To Tattoo Or Not To Tattoo

People have come to me lately and asked me to design tattoos for them; which I have, and it reminds me of a story. I was asked by a friend of mind some time ago why I don’t have any tattoos. One reason was I didn’t know what I wanted; the other reason was, if I came up with an idea I would probably come up with more, and then turn myself into a coloring book.

So as soon as I said that ~ there I was with the best idea. In “that is so me” form. I decide I want a sleeve; thousands of dollars, hours of time, and in the end something that I don’t really need. I wanted something that reflected me and my kids, and because I always love Maurice Sendak’s artwork, I wanted his art work. My design has eight characters from “Where the Wild Things Are,” seven monsters to represent the kids and Max to represent me. I had two tattoo artists in mind, but time, and money, and pain being what there are, I have put this design on something a little bit more practical.

I’ve been living in my Mom and Dad’s house again and I’ve reconnected with it. I've taken one of the doors and painted the design on it. This way I can take a piece of the house with me when I go. Mom and Dad are both gone now, and their house will be sold eventually. There are so many memories associated with the house. My sister was six years old when they bought the house in 1956; I was brought home from the hospital to it. Now I've got the hall door, and I'm taking it with me. I'll probably have it for another 50 years.I think that is a better idea then a tattoo.

Here is a picture of the project do far.
Go check out Maurice’s illustrations. He did more than just children’s books.

The Art of The State

I was a little, little kid, like five, and I can still remember going to JC Penny’s to look at albums; my how things do not change! I saw a Disney LP for Snow White. The cover was beautiful. My mom would not buy it for me. I don’t know how soon after that, but I do remember thinking, “Well fine. I’ll just make my own.” I took out the scissors, the stapler, the cardboard, the crayons, and pencils. I made my own! I can remember thinking how cool it was going to be to listing to this. Did you already see this coming? Well, much to my disappointment, I looked into the sleeve; mine did not have the record! Never the less, this was my jumping off point for my love of album art. I would go through the seventies, eighties, nineties, and well into the new millennium before I would get to do real album art and much to my disappointment everything had gone to the smaller CD jewel case format. Just when I thought it couldn’t get worst. It did. With the switch to Internet download music, album art work has been reduced to postage stamp size art. So with all of this being said, here are two of my most resent pieces. Go to iTunes and cd baby and search for Brian Bateman. You'll like the music, and you'll see my stuff "in the rack". The project is a little bit bigger than a postage stamp here. I thought you would appreciate that.

Time To Try Something New

A friend gave me the idea for this watercolor. I do very much little traditional watercor painting, so I was surprised when I liked how it turned out.

Griffin's Sketchbook Art

Griffin is my fifteen year old that I’ve told you about; he’s the one that could draw since forever. When I heard he was giving away sketchbook art, I made sure I got some. He’s going to be the guy his friends hold on to his stuff waiting for him to be famous. Well I’ve got one in my pile of kid’s stuff that he did when he was three! I’ll have to show you later, because I don’t know how to explain it now. Here is some of that sketchbook work; great storytelling and character development. Go see more of his finished stuff at two of his websites. Cheers.

http://soulfirebang.deviantart.com/
http://fourth.covenantunderground.com/

Ian's Penguin Poster

I was talking to my son Ian on Monday. You know him; he’s my son with the 3D glasses in May 10ths post. He loves Penguins! I get messages on my phone, “Hi dad, it’s me Ian. How’s the penguin book coming?” On Monday he said, “I wish you would draw some more penguins, maybe one playing the flute or piano.”

Immediately an image popped into my brain!

Quick back story;

Every time we were going to have a child, Jennifer would bring me her proverbial hat full of names. Some times I could tell you from the get go what I thought, Ian was one of those. Up until that time, I only knew one person named Ian, Ian Anderson; he was the flute playing leader of Jethro Tull.

So when that was one of my picks I thought, “Great name. I want a son named Ian.” And now I do. So the picture I saw in my head is what you see in front of you. I had my backgrounds done. I knew I wanted a rock hopper penguin, and he was already standing the way he should, so it was just a matter of getting the image out. I’ll show you the process.

This is what Ian Anderson and a Rock Hooper penguin look like. Finally, the steps I took to render Ian’s penguin. Note: I generally don’t draw with pencil, but for this time, because I was extra shaky, it was easier to ink then paint.

So without further delay, Ian here is your flute playing penguin [also named Ian] love, Dad.

Self Portrait No. 11 and No. 12

A portrait that is forever part of a greater whole. This was part of a piece that started out just for fun, but has become kind of a signature piece. One is a rough draft; the other one you're more familiar with. See how this stuff can develop and change.

[Self] Promotion Poster

I created this { self }promotion poster as an exercise in butt kicking. I took this picture of Ian for a photography class some time ago. It was always one of my favorites. I decided to make it a concert poster with a future date to help me visualize myself playing the gig. I'll let you know how well it worked.

Don't You Worry Bout A Thing ~ No. 3

All the boys were at school still. G-G and I went to Sonic for a banana split. She has grown so much since I was there last; She's learned English! It was so MUCH fun. I had to go back to the house and put my head down. I had thrown up the whole way from Barstow to Las Vegas. Well, I wake up and she's right there. She had gotten a toy medical bag and was giving a Goofy doll the once over. She smiled at me and gave me one of his shots to my head ~ "Here Dad, you need this!" I wish we could separate all the good things and bad things that come together, and just have the good by itself. Not to get too philosophical, but that probably isn't a good idea.