..and proud we are of all of them

2015 Bay Arts "Interns" mural

Like the Big Lebowski we too get to work with a fine group of Junior Achievers!  The last three years we've been invited to work with a few select "interns" for a couple weekends.  First weekend getting them comfortable working as a group and the second week, painting in front of an audience at the Bay Arts Fest!  We love working with these budding young talents and are always impressed with how well it comes together.  If you would like to see these in person all three are lurking at Bay Arts in Bay Village, Ohio!  Enjoy!

2014 Bay Arts "Interns" mural

World's Mightiest Mortal

SHAZAM!

He was one of my first comics, had Captain Marvel pj's when I was a kid so it was only right that I painted this for this year's Free Comic Book Day Art Show.  This piece was done with watercolor, inks and acrylic on my old favorite, clayboard.  If you would like to see it in person along with last week's Batman and TONS of great DC art done by talented folks in the Cleveland area make sure you come to Carol and John's Comic Shop THIS WEEKEND!  The original and prints of Shazam as well as all the other art in the show will be available.  

Great fun to be had by all!  Check out all the event particulars here!

Batman: Pretty Poison

Keeping on with the Free Comic Book Day Art Show theme that was so deftly started by Tim (best Aquaman incarnation EVER), here is my fist of two pieces I have in the show.  Good ol' Batman the Animated Series style Batman.  

My original idea was to do this batman on a red background as they did the backgrounds in the first few seasons of the animated Series.  As I started throwing my Dr. Martin's concentrated watercolors down on the clay board I was really liking the glow I got from the crimson and magenta so I went with it.  Some ink, acrylic, salt and more watercolor later Batman fighting in a cloud of Poison Ivy's toxic gas was born.  I took the title from a good Ivy episode and voi la! 

This piece along with Tim's amazing Aquaman and other stunning comic images from my fellow Monsters and other Cleveland Artists will be available for show and purchase Free Comic Book Weekend and Carol and John's Comics, Cleveland, Ohio.  It's an amazingly fun weekend so be sure to come by!

More to come.......

Movin' on UP!

This weekend we pack up our paints, buckets and weird painting stools and head in to the heart of Cleveland to start a 2 year painting endeavor with our friends at Graffiti Heart.  Like our time working in Ben's family barn these first few pieces will be done away from our audience's eyes but this time IN A WAREHOUSE!  So in a way, we are movin' on up!  When these are done and available for public consumption we'll share as well as keep you up on further murals with Graffiti Heart  (big, BIG things coming!).  But until then here are some shots from our time in the Hale family barn working on the barn mural.  enjoy!

Erin Schectman Caruso, WILD CARD!!

Erin! Doer of only good things. Teacher, Painter, Designer, new Aunt and Auntie to a flock of RBMC babies, our adopted little sister and secret mentor to ALL of us here in the Rust Belt Monsters.  When this group was forming we thought Erin would be a great addition because her style was the wild card among ours, that kick of unexpected flavor, the person who would make us see more and think differently.  Well, we weren't wrong but we got way more than that!  Most of us who couldn't call ourselves painters before after painting shoulder to elbow with our Swearin' Erin, can.  She's our Broadway singin', ear to ear grinnin' comic sans lovin', paint slingin' powerhouse known as Erin!  Check out a few of her amazing images below and be sure to check out SUPER GROUP HUGS, her latest foray into hot, pop culture character on pop culture character action!  Really great stuff!

Find more Erin here:

erininartland.com

supergrouphugs.tumblr.com

society6.com/erininartland

DISCLAIMER

Erin doesn't actually LOVE Comic Sans so much as she is in love with Comic Sans, a love that dare not speak it's name.   You can ask any other member of the RBMC ltd. and they will say it is so.  It is also fair to note that all other members of the RBMC are notorious goofer-offers and their opinion on human/font love is spurious at best.  

The Bride

This piece done in graphite and acrylic is my first contribution to a fundraiser that is near and dear to me.  My hometown, Princeton, WV, through the Princeton Renaissance project is undergoing some massive and much needed renovation and improvement.  From cleaning up main street, renovating old buildings, city icons that have languished in disrepair, hiring local Artists to paint massive murals and generally injecting some civic pride and fostering local commerce in a city who has long needed a helping hand.  Because of the work of a very dedicated few my hometown is on the mend but still needs help!

A few of us, local Artists and natives living elsewhere (aka me) have been asked to paint these antique ceiling tiles that once adorned the ceiling of the Royal/Lavon Theater as well as some some speakers from the Anita Drive in Theater to be auctioned off to benefit the good work of the Princeton Renaissance Project.  If you would like to OWN this or any of the other excellent works of art offered check out the silent auction site HERE . 

As I said it's for an excellent cause and any bit of cash raised will go a long way to helping an area that needs it.

Thanks!

BRITE WINTER 2015!

   

A couple of weekends back, in the middle of a snow storm Cleveland came out to one of the city's best music and arts festivals of the year!  In the warm, luxury of the Great Lakes Brewery Company's tasting room, nestled next to one of the festival's many stages we painted our first mural of 2015!  We had a lot of fun, listened to a ton of great bands and talked with many of Cleveland's heartiest of festival goers.  

We will be getting this piece properly shot soon and will share when we can but until then here's a few of the detail and action shots we took during the night.  

Thanks so much to everyone who came out and braved this snow filled winter.  Thanks to Brite Winter for putting on this great festival and special thanks to Great Lakes Brewing Company for supplying a warm room and great venue for music and art.

AND!

It's Cleveland Scene Magazine, Best of... voting season again.  If you have the time we'd be honored to be considered for nomination again.  Thanks!

(you can find the voting here)

Art Nerd Toughness

Skulls are tough, painting is tougher. Id get this tattooed if there weren't so many tiny lines...Or if I was tougher. 

Your Pal, 

Randy Crider 

Our 5th Beatle

Not like Pete Best, the could-have-been drummer of the Beatles but GEORGE FLIPPIN' MARTIN!!!  The grease in our crank case, the guy we lean on when we are in need of a third arm the sometimes our Face man, Ron Caruso!!  Sure he's married to the lovely and talented Erin which would give anyone the reason to show up but our man Ron has gone the extra mile time and time again.

For example, the man is a talent in his own right and he's bent that talent to this fine, short documentary of our work that you can find on our YOUTUBE page.  

Surely we've posted it before but it bears posting again, it's great and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling every time I watch it.  Thanks a ton Ron!

And while I'm at it throw us a subscribe on youtube.  We do post things from time to time, important things like this mustache tutorial:

As this year starts moving and we get out and about expect to see more moving images of your favorite Rust Belt Monsters!!

Excelsior!!!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!!!!

 This is us, three years ago. 

Our first mural gig and we didn't even know it.  The first annual Bal Ingenieux for Ingenuity Cleveland.  Having started this blog only a few months before we were commissioned  as a group of Art performers and we had the bright idea to create a comic, from start to finish in one night.  

One group start a story on one side of the room.

The other group on the opposite side.

6 Artists, using cut paper, markers, whatever we had just making stuff up on the fly.  Just getting to know each other, playing it safe, you stay in your frame and I'll stay in mine. The only collaboration was in the story and that's all.

  That is till we got to the splash page in the middle.

IT WAS FUN!!!  

Way more fun than the panels we were working on to the sides, (doubt those even exist anymore).  We bumped elbows, worked on each other's drawings (we didn't paint as much then as we do now) and created something much more satisfying together than what we worked on alone. We were hooked!

In three years we are 30+ murals in.  We've grown as Artists from working together, we've had the opportunity to work in some amazing and humbling venues, work with great people and in short become a family.

Thank you all for your support these amazing three years. 

STAY TUNED!!!!!  

2015 is already shaping up to be a HUGE year!

Crazy Catwoman

Every year around the holidays, our good buddies at Carol and John's Comics raffle off comic book covers created by local artists to benefit the Cleveland Food Bank.

Last year, I did a cover featuring Batman and Robin attacked by a swarm of Cat Woman's pets. Since that cover was pretty popular at the event (and I love me some kitties) I decided to do a follow up this year:

Acrylic paint with a touch of watercolor and colored pencil!

Pencils:

Last year's cover:

 

Come hang out at the comic shop on December 20th and win my new cover! Or maybe art by another RBMC member or one of our cartoon pals. Details here. See you there!

If you go out in the woods today you better not go alone...

My Father was a music teacher and many of the books I got to page through as a kid were the music books he taught from.  I remember reading the lyrics to "Teddy Bear Picnic" way before I ever heard the song and it always struck me sinister. 

  
 "If you go down in the woods today you're sure of a big surprise

 If you go down in the woods today you'd better go in disguise."

Why do you need a disguise? What would the teddy bears do to you?  The answer I suspect is the title, what else are they going to eat at the picnic?

"If you go down in the woods today you better not go alone

It's lovely down in the woods today but safer to stay at home

For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain
Because today's the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic!"

This is one of my entries in the "Old Friends: 20 Illustrators Pay Tribute to Beloved Children's Books" show at Bay Arts.  The opening reception is July 11th and from what I've seen of the work so far its not to be missed!  

Red is for Roses

Second verse, same as the first. A little bit louder and a little bit worse.

 This is my second painting for "The Apron Covers It", an exhibition at the BAYarts center in Bay Village, Ohio that celebrates women by focusing on the theme of aprons. Is is a sister show to another one on the campus which features art about dresses. All of the women in this show are BAYarts faculty, including myself.

This painting uses the same models and encaustic painting techniques as in my previous post. If you want to learn more about how to paint this way, click here. I will also be teaching a workshop on Encaustics at BAYarts during the first week of August. If you are interesting in attending, you can get the details by clicking here.

"Red is for Roses"  • 18 in x 12 in wood panel • Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Marker, Gesso, Handmade Paper, Beeswax, Oil Paint • On Display at BAYarts in Bay Village Ohio Until August

Available through the gallery for $275.00 

Come see it live on Friday, July 5th at the gallery opening.

Thanks everyone!

- Erin

Encaustic Painting Demo!

"Fadeaway" • 10 in x 22 in wood panel • Colored Pencil, Watercolor, Marker, Gesso, Handmade Paper, Beeswax, Oil Paint • On Display at BAYarts in Bay Village Ohio Until August

This week, I have been creating work for a group show at BAYarts in Bay Village, OH. The show opens on July 5th and features art that honors women's roles by focusing on a "Apron" theme. I am thrilled to be in the company of 9 other amazing female BAYart's teachers for this exhibit.

The painting above is the first of my two entries for the show. The model here is my beautiful friend Laura, who is an incredible photographer (and is super cool too!) 

Here's how I made it: I started with watercolor washes and marker over my vine charcoal drawing. I love how it bled into the wood!

Started working in the colored pencils. I ended up using a very limited pallet overall: White, Light Peach, Mandarin Orange, Dark Brown, and Terracotta Prismacolor pencils. I did pull out some reds of course when I got to her dress.

 The face is colored pencil over my watercolor wash with a touch of marker here or there. I used fabercastelle markers - 3 different shades of brown and red on the dress.

The white at the top here is gesso

Kitty break!

 

 Marker and colored pencil hair with washes of watercolor

Once I was finished rendering, I added the key element of this composition - some pretty handmade paper glued on with elmer's glue and water. It was very hard to wait until all the drawing was done since I was so excited to do this!

Time to add the beeswax. I brushed on the wax pretty roughly because I wanted a lot of texture to show, but I did smooth out the wax on and around her face with the heat tool. My favorite part is that the wax turns the white of the handmade paper translucent!

 

This is what it looks like with the beeswax... not much different yet

 

 This is a cool part - to get the texture of the wax to show, I brushed on burnt umber oil paint. The paint is diluted with Liquin medium so it will dry quickly.

This is what the painting looked like covered with burnt umber.

Using a paper towel (and gloves) I started removing the paint layer.

The paint sticks in the rough texture I created with the wax and to the wood like magic!

You never really know what you're going to get in this process and the randomness is exciting. You can always fix parts that don't work, of course!

I wanted the final piece to be a little bit brighter, so I continued to wipe some areas of the paint off using a paper towel soaked in turpenoid, making sure to preserve the textured areas I love.

 Final Painting - "Fadeaway" (named in honor of Coles Phillips' famous illustration technique)

Come see it live on Friday, July 5th at the gallery opening.

Thanks everyone!

- Erin