Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Odalisques, originally uploaded by vebelfetzer.

40 x 48"
acrylic on canvas

A joint Sweatshop venture with Vol Hydrogen.

Tags: artwork, not my artwork, paintings, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

With all the Sweatshopping, I haven’t been doing much Sweatshipping. The following is a list of outstanding art orders that are being worked on/have not shipped yet:

1. Phil Nelson’s “Innsmouth Cowboy” (and a print of Flee?)
2. Chef Deez’s “Octopus Tub” + print of “Flee”
3. Logan Mirto’s “Flee” print (about to be shipped)
4. David McHugh’s “Flee” print (about to be shipped)
5. Kaylynn’s untitled acrylic painting (about to be shipped)
6. J Scott Grand’s “A Gentleman of Innsmouth” (this piece was damaged when I sprayed it with fixative, and is undergoing a sprucing-up before it is shipped)
7. Ryan’s “The Howling Hare” (ready to ship)
8. Skinny Rydell’s $45 Paintup (not yet painted)
9. Melo’s $45 Paintup (not yet painted)
10. ThingUTS’ Frazettan Lorraine painting (unfinished)
11. Adam Johnson’s “Cleaver Pig” $45 Paintup (unfinished)
12. Tara Brannigan’s “Blob” and “Cupcake Wolf” (Tara’s actually in town, I just need to meet up with her and hand these off)

As far as I know, that’s everything. If you are missing from this list, please let me know.

Tags: artwork, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

We painted on the inverse of a really shitty painting I scored from Freecycle. We couldn’t paint on the front because of the acrylic already there.

So we flipped it and used the existing painting for some warmups.

Did I mention the original painting was god-awful. Here it is after some improvements.

Finally getting down to the real shit. When all else fails, I poll the audience for suggestions. When that fails, I poll my dad. “Paint the Creature in the rubber swimming cap and the bathing suit the girl wears in the movie,” he says. “Those horrible bathing suits you could never get them out of,” he adds darkly. Dad hated the 50s.

It’s the best idea he’s ever had.

Vol and I put on a good show. It becomes hideously cold in my apartment. Commence funny hats, a stately Sweatshop tradition. We have had about four pots of tea.

Progress. People are tipping and we’re overjoyed.

Eventually we hit a wall and order pizza. SVU is put on the feed and people start to fall off. By the time we’re watching All Creatures Great and Small, Season 3, there are only two viewers left. At 2am the pizza finally arrives. I give the delivery man a nice tip, anyway.

(not pictured)
We eat pizza with the painting turned towards the wall. An hour later, bellies distended with Pizza Man goods, we flip it back over. It’s done. We gravely shake hands, and discuss plans for another one, soon. This may show in LA in a group show, in the meantime.

Final photos will be posted later. I’m destroyed.

Tags: artwork, not my artwork, paintings, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Sorry about forgetting to post this until TODAY, but we have a big SWEATSHOP tonight:

SIAMESE SWEATSHOP: Tag Team with Special Guest Artist Vol Hydrogen
Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Time: 5:00pm – 8:00pm PST
Location: http://www.justin.tv/toxoplasm/

Vol Hydrogen is an upcoming surrealist designer and illustrator from the SF Bay Area. With a solid background in traditional skills like anatomy, clothing and character design, and concept art, she joins SWEATSHOP slavedriver EG Gauger for a few hours of two-headed horror.

Vol and I will be drawing/painting on a giant canvas that will then be cut up into jigsaw pieces, and sold individually. You should watch the entire process live, tonight, or you may miss out on snapping up the pieces as they go on sale.

Tags: artwork, not my artwork, paintings, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Just woke up. Last night’s SWEATSHOP stretched into eight hours. I have an art hangover; my head is killing me and I can’t even think about painting today. We accomplished something pretty damned impressive.

We raised $845 for Lorraine’s medical bills, total. As I said in my Gibbering leading up to the event, I took ten per cent for materials cost. Sent her the money last night. Now, in the broad scheme of medical bills, $800 isn’t that much. But in the scheme of groceries, rent, and peace of mind, it’s a lot.

Well done, Sweaty Victims Unit. I am so proud of you.

Tags: artwork, paintings, pinups, sketches, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

My friend Lorraine was injured in a fall, and has become bedridden with a fractured spine. Like most of the artistic underclass, myself included, she is without insurance and without a job.

But Lorraine is stunningly beautiful. Drawn out of some happy meeting between Maila Nurmi and Frank Frazetta, she is both lithe and voluptuous, pallid and robust. She will light up any canvas that portrays her.

That is why I have decided to paint Lorraine, to benefit Lorraine. This is SWEATSHOP Dancing Bear 2. Steampunk clothier Clockwork Couture has lavishly donated $100 in gift certificates to this cause.

HOW IT WORKS:
I’m gonna sit and paint Lorraine, in every way I can think of, on Ustream. But this time, I’ll have my guitar case open next to me! As long as the audience keeps tossing in coins, I’ll keep dancing at the end of my chain.

DER MONEYS:
For every $3 that lands in my PayPal or Google Checkout accounts (eliza.gauger AT gmail.com), I’ll stay online for another 5 minutes. At the end of the day, or when money stops coming in (whichever comes first), I’ll tally up the donations. The top patron will receive the largest painting and a $50 gift certificate to Clockwork Couture; second place will get the second-largest painting and the second $50 gift certificate. From third place onwards, paintings/drawings of progressively smaller size will be awarded. The artist will retain 10% of the take to replenish canvasses.

WHY I’M DOING THIS:
Consider this one more phase in the Grand Experiment of surviving on art. In this phase, we demonstrate that artists must needs buoy each other.

You get half an hour free. We’re starting right now!

GO TO THIS URL TO JOIN THE AUDIENCE:
www.ustream.tv/channel/sweatshop

WATCH SWEATSHOP ON YOUR IPHONE:
http://www.ustream.tv/mobile/viewer

JOIN THE CHAT ROOM ON IRC:
We hacked the Ustream chat backend on IRC. Join server chat04.ustream.tv, channel #Sweatshop during a Sweatshop and private message E_Gauger, who will set you +v.

FOLLOW SWEATSHOP PROGRESS ON WHITECHAPEL: http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=6881&page=1

Tags: artwork, fetish models, paintings, pinups, sweatshop

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Lorraine test sketch for tomorrow’s Dancing Bear Benefit, originally uploaded by vebelfetzer.

The nose is all wrong, but this graceful creature is nonetheless my
friend Lorraine, who has just suffered a grievous accident in which
she fractured her spine. She is a dancer and a model and is now
bedridden, totally unable to support herself. Tomorrow I will be
running a tipjar marathon in which I paint portraits of her all day,
and collect donations on PayPal for her medical bills. Anyone in
their right mind would love a picture of this Frazetta-noir beauty.
The paintings, as well as two $50 gift certificates to Clockwork
Couture, will be awarded to the highest tippers as the day goes on.
BE THERE. SEE THE MAGIC.

Sweatshop: www.ustream.tv/channel/sweatshop
Whitechapel Sweatshop announcement thread: freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=688…
E. Gauger’s blog: elizagauger.com/gibberings/

Tags: artwork

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Flee (No Longer Safe in the Long Grass)
oil on board
12 x 12″

Flee sold tonight, leaving in the steely clutches of a patron. I’ve taken it down from Etsy, shed a motor oil tear, and started the print run. I was sad to see it go.

This print run is extremely limited: only 25 will be made. Once these prints are gone, there will be no others. Each print is 13 x 13″, with the print area being 12 x 12″–a one-inch margin to allow for framing. They are professionally printed using Giclée process on beautiful cotton rag. They are archival, rich, and subtle, with a matte finish that perfectly imitates the surface of the original painting. Each print is numbered and signed by the artist.

Prints will be shipped unframed, rolled carefully in a sturdy mailing tube. A very tiny run of framed prints will occur at a slightly later date. Price includes shipping.

Tags: artwork, paintings, robots, steampunk

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

Bees!

More good news for collectors of original scribbles! I am selling my Sketch-a-Day from a few days ago. I don’t sell sketches much, as they have two qualities that make them priceless to me:

1. They’re by far my most expressive work, and
2. Nobody wants them.

This sketch was the subject of a Sweatshop during its creation—a live-video feed, with audience, that I do sometimes to let people see and interact with my work process. It’s about 9 x 12″, graphite on thick cream paper, and would be cut right out of my current sketchbook.

Please feast your nubs on the piece here: http://twitpic.com/hxbuf
Remember to click “View Full Size” to see the detail.

I will start the bidding at $40. Email me to make your offers at eliza *DOT* gauger *AT* gmail. I will keep track, and respond to bidders on Friday to let them know the current price. If it does not sell by the end of the week, I will put it on Etsy.

Good luck!

Tags: artwork, bees, sketches

Originally published at Gibberings. You can comment here or there.

WHATTUP, originally uploaded by vebelfetzer.

The WHATTUP series begins here, with a monster from a sketchbook many years old. I really shouldn’t be working on this, nor on my comic script WORSE, which has been cooking for years and I just started really -writing- two nights ago. No, droogs, I should be working on the next Priority Mail series exclusively. I’m still immensely ill, and my Berlin solo show has been pushed back to November. Which is excellent. Breathing room, you see. And in October, I’ll be pulling up stakes in favor of Los Angeles, a town so awful I can’t help but be excited, in the same way one looks forward with dread to the tonsillectomy that will finally end the chronic strep infections. Will there be nurses? Ice cream? Soft words?

Tags: artwork