art on the b-side

Visual ramblings from Ryan McJunkin in Oakland California.

[ryanmcjunkin]

one of my latest big pieces, laser cut butterflies pinned to canvas

[ryanmcjunkin]

Favorite Watercolor Brushes- 2 versatile, 3 specialty

My favorite watercolor brush and 4 others that come in handy. About 95% of the time I use a #10 round sable (far left), I use this for sketchbook work and painting from the figure. Synthetics are good for beginners and experienced artists because they are more durable and forgiving in regards to care and handling, they are also cheaper so replacing them is more affordable. 1" flat brushes are very versatile, they are good for bigger washes and the corners can be used for more detail. Again, synthetics are very good. I use the 1/2" flat for architectural stuff the 1" is too big for, like small windows.

2nd from the right is a striper brush, which is great for stripes and some calligraphic line, but not much else.

000 Round - best used sparingly for small important details, signatures and the like.

[ryanmcjunkin]

Working on another butterfly screen print. THis one will be 6+ colors and will be on birch panel for the 8x10 show at Faultline in December. I started this drawing with blown ink, then I scanned the drawing into Photoshop to get some of the negative spaces back. I'll print this image and use it to trace the other drawings for additional colors, scan those and work on all the layers together in Photoshop to come up with a nice cohesive set of 6+ stencils. It's about as complicated as it sounds, but should be worth it. The image is inspired by the butterflies I saw in Belize.

-Ryan McJunkin- Ryan McJunkin on tumblr