New Website!

I’ve updated my website!

Have a look at mikeschultzstudio.com.  If you are on Instagram, that is my go-to social media outlet these days.  You can follow me on Instagram here.

Young Malayan Tapir – Linocut

Thank you all for your continued support of my Kickstarter project, Thailand Burma Flora Fauna!

The second of the smaller prints featuring a young Malayan tapir is complete and being shipped out this week! A handful of these limited edition linocut prints are now available in my Etsy shop.

Young Malayan Tapir, Linocut on French Co. Paper, 4 x 6 in (10.15 x 15.25 cm), 2014

The Malayan Tapir

The Malayan tapir is an endangered species still found in remote locations in Thailand and Burma. Its populations once thrived in SE Asia, but after overhunting, poaching, and habitat loss from deforestation, the number of native tapirs have dwindled. It is now a protected species rarely found in the wild.  

Carefully hand carving the linoleum block for the Malayan tapir print.

Markings

The adult Malayan tapir boasts a striking solid black body with a large band of white across its back. The breaking up of its coloration is a natural camouflage in the forests of SE Asia.

The juvenile Malayan tapir (like the one featured in this print) has a black body covered with spectacular white stripes and speckles, which also help to camouflage them while they are young.

Drawing on a plane: loose preliminary sketchbook drawings for the tapir print. Note the sketch of an adult Malayan tapir (bottom left) with a solid black and white body.

Tapir prints hanging to dry on the wall of my studio.

Characteristics

The Malayan tapir is an herbivorous creature with a flexible snout like that of an elephant’s trunk. It has poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell and hearing. They can grow in length to be 2.4 meters (7 feet 10 inches), and have been found to weight up to 1,190 pounds!

They are crepuscular animals– meaning creatures who are mostly active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. The tapir is described as being “mostly, but not exclusively, nocturnal” as it commonly naps during the middle of the night. Don’t we all?

Each handmade print is unique, with slight variations and printing character.

A lone monotype of an elephant marches against a stampede of baby tapirs.

Process shot of a simple technology used to stamp the tapir prints.

As seen above, I built a simple tool to aid in the stamping of my hare chop / signature. The wooden handled rubber stamp is securely held in a cardboard hinge which is aligned with a precisely placed print.

After carefully inking the rubber stamp, the hinged tool helps to apply a relatively straight and consistently printed hare stamp. It worked well!

Friend and artist Jack Baumgartner commented that this looked like some “good technology”. I really liked that description, and it prompted me to look up the definition of the word.

Technology defined by Merriam-Webster is “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge”.

Studio shot with tapir prints drying on the walls.

Working in good company– as seen above, my busy printmaking studio with additional inspiring artwork by friends Andrea Lauren, Joey Chiarello, Nieves Waleska, and Jack Baumgartner.

Thank you all for your continued patience and support for the Thailand Burma Flora Fauna project!

Burma Banteng – Cattle and Aloe in Bagan

The second contender for the Thailand Burma Flora Fauna print series is complete! Today, I’d like to share some thoughts about that image, and also say thank you to everyone who has been reaching out to me after I post these updates. I appreciate all of your support and kind feedback with this project!

Burma Banteng, Cattle and Aloe in Bagan, 2014

This image is a night scene illustrating the Burma Banteng, a species of wild cattle found across Southeast Asia. One of my goals for this project was to allow first hand experience to inform this body of work, which I feel it already has, tenfold.

Included in this image are a number of specific plants and trees, human-made structures, and other visuals I witnessed during my travels. Talk about “refilling the wellspring”, so to speak…

Travel sketchbook page from Bagan, Burma.

Bagan sketchbook detail of a banteng calf and an ancient pagoda.

Working out variations of the composition using thumbnail drawings.

Why choose something as mundane as cattle? 

One – As part of my rubric for the series, I determined that it would be too predictable to only represent animals that were exotic or endangered species. I wanted some animals that were thriving, and at least one type that lived among human beings. Like the elephant, cattle have had a complex role in the development of civilization over several millennia, and I wanted to honor that role.

A thin banteng, Bagan.

Two – Banteng, or tembadau, are one of the animals that really stood out to me while I was in Burma. We saw so many different breeds being herded among the ruins in Bagan. Some were wilder looking varieties– buff colored oxen with wavy viking-like horns. But I found that the Bali cattle (domesticated banteng) were the most visually striking with their humps, floppy ears, and large, peaceful doe eyes. 

Here’s looking at you, cow.

Bagan was easily one of the most incredible places I have ever been, and I was surprised at how arid upper Burma is. Think: dusty red earth, dry stream beds, and a thriving variety of plants and trees acclimated to a desert climate. In the image, I included toddy palms, eucalyptus, and acacia trees, as well as cactus and aloe vera plants among the ruins of the temples.

Also, while we were in Bagan the Orion constellation was prominent in the night time sky, and the crescent moon would lay flat on its back in a way that appeared unusual to me. I wanted to remember these details so I included them in the print design.

A temple in Bagan, early sunset hours.

Bagan – Bagan was the ancient capital city of what would later become Burma. Between the 11th and 13th century thousands of temples, monasteries and stupas were constructed there, of which there are still over 2,200 pagodas left today.

Sunset over Bagan. The Bagan plain spans an area of approximately 40 square miles!

A couple of weeks ago I participated in local Mae Sot NGO Kick-Start Art’s annual auction. It raises funds for the organization by asking local artists to make pieces inspired by an artwork made by one of the school children attending its art programs.

I chose two kids’ pieces that humored me– one depicting a joyful banana and another of a sad mosquito. For which to accompany them (and to keep within the logic of the original artwork) I made images of a morose banana and a happy mosquito. It was a lot of fun, and both sold for a good cause.

One of my works for a charity auction depicting a morose banana. We have fun…

Currently, I’m busy at work on the fourth and fifth Flora Fauna images. The third image design is complete, but I am giving it a few days for touching up before I share it.

Thank you for reading and for your support!

Books, Gardens, Paintings

A work in progress on the easel in my studio.

Summer. The air is warm, the sun is hot, and the nights are breezy and cool. The past few weeks have been filled to the brim– I’ve been painting, practicing meditation, taking photographs, lovingly toiling in my garden, and reading a handful of brilliant books like George Orwell’s Burmese Days.

With my painting I have been working on a series of still lives based on objects I brought back from the Thai-Burma border. It is my intention to use the sale of these paintings to partially supplement my return to Thailand in early 2014 to resume my work with migrant youth from Burma at the Puzzlebox Art Studio.

Here are some recent images from my summer so far.

Thanks for reading!  <<<>>>

Au revoir, Scratch. My studio buddy has moved to a new home.

View of Mount St. Helens from my balcony at dusk.

Thai basil bolting violet flowers in my garden, Little Fall River.

Current favorite summer reading spot. *sigh*

Summer: A Passage to India, Burmese Days, and Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles.

A pretty yellow rose I fancied at the Portland Rose Test Gardens.

Thanks for reading!  <<<>>>

Preliminary Pencil Drawing – Exodus

Exodus (detail), Graphite on Paper, 10.5 x 12″ (26.5 x 30.5 cm), 2013

Ahhhh, we had one day of blissful sunny weather with blue skies and Spring air– followed by another usual overcast day with a sky that looks like a flat florescent light bulb. Damn you, Portland, Oregon. The winter here is the trade for living in such a beautiful and bike friendly city.  For anyone who needs a winter lift I recommend this: Brooklyn, NY PS22 children’s chorus singing Lisztomania by Phoenix.

This week I’d like to share a preliminary pencil drawing that I have been working on for a double painting called Exodus. Double painting meaning I plan on painting two works at once back and forth so I can try out different techniques and colors on each canvas.  This is a narrative theme, image, and character that I have been making variations of for years.

Exodus, Graphite on Paper, 10.5 x 12″ (26.5 x 30.5 cm), 2013

Above is the full drawing.  I used Photohsop along with my actual drawing to reassess the composition.  Photoshop is a great way to try out radically different things to get a sense of what will and will not work.  Pictured below, you can see me  re-designing the clouds before drawing them into the final composition.  This also led to me adding a strip of paper to the top of the image to give the figure more breathing room.

Using Photoshop and a Wacom drawing tablet to experiment with the composition.

Lately I have also been playing around with different chops (a traditional artist stamp/seal that signs a work).  Eventually I would love to carve one out of jade or soapstone. Below is the first draft of the chop on my recent work.  I liked it, but it was too visually distracting for this particular drawing and so I reduced it to just the hare.

Duck and hare chop pre-edit. Fun? Sure, but too busy for this one.

The final hare chop (sans duck and vines) used for the Exodus drawing.

Sun starved artist lays on floor to soak up vitamin D while drawing.

Local cat Scratch chilling in the window enjoying freak February Spring weather.

Thank you for reading!  Please feel welcome to comment.  <<<>>>

My Portrait made by Jack Baumgartner

Here is a portrait that my good friend Jack Baumgartner painted of me one million years ago when we were in school together at the Kansas City Art Institute.  He just posted it this morning on his website and I thought I would share it with you. Can’t we all agree that he painted a nice glowing horizon? I’ve always loved the way he handled the rolling, receding fields too.

I tired to reblog Jack’s original post, but it read like I was talking about myself in the third person.  Well played, WordPress… well played.

Thanks for reading! <<<>>>

Jack Baumgartner, Portrait of Mike Schultz, Oil on Oak Panel, 5.5 x 6.25″, 1999

Blue Moon Birthday + Drawings + A Sneak Peek!

For a person who loves the moon as much as I do, I am one lucky fellow. This year on August 31, 2012 my birthday fell on a blue moon. A blue moon is when there are two full moons in a single month. It is very rare and only occurs approximately every 2.5-3 years (or every 33 months) hence the phrase, “Once in a blue moon.”

Once in a blue moon – Out in the big city on my blue moon birthday, August 31, 2012.  <<<>>>

Because I am fortunate to have a birthday at the end of August, this will continue to occur throughout my life– the next time being August 31, 2023 and again on August 31, 2042. Lucky me!

Here are some recent sketchbook drawings.

Portrait of Arty Drawing a Portrait, Graphite on Paper, 5 x 8.25″, 2012

Wendy Napping, Graphite on Paper, 5 x 8.25″, 2012

Two Goats, Graphite on Paper, 5 x 8.25″, 2012

Skinny Dipping in Cayuga Lake, Graphite on Paper, 5 x 8.25″, 2012

This week I am headed down to the sunny, coastal forests of California for a two week printmaking expedition deep in redwood country.

While I am there I will be working with a fellow artist friend whose hand and skill I greatly admire. Pictured below is a sneak peek at a preliminary drawing for a linocut print of a lion which we will be working on. It features a duck. Can’t we all agree that ducks are strange and fantastic creatures? They fly. They hang out on the water. What more can you ask for?

Preliminary Drawing for Lion Print, Sumi ink and Gouache on Paper, 2012

I will be sure to post images of our progress as it happens… Thanks for reading!

Tom Bombadil and the Walking Man

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This week I wanted to focus on a piece that exemplifies my process of constructing an artwork.  I think that this drawing, Tom Bombadil and the Walking Man Enjoying a Cup of Morning Tea, does just that.

Tom Bombadil (pictured below, on the left) is one of my favorite characters from the Lord of the Rings, which I reread while living on the Thai-Burma border this past year.  The Walking Man is a character borrowed from my good friend, the painter Jack Baumgartner. Upon reading the trilogy this time around, I was moved to make a series of drawings of Jack’s Walking Man character doing a walking-tour of sorts, of various locations in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

 

Tom Bombadil and the Walking Man Enjoying a Cup of Morning Tea, Ink on Paper, 9 x12", 2011

 

Pictured below are the original sketchbook drawings of the visual, where I worked out the general idea and composition of the piece.

 

Composition Study from Skecthbook, Graphite on Paper, 2011

 

Original Sketchbook Drawing for the Image, Graphite on Paper, 2011

 

Here, in order to have a better understanding of what the morning light would look like upon two separate individuals, I posed for photographs in the characters’ general positions, and then built the composition for the final drawing in photoshop.  For this drawing it was important to me that the lighting was consistent on each figure, and that the size ratio of characters made sense, as physically, Bombadil is a much larger being than the Walking Man.

Also, I should add that in order to get my legs in the right position for the Walking Man’s pose, I had to sit on top of our small Thai fridge.

 

Light Study Mock-Up, Digital, 2011

 

In my opinion, Peter Jackson made a poor choice to edit out a pivotal character like Tom Bombadil in trade for lengthy, crowd-pleasing battle scenes.  For me, the books are more about the beauty of language, legend, poetry and song, and essential characters, like Tom Bombadil, who inhabit Tolkien’s narrative.  For this, Peter Jackson, ye are a hoser.

 

Preliminary Drawing, Graphite on Paper, 9 x 12", 2011

 

To see more of my artwork, please visit MikeSchultzPaintings.com.