Varnish Make Pretty

This is an image I'm working on for an illustrated page in a book of Maori Creation Stories. It is a story of how the god of the forest struggled to separate Mother Earth and Father Sky to create the world as we know it. I tried to make it look like some of the wood engraving prints I've done.

Hopefully there will be more to come. Thanks.

EDITED: This first post is going to become a gallery for finished pieces so you don't have to go through the thread to find finished Tiki items, the non tiki stuff won't be in this gallery either. Thank you Woofmutt for suggesting the first page be a gallery of finished pieces. Works are roughly in order so hopefully the viewer will see some sort of progression in my work/skills.

GALLERY:

Here is my first ever painting done in 2003 in a very flat style, I had 2 old tubes of acrylic brown and yellow, a sharpie marker and a piece of plywood scrap. I didn't paint again for a year, then I finally got some oil paints and got going again.. The painting took about 1/2 hr. I spent alot of time on the elaborate pictograms of the border based on imagination, mid century dinnerware, Oceanic art and petroglyphs, then about a week later I "rediscovered" rongo rongo glyphs I'd seen before. Doh! I guess that would be more apropo, oh well!

angry tiki with a glitter glue atomic symbol.

happy tiki (with jewel eyes)

Here is a picture of the "Ritual of the Savage" LP cover/ "The Palms" menu cover. I did this a couple years back..
I only slightly adjusted the proportions of the mask/drum and added a tiki hut A-frame in the distance, as I wanted it to read more like "The Palms", then the menu with only the mask/drum.
Appropriately I used the light logic/shadows off of a picture of an american hotel front tiki A frame rather than a real S. Pacific one.
The drawing is done in pastel on black paper. I left space underneath the A frame and palms to put my bar name or "The Palms" or someone else's bar name as I wasn't sure what the pic. was destined to be.
Again thank u for being patient with the blurry pix. I know the photography needs serious work...

Here is a quick sketch I did in the car of the last days of the midcentury tiki. Shag inspired--Tiki meets disco bachelor, haha!

Tiki mask on midcentury stone wall.

Here are my best paintings ever!-- ha ha... found white lil chalkwear fruit at the thrift for 49 cents ea..

What do u do with broken dollar tree tikis? If the feet are broken off u can glue them back on, or bury them waist deep in a plant pot or garden, put them in an aquarium with the sharp parts buried in gravel, make a crazy assemblage piece out of a dozen or so, or go back to the dollar store for a frame, remove glass, put on burlap or whatever for background, and file feet so it looks like tiki is emerging from the back of the picture. Not anything special, but I just can't throw away this poor lil' Ki'i.

So make a rice steamer shelf, and put more clutter on it...

Here is a detail of one of my wood dish/ acrylic paint/ cowry shell/ dentalium shell/ clam shell/ bike reflector/ shadow box tiki assemblages.

Here is a picture of one of 2 fishing float lanterns I made recently;

Here is anuthuh pik-sure-- I need to take sum when it's dark out, lots of tikified lites recently went up in heyah up in heeyah!

and with the lights out, sunshine coming in tho...

Shield shelf

Another use for dollartree trash baskets.. Lamp shades!

Found this green vintage Chinese girl lamp, painted the tiny chip on her and put a dollartree basket to good use.

with lamp on (sorry very cheap camera).

RETRO-tongan tiki,inspired by Flora and SHAG:

Life model:

Another fishing float I swaggered into a light.

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a couplah decent pix of Angry tiki Happy tiki wooden dish.

I put way too much walnut oil in my paints for this piece so it turned out kinda gestural as it was a runny mess, still fun tho!

Moai- Miro:gouache

Coloring sheet:

Here is a collagraph hand print I made using a piece of a hula skirt to create textures.

Ula Nifo necklace:

Easter Isle painting trilogy:

New addition to the series: Sneakitized Moai:

BirdMan. Oil canvas, real feathers.

Birdman, acrylic, watercolor, tempera, resin, paper, canvas:
4' by 3' stretched canvas.

The "V" shaped bone is the bird's lower jaw bone.

Closeup... weird angle

Closeup, the bird man white is "stamped" on in gesso.

There are several small collaged elements glued on this painting, cut outs of my paintings and these 3-D resin bird claws.

shelves, about 20" diameter.

The first painting is a New Guinea Toucan Sepik River style chattin' it up with his cuz from the Tsimshian people of coastal NW Canada.

New Guinea Witch Dr. acrylic painting:

Witch Dr. shape-shifts into Toucan in this second painting. Toucans and Flying foxes (a fruit bat) are head hunter totems cuz the fruit they pick is seen as taking a "head trophy" from a tree. The Witch Dr's left eye from the last painting becumz the toucan nostril in this painting, or both paintings can be viewed abstractly.

Here is Toucan again with his buddy from the Tsimshian nation. The totem pole figure has had alot of white paint and details added since my last pic. of this piece.

Gouache and acrylic:

Octo-tiki-Tane:

Moai:

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[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2008-12-04 12:11 ]

Very beautiful...I really like the "balance" of the pictures. Great composition.
Let's see more.

Untamed, thanks for the kind words. I have verrrrrry little skill on the PC/Mac but I'm trying to teach myself...
Here is a Rat Pack Poster I did for practice.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-22 23:58 ]

Here is an acrylic painting turned photoshop that did not work so well, but I wanted to put some more work here.. It is a concept I had for the Bongoland CD cover.

This is a tiki fork and spoon... obviously.. that I had a wee bit o' fun with about 3 years back.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-04-03 00:10 ]

Cool stuff Sneaky, I dig all of it. Did you stop carvin'? I especially like the fork and spoon.

tfisher,

Thanks for the encouragment. I haven't really carved much, perhaps you have me confused with another TC peep. Would love to try that but concentrating on 2D stuff for now.

Sneaky

Sneakytiki, nice stuff and I Really Love the illustration you are doing for the Maori book. It is a very powerful piece with what looks like an Epic struggle going on. Well done.

I really like the Maori illustration - it makes me want to read the story.

Benzart, KCtiki, thanks! It is a real honor to have my work looked at by all the talented individuals I've enjoyed here in creating tiki land.

Benzart, I can't believe how great your Maori warriors are! KC, I will post the longer version of the Maori story shortly, here is a quick version.

Ranginui and Papatuanuku prevented light from reaching the world because of their close embrace, and their offspring lived in a world of darkness and ignorance between the bodies of their parents. And they plotted against their parents in order to let light into the world.

It is said that some of the sons decided that their situation could be remedied only if they separated their parents, so that Ranginui would be pushed up to become the sky and Papatuanuku remain as their Earth. They set about their task. Tane it was who finally rendered them apart by resting his shoulders upon Papatuanuku and thrusting his legs upwards and pushing Ranginui to the sky. By this deed Tane, of many names, came also to be known as Tane-te-toko-o-te-rangi (Tane the prop of the heavens).

"The verity of this name is evident in the great forests of Tane, where the mighty trunks of totara and kauri trees can be seen soaring upwards to the green canopy overhead and the sky above it."

• 1990, Walker.

By this separation of Rangi and Papa the world of light, of existence, the third state of creation, came into being.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-23 18:27 ]

Here is the long version of the part of the Creation story I am illustrating. The reason the figures look somewhat generic is that the story of creation has many commonalities throughout polynesia and I wanted the figures to look like Samoan, Tongan, and Fijan type carvings as well as Maori etc. This version, however is specifically Maori.

Children of Heaven and Earth
KO NGA TAMA A RANGI
Tradition relating to the Origin of the Human Race

MEN had but one pair of primitive ancestors; they sprang from the vast heaven that exists
above us, and from the earth which lies beneath us. according to the traditions of our race, Rangi
and Papa, or Heaven and Earth, were the source from which, in the beginning, all things
originated. Darkness then rested upon the heaven and upon the earth, and they still both clave
together, for they had not yet been rent apart; and the children they had begotten were ever
thinking amongst themselves what might be the difference between darkness and light; they
knew that beings had multiplied and increased, and yet light had never broken upon them, but it
ever continued dark. Hence these sayings are found in our ancient religious services: 'There was
darkness from the first division of time, unto the tenth, to the hundredth, to the thousandth', that
is, for a vast space of time; and these divisions of times were considered as beings, and were
each termed 'a Po'; and ontheir account there was as yet no world with its bright light, but
darkness only for the beings which existed.
At last the beings who had been begotten by Heaven and Earth, worn out by the continued
darkness, consulted amongst themselves, saying: 'Let us now determine what we should do with
Rangi and Papa, whether it would be better to slay them or to rend them apart.' Then spoke Tu-
matauenga, the fiercest of the children of Heaven and Earth: 'It is well, let us slay them.'
Then spake Tane-mahuta, the father of forests and of all things that inhabit them, or that are
constructed from trees: 'Nay, not so. It is better to rend them apart, and to let the heaven stand far
above us, and the earth lie under our feet. Let the sky become as a stranger to us, but the earth
remain close to us as our nursing mother.'
The brothers all consented to this proposal, with the exception of Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of
winds and storms, and he, fearing that his kingdom was about to be overthrown, grieved greatly
at the thought of his parents being torn apart. Five of the brothers willingly consented to the
separation of their parents, but one of them would not agree to it.
Hence, also, these sayings of old are found in our prayers: 'Darkness, darkness, light, light, the
seeking, the searching, in chaos, in chaos'; these signified the way in which the offspring of
heaven and earth sought for some mode of dealing with their parents, so that human beings
might increase and live.
So, also, these sayings of old time. 'The multitude, the length , signified the multitude of the
thoughts of the children of Heaven and Earth, and the length of time they considered whether
they should slay their parents, that human beings might be called into existence; for it was in this
manner that they talked and consulted amongst themselves.
But at length their plans having been agreed on, lo, Rongo-ma-tane, the god and father of the
cultivated food of man, rises up, that he may rend apart the heavens and the earth; he struggles,
but he tends them not apart. Lo, next, Tangaroa, the god and father of fish and reptiles, rises up,
that he may rend apart the heavens and the earth; he also struggles, but he rends them not apart.
Lo, next, Haumia-tikitiki, the god and father of the food of man which springs without
cultivation, rises up and struggles, but ineffectually. Lo, then, Tu-matauenga, the god and father
of fierce human beings, rises up and struggles, but he, too, fails in his efforts. Then, at last,
slowly uprises Tane-mahuta, the god and father of forests, of birds, and of insects, and he
struggles. With his parents; in vain he strives to rend them apart with his hands and arms. Lo, he
pauses; his head is now firmly planted on his mother the earth, his feet he raises up and rests
against his father the skies, he strains his back and limbs with mighty effort. Now are rent apart
Rangi and Papa, and with cries and groans of woe they shriek aloud: 'Wherefore slay you thus
your parents? Why commit you so dreadful a crime as to slay us, as to rend your parents apart?
But Tane-mahuta pauses not, he regards not their shrieks and cries; far, far beneath him he
presses down the earth; far, far above him he thrusts up the sky.
Hence these sayings of olden time: 'It was the fierce thrusting of Tane which tore the heaven
from the earth, so that they were rent apart, and darkness was made manifest, and so was the
light.'
No sooner was heaven rent from earth than the multitude of human beings were discovered
whom they had begotten, and who hitherto had been concealed between them.

From Abika.com, they have the full story online.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-23 18:58 ]

Great pictures you did, very cool.

Ah, thanks for the origin story. From the days when kids asked "Why are we here?" and "How did we get here?', instead of, "What's in it for me?"

Sneaky, I like that illustration. Pretty nice. It's great that it has a story to be based on.

Thank you foamy, I really like your work, your skills on the computer give me something to strive for.

Bete, U r 2 kind.

Kc, thanks again and I'm glad u enjoyed the story.

Here is a horrible scan of a koa wood dish that was in less than mint condition so I decided to paint on it last December.

angry tiki with a glitter glue atomic symbol.

happy tiki (with jewel eyes)

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-04 17:44 ]

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-12 01:55 ]

Here is an oil and acrylic painting utilizing stain and wipe, glazing, impasto etc.. and a (strangely cropped by shutterfly) Mac manipulated spooky version, these are working in a native american vernacular, rather than Oceanic, but I plan on doing some oil paintings of Polynesian and Micronesian themes shortly.

thanx for looking.

Edit added Powwow poser I did with this painting, just added text.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-04-18 23:41 ]

Here is an Oceanic mask/face I made out of shells, a water buffalo tooth, and canid jaw.

Apologies for these scans, my digital camera is cheap and I can't seem to figure it out.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-24 09:03 ]

There was a lottery card design contest for the I-duh-ho lottery last year. The entries were required to be in digital format but I didn't have a computer then (and still have no skills). A friend told me to do an entry anyway, so I swiped my daughter's glitter gel pens, haha, and hastily drew this up and submitted it. I was one of 4 winners and got a check. Man, I really needed the money as I'm an out of work, struggling to become an artist type, the picture wasn't even the composition I had in mind as I was so stressed for time but tiki must have wanted to be on a lotto card cus the mana and a little money was mine. I was very surprised as i got to see some of the polished and perfect digital entries submitted. I think they probably just want the name Tiki tacky toa as it is kinda' catchy, I came up with it as a party game back in 2003.

here is what the scratched version would look like, was going to be cocktails but the rules stated no alcoholic beverages could be depicted, so tropical fruit...

Damn! Shutterfly really cropped the he*# out of those.

Sorry for the lousy pics.

Again, thanx for looking.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-24 09:58 ]

Here is a midcentury wooden wall plaque/dish that I painted this winter.

[ Edited by: sneakytiki 2007-01-27 16:49 ]

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-05-17 18:17 ]

Here is a Black and White photo I shot and developed. It is the interior of our home, the Futurama house. Built in 1959, it is an Eichleresque atomic ranch.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-10-12 16:26 ]

Here is a cropped by shutterfly drawing I'm trying to decide whether it's worth painting or messing with on the Mac, suggestions and criticisms welcome.

thx

ST

Here is a Rarotongan guy I drew awhile back. I don't know if I should paint him or the image above first or maybe keep trying other ideas. Any help from TC artists appreciated.

Thx,
ST

Here is a SHAG inspired quick sketch I did in the car of the last days of the midcentury tiki. Tiki meets disco bachelor, haha!

I really want to become an active part of this forum so any suggestions as to what is color/paint/time worthy are appreciated.

ST

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-04-16 17:21 ]

Here is a painting I've been doing in acrylics, which are pretty new to me.
Tiki mask on midcentury stone wall.

Any suggestions or comments from art consumers or creators are helpful and appreciated, negative included.

As long as your having fun , keep at it.

I really like the Koa wood dish you painted.

My only suggestion is - if you feel like painting it - then go for it, regardless whether or not it's worth doing.

It's always worth doing if it's going to improve, enhance and develop your skills and your style.

Rodeo, hmc,

thx, I really like your carvings and ceramics, respectively. I've done some crazy ass assemblages from wooden dishes, with tikis painted on them and parts added to make a sort of future -tiki. I need to get some digital shots of those. I am definitely going to keep trying at painting etc. I just want to try to spend time on better ideas and sometimes feedback is really helpful. I guess most of my feedback is saying to keep painting koa wood, haha. Fine with me.

Well, I'm working on my first tiki painting. I'm doing a vignette of the rarotongan smoking tiki above. Acrylic on masonite.

Will be finished in a day or two. I'll post pics then.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-28 17:47 ]

Here are some pictures of my painting in progress. Apologies for the blurry pictures, I have a cheap new digital camera which I shall shortly learn to use correctly or get rid of.

as always,thx for looking.

ST

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-28 12:31 ]

Hey Sneaky! How about a Moai cigarette holder???

hoodahank, good idea, i can't quite paint that small yet. Maybe a close up of that could b a painting unto itself...

Here is a picture of the "Ritual of the Savage" LP cover/ "The Palms" menu cover. I did this a couple years back..
I only slightly adjusted the proportions of the mask/drum and added a tiki hut A-frame in the distance, as I wanted it to read more like "The Palms", then the menu with only the mask/drum.
Appropriately I used the light logic/shadows off of a picture of an american hotel front tiki A frame rather than a real S. Pacific one.
The drawing is done in pastel on black paper. I left space underneath the A frame and palms to put my bar name or "The Palms" or someone else's bar name as I wasn't sure what the pic. was destined to be.
Again thank u for being patient with the blurry pix. I know the photography needs serious work...

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-29 00:12 ]

Here is a detail of the above pastelle.

That pastel on black really looks like velvet in the above picture, very nice!
I love the green mask painting you did, it's very sharp.

Tikiwahine, THANKS!!, I want to do a series of all the great white on black and dark brown etc.. tiki menus I've seen, and rework/ alter them all slightly.

I'm actually planning on doing some velvet painting as I LOVE white on black art and porn, er I mean pictures.

Here is a detail of the A frame from the pic. above..

Thanks for looking!

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-28 15:05 ]

Rarotongan smokin, drinkin' tiki painting done?!

I'm gonna hafta save up 4 a new camera becuz this detail..(lack of)..sux.
Anyways here is a pic. of the finished?? piece. Anybody who creates stuff knows how hard it is to tell when u r truly finished.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome. I know the composition is not that strong, I just wing it too much, next time more planning will be done. [ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-03 16:14 ]

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-23 22:42 ]

Well I already altered Mr. Smokin' Rarotongan, like I said, never done.. Now back to working on those pseudo wood prints for the Maori book. Here is sum more velvet like pastelle.. Maybe I'll do some Black velvet nudes soon.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-03 16:16 ]

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-01-27 17:05 ]

wow. Not bad, dude! You're gettin' somewhere with that art of yours. Oh fyi, that smoking guy totally reminds me of Shag, looking at the backround anyways. Veyr cool style you have. I like the A Frame as well!

Pocky, yes Shag's influence is there! I actually developed the background technique me own self though. Don't overlook Shag's influences or you will miss alot of cool artists like Gene Deitch, Jim Flora etc..
I'm a printmaker (somewhat) and this painting is very much informed by Linocut prints made from several blox, 1 per colour.. I often look at Jim Flora for inspiration and even have the only known copy of "Dixie by Dorsey" LP in my collection. It was an EARLY Flora design.. I never would have heard of Flora if not for reading Shag interviews so I'm doubly indebted to him...
Check out some midcentury commercial artists, the new Mary Blair book looks happening.

It's hard to develop your own distinctive style an' sumthin' I needs tah work on. That is a valuable criticism right there.. Be able to do many styles but definitely develop your own style to differentiate yourself. I was always afraid of being influenced by people in the past and it really set me back. Imitating to learn is fine as long as you aren't ripping off a specific design, and give credit to your influences. You will gradually change it into your own style anyway.

..not my pic, I do have this album in my collection though.. Face look familiar?? I think maybe Shag got his chick face from this LP cover.. His pictures are very Flora/printmaking-esque, and then he throws in the tiki and bachelor pad stuff of old LP covers and media, Gene Deitch's "The Cat" and jazz magazine art, combining influences from all of these into a distinctive style all his own, just as Flora combined cartoons with Braque, Picasso, Klee, and Miro, to create his own thing.

Thanks for the props and critique Pock-man. I've been enjoying your enthusiasm toward art and wish u best of luck at illustrating as I'm pursuing illustration for a living as well...

ST

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2007-02-09 11:30 ]

tiki anyone?

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-29 09:31 ]

Hi, question for any experienced acrylic painters as I am very new to the medium, will adding a coat of matte medium, or clear varnish help smooth out the look of a painting such as this?

I'm sure it would help protect the piece, just trying to figger out how to make it look smooth.
Thanks for your help.

ST

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-29 12:33 ]

You could always go back over it with a second layer of that color. I find when paint comes out looking like that, it's from not enough paint. But you never know. I haven't done much acrylic work either, only like 4 paintings all together. I have looked at matte stuff, and it seems to deffinately add a different texture to the medium afterwards. Hey, it won't hurt right?

ps. ST, I'm actually trying to get into CG and possibly pick up a job at Disney later on in life, either it being a caricature artist in the parks or an actual concept artist. Who knows. Nice work ST, keep it up!

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-17 16:00 ]

It looks even to me. PLus I find that some colors good on smoother than others. Some of the browns and dark greens streak.

Thanks teakey, I wasn't sure if there is a normal way that acrylic paintings are finished or ?? I know a friend who glazes them to even the tone out of the overall piece/layers? It's interesting that different colors behave differently (browns and greens), I recently threw away my cheap paints becuz they were so godawful streaky. Thx for the tip.

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-04-17 16:02 ]

hey Sneeakytiki, those paintings are great !
are you thinning down your paints only with water?
I use liquitex binder/gloss for most of my colours, if i need to do a transparent wash i add some water as well, the binder will allow the paint to flow smoother and keep the same tone.
however some colours are just a real problem.
most artist grade paints wil have an opacity rating, Try to stick with the high opacity for backgrounds & lower for washes etc, i think a couple of brands even sell "background" series paints.

cheers
Bob