A few months ago, one of my close friends, Kevin K. Griffith, passed away, and for awhile I simply didn't have the bandwidth for a lot of things like blogging. Over the past few months I have been creating new art and writing, though, and in the coming months I'm also aiming to create a sort of standing memorial post to his art here on my blog, but, well, first thing's first: I have quite a lot to catch up on.
"Fly Free" - Plate
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| "Fly Free" - Fired Plate - Completed on November 1, 2014 |
The final few months of 2014 were rough for many, myself included. Weeks after Kevin passed away, some of my family and friends gathered to celebrate my Birthday by painting ceramics. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to paint (and wasn't necessarily in the mood to create art), but I wanted it to be something with meaning to me. So, after some thought, I worked to painted a red tailed hawk flying free. It seemed appropriate under the circumstances.
Glazing is always guesswork, because you never know how the colors will turn out until they are fired. I've slowly been getting the hang of layering the various glazes, though, and this plate ended up nearly as I'd imagined it. It's around 8 inches in diameter and was painted freehand.
"Gamer for Life: A Fan Art Tribute for KKG" Art Book
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| Primal Fury - Altered Beast Fan Art - Project KKG - Completed on February 3rd, 2014 |
Last year I posted a detailed walk through of the above piece of Altered Beast fan art, which I made specifically for Project KKG. During this call to action, 283 artists came together from around the world to create art based on games Kevin loved in order to support he and his wife in their time of trial. Kevin fought an incredibly rare form of cancer, Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma (ASPS) cancer, and unfortunately in Oct. 2014, he passed away prior to the campaign going live.
While the original intent was for all of the proceeds will go directly to paying for treatment, instead the purpose of the book was re-examined after Kevin's passing, and the organizers opted to transform the love that had been poured into the art for the book into a tribute book entitled "Gamer for Life: A Fan Art Tribute for KKG."
The proceeds from the sales will be going to two different charity organizations related to cancer, and the Indiegogo campaign for it is still open for another week if you're interested in finding out more about the campaign or purchasing an art book of your own.
Myself and many other artists have donated hundreds if not thousands of hours to make this project a reality, and I hope others are able to enjoy the spirit of hope and solidarity that went into making it, even if Kevin isn't around to enjoy it with us.
You only have so much time in this life, so make sure to make it count.
While the original intent was for all of the proceeds will go directly to paying for treatment, instead the purpose of the book was re-examined after Kevin's passing, and the organizers opted to transform the love that had been poured into the art for the book into a tribute book entitled "Gamer for Life: A Fan Art Tribute for KKG."
The proceeds from the sales will be going to two different charity organizations related to cancer, and the Indiegogo campaign for it is still open for another week if you're interested in finding out more about the campaign or purchasing an art book of your own.
Myself and many other artists have donated hundreds if not thousands of hours to make this project a reality, and I hope others are able to enjoy the spirit of hope and solidarity that went into making it, even if Kevin isn't around to enjoy it with us.
You only have so much time in this life, so make sure to make it count.
I hope all of you are well, and thank you again for taking the time to read my blog.
Of course you know that I love the hawk plate!! Beautifully done. And I admire the hours and love that went into that art book for your friend. What a wonderful tribute to him! And such talent! I'm in awe...
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