as the astute observer may have noticed, the website is gradually being renovated to make the galleries simpler to interact with, not to mention tidier. this will be an ongoing process as some of the page graphics are changing as well.

stay sharp.

vale.

a quick set of news updates from atelier proprætoria.

first, there will be a showing of some new and favoured proprætorian works coming up in october, 2012. details, such as the length of the run and the date of the opening festivities, among others, are yet to be ironed out. atelier proprætoria is also going to withhold the name of the venue for now, however i can reveal the showing will be taking place in peterborough, ontario. once more details are firmed up, notices will be posted here, as well as on other forums.

secondly, i will be taking a brief hiatus from digital painting. this is owing partially to technical difficulties with my machine, but also to the backlog of ink drawings i have. in fact, the bulk (but not the entirety) of my creative output of 2012 will be in the form of ink drawings. currently on “the slab” is the first proper piece in the edictum series. some will have noticed there is already a single piece in the series. edictum 0, however, is intended to serve as an introductory piece, to set the stage and mood for the rest of the series.

last, but not least, the winner of the facebook contest for the first casting of the cthulhu idol sculpture has been selected. congratulations to “rev. mike”. once he has been sent his idol, additional castings will be made available afterward. keep your eyes here in the coming months for the notification.

that’s all for now. stay tuned here and/or on facebook and twitter for more updates as they develop.

vale.

what started as a simple quest to get 100 “likes” on the propraetor facebook page has turned into something greater.

from now until midnight on the evening of december 30, 2011, any additional “likes” on the page (or if you’ve already liked the page, then shares of the page or contest photo – see the link below) will earn one entry into a draw on new year’s eve for the first completed casting of the cthulhu idol sculpture.

click here for the facebook page. click here for rules and entry.

bona fortuna!

vale.

it is with profound pride, no small measure of exhaustion and a tincture of fear that atelier proprætoria unveils the thirty-first proprætorian work: opvs homo favstvs iv: dictata cvm mercvrio.

this piece was a tortuous one for me to complete, for various personal reasons. it is the first addition to the traditional galleries in two years. i vow, however, that i will ensure a return to my proliferation of old.

this is a moment of celebration, children.

vale.

as of this post, the facebook page for propraetor is at 64 “likes.” it is my hope to reach 100 by year’s end (which also, coincidentally, is my birthday).

therefore, if you are on facebook, these are the steps you need to take:

• click here.
• click “like” next to the page title.
• click “share” at the bottom of the list to the left of the page.

there will be contests and special offers in the near future to make it all worth your while.

gratis et vale.

i‘ve been experimenting with digital painting for a while now and i adore it. i liken it to sculpting with light and colour (2 things somewhat alien to my everyday life). my heart lies in ink, however – in the rich, black carpet of dots and the flowing textures etched thereon.

yesterday, i picked up some quill nibs, some black and red ink and some new boards to work on. even the change felt good.  last night, i played with one of the quills on a small piece of illustration board. i like the feel of it. tonight, i play with washes. this might be a harbinger of the new direction. we shall see.

stay sharp, everyone. the next proprætorian piece is emerging soon.

as some of you know, i have gone through some rather sharp personal changes in my life recently. recovery from those changes will take a long time, if it ever comes, but i am combating the stress with the best medicine in the world – labour. arbeit macht frei!

work is proceeding apace on the fourth installment in the opvs homo favstvs series. i am well-past the point of recognition with it, but am still a few steps away from the home stretch. once in the final leg of its creation, the piece will practically finish itself. i am deeply excited by this.

next up, i have the next in the seneschal series as well as the next installment in the edictvm series. more importantly than this, i have yet another series i will be embarking upon. this will be a series of dark, austere portraits of mythological female figures – goddesses, heroines, warrior queens, etc. while sensuality will play a very subtle part in this, this series will focus more on either the royalty or the tragedy of the characters in question. more on this as it develops.

in addition to that, i will also be working on new sculptures and digital paintings and, most excitingly of all, graphic novels. again, stay attentive for more.

in the meantime, i bid you all stay true to yourselves and your humanity.

vale.

her name was missy. she was pure fire to interact with.

i had the regret of only knowing missy a fairly short time, and i will not pretend to have known her as well as her family and closer friends. the brief time that i was friends with her, she left a sweet brand upon my heart and soul. she was an incendiary creature of desire and joy, but also of confusion and heart-break. she came to inspire the majority of the pieces i made during the 2001-2003 era of my work. she blessed me by posing for some of my sketches. She even fell asleep during one.

note: i dug around for some of my sketches of her to scan and include with this notice, but all i could find was this last one. even though she was sleeping, the picture looked somewhat funerary, so i shall not include it here. i will try and see if i can draw something new from memory.

i used to jokingly refer to her as my “whore of babylon”, a title she bore with pride for me. she understood clearly that this was not for any sexual references, but for the sheer lust with which she approached life, itself.

though i had not spoken to her in 2 years, the mark she left on my soul had never left me and i suspect it never will.

requiescat in pace, my dear. i shall look for your constellation.

as those who have paid attention to my work have noticed, i have hitherto split my work between two different pen names: proprætor and edgar gruesome. due to various personal reasons, i have opted to assimilate the “gruesome works” into the larger collective of the proprætorian oeuvre.

to view these works, please refer to the menu item “the digital gallery”. more will be coming soon, albeit more in line with the proprætorian mandate.

vale.

propraetor.com is back up and running. there are still two pages which still need to be completed in the marketplace section of the site, but the galleries, bio, links and art prints sections are complete.

while there are also still some webhosting issues, the site should no longer be “on-and-off”. none of the issues will interfere with the presentation of this site.

so, once again, i present propraetor.com! enjoy.