Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Carthaginian Solutions: The After Party


"Delenda est Carthago" The destruction of Carthage by the Romans was one of the first instances of co-ordinated genocide in recorded history. It was a phrase that Cato the Elder  used in most of his speeches in the Roman Senate after the Second Punic War. (Wikipedia link for interested parties) Paralells to certain aspects of our foreign policy seemed relevant to me so I started thinking of ways to work that into a picture. i was reading about the first battle of the American Civil War, and people from the north thought the war would be a joke and actually camped out on hillsides to have a picnic to watch the first battle. Nothing like watching people die as a backdrop to a party, again it seems very similar to the war we all sit around and watch people  and civilizations bombed to shit from the comfort of our living rooms.

I used a xerox transfer to put the drawing on the plate and ended up etching it a bit too long and spent way more time than I should have scraping and burnishing. it includes about every technique I know except drypoint.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Always on the Prowl



Graphite, Ink and Photoshop




Transfer on Lithography Stone.


Work in Progress, Scraping and Crayon

© Marcus Howell Graphite, Ink, and Photoshop, 2014


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

I Just Want My Fair Share . . . And That's All of It"



14" x 18" Graphite, Ink, and Photoshop

This started out as a preliminary sketch for another, bigger project but i just added some other things to it as I got going. I had a dream I was fighting off giant hornets while trying to drown a foul mouthed lamb in the ocean. I don't remember what it was saying but I knew that lamb was unspeakably evil and needed to be destroyed. It was not going down easy. I couldn't see the lamb's legs in the dream so I added all that paraphernalia on it's hindquarters to explain it's unreasonable stamina.

Here is the un-Photoshopped version:


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Carthaginian Solutions



"An elaborate summer gala hosted by the influential and despicable attended by the craven and corrupt, with an afternoon showing of genocide for the entertainment."

© Marcus Howell Graphite, Ink, and Photoshop, 2014

Startled

Startled

"She crept slowly along the dark corridor, regretting her choice of direction. The air was thick, hot and wet with a hateful, bloody smell.  Cyclical echoing sounds of choking, maniacal laughter changing to a racking sob and quickly transitioning back to laughter accompanied her. When the spotlight flared, she saw the source of her processional soundtrack and it evoked far more hatred than pity."

Intaglio, 2014

© Marcus Howell