My Everpresent Past


Originally uploaded by kenneth_rougeau

by Kenneth Rougeau

My latest piece, I hope you enjoy it. Prints are up at http://synchronicity313.etsy.com if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the support!

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Heya!
Running and running, so forgive me if I keep it short and sweet... Here are the last few images I've been working on. The first couple are essentially done, the last two are still in the rough draft stages, though nearing completion.

Apres Moi Le Deluge (After Me Comes The Flood)
by Kenneth Rougeau
inspired by the Regina Spektor song

Desert Passage
by Kenneth Rougeau

The Frog Prince (rough draft)
by Kenneth Rougeau

In other news... I Googled president bush moron & came up with 313,000 results... ;)

More to come soon! Thanks for coming by!
- Ken

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Hello world,

I’ve got some new art to show off, and a long winded bunch of life-related babble just after, hehe! Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Ohm Cohm Ohn Mulah Cohm
aka: Pennies From Heaven (It’s A Zen Thing)
by Kenneth Rougeau

Lowbrow enlightenment... A little base & a little sublime... I just hope it doesn’t overly offend anyone’s delicate sensibilities, hehe ;) The last couple of weeks have been a psychotic rollercoaster ride, especially financially. The next few weeks look like they’re apt to be at least as insane, if not moreso. On any given day, I’ve felt like a complete failure, a huge success, and a total failure again. So... I created this to express this latest bit of madness & now send it out into the ether with (what passes for) my prayers for prosperity. I also thought it’d be a fun piece to make... A bit sacreligious, a bit irreverant... I like it anyway ;) I just hope the Bhuddists don’t take it too seriously!

I’ve also been fiddling with some new critter creations for my Anthromorph/Manimals series of images...

The Cheat (rough draft)
by Kenneth Rougeau

The more I look at The Cheat, the less happy I am with it. Charlotte has suggested that I add a hint of color & also says I should put a flower in the lapel of the cheetah on the bicycle... Sounds good to me, so expect a revision soon ;)

The Pilot
aka: Amelia Gooseheart
by Kenneth Rougeau

Squirrelly Kid
by Kenneth Rougeau

And finally, here’s a rough draft copy of my newest steampunk piece (based on yet another concept from the beautiful Charlotte Self). It’s a design for a tarot card. If the finished version suits me I’ll likely try to create an entire deck. We shall see ;) As it sits, I’m not very happy with the clockwork bunny. It doesn’t look bad, necessarily, but it’s not as good as I’d like by a long stretch either... I’ll be working on it this evening if there’s time & will hopefully have a revision up soon.

The Magus (rough draft)
by Kenneth Rougeau

In other news... I’ve been running around like a lunatic for the last two weeks and am just exhausted.

The gallery show is going well... I hope... I haven’t actually heard anything from the owners in a week or so & haven’t seen the place since they really started getting everything in place.

I’ve got another small show going on downtown at a really popular bar ( http://kellysolympian.com ), but I haven’t seen that one either, lol! I just dropped off 9 prints one day, picked out some wall space and had to run off on another crazy errand.

Charlotte ( http://bluebutterflyart.etsy.com ), Dylan ( http://dylanself.etsy.com ), & I were all three showing our work at the Last Thursday artwalk in NE Portland, but the weather wasn’t very cooperative (it’s open air, sidewalk) & traffic was pretty thin. I did sell a few prints & we handed out a number of business cards, which was great.

Then I was sponsored in the First Tuesday artwalk in Hillsboro, a Portland suburb, but the location was a bit hidden & the traffic thin. Nothing sold, but I hadn’t really expected anything to. It was just a quick 2 hour event & I’m happy to have had the opportunity for exposure. I did get to meet a lot of other brilliant artists at the event & got a lot of much needed encouragement (things have been rough & I wonder sometimes if I wouldn’t be smarter for having kept the 9-5, even though it felt like it was killing me - I love what I do, but can I live on it? Will it fly? It seems to want to, so I’m flapping as hard as I can, lol). Whew... Let’s see... What else?...

We tried to make it to the ritzier First Thursday event in downtown Portland, but we got started late, couldn’t find anywhere to park, and then the friend we went with ran out of gas (and while she was getting gas, her daughter locked the keys in the car, lol). By the time we would have gotten setup, we’d have had to take it all down, so we called it a wash & figure we’ll try again next month.

This weekend we tried our first "Lawn Boutique & Art Sale" at a friend of a friend’s house. Saturday we got started late (again) & ended up just preparing in advance for Sunday. The weather Sunday was schizophrenic at best... Sunny, then hail, then some sun & a buttload of rain, followed by more sun. It kept us running & kept things interesting hehe ;) We must have had to pull everything off the lawn 5 or 6 times before the weather finally made up it’s mind & stayed sunny. The funny part was that, even in the hail, we did more business with the precipitation than we did without it, lol! Oh, and some highly entertaining foreiger’s who stopped by almost made off with an 11x14 signed print of In The Garden Of Live Flowers for $1... They were convinced that since it was on a lawn, everything was a dollar ;) Charlotte’s convinced they were buying the frames & thought the artwork was just a secondary thing (like they came with the frame from the store or something, lol)... Anyway, I did end up selling a print of Dandy Lions, which was great, but I think it’s pretty funny that I got more inquiries about how much I’d sell my tables for than I did about the artwork itself. 

We’re going to do the glorified yard sale gig again next weekend, with a lot more preperation & rain gear. Hopefully it will just be nice & we won’t need it, but it’s Portland so I just assume it’s always going to rain, no matter what.

As for the rest, what can I say? I’m beat. My feet are yelling at me and my back hurts. I haven’t stopped to eat & I’m too tired to bother at this point, lol. I do feel like I can stop to breathe for a minute or two though (thus the overly long post, lol) & I’m relishing it while I can. We got the rent covered for the month (squeaked it in there) & now I’ve just got to sweat keeping us alive and covering next month, hehe. I’m hoping the gallery shows both do well, that etsy sales get better (been really slow lately), and that the artwalks/yard sales go well. I’m pretty sure that if I can pull off this month, it’ll be relatively smooth sailing from there. I’m lining things up as fast as I can & in as many places as I can & I’m also trying to create as much as I can with the time that’s left. I’ve gotta start trying to sleep a little more though, lol. I feel like I’m on Thomas Edison’s 5 minute powernap plan or something. I’m a zombie!

I’ve got tons of ideas to play with lately & I’ve really been wanting to finish "Faster! Faster!" as well - it’s not lacking a whole lot, but I haven’t found the perfect pieces yet & I’m a bit of a stickler... If I’m not happy with it, I don’t expect anyone else to be ;) I’ve got some new bits and pieces to try out though & am hoping to have it ready for the gallery reception on April 19th (hopefully sooner, but I plan to "unveil" it there).

Whew, look at me babble! I guess I should call it quits here... Forgive the ranting, raving, and generally unfocused nature of the post - just sort of clearing my head.

Hoping you’re all having a marvelous week,
- Ken

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade synchronicity313.etsy.com

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The Escape Artist

by Kenneth Rougeau

This is a concept that's been floating around my head the last two or three weeks & I'm happy to have finally done something with it. The Escape Artist (flying away on the kite) is none other than Harry "Handcuff" Houdini. The really fun part? I had no idea at the time, but the image was created on Houdini's birthday (March 24, 1874). The synchronicity never stops!

An Invitation
by Kenneth Rougeau

"Curiouser and curiouser!' -- If you think that's weird, you're going to love this... Back when I was working on the Alice In Wonderland series of images, I created a pic called "An Invitation" in which a frog footman receives an invitation from a fish footman. The letter I'd used, it turns out, was penned by Jack The Ripper & is referred to as the "Dear Boss" letter. Even stranger, upon discovering this & delving a little further, I became aware that Lewis Carroll himself is considered a suspect in the Ripper murders! How bizarre is that?! Check it out: http://www.casebook.org/suspects/carroll.html

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I wasn't entirely happy with the version of Hep Cats that I posted the other day & so I've spent a little more time poking and prodding at the pixels and am now content enough with how it looks. The first version wasn't seemless enough for my tastes. It lacked cohesion and was too obviously "put together" where I find that the new one looks more natural & is a bit more convincing... I hope you agree.

Hep Cats

by Kenneth Rougeau

based on a concept by Charlotte Self

Prints and ACEO art trading cards available at

http://synchronicity313.etsy.com

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Hep Cats
by Kenneth Rougeau

Here's the latest in my ongoing Manimals series (see also: Sheeple, Dandy Lions, El Bandido Enmascarado, etc). I'll have it framed and on display at Kelly's Olympian, along with several other images from the series, from Thursday March 27th - Wednesday April 23rd.

UPDATE: The more I look at it, the more problems I find, so I've decided to call this one a rough draft & will work on it a bit more this evening... I like it and all, but I can do better ;) Anyway, prints are offline until the final version is up.

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Kafka’s The Bridge

Based on Franz Kafka’s short story, The Bridge, in which a man stretches himself out across a chasm, turning himself into a bridge. He waits patiently and, in time, a traveller approaches. The traveller walks to the center of the bridge and stops. He pokes at the bridge a bit with his cane, as though testing it. Unsatisfied with the results, he begins jumping up and down on the bridge with all of his might. The bridge, wondering what this man is doing and why, turns to speak & causes them both to fall. (If anyone has an English translation of this story, I’d LOVE to read it again - it’s been YEARS!!).

Prints and ACEO Art Trading Cards are available at http://synchronicity313.etsy.com

Lots of other neat stuff in the works, keep checking back!
- Ken

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Woohoo! I was already spastically excited about the opening of my first gallery show & now I have even more reason to smile and twitch! I've been selected to participate in the upcoming Hillsboro First Tuesday Artwalk & will have signed framed prints on display & for sale. If you're in the Portland area and want to check it out, I'd love to see you. Here's where & when you'll find me:

Hillsboro First Tuesday Artwalk 
April 1st, 2008 6pm-8pm
Aunt Addie's Attic 
(503) 693-1419
137 NE 3rd Ave.
Hillsboro, OR 97124

In other news... I've finally signed up for an account at http://twitter.com (Chris O'Rourke has been telling me to for months now), which is a "stream of consciousness" blog service. It's pretty funky so far & I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Where most blogs are expected to be lengthy & informative, Twitter blog entries cannot exceed 140 characters. They pose the question "What Are You Doing Now?" and give you a tiny little box to enter in a short answer. I think it'll be neat & invite you to have a look for yourself. You'll find my Twitter entries at http://twitter.com/krougeau.

I'm not sure if it's gutsy or just damned suicidal, but I'm going to be pursuing my art carreer full time now. Wish me luck! I'm terrified, but at the same time absolutely exhilirated, lol!

Currently I'm toying with a few new image concepts...

I still need to finish Faster! Faster!, the new Through The Looking Glass picture (and there's tons more to be done for that story)... There are really only a few things left to do to it, it's just a matter of actually DOING them, lol.

I've got a ton of source material gathered for a set of Steampunk images & am looking forward to seeing what I can do with those...

I'm kicking around an idea for a picture that expresses how I feel lately, having freed myself from the shackles of cubicle/call center hell... The basic concept: An entire crowd of grumpy, dourfaced, black & white me's in business suits - eyes downcast & standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk. In the center someplace, one of the me's is colorized, has grown wings, is loosening his necktie and rising above the rest, eyes lifted skyward. *shrug* I thought it might be cute, we'll see ;)

Alright, I suppose I've talked enough about what I want to do. It's time to get to doing it, eh?

Have a wonderful day everyone!
- Kenneth Rougeau

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Attn: Portland, Oregon

My first gallery show is under way!
On display will be 13 framed prints
from my Alice In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass series'.

Can't make the gallery show? No worries!
You can always find my work online at
http://synchronicity313.etsy.com
& at
http://www.goreydetails.net.

www.quirks-of-art.com

Thanks for stopping by!
Much love,
- Ken

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