Introducing The Newest Painting: Something Other

Something Other is a bit of a masterpiece for me. The process itself, becoming more and more relevant to me as I was working through creating the painting, has taken me an entire level in terms of my personal appreciation of this piece. I've uploaded an image I took during critique to my Instagram, which you can find here: Something Other

If you wish to get a full artist's statement and my personal explanation of the painting, please send me an e-mail: nate.b@solemnist.com

Solemnist On Instagram

Hi friends, after some new developments and progress on the blog, I've now expanded to other social media! Introducing my official brand-new Instagram account @solemnist

If you happen to use Instagram, check it out! I'm an artist so I'm sure I'll find plenty of neat photos to upload for your gazing pleasure. If you are having trouble finding it, or the links in this post are not working, I have placed a button on the top right of my blog with a link to it. If you don't use Instagram, not to worry, you can also find me on twitter @solemnist.

New Painting Inbound

Hi friends. Yes, I'm working on yet another new painting. what's that you ask? I already announced that in my post Starting A New Painting? I did announce a new painting in that post; however, I'm talking about a whole new painting. While I toil away hours and hours working on the first painting, the master study project, I will also be working on this new painting project. Watch for updates, for I might choose to make a bonus post or two while I'm in the process.

P.S. I know some people in college who will be facing finals week soon, or have already started finals. I'd just like to send a little good luck their way, and also to anyone else facing the dreaded tests, exams, and sleepless nights.

Torn Paper Fish Poster

Hi friends, and welcome to December! Today I've got a little surprise for you. After recently making the re-discovery of a historic USB storage I've been missing for quite a while now, I found an old photo I took many years ago which I'd like to share with you from my early years in design. Check it out

This was a small poster project I made using torn paper pieces on bristol paper roughly 18 inches by 24 inches. Odds are that if you enjoy fish like I do, and you also enjoy design like I do, you will most likely have a similar enjoyment for this poster just like I do. I hope so because who doesn't like paper fish?

Holiday Post

Happy Thanksgiving holidays to all!

Starting A New Painting

There are many different plans one can apply to prepare to create a new painting. In my case, I already have the supplies I need, and I've begun a new painting just this morning.

I made a quick run to a Michaels store the other night and picked up two little canvases, both 18 x 24 inches. The first canvas, which I've already begun working on, will become a master-study of

Two Month Review

Hi friends, over the last two months you've seen some neat things on this blog. Today marks the passing of two whole months since I started it, so I'd like to take today's post to bring up just a few fun things that've happened since the beginning.

We got to see the total lunar eclipse. I showed full images of paintings I've made online for the first time ever. I gave a little talk about painting. I introduced you to a unique friend of mine who

Missing Fall

Hi friends, special update today. I will be adjusting the post schedule to fit into a better time slot for me. Because noon can be a busy time, I will be posting at 3 PM PST starting this Thursday (11/19/2015). Remember to check back then for the the next post, and relax at noon knowing that you'll be able to read after you eat lunch, and between dinner. No more reading at the table!

To keep you going until Thursday, please enjoy this wonderful photograph I took just a week ago

Fall has not ended yet, but the warmer brighter days have ceased. Cold winds and rain have settled in, and the leaves are nearly all on hiatus. If only I could hibernate and settle into a cozy nook. Ha, get it... "hiber-nate."

A Portrait

I suppose a post is allowed a certain level of uncanny once in a while. Please enjoy this portrait of a friend of mine

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It seems that in most cases there is an unspoken guideline that you should really never cross. The designer in me says "consider the line, and break it when it will help," whereas the artist in me

No Free Stuff!

Hi friends, guess what? Nobody entered the giveaway!

So, what happens next? To start off, I'll just give you a nice little picture. I took this picture this morning, check it out

Isn't that just splendid? I've noticed that with the blog comes this great drive to produce

Winter 2015

Hi friends, just a quick reminder to check out my last post where I'm giving away a FREE Xbox Live GOLD Membership. It's open for another five days, so don't forget!

In other news, autumn has been nice this year, but it's beginning to slide into winter.

It's really neat. The colors in the trees greet you, and then one-by-one fall. 

XBOX Live Giveaway!

Hi friends, and welcome to the blog! If you've come here from my Twitter Profile, or saw my tweet about this post, another welcome to you!

After noticing that many of my recent followers are gamers, I decided it would be rewarding to offer a giveaway. Over the next week, I'd invite anyone who follows me to participate. While I'm

Why Blog?

Why would a person ever do something like blogging? Why would anyone ever use social media? By uploading personal media to the internet for all to see they are asking (without asking) any to spectate.

There is no simple formula to explain what content people might see daily, or the scope of what they might stumble onto. You could guess the things that a particular demographic might want to read about, or what kind of media suits their interest, or even keywords they might search for in a typical day. Asking these types of questions may give you some ideas about what your hypothetical demographic looks like, but it doesn't give any explicit "yes, you should blog", or "no, there is no reason to blog."

Here's my reason to arrive at a "yes, you should blog" answer. Allowing content to be

The Fog Factory

Hi friends, lots of photos today. This also happens to be the first post long enough to have a "Read More" button, so don't forget to try it out!

I was out walking around this morning for a few errands and happened to have the camera with me. The fog permeating the area was incredible. I know you all enjoy this factory as much as I do so I got a picture for you, you should check it out

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I'm really unsure of what that boat is. Evidently some sort of barge, except it was empty, and after driving this far up the river, it turned around and headed the other direction. It also looked like it was sinking, and I'm unsure if this is normal or not.

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I love this city. It may not be my favorite, or have the most fantastic cityscape of all, but I still love it. This is the path along the same bridge I enjoy taking all these factory shots from.

Morning Squirrel Feeding with Peanuts

Hi friends, because of the flexibility of schedule at this point, I'm experimenting with different weekend post times. Last week I tried a Saturday post, and this week I'm trying out a Sunday post.

The other morning I woke up and went out to feed the squirrels. A good three or four of them showed up to chow on some peanuts while I was out there, and I managed to capture a really nice little clip of one of the squirrels taking a peanut out of my hand, watch this

Factory of Fire

Remember that picture I posted a while back? The one with that factory and the bridge? Yeah, that one. Well, I went back and took another picture of it, it's probably not what you might expect though.

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No, no it isn't really on fire, but wow take a look at that. I had been experimenting with long exposure light shots last night while in motion but I certainly didn't expect any to turn out this interesting.  I've seen some pretty cool long exposure shots of moving lights before but something about this one just had to be posted. Be sure to, if you haven't already, click on it and get a good look at it in full detail. Now stop, take another look. It's a burning beast engulfed in it's own flames ravaging across a black cityscape. Lights twinkling, unknowingly anticipate a burning death.

You could also pretend it's a shaky shot of what could have been a collection of interesting specks, but I guess you can see whatever you want to in a photograph.

Smell of Paint in the Morning

I love it, don't you? It's like this oddly familiar dizziness that just get's me in the mood to work.

Now, I'm not the best painter or even the worst, hopefully, but it's definitely something I enjoy. I was working on a quick color rendering of a still life yesterday and this is what I've left myself. An interesting mixture of pthalo-green, alizarine crimson, and a few others. A nice aspect of this is that I can leave the studio and instantly resume the project at any time. Ah, what a painter's life for me.

Bonus Saturday Post!

Hi friends! Guess what? The projects I was talking about on Thursday's post have now been photographed. This set of paintings, though not complete, is some of the most recent pieces I have done. Here, you can check them out

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Rocks of Rocks

Hand made Oil paint on Wood by Brush

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Mars of Rocks

Hand made Oil paint on Wood by Hand

The process for these two was really great. Start to finish had a blast, and I'm pretty satisfied with where they are so far. I hope the bonus post goes well, if so I might just add Saturdays to the Schedule!

No New Pictures.

Hi friends. Unfortunately, today's post will not be featuring any new pictures. Because of a slight mix-up, I was without the time to take some photographs of one of the projects I had recently finished. No worries though, I am planning a surprise so you should be sure to check back soon--maybe sooner than Tuesday's scheduled post!

Regarding the project I finished, I can tell you it was a set of paintings. Yes, I will actually be posting full images, unlike my previous reputation of not uploading full images online. Ever. There were many reasons not to do so, but there are also many reasons I should reconsider the decision. Sadly, I won't be going into detail about those reasons in this post, however I may follow up another day to explain them.

New Picture!

Hi friends! I was out and about the other night and decided to take some pictures. Here's one of the pictures I came back with that I decided was really amazing.

Click to enlarge

A nearby factory and train-bridge as a boat drove by.

Because I was shooting from off of another bridge, I was not sure how steady this picture would come out, but I think it turned out super nice.

More Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse pictures!

Hey! Thanks for stopping by to check out some extra pictures of the supermoon total eclipse that happened recently. Here are just a couple more pictures I took that night of the moon which I decided were pretty neat to see:

Here's how the moon looked early on in the eclipse.

Notice the Earth's shadow on the left side of the moon.

Here's a later picture as the moon begins to emerge out of the shadow of the Earth.
Notice that the Earth's shadow has moved to the upper right side of the moon.

Isn't the moon awesome looking? Check it out when you get a chance to see it.
It's pretty neat after all.

Final Project!

The title is misleading! This is not a final project, but simply the final iteration of the project I have been working on the past weeks.

Design Week Portland! Anyone who likes design, Portland, or weeks, should check out DWP 2016! There are a number of little events counting down until the actual event which you can visit this month! Dates and schedules can be found on the website DesignWeekPortland.com.

You can also find other pictures and info on their social media:

Facebook: DesignWeekPortland

Twitter: @DesignWeekPDX

Instagram: @DesignWeekPDX

*note* I'm not affiliated with DWP in any way. I'm just saying you should check it out.

Supermoon Total Lunar Eclispe

Missed the eclipse? No worries! Amongst a plethora of other web sources, I've taken my own photographs of the celestial event. Here's one I selected out of the bunch:

Feel free to click on the image to get the enlarged view of it.

I've seen a comets, asteroids, space stations, and even a few 'shooting-stars' fly across the sky. I still find that this was one of the most fascinating of all recent events. At least so far as I can describe. Comet ISON may be on the same level, actually. I enjoyed watching the results there as well.

Spoilers!

Yes, that's right! Spoilers! Because the preceding sneak-peek is not properly showing up, I've decided to release yet one more sneak-peek on the project! No more disappointment now. I now present to you...

Ha! I bet you didn't expect that. It's okay pal, I don't think anybody else expected that either... But what could it be? Well, since I won't actually be releasing full info on the project quite yet, you will simply have to infatuate your own intellect for the time being. Please enjoy the pretty colors and perceptibly pleasing gradients.

Posting Tuesday and Thursday

As you may have noticed by the time change, I've decided to switch to posting on Tuesdays and Thursdays as opposed to Mondays and Wednesdays. I have also decided to release posts at 12 P.M. Pacific Time, as opposed to 10 P.M.

Now that that's out of the way, please enjoy this fancy sneak-peek at the project which will be released soon!

What do you think it is?

Day 1

Hi, and welcome! Today is day one, and I'm here to make an introduction. I'm starting a new project today and I want to keep track of it. Besides the project, I'm also conveniently starting a blog. Because these will go so hand in hand, I will introduce both simultaneously.

For the blog I plan to release new content two to three times every week. These times will most likely be Monday and Wednesday night, but depending on how I decide to run this, I may decide to change the release days to Tuesdays and Thursdays. The project may also impact the release dates.

The project is a poster design, for a local event. I won't get into too much detail yet, I'll save that part for later! I can get you in on a little secret, however. Sketches for the project are planned for this Wednesday (Sept. 23), so you can expect to see them soon!