x.25 • Auction in Support of Cyril van der Haegen

I just recently finish alien menagerie x.25 and it's going to be part of an auction in support of my friend, Cyril van der Haegen. 

He's dealing with not one, but two life threatening illnesses. More information on that, and on the auction itself at www.daveseeley.com/auction-in-support-of-cyril-van-der-haegen. The auction will be running from July 4th - July 14th on ebay, in conjunction with the San Diego Comic Con, where all the work donated will be on display. Artists contributing are: Julie Bell, Boris Vallejo, Stephan Martiniere, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Greg Manchess, Jon Foster, Rebecca Guay, Lars Grant West, Todd Lockwood, Scott Fischer, Sam Burley, Dave Seeley, and myself. It's quite a line-up of fantasy/sci-fi illustrators! Many thanks to Dave Seeley for organizing this.

ebay auction link

acrylic on Rives BFK paper 8" x 10"

 

digital vs: traditional

I could get a lot more alien menagerie paintings finished if I made them in photoshop.

I'm not that tempted though, because this is a project where it's very important to me to have a piece of original art at the end of the process. 

Even though most of my illustrations painted before 2000 were executed in acrylics, I've adopted digital media for most of my commercial work since then. Until I did these digital pieces in 2006, "alien menagerie" had been a stack of pencil sketches made over several years which I hoped to paint someday. I made these to build up my confidence in the project after not having painted much. Each of these were done pretty rapidly: concept, sketch and paint in less than a week, and therefore some are more finished than others. I held back the shadow box treatment, focusing on the aliens themselves, and posted them in an art forum on the internet. It was a valuable transitional step to go through. 

What's in a name? : Uchujin Doumei

I've made a practice of naming pieces within "alien menagerie" in Japanese as well as English, (using the Japanese title within each image).

The Japanese name I gave the overall project is "uchujin doumei"  (宇宙人同盟）which translates to "The League of Outer Space Men"  or maybe "The League of Aliens". I really like how this title translates to English too, in some respects better than "Alien Menagerie", but I also enjoy that the names I'm using aren't direct equivalents. 

Having two titles in this way allow me to express a slightly different interpretation of the project, even if it's obscure.

uchujin x.24

Uchujin x.24 has joined the ranks of the 宇宙人同盟.

His favorite Beatle is Ringo.

acrylic on Rives BFK paper 8" x 10"

Yoko d'Holbachie at AFA

Yoko d'Holbachie's work is a psychedelic wonderland populated by phantasmagoric creatures. Her subjects describe a dream space that I can easily appreciate. Frankly, I feel like there's some shared inspirational dna at work here. 

I'm not entirely sure how I first discovered her work, but I only have to look in a folder of her art that I've saved to my computer to discover when that was, October of 2009. Three paintings from the 2009 Hi-Fructose group show that year at Copro Nason, and three more from a mini show at Roq La Rue. In November of 2009, the London Miles Gallery hosted a solo show of her work, under the title "Living in your Dreams"

Until recently, I've only seen a few pieces in person as part of various group shows here in New York. I've had to rely on the internet to see what's shown at various other galleries around the world. It's been an impressive amount of work in total though! She's certainly been working diligently.

Last week, her first solo show in the US opened at the AFA gallery in Soho. "My Strange Goddess"  features 13 new pieces on panel, and 15 smaller works on water color paper. She's working in acrylics favoring the non-toxic aspects, and the quicker work time. "Regeneration" is my favorite of the selection, but they're all charming, surreal visions which stare back at you through their many varied (and unmatched eyes). The images I've collected here are from the show.

I was also happy for the opportunity to meet Yoko as she'd travelled to New York for the opening!

The exhibition runs through May 20th.
I'm sure I'll go back for another look.

If you're not in NYC, you can see the show at the exhibition mainpage on AFA's website here

Yoko's website is here

x.23 • the sea-monkey from outer space

Alien Menagerie Intergalactic HQ would like to announce the discovery of a new species, designated x.23, also known as the sea-monkey from outer space.

It would seem that by coincidence of convergent evolution, this alien shares many traits in common with the terrestrial sea-monkey, homo marinus orlandi, as there is no indication that there is any genetic relationship between x.23 and the pink homunculi of earths oceans.

acrylic on Rives BFK paper 8" x 10"

x.23 in progress

A phone photo of of one of the pieces I'm working on, 宇宙人x.23 Another of my 'extracts' which are acrylics on Rives BFK paper. I'll be posting the final next Monday to alien menagerie.