah..Hum Bug. But this one was for a good buddy of mine who is both a fan of Ziggy's Pizza, ( as am I) and an even bigger fan of Wichita State basketball. Put them together and what do you get? This guy.

Drawing for Local Zine

Here is a quick little something that I did for a local zine. Classy Boids....

Hannah Banana Mural

This year I participated in the annual Douglas Design District Avenue Art Days. Several businesses participate in having a local artist produce a mural for the side of their building. The mural I produced was featured on the side of a second hand consignment children's clothing store called Hannah Banana. I have never done an outdoor mural on site before. Needless to say it was a doozy. I ran into some pretty big issues right off the bat. The building had a very rough textural brick surface that made painting go at a snail's pace. Eventually I realized that spraypaint was going to be the way to go. Needless to my skills with the spraypaint are less than stellar, and a lot of my detail that I had originally planned got lost in the shuffle. But oh well, it got me out of work for a day, so that was well worth it. Here are some pictures of the 2 days I spent on this bad boy. As you can see I had some help getting this guy done.

Band Shirt

Here is a design that I did for a buddy of mine. That is all. 

A little Peek into the Procss

So here is a little peek into my process with Mr. Stork and Mr. Bear. Basically consists of very lightly outlining the piece and going in the with the watercolor. I try to keep the number of layers of watercolor to a minimum. It can start to look muddy if you keep going over it again and again. Which I have surely done. Once I'm satisfied with the watercolor I make another pass with ink. Darkening in areas and lines a second time. Then depending on the look I am going for I may bust out the pastels and give the piece a little extra love. And that's it. Not much out of the ordinary. But I always love seeing artist's approach to their work, so I thought I would share mine on this piece.

Another Doozy

Just trying to get reacquainted with digital stuff. Which my digital game is very much JV. As you can plainly see.

Going in the Reject Pile

So there are always those projects or drawings that I instinctively know they are going to turn out to be something special. This will be the work of art that will inspire the masses to stop what they are doing and take note of my artistic voice. To reevaluate their lives, and suddenly want to live in a tiny house, and teach 3rd grade Literature to malnourished children in Salina, Ks.......This, my friends is not the piece of artwork. It is just a dude who has lost his colored shirt and trousers. Nothing more. But I figured that I need a place to unload all the crap drawings that seem to be washing up on my desk with great regularity. Funny how that happens.

Lousy Smarch Weather

This is it, the inaugural post to the blog. Where I'll share with you my thoughts, hopes, and dreams. Maybe even share a laugh or too. Who knows. Let's take this magic carpet ride together. And just as Aladdin would say, " Don't you dare close your eyes." Sorry, my kids have been obsessed with that movie lately. You know that was Steve from Full House's voice, right? Dee Jay's boyfriend, Steve? The voice of Aladdin? Wonder what that guy is up to these days. My guess. Not much.