Clock is Ticking!

I  finally was able to get my proposal for my long-term project, "Gitche Gumee Inked" up and running on the Kickstarter website. I have 35 days to get the necessary funding needed to get the ball rolling on this endeavor, so I need you to pass this link onto everyone you know, this thing has to go viral! The more money raised the quicker I can get the project completed. The end result will be a book with prints of all the original drawings and photographs & notes from the making of it, should be fun!

The link with all the "Gitche Gumee Inked" details is;

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stipplefreak/gitche-gumee-inked

I'm on the verge of going back to work with my brother in law Tom, so my drawing time will be somewhat limited, but, I am almost done with my second drawing since January and hopefully I'll be able to keep my creative momentum rolling. I am not planning to do any Art shows this summer, so that will allow me more time to work on my "Gitche Gumme Inked" series.

Fatherhood has been getting easier, it's still a work in progress, but Vivi is the cutest, smartest baby in the world of course! She is being patient with mommy & daddy, but I think we are doing something right, because she seems happy as a baby can be!!

Thanks for reading, make sure to spread the word on the "Gitche Gumee Inked" project!!

Rob the Stipplefreak

Grinding along

Over the last few weeks I've kind of gotten more into of a "drawing" mode, considering all the distractions around my home, I guess that's the best I can hope for! I was able to finish my very overdue commission picture for a VERY patient customer, the drawing turned out fairly well, and my customer liked it, so that is good!

I have also started a new portrait and I'm filming the whole drawing process and will post the finished video when I'm done. It's going to be in time lapse photography, so the entire drawing process which will take about 20 hours, will be shown in a few minutes, it's my first attempt at this, so the first video is a little rough. From now on, I will record all drawings in this fashion, it really gives you a great look at my drawing technique!

I am leaving tomorrow, Friday Feb. 24th, with my buddy Robert to do some filming and photo studies for my long term project documenting Lake Superior which I've named, "Gitche Gumee Inked". The first leg of this project will cover Duluth, MN to Grand Portage, MN.  There will be four parts of the project that will be broken up into geographical segments of Lake Superior, I will do six original drawings from each segment, 24 drawings in all. Once the entire project is complete, I estimate about four years, they will be displayed at a gallery to be named soon. I plan on launching the details on how people can "pre purchase" prints and fund this project in April, so watch for that!

As for "fatherhood," Vivi is the cutest baby ever, but dang, she is a handful and she only weighs 13lbs, I think it gets easier though right?! She's a very boisterous audience when I'm drawing and she is a very early riser, about 4-5am every morning, that's not my ideal waking time! I wouldn't change a thing though, it's a "good" kind of exhaustion we're dealing with!

Thanks for reading,

Back to the Drawing Board

 

My live audience!

I've finally gotten back on a "drawing" schedule after about a three month adjustment period getting used to parenthood. It took longer than I had thought, but, Vivi and I have come to an agreement where she will let me work for unspecified amounts of time until she decides it is time to eat or be changed, or she just wants my undivided attention, I've learned to accept her conditions, because she is SO darn cute!!

The hard thing is now that I've gotten into a groove drawing again, it's time for me to go back to work with my bro-in-law's roofing company, we are starting a large project on Lake of the Isles this week. Now I'll really have to be disciplined if I want to keep my progress going with my art AND day job AND baby, man, life just keeps testing my commitment to my art, if anyone wants to give me a large grant, I'd appreciate it!!

I am restructuring, "The Lake Superior Project", and getting ready to release the details, in a nutshell, the finished project will still be the same, 24 original pieces chosen from various subjects around Lake Superior, the main difference from my last proposal will be that I am breaking the project up into six geographical segments, so people can pick areas they are more interested in as far as financial backing goes. I hope to have the final proposal and video posted on my Kickstarter site within the next month or two, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, and make sure to steer your friends to my sites!

Rob

Jump Started!?

I just got back from an appearance/demonstration at the Lyric Center for the Arts in Virginia, MN where my work is on display until the end of January. I was pleasantly surprised by the good turnout! There were several people there who were really interested in my art and the process in which I use to create it, I had several great questions during the demonstration & got a lot of encouraging feedback form the people who attended! It was also great to have Debbie & Vivi there to support me, (although Vivi upstaged me a bit)!

I really have to thank Mary McReynolds-Pellinen for spearheading the event, I think I should make her my PR person! In addition to all the local press on my appearance, I was interviewed by Travis Ryder of KAXE 91.7, public radio from Grand Rapids after the event and will be doing a television interview with a Duluth station on Monday.

All of this recent attention has lit a fire under me to make more of an effort to start working on some new pieces that I have been wanting to do for some time, but have been putting off. I just have to suck it up and MAKE time to do what I love!!

Thanks for reading, hope to post some new work in progress next time!

Good Intentions!

Debbie went back to work this week and I have a couple weeks where I plan on getting some quality drawing time in, but, it's going to be tougher than I planned! Trying to focus on creating an intricate drawing composed of hundreds of thousands tiny points of ink while my six week old is screaming and one year old puppy is stealing her nook and socks and begging to go out and play catch with the tennis ball, is not working! I am going to have to figure something out before my beard goes totally gray!

I have a long list of new projects I'm chomping at the bit to start, along with trying to finish the few commissions which are extremely overdue and need my undivided attention, it was a lot easier when I was a selfish bachelor but things changed for the better, I just have to learn how to juggle, which I know millions of people before me have done.

Hopefully I will get some actual drawing progress to report on soon, in the mean time, it'll be an adjusting process on learning how to be a good daddy AND making time to be a good artist...if anyone has tips, please send them! Maybe a solo trip to the cabin for a few days of serious drawing time is in order, but the question is how do I approach Debbie with this idea!!

Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out, thanks for reading the ramblings of a happy new dad, but frustrated old artist!!

Happy holidays!!

Adjusting!

Despite the lack of sleep issue and the never ending remodeling of our house to make room for our baby daughter ViVi,my wife & I are slowly adjusting to life as parents! Granted, it is a lot harder than we had envisioned, or at least what I envisioned, but I am actually thinking I will be back at the drawing board soon.

I've already have missed one deadline on a portrait for one of my customers, and had to delay the start of another, but I am thinking that when I finish with the bedroom/nursery renovations this week, I'll start to catch up on my art.

Coming up in January, I'll be displaying about 14 original pen & ink drawings in a gallery in Virginia, MN, more details to follow!

If you haven't seen my work check it out at

RCIllustration.com or Stipplefreak.com

Happy holidays!
Rob aka "Stipplefreak"

New beginnings!

Ok, I'm going to try to get this blog going again, granted, I haven't been doing my "stipple" thing for awhile now, but, hopefully I'll get that cranked back up in the not-to-distant future!

The reason my drawing has been pushed to the side, I've became a father for the first time at age 44, and I must say, although I'm crazy happy about the recent turn of events, it's freaking HARD!!! I know, most everyone will say, "have you heard about the Lindberg baby", but I seriously thought people over exaggerated on the difficulties of parenthood!

I appologize to all parents for thinking such foolish thoughts, I have a new found respect for ALL of you!

Now that I seem to have a lot of late night time on my hands waiting for my baby girl to fall asleep, I plan to try and start blogging more, mainly about trying to balance trying to be a successful, relevant artist AND learning how to be a successful daddy at an "advanced" age!!

Stay tuned for the hilarity!

Stipplefreak out