About Craig L
Craig’s art originated in piles of sketched doodles and matured into a full catalog of fantastical painted worlds, art exhibits, one self-published ArtStory book with another on the way, and over 100 YouTube videos. His extensive body of work showcases his whimsical but precise creative process that starts with abstract geometric and organic shapes then gets embellished with pure Craig-ness. His early training as a draftsman is evident in his illustrations; his fertile… more
Oil paintings from 2019 Ukazoo ArtStory book project
Here are ten oil paintings from my 2019 self-published ArtStory book titled The Journey to Ukazoo. This book arose from a 37-week social-media promotional project for my February 2014 solo exhibit at the now-closed Ukazoo Bookstore in Towson, Maryland. I took an imaginary journey across the U.S. and back, creating and posting a journal story and corresponding image for each stop on Monday evenings from June 3, 2013 to February 10, 2014. The complete ArtStory book contains 37 short stories, 8 related narratives, and over 150 full color images in its 142 pages. Images shown are both from the journey and Ukazoo art exhibit.
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Marble Hitting the Forest Floor.jpg
16 x 20 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo eight narratives section 'Snapshots and Memorabilia', number 6
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The Video Game
11 x 14 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 14 of 37, Sept. 2nd, Los Angeles, California
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Broken Penny Farthing
8 x 8 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 32 of 37, January 6, Bar Harbor, Maine
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Pirates in a Bathtub
18 x 24 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
One of the paintings in the Ukazoo solo exhibit
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The Couple
20 x 16 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
One of the paintings in the Ukazoo solo exhibit
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At the Beach
14 x 11 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 2 of 37, June 10th, Ocracoke, North Carolina
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But the Map Says.....
16 x 16 inches
Oil on Board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 28 of 37, December 9th, Niagara Falls, New York
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Still Life Vase & Apples
20 x 16 inches
Oil on Board
in private collection
One of the paintings in the Ukazoo solo exhibit
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Room With A View
18 x 24 inches
Oil on Board
in private collection
One of the paintings in the Ukazoo solo exhibit
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Blue Sphere, Green Man
11 x 14 inches
Oil on Board
in private collection
From the Ukazoo eight narratives section 'Snapshots and Memorabilia', number 5
Watercolor/pen & ink drawings from my 2019 Ukazoo ArtStory book
Ten selected Pen & ink, watercolor drawings found within my 2019 Self-published 'The Journey to Ukazoo' ArtStory book. An art & story book that grew out of a 37-week promotional project for a 2014 solo art exhibit at Ukazoo Bookstore in Towson (no longer operational). This imaginary journey across the U.S. and back consisted of creating a story once-a-week to match an image and journey stopping place for social media postings. See previous Ukazoo oil painting project for additional information.
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Island of Spheres.....
12 x 12 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink
From the eight narratives section 'Snapshots and Memorabilia', number 4
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Alna’s Quilt
12 x 9 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 35 of 37, January 27th, Willington, Connecticut
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For You My Love, Flowers
14 x 11 inches
Pen & ink/watercolor
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 33 of 37, January 13th, Damariscotta, Maine
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Space Burger
12 x 12 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 13 of 37, September, 9, Mount Wilson Observatory, California
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Four Dancers
9 x 12 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 12 of 37, August 19, Flagstaff, Arizona
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Steppin' Out
10 x 8 inches
Watercolor/graphite
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 1 of 37, June 3, start of the journey, Baltimore, Maryland
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Bird Bath
9 x 12 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 3 of 37, June 17, Savannah, Georgia
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Strolling Lawn Vases
11 x 14 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 30 of 37, December 23, Saguenay, Quebec
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Caterpillar
10 x 10 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink/graphite, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 20 of 37, October 14, Priest Lake State Park, Idaho
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How to Spin a Top
14 x 11 inches
Watercolor/pen & ink, in private collection
From the Ukazoo journal stories, stop 7 of 37, July 15, Arkadelphia, Arkansas
The 12 + 12, 12 x 12’s oil painting project
Between the 2014 Ukazoo Solo Exhibit and the self-publishing of 'The Journey to Ukazoo' ArtStory book in 2019 I created another long-range art project for social media on-line posting. Between March 2016 to November 2018 and the project was titled ’12 + 12, 12 x 12’s’.
The first noted '12' were twelve oil paintings I choose to complete from ‘doodles’ in my sketchbooks.
The '+12' part was selecting 12 fellow artists, friends, or family. Once selected, I gave one of my sketchbooks to each and they would peruse through the pages and select a few ‘doodles’ they liked. With their selections I had to develop and complete a second twelve oil paintings.
The ‘12 x 12’s’; all 24 paintings were 12 x 12-inch on canvas.
Shown, 10 of those 24 paintings.
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Sorry
12 x 12 inches
oil on canvas
in private collection.
Number 4 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant.
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Pondering
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 18 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant
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The Connection
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 21 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant
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Bing Cherry
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 17 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
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A Bridge in Time
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 23 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant.
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Cross Talk
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 15 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant
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Tidying Up
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 16 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
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Hey!! Hands off the Marble
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 9 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
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Taking Flight
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
Number 7 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
From the '+12' portion, doodle/s selected by guest participant
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Dessert
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
Number 3 of 24 in the sequenced on-line posting project
The 8 x 10 and 11 x 14-inch 'Intermissions'
During the 2016 to 2018 12 + 12 oil painting project, I stopped twice as a series of ‘doodles’ caught my eye but did not fit into the 12 + 12 project. The first ‘intermission’ was for a series of eight 8 x 10-inch paintings (Sept. 2017 to December 2017). After the resumption of the 12 + 12 project another ‘intermission’ (April 2018 to June 2018) took place to create six 11 x 14-inch paintings.
Shown are five of the 8 x 10’s and five of the 11 x 14’s.
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Yes, Almost Full!
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Blue Sphere
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
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A Perception of Balance
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Up Above
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Twilight Profile
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Alert
10 x 8 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Fractured Sun
10 x 8 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Oh My!!!
10 x 8 inches
Oil on canvas
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The Little House
8 x 10 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Red Sphere
8 x 10 inches
Oil on Canvas
in private collection
Oil Paintings from my 2023 Solo Art Exhibit
In October 2022 I signed off on hosting a Solo Art Exhibit in November 2023 that would feature new artworks, both oils & watercolors and a separate display of the progress of a second ArtStory book.
Shown, ten of the 24 oil paintings presented for this solo exhibit.
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On Second thought…..Pearls!
18 x 18 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Stone Petals
18 x 18 inches
Oil on canvas
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Alna’s cousin Cicely
12 x 12 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Over My Shoulder.JPG
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
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5 Hey! Over There.jpg
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
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Red Ball Hinge
18 x 18 inches
Oil on canvas
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Croquet match
20 x 16 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
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Always Look Both Ways
20 x 16 inches
Oil on Board
in private collection
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Mating Calls.jpg
22 x 22 inches
Oil on board
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Cordial Conversation
18 x 18 inches
Oil on canvas
Watercolors from my 2023 Solo Art Exhibit
This year-long project of 110 art images for the November, 2023 solo art exhibit was divided into four sections, the oil paintings (shown above), the watercolors, ‘Thumbnail Sketches’ and the progress of the second ArtStory book. This section highlights 10 of the 49 watercolors displayed.
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Ninth Frame
9 x 12 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink, and layered color pencil for background
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Denial
7 x 9 inches
Watercolor, graphite
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The Yawn
14 x 11
Watercolor, pen & ink
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Greetings
11 x 14 inches
Pen & ink, watercolor
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Conversation in Unison
7 x 5 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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Three Flowers
10 x 8 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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4 On the Go.jpg
5 x 7 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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3 Bowtie With Flowers_0.jpg
14 x 11 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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2 Aztec Flower_1.jpg
14 x 11 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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1 The Magi_0.jpg
7 x 5 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
Thumbnail Sketches from my 2023 Solo Art Exhibit
I work from sketchbooks, filled with countless sketches/doodles. All my art creations are pulled from ‘doodles’ that catch my eye. Yet there are isolated sketches of significance that fail to advance to full-fledged drawings or oil paintings. Since they still hold my interest and have potential, they have found their way to a 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ inch format that I call Thumbnail Sketches. And yes, it’s my thumb! Intermingled among the larger pieces of the ‘2023 Solo Art Exhibit’ were 39 of these ‘Thumbnails’. All were displayed in 5 x 5-inch frames with mat and glass. Ten examples shown.
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Yearning for an Apple
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
in private collection
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A New Day
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
in private collection
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Intersection
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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Sending a Letter
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
in private collection
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Thumb Drive
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
in private collection
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Almost Home
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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Birthday
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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A Raindrop
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
in private collection
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Teacups
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
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Triangles
2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches
Watercolor, pen & ink
The second in-progress ArtStory book, at my 2023 Solo Exhibit
I used a large 9-foot wall of my solo exhibit to display the contents, construction, and progress of my second self-published ArtStory book, 24 Album Covers. This book incorporates the 24 oil paintings of the 12 + 12, 12 x 12’s project as well as the two Intermission projects. Also displayed on the flat, were Kickstarter information books, a copy of the first ArtStory book The Journey to Ukazoo, notes concerning the transfer of design work to Adobe InDesign, sketchbooks with additional in-progress design work not shown on the display wall. At center was a portfolio book that featured digitally scanned proofs of all 48 primary paintings included in the book.
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The ArtStory book display wall
This image shows the nine foot display wall that was used to give viewers an opportunity to see not just the progress of the second ArtStory book but a chance to appreciate all the work an artist takes on to create, design, layout, and be formatted in Adobe InDesign so that this years-long project can be self-published.
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Rough ideas and layout of half-title page
Designs of all the title work within the progress of the ArtStory book are in various stages of completion. This design work for the Half-title page is still in it's rough idea stage. Some minor adjustments to the top worksheet labeled '2nd Worksheet' is nearing the point that I will be able to start laying out guidelines on finish paper.
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Section Title page
One of the Section Title designs show at the November 2023 solo art exhibit as part of the nine foot display wall highlighting the progress of the second ArtStory book. The red string directing viewer to the 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 inch box where a reduced 10 x 8 painting will be placed during the Adobe InDesign transfer process. Next image is one of those five, 'Jukebox Lady'
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Jukebox Lady
One of five 10 x 8 inch paintings that will be digitally scanned and reduced to 1 5/8 x 1 1/4 inches to fit into a rectangle box that is incorporated into five section title motifs.
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Working on the Section page designs
Image showing several of the different stages of designs and tooling used on the Section page layouts
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Selecting Fonts
For design work on Section page titles it's essential that both type of Font and size be determined for motif placement.
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Rough text page layout on board
Rough layout of text page to finalize placement measurements of all designs, motifs, text, and images to be able to establish positions of guideline placement on InDesign page for transfer.
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text page in Adobe Indesign.jpg
Building, aligning designs, and positioning several digitally scanned images/motifs/text as layers onto one of the 104 pages. Once completed, the file will be transferred to a PDF and then can be sent to the printer.
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The Kickstarter books
These 3 Kickstarter books helped me with my first self-published ArtStory book and serve as a refresher tutorial for this second one.
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The Journey to Ukazoo ArtStory book
Front Cover of The Journey to Ukazoo self-published ArtStory book. All design work of front & back cover, interior art and design work, along with all written stories and supporting text within this 142 page art book was created by me.
The YouTube Video project
I created a YouTube video channel in September 2020. I wanted to create another art social media platform to widen my base of support and increase the chances of a second successful fundraising campaign for my new ArtStory book 24 Album Covers. I upgraded my computer to handle NVIDIA graphics card, the DaVinci Resolve Editing program as well as any additional supporting applications such as Adobe InDesign. As of this writing I have created and uploaded 134 YouTube videos. These “Art Stuff” episodes describe my continuing art journey and my art book creation and publishing process.
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Craig's Art Stuff 104: Changing Art Book Size
Art Stuff' Episode 104: Changing the 2nd ArtStory book size!
This is the current video uploaded to YouTube as of this writing.
For all the followers of my art style and journey, this episode concerns changing the size of my in-progress 2nd ArtStory book. While getting quotes from printers to compile a budget cost to determine the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign goal, the cost of printing a 10 x 10 inch compared to a 9 x 9 inch book was addressed.
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Computer setup for video editing
This is a visual of the DaVinci Resolve program for film editing.
To the left, shows a triple column of film clips, top left box with green band is an audio/music track. Four down, outlined in red is the film clip selected, shown to the right (center), for editing. For a finished 3-to-10-minute video that box area can end up having upwards to 20 to 40 film clips, visuals, and music tracks to eventually complete a finished video on the timeline.
Center, me holding mats for framing is the selected film clip to review and select which portion will be dropped down into the Timeline for editing.
Image to the Right is a selected clip in the Timeline (red vertical line). When selected for editing, an ‘Inspector’ tools dialog box will appear with all the tools for, zoom, positioning, cropping, adding text, special features, etc.
Below those images is the Timeline. This is where you can do additional editing and view all the film. You can also add all your video transitions, audio transitions, and text frames (text added in ‘inspector’ tools).
Once completed, it is rendered to the selected media location resolution and then transferred to your selected computer file folder for the final step of uploading this finished/rendered video to, in my case, YouTube.
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Camera to computer to editing
Visual of Camera and accessories for the Video process. Of note is the orange unit to the left. This is a Lacie 5 terabyte external hard drive that houses all the video episode film clips, visuals, music tracks, scripts & social media text, plus the downloaded rendering of the finished video from DaVinci Resolve. Each episode in their own file. When rendered, that video is the one that is uploaded to YouTube. Of note, the external hard drive is used so the main computers C and D drives are not overloaded by the large file sizes of the film clips.
The USB drives are used for transferring still images of my finished art that have been digitally scanned from an outside profession scanning service. This provides me with my JPG and TIFF files as well as the initial color correction for ordering Giclee prints. The SD cards are the ones used in the Canon film camera and Nikon still shot camera and the transferred to the computer. Different types of Mics for audio and various other connections for different needs are shown.
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Filming & Still cameras
One of the staging areas for filming the videos. This area is also my primary work area for art. On the smaller tripod is the Canon M50 digital film camera. Larger tripod, the Nikon D80 digital still-shot camera. Also used is the 'smartphone' for certain shots such as this one, and film/stills for YouTube one minute 'shorts' that require a vertical 1080 x 1920 format.
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'Art Stuff' Episode 21, Interview an artist
Working with the filming and editing the 3-to-10-minute videos opens possibilities for finding different forms of art subjects. One path was trying my hand at interviewing another artist. This was a two-part video about learning to paint with Gouache. I have done an artist interview only this one, but I would like to return to learn more of the interview format once the second ArtStory book has been self-published.
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Filming B-roll
While on trip to Conn. Tourist downtime was spent working on and filming B-roll of layout of ArtStory book display for the November 2023 solo art exhibit. B-roll are the stock film clips collected and filed in the YouTube computer folders. They can later be inserted for visuals and overlays in current or future videos. Sometimes this B-roll film, with an audio track, can become the primary subject matter for the video.
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YouTube Episode 69, Stabilizing easels.
As a sample video, this is Art Stuff Episode 69. This four-minute video focuses on creating a stabilizing bar to maintain the open position on small easel legs for displaying artworks at an August 5, 2022 Pop-up art show. There are subtitles if needed.
Towards the end of the video a Sketchbook drawing, and worksheets are shown of the next 11 x 18-inch painting to be worked on for future Episodes. That finished painting is shown in the 5th listed Baker project ‘Oil Paintings from my 2023 Solo Art Exhibit.’ First painting shown ‘On Second Thought…..Pearls’
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YouTube video, Episode 89, a still shot from the video
YouTube video Ep. 89 and Ep. 90 concentrated on framing different art pieces that were to be displayed in the November 2013 solo art exhibit.
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'Art Stuff' Episode 90, Framing
YouTube video, Episode 90 continued with more framing of art for the November 2023 solo art exhibit.
Standalone Paintings
From 2013 with the start of my first long range social media art project, ‘The Journey to Ukazoo’, there have been six additional art projects posted to my social media sites over the past 10 years. Some required over two years to complete, some only 4 months. Two involved audience participation. Here are 10 oil paintings I created during the last decade that were not part of any of those seven projects.
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Cuba Rum
10 x 10 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Pulling on a Loose Thread
16 x 16 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Camping
16 x 16 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
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Karen's Seashell
24 x 30 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Two Part Harmony
16 x 16 inches
Oil on board
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Butterflies & Guitars
16 x 16 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
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Partial Observation
14 x 11 inches
Oil on canvas
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Tea for Two
18 x 24 inches
Oil on board
in private collection
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Picking Flowers
10 x 10 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection
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Red Lips V
10 x 10 inches
Oil on canvas
in private collection