Oct ’14 update

It is with a kind of “didn’t sleep last night but wanted to and still want to” sort of head that I am confronted with a Monday, a Monday in which I need to be productive and make some important decision. So it goes. I’ve tried taking Melatonin as a sleep aid a few times during the past couple of weeks and I can now say with some certainty that taking melatonin has the exact opposite of the desired effect on me. Meh.

I’m working on a fun branding project, which just received initial client approval, so I’m pleased with that. We’re moving into the next stage – which is a website design. I am interested in the process this is going to take, as I am a independent designer working working with a development team I haven’t previously worked. I always hope for the best. 🙂 Anyway, I can’t post anything about that project currently, so onto some things I can post: art.

Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.57.30 AM Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.58.14 AM

Here is a newly finished “neon prairie” landscape painting that is approximately 5 feet wide by 2 feet tall. It’s acrylic and ink on gesso primed canvas, stretched on a wood frame. This is the first large landscape painting that I’ve finished, and has equally convinced me that more exploration into this type of painting is needed. I have prepared another canvas and already begun working on it. It’s about 5×3, so a little taller:

Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.59.17 AM

My beloved Canon i9900 broke down, so I had a few weeks of not being able to print transparencies at home. I got a replacement, a Canon ix6820, and it works just great. After some tinkering, I found a print setting that makes nice black trans, but it requires that my document is a bitmap, which adds an extra step to my process. I can’t figure out how to make Photoshop output a true black otherwise. And I can’t seem to force the CMYK black to be 100%. Not sure why. Anyway, the bitmap setting works, and I have been able to print a new Killigans poster, to promote our upcoming Halloween show at Duffy’s Tavern, and another new vintage-comics typeface poster:

Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.58.28 AM Screen Shot 2014-10-13 at 9.58.51 AM

I’m always happy to have a print turn out looking good, and on a CMYK registration, even better. Of course, it’s not 100% locked up, I’m not a machine. But it’s real close and looks good, and that’s what I always shoot for. It’s interesting too, to take source material that isn’t 100% registered and reprint it… the results can be better than the original!

Be on the lookout for the poster to show up around Lincoln in the next few days. The poster should be available today or tomorrow in my shop. Please buy one.

http://benswift.com/shop/

People have been inquiring about the abstract landscape paintings, and yes they are for sale! Feel free to email me about them if you want. I’d be happy to sell you a study, finished piece, or a commission! Thanks!

swiftben {at} gmail [ dot ] com

As always – Have a great day and make some art!

Please follow me on instagram or tumblr for updates and Work-in-Progress shots:

http://instagram.com/eyeskull#

http://benswift-eyeskull.tumblr.com/