Rodrigo's Art

Nest and Upcoming shows

2011-11-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

Since I joined Conceptart.org in 2003, my eyes were opened to some talented artists that will make your eyes bleed in envy, but at the same time inspire you to do better. The same artists and more formed the powerful Safehouse Atelier which is already having some amazing shows and a great collective pool of artists are exhibiting together in one night, and it's bound to be an incredible show.

The Third show entitled "The Humble Show" is a silent auction, one night only, Sunday November 20th at 7pm, bidding ends at 10pm. Seeing their work really made me work harder, and it still does. This is the nature of humility, first you need to be stripped away of your ego, and then you need to figure out how to rebuild. These themes were the subject of the nest drawing, which I really enjoyed working on.
I met and stayed with some of the artists earlier this year, they are all great people and I know it's bound to be a fun night if you can make it down in person, but otherwise the works are going to be posted online here.

I'll be exhibiting works from Anima with Phone Booth Gallery at the Art Du Vin wine bar for the group Show "Clap Hands", so if you are a fan of wine or art, or both then you should definitely head down.
I've attached the flyer below for details, drawn by the great, talented Ryan Milner! It should be a fun night, there should be plenty of great art!
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It's pencil and pastel, 14" by 17" And we may be doing a print run, to help me figure out the demand, let me know if you'd be interested.

Click the image to open the larger res in a new window...

Gnostic Cosmic Rasputin

2011-10-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Got a couple new paintings in oil/pastel, same size, 8" x 10"

Painting on the left sits inside the cover. It's a bit ironic that I've ripped out pages from this new book, seems that thanks to the previous book I can hardly ever get to keep the pages inside now :)
The fuzzy writing is in Greek, "know thyself" which was inscribed in the Oracle of Delphi, Greece.
Should finish and post the nest drawing this week, unless something goes wrong :)

Cheers!

Nest drawing and tattoo in progress

2011-10-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hey guys

Here's a piece I'm currently working on. I had initially mentally planned for a dark background but I may go with a light one with pastel touches behind the objects

I'm also really excited to share some progress shots of a tattoo that combines a couple if my artworks into one image on a sleeve.

The artist is an ex Ashtons student, Mark Powell, looks like he's done a great job so far and I am really looking forward to seeing the final work.

These are only iphone shots, but we'll have better pics soon.

Cheers!

Here are the originals in case you haven't seen them.

various

2011-10-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Just a variety of different work here , have been doing a bit of freelance to keep funds going.

Couple of tee shirt designs

Prelim Study

Beyond Eden Arts

2011-10-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

This painting was 8" by 10" it's oil/pastel and is up for sale through Thinkspace Gallery. You can see the piece I had with Gallery Nucleus on their website, it's called "Feeding Birds II"

Was happy to see that this drawing sold at the event last night, it was also used for an album cover for the musician Lumeet

Next gallery event: Beyond Eden 2011

2011-09-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

If you are free this weekend, Oct. 1st and 2nd, the Beyond Eden Art Fair is being hosted at the LA Municipal Art Gallery. It promises to be a great event to check out. I've been lucky enough to have been invited by Thinkspace gallery, other galleries showing there include Gallery Nucleus and Spoke Art is doing Quentin vs Coen Round three!
Here is a preview of one of the four works I've sent over, it's an oil painting on moleskine paper, I'll post up the final version this weekend

Cheers!

Oils painting

2011-08-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

Before I start, a little self promotion, I have some spare moleskine pages on sale at the spoke art website, some are as low as $50 and go up to $150 I think.

Only the ones with a number and not a name are for sale and they are unframed.

http://store.spoke-art.com/category/rod-luff

Please keep in mind that some of those are sold already. If you are interested you should email Ken and quote the number. I'm not getting rich off these, all proceeds go into framing and shipping costs I pay to have shows. :-)

---------

So I'm just gonna talk a bit about this process, it's not a tutorial so please don't expect to learn anything:P

I drew up the figure to get the proportions and then sized it with GAC 100 by Golden. it is an artificial replacement for rabbit skin glue. You need to use a size because it stops the oil from penetrating the surface, which would eventually lead to rotting. Microbes can eat your paints, I guess that is pretty cool, but ultimately we want to delay entropy. I usually use about 3-4 layers.

more info:

"preparing a paint support" brought to you by golden.

I cut the double page out of the book because it was annoying to paint the figure with it cutting through the middle.

Then i blocked in a rough skin tone and some shadows.

As you can see it looks pretty crap at this point.

phase 2 I added some opaque colours and yes she gained a few kilos. I don't know why i scraped off parts of the block in and I guess i wanted to repaint the face ( a common theme in this work).

I cut back into the figure to fix it up and added some oil pastels in there for fun, but it still looks crap because I need to do the face and hands. More opaque on the sternum and boobs because the light is hitting it hard.

Done the hands and arm here, adding the warms of the knees and some fancy little squiggle things to entertain myself it is pretty fun at this point.

Adding some random colours and seeing what happens, I don't know why. Trying to tighten it up and finish because I could paint and repaint things forever. It's fun to see how much chroma you can get away with (or not).

The sun crept up on me and that was a probably a good sign I should go to bed.

And here is the final.

later that day, I scraped off the head, cut the GAC and paper so I had to reprime it with GAC and then repaint the head, so that's why there's weird texture on it. It looks a lot better in person or try the hi res by clicking the image.

Please excuse my self indulgent detail shot, keep in mind its bigger than the actual painting.

You can see the shadows where I cut the paper by accident when I was scraping off the dry paint to repaint it.

Thanks for looking!

A drawing

2011-08-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

here's a sketch on bristol, 8 x 10, used a colour pencil and a tiny bit of pastel.

It was difficult to get this one right, I had to fail a few hard worked drawings (all of which were about a third the size.). I'll be doing some more head studies to try and get better.

Here's one of the disasters:

prep

2011-08-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

these are just some sketch studies in pencil/pastel to work things out. I still need to do separate studies to work out the composition, colour and tone.

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to the blog, if I reach 500 I may do a little sketch giveaway to celebrate.

more updates coming in the next few days

Violin II

2011-08-09T23:21:00.000-07:00

This was a really oil fun painting to do. The block in was for trying to get everything simplified and clear, and then the last stage was the more enjoyable part, experimenting with some pastels, texture and opaque/transparent effects.

Things that came and are ready for tasting.

2011-08-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Here are the full versions of the works I had showing at the Spoke Art group show last night, "A taste of things to come." I might post up some photos from the opening night later on.

I've got a few more moleskine paintings to post up soon, so stay tuned!

If you'd like price info then please email me at rod@rodluff.com as the prices are very affordable.

You can catch more of my art on:

Twitter
Facebook

Cheers

Wind Study

Pencil, acrylic, pastel

8" by 10"

Wind

pencil pastel

15" by 20"

Violin

8" by 10"

Oil/pastel

A taste of things to come

2011-07-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I'll have three works available at the new Spoke Art group show "A taste of things to come" in San Francisco, CA. The show opens Thursday the 4th of August from 6- 10 pm and runs through until the 25th. The only images here that aren't in the show are the hand studies.

I hope if you are in town and are free that you go, because the other artists are really awesome, so you are bound to be inspired!

There should be more coming this week, and I'll post the full size images once the show opens.

To see the larger image, just right click and open in new window.

Cheers!

Trippy art

2011-06-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I'm back home after three months away on my trip, and the plunge to do all these shows and take the time and money to be there seems to have been a success, I sold half the Nucleus pieces, about 3/4 of the Anima pieces, and the Spoke Art show sold out completely!

I'm excited to be making art again and also happy to be here with you guys again in the blogosphere posting art from my trip.

I also had a lot of fun times in SF and LA, meeting a lot of inspiring artists many of whom I was familiar with, being an old regular at Concept Art.org since around 2003.

I stayed in SF for about a month, and stayed in several different places the whole time, and as a result I had a lot of art I needed to send people as gifts! I'm still working my way through it all, but here are some:

Random pages

I also made it up North of SF to do some sketching and Landscape painting with the awesome artist Sergio Lopez!

He made a blog post about it too so go check it out, has some studies of other places we went to and the blog is worth a look regardless.

Top two photos by Sergio

Landscape galactic super action paint fun time!

I had a few troubles....wind being my enemy this day, all part of the experience!

I also did some sketching at the Safehouse Atelier run by Carl Dobsky, go check them out as they are brilliant, brilliant I say!!!!!

A portrait sketch from one night session:

Here is a painting by Jeremy Mann of my mug, I sat for one of the portrait sessions at the atelier while they played Australian folk music about tying a Kangaroo down and R Kelly, hahaha!

I also did some model drawing in SF in the Spoke Art gallery (previous post). Using the study I made in the life session, I finished a couple more drawings. I might do a few more if I get the time.

Thanks again to Magdaleen Veen for modelling that day.

Click this one for a better, larger version.

As part of the video that Shaun Roberts is making, we went up to Golden Gate Park to get some shots during the late afternoon. He did a fantastic job of capturing the beautiful light that streamed in through the trees. I'm really excited to see how the video of our collaboration comes out, there are other finished ones on his website under 'studio visits'.

Here's the sketch I made:

Sorry to dump so many images on you all!

Cheers

Moleskine Project and Life Drawing

2011-05-18T15:59:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

After ripping out the pages, sending them across the other side of the planet, having a gallery drop out and being forced to lease a new space, the Moleskine Project show finally hit San Francisco on May 5th thanks to the new Spoke Art Gallery at 816 Sutter Street.

It was a great night and only four works are remaining, so we've nearly sold out the show with a week left to go. We'll be exhibiting at Art Pad in San Francisco over this coming weekend, if you are free please stop by the Spoke Art room!

Below is a video tour of the show and some photos from the opening

Video and Photo courtesy of Josh from the great art blog Creep Machine. He was also kind enough to review the show, thanks Josh!

I made an installation in the two front windows of hanging pages.

Photos below courtesy of Shaun Roberts

Today we had a model life drawing session in the Spoke Art Gallery with Magdaleen Veen who brought a great costume to wear and made it to the session despite having her car towed. Go hire her!

Thanks to Shaun Roberts once more for documenting the session for a future short video which will focus on my art and creative process.

Moleskine Project Exhibition

2011-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

So what started last year as a pet side project to improve my sketchbook studies has now found itself into a gallery space as a full solo exhibition in San Francisco! It will be the inaugural exhibition for Spoke Art in the new gallery space too.

The opening night is May 5th, 6-10 pm.
It's located on 816 Sutter Street, near corner is Jones Street. It's nicely located right near Union Square, close to a block of Academy of Arts buildings...plus it's Cinco de Mayo!

The gallery space itself is new and gorgeous- nice high ceilings, generous floor size with great windows at the front entrance.

Big thanks to Ken Harman for finding such a great place to start a new chapter for Spoke art and my career too, he is also responsible for choosing and organising the beautiful frames you see below.

It was a difficult journey to be here- I had to slug through two solo shows, a group show and other things, and Ken had to deal with a gallery that went bankrupt, find a new place and sort out the frames and promotion.

I hope you can turn up to the show if you're in SF, I'd be happy to meet you all.

Framed Pieces

Recto

Verso

Anima

2011-04-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just wanted to post up some new art! The opening night was great, it was really good to meet everyone who came. I had 25 works hanging in the Phone Booth Gallery, we've sold 7 so far. Much thanks and love to those who made it out, and the buyers in particular for their support. All pieces come framed.

Click the title link above the image to be taken to the price, size and media info. There's also detail and framing shots.

I've posted a selection of the works- a mix of generally unseen work. For the rest, please follow the link below.

http://phoneboothgallery.com/pbg/exhibitions

Feeding Birds: Midday

Feeding Birds: Morning

Flux

Inspired Flight

Photo of me with Kevin Tong (left) the buyer of this piece, who also happens to be a great artist, and a top bloke!

New moleskine pages

2011-04-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just started a new moleskine now that Anima is finished with, thought I'd share where I'm up to. Looking forward to this one!

There's also a preview for my solo show up with some new unseen images at the Hi Fructose blog, big thanks to Ken Harman for the generous write up.

Please check it out here if you have the time .

"Opening tomorrow night (Saturday, April 16th) at Phone Booth Gallery in Long Beach is the debut US showing of young Australian artist Rod Luff. The discerning eye of gallery director Garry Booth has introduced us to the works of Handiedan, Lara Zombie and Kevin Tong, and we are once again impressed by the progressive curatorship from the Long Beach based gallery.
Entitled 'Anima', Luff's first stateside showing comprises of a variety of oil paintings and drawings on paper, an impressive body of work, made equally more intriguing by the artist's young age, attractive price points and emerging status. Get a look at some of the pieces from the show below, and if you're in LA tomorrow night, please be sure to swing by. Highly recommended."

Anemone

2011-04-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the themes of introspection and imagination, I feel that the ocean is a great metaphor for the mind. Trying to hold onto one thought for a long period of time is nearly impossible for me, and its amazing how they ebb and flow like the rhythm of the ocean. Some thoughts are a rip tide that pull you away from familiar shores and some are dead flat.

There is the idea that our minds go much deeper than we can consciously explore into a dark, uncharted abyss, or even further down into the trenches. Now I'm no psychologist or anything, but these were the thoughts that were swimming around in my fleshy brain case as I drew this picture in my uncle's super awesome backyard studio.

One of the exciting hilights was turning around mid session only to discover a gigantic swarm of bees 7 foot high, a big buzzing cloud that made me jump out of my chair. I moved the table to the other side of the yard and faced the bees so that I could keep an eye on them in case they decided to go all jihad on me.

Sorry that the scan is so over exposed- all the subtle light greys were washed out with white- I took it to Kinko's since I have no scanner here.

Anemone is 14 by 17 inches, made with pastel and pencil.

Progress shot on the easel:

The finished scan (detail)

Richard Schmid Lecture Notes

2011-04-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

I visited the Pasadena Museum of Californian art to check out their latest show, which was a great exhibition. As I was about leave, I overheard someone mention a slideshow presentation. I checked my brochure and found out there was a Richard Schmid lecture starting in five minutes!

I also quickly shook his hand and said thankyou just before the lecture, never washing my hand again!!! must extract the dna and make a schmid clone teach me to paint!

Here are the rough notes I made, I hope they might help in some way! They are just my personal notes, I'm not trying to teach anyone but myself, and writing helps me get my thoughts in order.

I managed to scribble down some quotes too.
Lucikly I found some of the paintings he used in his lecture too!

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Schmid eased us into the talk with his oddball sense of humour, getting us relaxed as he made his first point: the primacy of direct, sensory experience is most important and can only achieved by painting from life. No digital camera could ever capture that same experience, visually or otherwise. He then stated every painting is a self portrait in a way and that every artist in this sense has an obligation to be introspective.
The external reality only serves as a springboard to allow the artist to explore their inner landscape.

One of the funny images Schmid used throughout to make it a really fun experience.

The presentation consisted of slides of both his and his wife Nancy's work, pointing out the importance of design, edges, colour and various other aspects you can read in his books.

The portrait lighting - lit from both sides. One side has to be dominant, even if slightly. Difference in temperature has to be observed carefully between the light sources. Always check the shapes.
There were a lot of direct advice on painting a still life.

- Painting every part of the flower including the stems, paying attention to the subtleties of the leaves and the symphony of their motion, the design shape created by its beauty and variety and of course to love every second of it.

-Painting the dead leaves as well, or the different stages of life. The browns harmonise nicely with the fresh ones and create a richer, deeper and more balanced images. Flowers from the florist come too perfect and clean- get out in the real world and paint them as they are.

Spend as long as necessary to set up a still life- even if it takes a week or two. Find objects that are interesting and pay attention to the way it is set up.

This was the still life included in the exhibition

An example of a more elaborate set up. The one he used in the presentation was more involved and complex.

Preparation is key according to Shmid, because once your technical skills are in the right place, then all that is left is to copy the set up in a painterly fashion, to copy the shapes and use the brushwork to describe the edges, lighting, drawing and design.

Nancy Guzik's painting of children: He showed a series of his wife's painting of kids.

-She finds parts of life that any other artist would overlook- a child clenching her foot so the shoe won't fit. Find these aspects in life through experience and understanding.

-importance of design elements in foreground leading up to the focal point- use nature to find interesting shapes for your composition.

This image wasn't in the lecture but still a good example, the river leads in, and is kept interesting by attention to its unique, natural design.

There is a strong no nonsense approach to schmiddo, to him art is not just a verb but an entire sensory and emotional connection to the interior and exterior world.
Even after talking about art history and the slow development of understanding up to the pinnacle of 19th Century art, he would quickly let his words disintegrate into a blah blah blah. He is not even interested in his subject (though he does contradict himself there) or symbolism for that matter.
"People want to know the symbolism behind any paintings and I make up a different story each time."
He tells a story with direct control of brushwork and edges, his experience of the moment, a visual language that scholars can only dream of controlling. It makes sense. Writing about his art is for writers to do. His role is to do it.

-The one point he made about styles- it is important to have different approaches and techniques to use, because it is akin to searching for the perfect turn of phrase, or having an expansive vocabulary to draw upon- the paths to expressing oneself all depend on the mastery of the technique. He broke technique down to four points- Good drawing, value, edges and colour.

-He then proceeded to introduce a new method he had been using to absolutely stunning effect.

-After making a mid toned wash of stand oil, damar and turps (I think) he then proceeded to rub out the wash to form the distinct design of the petal with a towel and cotton tip to reveal parts of the white beneath. He then introduced opaque paint over these areas and created a powerful image- there was a clear distinct cleanliness to this method which seemed to take it to a slightly higher level.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks, but an old dog can teach himself new tricks"

These were painted using that technique and were used to demonstrate its effects.

Schmid is all about observation and technique- there is a sense to his works that he does not try to glorify his objects, but copy them and let them reveal their own beauty. There isn't exaggeration of colour or any of the overkill that is present in a lot of landscape work.

anima sneak peek 2

2011-04-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

Set up a little studio in my Uncle's backyard here in LA so I can squeeze in some more art for the shows.
Will post the Schmid lecture notes tomorrow or Sunday.

This is the current piece I'm working on, about 2 days work so far. I think I'll need one more day to finish it. It's pencil, 14" by 17". Might add dashes of pastel after. Sorry for the bad photos, the second one was taken as it was getting dark so it's not very clear.
It's cropped in a bit too, there's more space around it.

And a close up of another piece that's being framed, the detail show is a little bigger than the actual size.

The original is 12" by 19"

and lastly, a shot of my super cool backyard studio :)

Anima sneak peek

2011-04-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Please forgive me if you've been told a few times on different websites, but as it's my first show I'm trying to get the word out as much as possible. If you can make it, please do as I'll be attending from Australia and I'd love to meet you all!

The show will open at Phone Booth Gallery on 2533 East Broadway, Long Beach on Saturday April 16th at 7:00 pm and will finish at 10:00 pm.

There should be a total of 23-24 works in the show, as I have been trying to squeeze in some extra work the past few months, so there will be a good amount of unseen work for those who are already familiar with what I've done, as well as plenty of affordable, small works for those who are interested.
I'm also going to be blogging a bit more often, with some hi res sneak peaks, some good news about the Moleskine show in San Francisco, and some info and notes on a Richard Schmid lecture I stumbled into by incredible luck.

If you are interested in attending the show please RSVP on this Facebook events page, because it might help us know how much booze to bring for you all, haha ;)
Thankyou and here are some pictures of the work at the framers, and a close up of a painting.

More soon!

Lined in Lead

2011-03-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

Had a blast last night at the opening night of "Lined in Lead" at Gallery Nucleus. I am definitely going to be going back to have a better look at all the work. If you're in LA, it's up till the 11th of April.

It was a packed out show and it was great fun to meet so many inspiring artists and people, and a big thanks to Ryan Graff for not only organising and curating the show, but for also helping us international artists by taking on the burden of framing the works for us and taking them to the gallery, which definitely makes life easier for us. What a great night!

Here are a couple of pieces from the show that I haven't posted:
Please also see the high res, it's much better quality than the thumbnails. just right click the two below and open in new tab or window.

Here are the other pieces in the show you've seen:

shot of myself with the works to see their size, and also a group shot of the other artists who made it to the show- From left to right- Barron Storrey, Joao Ruas, Myself, Michael Zulli, Shelly Wan, Andrew Hem

Hihi

2011-03-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I should mention that we are confident that we'll manage to find another venue for the sketchbook show. None of us could have predicted that the Medicine Agency would go under, and so while unfortunate, it's not the end of the road. Big thanks to Ken Harman for helping me out and for his enthusiasm and energy in bringing this little book to SF. More news when we find a place!

We've got the dynamic duo consisting of Ken's Spoke Art and Garry's Phone Booth Gallery that are bringing the two solo shows- the sketchbook to SF and the show "anima" to Long Beach.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and post more often to try and stir up some interest for the upcoming shows. For now just got a couple of studies in the book and a little preview of a painting I finished last week. More coming soon though.

I brought my box easel here so I've got a little set up so I can work some more and squeeze in some last minute works!

gorillas in print

2011-03-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

Heading out to LA tomorrow. Just got some moleskine pages to share.
The sketchbook solo show at medicine agency in SF is cancelled but hopefully we'll find another place to do this, we'll see.

Also, I am proud to announce that the Gorilla Art Fare book is coming out in April. It's a collection of art from people who are far more advanced, intelligent, creative and skilled than I am and I'm proud to have a few things in there.
I hope that you can grab a copy, it's worth it and at least you should have www.gorillartfare.com safely bookmarked in your RSS feeds as a source of great and diverse work. I'm sorry if you've heard this from other blogs or facebook, but if you haven't please do check it out.

The cover below is Illustrated by Clo, Devin Platts & Tom Scholes and designed by Victoria Maderna and Federico Piatti.

"We have the most exciting news today! Gorilla Artfare and CFSL Ink have joined forces to bring you a wonderful collection of artwork: Gorilla Artbook Vol 1!

The book is hardcover, sized 24×28 cm (9.4×11 inches approximately) and it holds 250+ pages of stunning images by more than 70 of our artists. It will be available for preorder on April 7th and released on April 14th!

We will share more info on pricing and where you can buy it real soon! Update: Some more info + a small preview of the interiors here! For now, feast your eyes on these previews of the cover (illustrated by Clo, Devin Platts & Tom Scholes, designed by Victoria Maderna & Federico Piatti):"

moleskine stuff

2011-02-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hey guys

just throwing up some stuff from the book, can't post anything else just yet.

This one scanned poorly but looks better in person, oils + pastel

Reversible triptych thing for the moleskine show

recto

Verso

Cant remember if i posted the wip, just refound it a couple days ago

Upcoming Shows

2011-02-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd just do a blog post with some preview images for the shows I'm involved with.
It's been a really, really busy month since I last updated.
Finished/ touched up more pieces for the Nucleus show, a few pieces for my solo, around 10 new sketchbook pages, a t-shirt design and my first book cover job (in oils). Very excited and honoured to be exhibiting with some truly amazing artists who have been a huge inspirational force in my development.

Thanks!

LINED IN LEAD: GALLERY NUCLEUS

March 19, 2011 - April 11, 2011
Opening Reception / Mar 19, 7:00PM - 10:00PM

"Too often graphite is reserved for process work or composition studies, but the medium possesses every facet necessary to fully realize an inspiring finished work of art. Its simplicity is sublime and its versatility exciting.

We have invited some true talents of the medium to contribute finished work promising to captivate."

Exhibiting Artists Include:

Wesley Burt
Alexandre Day
Andrew Hem
David Jien
Rodrigo Luff
Joao Ruas
Barron Storey
Rob Sato
Shelly Wan
Allen Williams
Michael Zulli

Detail below (original 35 by 55 cm)

Original size (26 by 34 cm)

Detail below (original size 42 by 70 cm)

ANIMA: PHONE BOOTH GALLERY, Long Beach CA

Opening Night: April 16 2010

“Anima” is a series of works from Australian artist Rod Luff that collects together a variety of drawings and paintings inspired by the harmonious relationships between people, nature and their imagination. Artist in Attendance.

Oils (original size 60 by 40cm)

SKETCHBOOK SHOW: MEDECINE AGENCY, San Francisco CA

April 30 2010

Collection of Selected Artwork from my sketchbook.

And here's the book cover I did, Oils (with small digital touch ups). It was for a lovecraftian themed horror novel set in the 1950's. Despite the workload I just couldn't say no to painting a Hastur possessed blues guitarist channelling filthy black insanity!

standin at the crossroads

2011-01-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

messed around and experimented with this in the morning, oils and pastel,

we are in the middle of organising an exhibition for this sketchbook in SF, please stay tuned for more info, thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A

Things and Stuff

2011-01-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

that ive been doing since the last update...having a lot of fun!

some studies of robert johnson fun!

wip

Birdz

2011-01-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

happy new year, hope everyone is as excited as I am about the upcoming cycle of time that we've decided upon.

I have about 5 finished works ive done recently but I can't show any apart from this one. Hope you guys like it. the scan sucks, i wish i could show you it in real life, sorry! :(

Still haven't finished with the series, lots of other pictures i want to explore but will post other art so you don't get sick of it :P

The website has been updated (thanks Lindsay!) with info about exhibitions under the "see" section and an all new "shop" section, yay! More coming soon...

Cheers!

heres the line sketch (had to redraw/change a lot of stuff but it was really helpful as a starting point)

i did a few pages of thumbnails like this to try and work out the design and stuff, but even still i changed it a lot in the final piece.

some studies i did of different things for another painting that I did

Merry Christmas! + a new Sketchbook update

2010-12-24T13:22:00.000-08:00

Hey all!

Thanks to everyone who supported this blog this year, you are all awesome and I appreciate all the feedback that I've been getting. It's been a good year, but 2011 will be better. I definitely need to take it to a higher level, and I have 2 solo shows and a group show coming up in March/April.
Hope you all have an awesome Christmas and New Year!

Anyway, just got an update of new work to share with you via Hi Fructose, big thanks once again to Ken Harman for helping me share the inner sanctum of my black book with everyone. Please click the link below to check it all out.

WIP

Bird Lady

2010-12-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

The main reason I started this was to improve and build upon it further. I feel like an idea which feels good to share with other people is always worth pursuing. In this case it was the significance of the symbiotic relationship between the lady (who appears to be homeless) and the birds. I tried to put in little subliminal details to suggest that, like the trees + verticals above forming cathedral churchy shapes, and triangular shapes, having the colour scheme the same as you'd find on a pigeon, and more things like that. I learnt a lot of things like the importance of ideas, purpose and intent driving content, and only using enough detail to get the message across, stuff i always struggle with, it was hard to limit the amount of detail on the pigeons to just the basic shapes and colours. The final painting took about 2-3 days

Here's also an interview I did for a website called My Modern Met. Big thanks to Alice for taking the time to do this.

http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/gorgeous-traditional-art-12

gestural sketch, the pencil dark/light thumbnail, and the same one coloured and altered in photoshop.

resultant colour study:

alternate study with a different colour scheme

Back to the other scheme and messing around more with the colours

This is the initial drawing, I used pencil and just wanted to think about placement, design and composition.

Wash

Final Layer Wet

Final

Prints For Sale + Oils painting

2010-11-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

hey,
I've teamed up with the Drawing Book to sell prints! They're really nice A1 high quality Giclee limited to 15.

I need to sort out the ridiculously expensive framing and shipping for some exhibitions overseas next year. Any little bit helps, and I'm offering these prints as a way to help me get there.

I'm also available for Commissions, so please email me if you're interested!

Just Click the image Below for whichever print you're interested in. You can also see zoom shots on that website!

This drawing actually comes printed at it's full size, not cropped as in the webshot

Ok Great now I can share some art!

This is a little oils study I did for another painting i want to start soon, its a bit smaller than A4.

Sketch paintings

2010-10-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I'm working more in my sketchbook, and am also planning to do more studies too. Once the moleskine project is done, which I'm feeling really confident about, I'll probably start a new book as well as a new daily project.

I'm planning to get at least 1 work done a week which will easily arrive me on target for my shows next year, if it is done over the next four months.

If I could ask one last thing, I'm trying to raise funds to pay the large costs for framing and shipping, so if anybody is thinking of a commission, now is absolutely the best time for it! I haven't sold anything in a few months so it would be amazing to break the draught, and have enough time to get the most out of it.

Today's recommended link is this blog by Artist and Designer John Coulthart
http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/

paintings are in oils

Hi Fructose pt 2

2010-10-25T00:44:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Been lucky enough to get featured again on the Hi Fructose blog, continuing the Moleskine journey.
Huge thanks to Ken for the support!

There's some new stuff I did for the post so please check it out! I'll be dabbling in the moleskine daily and soon it shall be complete :)

"A few months back we took a look into an ambitious project by a young emerging artist named Rod Luff. The twenty-three year old artist lives down in Australia and has taken on the daunting task of buckling down and completing a moleskine notebook from cover to cover with sketches, miniature paintings and various studies. The response from our initial article was so overwhelmingly positive that we just had to catch up with Luff and take a look at how his progress has been going."

Click here or the image below to go to the post

Bloom

2010-10-17T04:57:00.000-07:00

Took a couple weeks off, this is the first thing i've done since I returned.

it was great to start with a drawing on white paper- its always a struggle to get it down as every little mistake can't be hidden by fancy colour or texture :)

lotsa fun, didn't want it to end :(pencil with pastel on paper, 14" by 17"/ 35cm by 43 cm

Also some links for you all...All links open in new window.

-Updated my Website

-Put in New Moleskine Section on Website!

-Also check out this great blog by Julie Smits, good info on nutrition, healthy living and more! It's called Feathered Love.

Also I have some works on sale, Detail shots are up there too, so go check em out!

Phone Booth Gallery did a great job in revamping their website.

Click each image to open in new window.

Millicent Mimicry

2010-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

One night, my parents' friends remarked on the similarity my bird lady paintings to a popular Australian children's book, Millicent, which was written in 1980 by Jeannie Baker!

Today, I got my hands on a copy of the book and I can't believe the similarities! The images are also located in Hyde Park, Sydney.
The techniques of the book involve making the textural shapes from materials like plasticine and fabric, and photographing them. There is a definite sense of depth and vivid life to each page. I definitely remember reading and loving this book in primary school now that I've seen it again!

"Those birds understand everything I say to them."

After seeing her in person I can't deny that she has formed a reality in which the boundaries between her and the birds are dissolved, it's quite beautiful.

Here are some images from the book mixed with paintings and drawings of my own which were mostly finished last year. I hope you enjoy it and don't find this too self indulgent ;)

I wonder how much of our art consists of childhood memories, thoughts and images? I read TONS of books when I was younger, perhaps I'm still running on the imaginative fuel of my inner child :P

hi

2010-10-01T02:56:00.000-07:00

well last week was a disaster- had to bin a drawing i worked really hard on, so that sucked.

since sunday though ive managed to work on the following stuff.

wip

dream hug

just various touch ups on this piece the most obvious being shifted the some temperature shifts in areas but i think it made a difference, though you can tell more in person

its a3 size, though maybe i will transfer this for a large painting.

Please take the time to see the larger version by clicking it (opens a new window)

Re Vision

2010-09-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

just messing around more with this, mix media on paper

friday double

2010-09-17T00:55:00.000-07:00

Hello all, hope you are gearing up for an amazing weekend! As I am posting this the sun is setting from yet another glorious spring day in the land down under.

I only have a couple drawings here, I've had a really hard time finishing work- lot of f***ed up drawings getting binned and lots of fresh starts. Hopefully I can get something better finished soon.

Disclaimer

- blogger likes to absolutely shit on the images by compressing them somewhat and so if you click you might get a better view.

Cheeeeeeers!

offering

2010-08-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

A3 drawing ive done, might work on it a bit more...i hate what the scanner does to drawings, they really need to be seen in real life it looks better i swear :(
also included in the prelim in case anyone's interested.
cheers
clicks open in new window.

thunderous joy

2010-08-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

Good News!

I've just been confirmed for an exhibition at Gallery Nucleus in March 2011.

Other confirmed artists:

Joao Ruas
Wes Burt
Andrew Hem
Michael Zulli

I am effing excited, honoured and terrified to be an ant in the company of such giants. I will do my best!

Also I will be having a solo show with Phone Booth gallery next year, though the date is TBC.

Yay!!!

Also- selling some limited edition signed giclee prints- details soon! Gimme a buz if youre interested!

Anyways, I finished this thing, took another couple days. click to open in new window.

plug it!

2010-08-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

hello hello!

Some of my online art friends have been posting some kickass inspiration blogs which are updated daily and are a feast of glorious eye candy, sleazerotica, painterly delights and jaw droppingly curvaceous line pushing!

Some of these may not be safe for work due to nudity/whatever, so be careful but enjoy the thrill if you are at a risk of being caught ;)

**Ville Ericsson's Dirty Turps**

**Clo's Empty Pool**

Here are a few more that I enjoy:

**Illuminate the world**

**Skinny Love**

**Decapitate animals (no animals were decapitated in the making of this blog)**

**amusing blog of carniverous plants!!**

Thanks to Rafa Sarmento for tipping me off to this AMAZING artist **Giacomo Favretto (1849-1887)**

Also Connor Dejong sent me a link to a whole bunch of michelangelo art he uploaded, so go download those photos here

If you know of any more, please share them in the comments section,

Phew, after all that you can't help but go and create! Inspiration is a cup never filled!

Soooo anyway, heres a drawing i worked on sat/sun. didnt get as much done as i wanted but oh well! Definitely enjoying it though, can't wait to give it more lovin'

dream vortex

2010-08-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Sorry I've been slack with keeping this thing updated. been drawing, painting and studying!

First up is a little drawing i just finished.

This A2 size drawing was a failure. However, I managed to learn so much from it that I'm happy I pushed through it, although it's unfinished still. *burns drawing*

I was kinda happy with this part though.

Couple a sb pagez

Sneak peek at a painting WIP...early days...

mooskine

2010-07-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

I've just been doing some experimenting in the little book, it's been fun and challenging, there have been many failures a long the way but i am learning a lot with each one.

floating on cosmic goo

2010-07-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

just a little sketch i did in the ol' moleskine.
have had a lot of trouble getting drawing and work finishd lately, so i guess this one mirrors in a way how i feel a bit, hehe! it was about maybe 2 hours or so of work i dunno.

Hugh Ramsay Scans

2010-07-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

"Hugh Ramsay (25 May 1877 – 5 March 1906), was an Australian artist.

Ramsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, son of John Ramsay. He moved with his family to Melbourne in 1878. Ramsay went to Europe in September 1900 and was fortunate in finding a kindred spirit, George Washington Lambert, on the same vessel.

He sent five pictures to the 1902 exhibition of La Société Nationale des Beaux Arts and four of these were accepted and hung together. No greater compliment could have been paid to a young student.

Returning to Australia, in spite of failing health, Ramsay succeeded in doing some remarkable work including "The Sisters" now in the Sydney gallery, the "Lady with a Fan" (possibly his most famous painting).He gradually became weaker and died on 5 March 1906 a few weeks before completing his twenty-ninth year."

----

I've liberated the book in an online form! It's ridiculously expensive and hard to track down and his work should be shared and seen- so please share it with everyone you know who would like and appreciate his work.

Open the link below in a new window, hosted by mediafire.

Download the Hi Res Scans (300 dpi, 40 jpgs, about 150 mb)

examples
Some paintings done at the age of 20 or so.

his famous "lady in blue"

the last one is a self portrait unfinished shortly before his death

Menzel Book Scan

2010-07-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I scanned some of Adolph Menzel's Drawings from a book or something. If you don't know his work, consider it a nice introduction. His drawings are a wealth of information, conveying so much character and life, often portrayed in stunning shorthand and brevity, using every part of the pencil/crayon/charcoal to tell the story.

A recommended book is "Adolph Menzel 1815-1905 Between Romanticism and Impressionism."

Download Scanned Images (32 files, 130 mb)

Some photos of Adolph "The Little Man That Could" Menzel.

Jus Chillin' in the shade yall

"Where the Magick Happenz"

"Menzel = Dead, 1905. Menzel's art = Never diez"

Some of the scans ( I didn't edit them in anyway, but they probably need a bit of cleaning up).

Sorolla!!!

2010-07-12T00:59:00.000-07:00

These photos are from the Sorolla museum last year when I was in Madrid. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, I was too busy drooling over his colour and energetic painting style.

they are at their full resolution and you can view them all here.

download the whole batch of 15 or so as a zip file (its about 50 megs)

here are a few to preview them.

Loved the Self portrait. So good.

The Main Room of the Studio.

Close up of the face

The Hand knocked my socks off, there is so much movement and life in what is essentially a flat shape

So much vibrance. The diagonal and interesting sailboat shadow and the boat add interest and break the otherwise peaceful repose of the major horizontals. The sand is so amazing when you see it. Genius is in simplification :D

The last painting he worked on. I love seeing artists studios, and its so awesome to check it out in real life. The paintings above contain plenty of outdoor scenes from the beautiful garden outside the house.

*** BONUS VAN DYCK HAND****

From the Prado, kept getting in trouble for trying to take photos, this is the only one that turned out half decent. But damn, it's so well painted. I did a few studies of this one in my sketchbook.

scraps

2010-07-11T02:46:00.000-07:00

just a coupla things i found on my hard drive and realised i forgot to post heh!
havent been drawing or painting the past few days, just reading and doing other things...
i will be posting up some cool stuff in the next coming days though! Not art of my own...but some photos of paintings from sorolla museum, waterhouse, and hopefully if i get the time some menzel scans...you will see!!

oil studies

2010-07-07T00:29:00.000-07:00

just some monochromatic quick oil thingies done on scraps of canvas to get back into painting, just trying to improve and learn but also have fun.

this was one was done in a sitting - as i was fleshing out his character, kinda reminded me of bukowski, i had loads of fun doing his expression.

this was 2 sittings/
experimenting with using just a brown and white, but how u can get really warm thin shadows and then let that dry, then paint over the lights with cooler opaque and keep the shadows thin and warm.

one sitting from a photo...but i had to change lots from the photo...too much detail... had loads of fun.

Totem Spirit

2010-06-23T03:09:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to build a folio for Illustration, and this image was supposed to be a bit more conventional but unfortunately I just got carried away, and the final is just as much a surprise to me as it is to you!

The scribbles turned into branches, an owl and slightly aztec organic wobbly architecture- I sort of lost control towards the end, but at least I learnt a lot and I got a lot of new ideas, which is exciting.

It took 2.5 days, it's about A3 and pencil with some pastel, and I put up some process shots to show you what I mean.

Decisions.

2010-06-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

I've never believed in the word or idea of Talent. Then I saw artists like James Jean and many more that seemed to produce so much, in such diverse high quality, at such a young age. I was starting to think these people had something in them that gave them that extra hit of amazingness. I've always taken as an assumption that these people (and most artists) work hard as a given. I thought for a second that it might have been education, or travel etc. While I'm sure are big, important aspects, I wasn't convinced.
However, while listening to an interview with James Jean, he said something which just took me by surprise. He did hardly any art at all before he started his college. Four years later, he was the cover artist for Fables and producing some amazing stuff that you would think must have taken at least twice that long to develop and mature.

So my conclusion, is that it all comes down to decisions, right down to the level of thought. You can't afford to play the game of being the victim, because that's a choice too. This means that it is possible to achieve a lot in a small period of time if you are conscious of your decisions and why you are making them, in order to take control of your learning. These people didn't have talent, and it had nothing to do with their process, age, or whether they used 300 gsm paper or 220 gsm paper. They made better decisions, and were able to combat mental roadblocks that held them back from success like crippling hesitation, or even the fear of failure.
Instead of going "Shit, I really suck." I need to just examine the decisions I've made and have a look at what's preventing me from making better choices and from learning more. I think that's how JJ managed to evolve so highly in just four years: Drawing smarter, not harder.

I'm not trying to pontificate but just condense some conclusions I've reached, which may be obvious to you all. It'll probably take a long time before I can fully put it into practice like I want to, because I feel technically, creatively mentally I'm still pretty far behind where I want to be, but i think it's a good step towards a more authentic and stronger body of work.

Here's a drawing that I might add colours in Photoshop or pastel, but I wasn't too happy with it, I mainly just needed to make an attempt to get my idea onto paper.

A sketch for the next version, took maybe 2 hours. I'll try and develop the ideas in the first one but hopefully do a better job.

MMM COFFEE!

2010-06-18T02:26:00.000-07:00

This is one I forgot to post up, i did it a few weeks ago, took a bit over a day.
It definitely needs to be pushed through to the colour stage and refined a hell of a lot more, but I hope I can get around to that soon, I'm working on some pieces now that I'm too lazy to scan.

It was featured in a talk a few weeks ago by Matt Jackson, agent of the Drawing Book. He discussed briefly the nature of his approach to selecting and hiring artists for the agency. He used an interesting metaphor which linked the process of creating wine that results in its unique flavour. The words

"Inside Out" describe this relationship, hilighting the importance of the artist's personality, values and identity, which culminate in producing something unique, clients hire that person, not a drawing machine.

You can download the talk here, and be sure to check out some of the other ones.

I hope you all don't think I'm being self indulgent by posting this, it was a bit nerve wracking to have my work on such a big screen and I just wish I had something good to show! No matter, I will press on and will hopefully create something halfway decent, but there's obviously a long way till that happens :D

Australian artists part 1: Sam Wade

2010-06-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

If you don't live in Sydney, you might not get to see the art of Sam Wade, a teacher of mine at the Julian Ashton Art School, who is currently painting and exhibiting regularly at Eva Breuer Galleries here in Sydney. He also studied at Julian Ashton and started a blog in 2009 for his drawings and studies, many of which were drawn at the school, as well as when travelling around Europe, Australia and other places.

The process and studies of paintings are always of great insight and interest, which is why I'll be featuring that blog today, but be sure to check out his beautiful paintings here. His paintings are generally figurative and capture moments and scenes in Sydney, Tasmania, Paris and more. Unfortunately the photos do them no justice, but you will get an idea of what they are like at least.

Check out his blog here

Highly recommended is his Europe sketchbook, featuring the instantly recognisable Amsterdam, Vienna and more.

Next are some recent life drawings

It's also great to see some student work, which is very rare these days, you only ever see artist's posting up their latest and greatest. These were done when he was around 18 or 19? Sorry if I got the age wrong.

Picture Kitchen Exhibition + Moleskinez

2010-06-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hey would like to thank everyone who took the effort to visit our art show in the past week, I love you all!
I would encourage anyone in the sydney area to check it out- it's only up until saturday and will be at the Tap gallery from 12-6 daily. Just turn left off Oxford st (going away from CBD) and go down Palmer St a block.

I sold a couple of works so I broke even, which is great, because I got a whole bunch of art framed and had the opportunity to share it with you all for free :)

Some photos from the show

Top photo invludes some teachers from Ashtons! 2nd photo is of Concept Artist Evan Shiphard chillin' and the last is of Prudence the Mannequin Harlet saluting us from her chair of glory.

Some moleskine stuff- more coming soon.

Moleskine Journey featured on Hi Fructose Magazine Blog

2010-05-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I was lucky enough to get a spot on the Hi Fructose Magazine where they are featuring some pages from my moleskine mission as well as some words from myself about the ideas behind it.
Thanks to Garry from Phone Booth gallery for posting it up a couple months back, and to Ken from Hi Fructose for writing up the article!

Cheers

Click image to see the post

More Odds and Ends!

2010-05-13T05:56:00.000-07:00

Interesting Links:

Edit: Sorry I can't fix the retarded spacing down below, so just scroll down and have faith, the images are down there haha! Damn you Blogger!!!!

one of the artists that really got me inspired at improving my drawing, Wes Burt Interview

Fantastic Art Blog http://curetheblind.com/

What I learnt this week from my mistakes:'

-Don't Start the final drawing until you've solved every problem in the studies, including how the 4 major tones relate to each other and where they are.

-Try to keep major light and major darks connected together for unity, so it doesn't look patchy

-I really need to dedicate an hour a day just to focus on working up my weaknesses.

_Write them down when I think of them, cause I've forgotten the other ideas!!!

aaaah.
More coming soon, not trying to dump too much at once these days. I finished that mermaid commission, but not posting it hehe ;) gotta send it to client tomorrow first.
This is one I've been working on and off, just a variation to the other one for shits and giggles.

Some Photos I took in Europe, can anyone guess the city? hehehe

I really want to save up and get an SLR camera and learn photography, would be a lot of fun.

Mermaid progress

2010-05-11T02:43:00.000-07:00

here is a progress of a commission...

The client wants there to be a circle around the mermaid formed by her tail and she will be holding a sword and shield.

Still a long way to go, it's been quite challenging but I am trying to keep is soft and not push the contrast too far except perhaps the head, keeping the rest in a closer tonal range.
I'm using about 5 different photos for ref so bear with me as I try to make a cohesive image :P

Cheers.

Picture Kitchen

2010-05-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, our group show entitled "Picture Kitchen" will be starting on the night of Wednesday 9th June 2010, and will run until the 23rd of June at the Tap gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. I will put up more details about the show via facebook events, etc in case anyone would like to attend!

A couple of experiments, not really sure what the hell I am doing, sort of trapped in the vortex between fine art and illustration, not really good enough for either, so hopefully I will break out soon enough.

Also updating website with better scans of all my recent work.

Cheers!

click thumb for larger image in new window

Cosmic Guitar

Third Eye

Odds and ends

2010-05-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Busy working on stuff for the exhibition in Sydney coming up in June.

Click thumbnails to view large and open new window.

Here are a few small things to keep the blog going before I update with more finished stuff.

Sketch idea for work:

**** WARNING Hot cougar Alert!! Shiny Botox forehead may cause swelling of the pants!****NSFW!!****

SNEAK PEEEEK of some new crap:

GOt a good scan of some old crap:

Overdue

2010-04-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

I've been far too slack in posting here- but will get into the groove from now on.
If I keep up my end of the deal, I would be super eternally grateful if you forwarded and shared each new post with just one person who might like it. It's all I ask! Thankyou!!!

Each image now opens to a new window, so please click any you like.

Also going to add up links to artists/people that inspire me. Please give at least one of these a a shot, I promise you will not be disappointed :)

So works here:

Some sneak peek at this painting, I really need to find a place that does good quality A2 scanning
somewhere.

Just had to give this one more love:

messing around with some different illustration styles:

little more on the moleskines...

Lastly, got a much better scan of this one.

Moleskine journey '10

2010-04-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

I am undertaking a mission! To finish one of these nice quality sketchbooks from cover to cover completely. I normally start a new one and rip out a ton of pages in frustration!! I invite you all to join me in spirit, and feel free to start a mission of your own too, haha!
First few pages...the paintings are oil.

Guitarist progress

2010-03-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Been working on this in my spare time. I guess its maybe 3 or so days work.

Glossolalia

2010-02-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

I speak of the second image-Really happy with this, it really feels like I'm where I want to be with this type of image, but I'm out of time for the moment and have just enough for the gallery show in June. it's time to focus on other parts of my art, and come back to this style of work later.

Also got a better shot of the bird painting...

tentacle woman

2010-02-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

here's a progress shot. Don't really feel like I want to work on it anymore- feeling a bit burnt out on it- although I am excited how it's going.

Probably work on it again in a couple of days time.

When drawing the figure i usually use straight lines that are slightly bent, so as to find the quickest route from point A to B, and so if it's wrong I can erase it easily, whereas if I drew every subtle undulation I would get too precious. It's really hard to get proportions, but it's crucial.
I usually add the variations in the outline at the very end. This is important because sometimes the halftone shapes inside the outline can give the illusion that its curving a lot- a lot of masterworks generallly can have a very simple outline but incredibly intricate shadow/halftone shapes inside the form, which give the illusion of it being quite curvy and undulated.

playing

2010-02-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

just at the stage where i can just play around with the drawing, and just try and let the image form without too much planning. Started with a suggestion from a friend, then pushed it around till I felt I'd had enough.
too much fun!

hot pink flaps

2010-02-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

the results of today's morning session. I had fun!!
havent touched oils for about 1.5 months so be nice..and gentle ;)

2010-02-15T22:16:00.000-08:00

got a bit busy with things but here is another couple hours work.
messing around and trying out colours, composition, etc. not committing to too much at this stage.

Progress

2010-02-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

hey all, knocked out a bit more on this today, had to work sun/mon.

top is after acrylic wash, bottom is before.

Going to work into the wash now and add the foreground elements- she is summoning some flowers that will be coming out of the barren soil!

Today

2010-02-13T02:59:00.003-08:00

Just got around to starting a new drawing today. Yesterday's efforts were a TOTAL abortion, just had a shocking day and started about 4 new works, none of which worked and were all subsequently scrapped.
finally got to a good rhythm today, and managed to salvage what would have been a wasted weekend.
gotta work tomorrow, bummer!!

And body in progress, just tweaking the theme of the last one into a slightly different direction- she will be manifesting some 'flowers' coming out of that dirt in the final.

Head- spent some time fixing it up and making some improvments, unifying elements and strengthening with more acrylics + rendering.

Technofetishism

2010-02-09T23:35:00.001-08:00

well this is a new drawing, based on a few ideas about merging nanotechnology with neuroscience to create this organic entity, a large global synchronised mind, that is connected to everything or something like that... i want to try and explore this in sort of a symbolic way, trying to fuse organic forms with technological synthetic forms and see what happens. I hope I will have time to refine this one before our group exhibition in june this year.

Segments

2010-02-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

Firstly here is a work in progress, did this once I got home from work. Can't wait to get this one finished- I am really happy with the ideas and their subsequent manifestation in visual and metaphorical form, which I will explain once it's done. For now though, I will only post up a segement, the nude figure.
The second image is just an experiment with coloured pencils.

Garden Sketch.

2010-02-06T04:01:00.000-08:00

today's efforts.
Work tomorrow...guuuughhhhhhhhh

Rapture

2010-02-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

further experimentation with oil pastel and pencil combinations, still searching for the atmosphere and mood that I'm after. Hope you dig it!
The scanner makes pastel looks so harsh which is VERY frustrating, as it is much softer in real life, i swear!!! It's the main reason I use it...

quick sketch

Flower

2010-01-27T01:24:00.000-08:00

This one is just an experimental combination of a few different styles. I have learnt a lot and feel confident in taking the themes and technique further with the next one. It was about 2 days work, about 30 by 50 cm.

The principle theme is the relationship between humans and technology and the possible fusion between spiritual transcendence and the “technium.” It is inspired by the writings of Kevin Kelly, Mark Pesce, Terrence Mckenna and many others. I particularly like the plant metaphor for technology (broad term: includes language, culture, etc.) as it describes quite nicely the synergistic relationship between us and what we create (and what we try to control, etc.).
Of particular interest as well is information theory and how this is shaping our world view and our humanity.

I will probably think about what needs to be fixed and come back to it in the next couple of days to fix up and refine things, although I am super excited to start a new one, going to explore people fusing into machine driven pulsating trees and maybe use car engines or refineries but fuse them with organic shapes and patterns or something.

PS I really need to get a new scanner!! any suggestions y'all? cheers

Some progress shots:

Another day

2010-01-22T04:55:00.001-08:00

here's the finished version, all scanned in. It's 60cm by 30 cm.

Hope you like it-although I notice a few things that will probably end up being changed it is by and large finished. Learnt a lot about the media with this one- the paper is cotton and the coloured pencil blends together well with the oil pastel. Actually had a lot of fun, normally its a struggle and although this was quite difficult, I still enjoyed the process more than usual.

Moar

2010-01-21T05:23:00.000-08:00

it has been a very productive and focused week.

finished a new one, well almost, but I think I want to leave this slightly unfinished. I am quite happy, as I managed to get an idea that has been floating around in my head, or more of how I wanted it to feel.

This is only half of it, there is a bottom half- I will wait till I can get a photo of the whole as it is too large to scan in its entirety.

Head after a few hours- just mainly focusing on placing tonal shapes in the right spot- the shape and general edge will give the likeness. Trying hard to get it to look structured. This was a real challenge. Keeping hair and light area as the paper tone. using straight lines mostly.

Then finished version- tried to fix any drawing errors, modelled a few more planes, tried to soften areas on cheek and chin, to get more variety in edges.
I learnt from sargent and my teachers to unify the lights in one consistent tone- so I used a white pastel and connected it from the nose up to the hair on top, focusing on its distinct shape and character.
One thing I am struggling with but enjoying trying to introduce is this sort of simplifying, which is so hard to get right!! but if you can it gives the drawing a much fresher look.

Finished the previous one, only took a couple of days more to finish it. Learnt a LOT in terms of how the pastel and pencil interacts together, and learnt a lot of "do nots" in general. It was really just one big experiment for me, and I'm glad I did it. It's about 45 by 60 cm.

Fleshing it out

2010-01-12T04:51:00.000-08:00

I think I will try update this at least everyday, although some days i have work so i might post something else instead to keep it going...its kind of fun to share process images, of which i have quite a few anyway...

planning to get a photo up later tomorrow with the whole image. it wont be as clear as this scan but it should hopefully give an idea as to where this silly thing is going.

tomorrow i'm hoping to get a lot done- finish off the monster and get started on the figure, which will be really really tough by the looks of it, so should be a good challenge!!

cheers

Couldn't resist

2010-01-10T03:27:00.000-08:00

Got home from work and needed to do a little bit more before bed.

Response to Ian's question: I am using pencil for the bulk of the rendering and trying to add in touches of oil pastels, usually at quite a similar tone to the paper (ochre, terre verte, light pink oranges, purples, light yellow, etc.)
at this stage just placing where the lightest lights are, what parts are diffuesd light, etc. going to be tricky to keep the monster in consistency with the image's light source....
soorry if ive babbled too much.

just worked on head a bit more, around eyes, etc. and started up the monster. wish i had an A3 scanner, but can only scan a small part of the image each time..

will keep this updated as it progresses!!

thanks!!

Face part2

2010-01-09T02:52:00.000-08:00

ok thats enough for me, time for a beer and then sleep. I have work for the next 2 days, so expect an update on tuesday night, if anyone is watching this space :)

Progress on Face

2010-01-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Going to try update this thing a few times a week, seeing as I have the website for my finished work, i can flood this one with progress shots and things.

This is very early start- and only about 1/4 of the total image.

just trying to keep everything light and clean while i adjust proportions, etc. before i dive into full on rendering.

cheers

NEW WEBSITE! www.rodluff.com

2009-12-20T03:15:00.000-08:00

Hello, huge props to Lindsay Holmwood for designing my new website, awesome job!
I have some new art up and hope you can spent a little bit of your time checking it out!!
I will be posting more, thanks for looking!!!
Click the image to go there or type in www.rodluff.com.

Hyperconnectivity for sale!

2009-11-15T04:16:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

This is an article about this new drawing, available for sale through Phone Booth Gallery, framed, approx. 17 x 20 inches. graphite on paper, which can be shipped if you decide to buy it!
Thanks!

click image to view blog entry.

Fetish Rainbow

2009-11-11T01:42:00.000-08:00

Don't raaaaaaainbow on my parade, just sweat pink shiny beads of bliss!

hyperconnectivity

2009-11-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

hyperconnectivity

second attempt

sketchbook

new sketch

2009-10-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

Propaganda

2009-09-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

New Paintings (For sale! )

2009-07-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

EMAIL for prices rodluff@gmail.com

THANKS for looking!
All paintings are Oil on Canvas
70 x 50 cm Homeless woman feeding birds in Hyde Park, Sydney

Oil Single Session Sketch ( homeless man in hyde park)

Smoking

Homeless man in hyde park

Schizophrenic homeless man buying chips in Town Hall Woolies

Pitt St busker parts 1 and 2

Sketchbook Pages

Gallery

2009-05-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

portfolio: