Scott Ewen | The Open studio

I have 4 paintings at the Tripolo gallery in Covington Louisiana just outside new Orleans on the North Shore.

Saturday the 20th is the official opening and I will be exhibiting work along side my Uncle, Bill Binnings who is an amazing figurative Bronze sculptor as well as several other talented artists including Robert Cook and Scott Upton.

2 sketched heads using a mouse and Odopods “Sketch” A very cool little Flash drawing app they created.

By day I work in a design shop as a motion graphics artist and like many people I know I spend a lot of time in meetings. I’ve always found that doodling during meetings actually helps me to stay focused on the conversation and surprisingly, a recent Time magazine article suggests that it’s not just my imagination.

A study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology magazine found that;

“Doodling… requires very few executive resources but just enough cognitive effort to keep you from daydreaming, which — if unchecked — will jump-start activity in cortical networks that will keep you from remembering what’s going on. Doodling forces your brain to expend just enough energy to stop it from daydreaming but not so much that you don’t pay attention.”

Dropping some science on the boss man though can be a whole ‘nother story. At least I’m doodling in a creative meeting I guess. It’s not exactly executives that I’m dealing with.

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Over time I’ve developed a fondness for drawing with a fine point sharpie pen on sticky notes as opposed to my small sketchbook. It’s a perfect size for thumbnailing quick ideas and playing with form, shadows and shapes. It’s easy to quickly flip through a stack sketching out idea after idea for gestures and atmospheric shadow patterns. The yellow of the paper actually makes for a nice ground and when you’re done you can stick them up side by side in a giant grid for future reference.

Working with the square format can be difficult at times as it’s a strange shape to use for many compositions. Not everything works well within it but when you find something that does it’s an interesting format to work within. I’ve found that my sticky notes habit has helped me more easily recognize and discover ideas which would be perfect for it as opposed to the rectangle or letterbox spaces.

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Below are a couple examples that I’ve scanned in. These are posted on my studio wall near my easel and a few of them have actually become reference for finished paintings.

This last one in particular was used in reference to the following painting when I pulled it out to set a pose with the model.

I also like to use little index cards sometimes and here are a few where I just let my hand move around on it’s own accord without any real intention.

I draw from life, I draw from imagination and on the canvas it all comes together in various ways.

I have a new series of charcoal and graphite drawings up in my gallery. For the past 6 months I’ve been sporadically going to the weekly drawing group as work has been pretty hectic and family life has kept me at home more and more.

Most of these were done at our new space in the Pump Project Satellite building in Austin Texas. Doug moved away a few months ago and I’ve been running it with Jeh Haley who’s done a lot to build out a new space that we can really call our own.

It has been a cold Winter though, drawing with no heat.

For the past few weeks I’ve been going back and building frames everything I have to date so I can either ship or store it for later showing. I took a series of photos of the process and ended with some details shots of how the frames look hanging.

My friend Chris Chappell has been helping me out with advice and I’m pretty much following his routine minus the cool toys he has in his wood shop. Binding the insert and molding together first, I then measure and chop the pieces for assembly inside later. The cutting doesn’t take as long as assembly and finishing so a short break in the weather is enough time for me to bang out quite a few on my back patio.

At this point I think I could navigate my local home depot blindfolded and find everything I need in minutes.

The nicest part about making them myself is not having to worry about non-standard sized pieces. I tend to work in a lot of varied and odd sizes, on a variety of surfaces from 1/8″ masonite to deep canvas stretchers. Building my own frames allows me to create something sturdy enough for the material and removes the concern over the high cost no-standard framing.

Below is my patio set up and a look at the various sizes I’m building for.

Assembly in Andrea’s studio. It looks a bit cramped but is actually a fine sized workspace. That’s my wife’s airbrush compressor and kit at the top right there.

I’m finishing them in natural and black for the time being but would like to start buying some nicer wood like maple and oak for natural stains. Chappel, has started doing some nice inlays in his frames but I’m not really equipped for that.

Below is a detail of the black frame. This is a very sturdy 2″ deep Poplar frame built to hold a 24″ x 48″ landscape.

Hanging on the wall.

Natural detail.

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Also, some more detail shots of the steel fabricated frames I’ve been ordering from Brian frisbee.

Kety Hammil. A new model from last nights session.

After missing quite a few sessions over the past few months due to work,  I’m starting to get back into the routine of going regularly again. It’s amazing how much traction you lose when you’re not doing it all the time.

It’s been a busy few weeks. Working on quite a few new paintings, building frames in preparation for shipping, drawing with the group every Wednesday and always trying to keep up with my 2 kids.

Its times like this when simple things seem to bring the most satisfaction. Below is a quick drawing done with a thin sharpie from last weeks session. Sometime working with charcoal can feel a little cumbersome and distracting in some ways. This is when I like to sit down and try something like this, hardly even looking at the paper. Although I ended up with several satisfactory drawings of Michelle, this simple line drawing was the one that really hit home at the end of the night.

I hope you like it to.

16 x 11 pencil and paper

Michelle Keffer from last nights Night Moves Art | Figure Forum drawing session at Pump Project. I put away the drawing pad and charcoals for 1 night, sat myself in a chair, and just drew with an old fashioned #2 pencil for a bit.

Very relaxing.

Here are a couple of quick iphone shots of some drawings from my last group session at Pump Project. This is a new model named Jodi who I’ve never worked with before and who’s just getting into modeling herself.

I really enjoyed working with her and it’s always a treat when things work out so well right out of the gate like this. She has a unique form and presence (always a nice thing) and did a great job finding some interesting poses throughout the session, and more importantly, holding them.

18 x 24 charcoal and pencil on toned paper

To see more of my drawings, please visit my web portfolio.

One of my favorite contemporary figurative painters is having an opening at the Craighead Green Gallery on Dragon street in Dallas February 20th and I’m hoping to make it up to Dallas for the evening to see this stuff in person.

Harry’s work is a powerful thread of abstracted figurative work on a large scale. He works with house paints and lots of texture, building up layer upon layer off forms and tone to create these haunting and evocative images. There’s a very primitive feel to them reminiscent of cave paintings imprinted into the surface for all time.

Here’s a short documentary about Harry explaining his process and thinking. I really appreciate his attitude and approach which is anything but pretentious. This is a man on a journey in the best sense.