When the Cows Come Home, Daniel D Brown, 2017 – Mixed Media

This is a sculpture/painting of migrating cownose rays. I made it over the course of a year,  making the actual work a year ago and the frame/base recently. I first laid down a layer of paint on a piece of 4″ x 4″ wood, followed by sequential layers of rays painted on Envirotex Lite resin with acrylic paint (six layers). The final ray was sculpted with apoxie sculpt and the water ripples were made with ModPodge. Finally, I made a base/frame from a chunk of walnut wood, which I sculpted with a dremel.

“When the Cows Come Home” – Daniel D Brown, 2017, Mixed Media

Here is a quick video showinf what the resin part actually looks like in 3D (with light refractions)

 

The light refractions are beautiful when the sun hits it right.
ModPodge ripples

      

Tridimensional Portrait of a Lizard in the Midst of an Existential Crisis, Daniel D. Brown, 2017, Oil and Glass on Canvas and Apoxie Sculpt

So this was an incredibly fun project to work on, which I apparently did over the course of about 6 months. I also featured this piece in the 20th annual Art All Night – Lawrenceville.

Original SOLD

“Lizard in the Midst of an Existential Crisis”
Detail
Art All Night 2017

It all started with just a small canvas and a little bit of apoxie sculpt.

Note: The eye was first painted on canvas – which I eventually cut out because I hated the canvas texture.
Only some of the scales are sculpted
Painting between scales
I went through many layers of oil paint over several months (oil dries SLOWLY). Note the canvas texture to the eye. Blech. I’m fine with canvas for some of the skin and how it contrasts with the sculpted part.
As mentioned above, I hated the eye. So I ripped it out and sculpted an actual iris (that pupil actually has depth including behind the iris)
Glass cabochon
There is pearl pigment mixed in the iris paint
lame
In the end, I epoxied the sculpted iris to the back of the glass with a crystal clear resin. I built the frame out of some 100+ year old reclaimed wood.

 

Oil Sketches #1-3

My amazing wife bought me a new oil painting kit for my birthday. It’s officially time for me to learn how to actually use them! I did a few tiny sketches (like 4×4″) just to practice this relatively new medium (I’ve only used once before on this 3D octopus).

Oil Sketch #3: Laguna Waves” (based on a photo from a vacation in Laguna Beach)
Oil Sketch #2: Double-Collared Sunbird” (based on my photograph in Cape Town, South Africa)
Oil Sketch #1: Shorebird (based on a photo from our wedding in Mauritius)

 

  

My works have been accepted into the “Wild Things Public Art Installation & Exhibition”!

Lucky me! Two of my works, “Longing” and “I Hear You Have Crabs,” have been accepted into the “Wild Things Public Art Installation & Exhibition” juried by Cynthia Shaffer at Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. I feel incredibly honored to have been selected!

The opening reception is on April 4th, 2014 and the exhibition will run until June 21st, 2014.

“I Hear You Have Crabs” Daniel D. Brown 2014 8″ x 8″ oil on canvas and MagicSculpt

“Longing”

“I Hear You Have Crabs,” Daniel D. Brown, 2014, Oil on Canvas and MagicSculpt

 

This is a 3 dimensional painting on 8X8 canvas. The tentacles coming out of the canvas were made from MagicSculpt.

SOLD

SOLD

 

And here is a little bit of the making of “I Hear You Have Crabs.”