Wendell McKay
@fluvialhoedad.bsky.social
Artist, cook, writer. Native Louisianian, perpetually assimilating Michigander.
Thanks again to the nice woman who brought extra poster making supplies to the demonstration outside Elissa Slotkin's Detroit office this afternoon. Thanks to @billcorbett.bsky.social for the slogan idea! :)
February 5, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Thanks again to the nice woman who brought extra poster making supplies to the demonstration outside Elissa Slotkin's Detroit office this afternoon. Thanks to @billcorbett.bsky.social for the slogan idea! :)
While the story of the Golden Calf would be a much better metaphor for what's happening in the US right now, there are a lot of feels going into "Joab's Rebuke" (from 2 Samuel 19: 5-8). Meaning to do this for a long time and still want to turn it into a painting at some point.
January 31, 2025 at 1:25 PM
While the story of the Golden Calf would be a much better metaphor for what's happening in the US right now, there are a lot of feels going into "Joab's Rebuke" (from 2 Samuel 19: 5-8). Meaning to do this for a long time and still want to turn it into a painting at some point.
Trying to focus this year on work that celebrates my values and environment, given how threatened both have become. Can't remember what I titled this offhand, but based it on a sketch a year back made from the Old Miami in Detroit's Cass Corridor. Tried solid inking for the first time in years.
January 26, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Trying to focus this year on work that celebrates my values and environment, given how threatened both have become. Can't remember what I titled this offhand, but based it on a sketch a year back made from the Old Miami in Detroit's Cass Corridor. Tried solid inking for the first time in years.
Maybe it's my (limited) social media diet the past week, but this has been my most prolific month since I started painting. Did "Hydrocherine Reckon" with gouache, charcoal and various inkwashes (another Gericault homage gone awry but all the better for it).
January 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Maybe it's my (limited) social media diet the past week, but this has been my most prolific month since I started painting. Did "Hydrocherine Reckon" with gouache, charcoal and various inkwashes (another Gericault homage gone awry but all the better for it).
Getting more confident and excited about new artistic avenues at a time when everything sucks so hard is... a vibe, even without trying to navigate politically and commercially contaminated online spaces on which you've established yourself. "Cafe Scene," regardless, was done mainly on Procreate.
January 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Getting more confident and excited about new artistic avenues at a time when everything sucks so hard is... a vibe, even without trying to navigate politically and commercially contaminated online spaces on which you've established yourself. "Cafe Scene," regardless, was done mainly on Procreate.
Like many, now weighing a potential social media diet. I was never on Twitter after early '14, but the Meta services are another matter (I steer clear of Facebook as best I can but it's still where most of the people I know congregate). IG especially is my main arts exposure. Who knows?
January 13, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Like many, now weighing a potential social media diet. I was never on Twitter after early '14, but the Meta services are another matter (I steer clear of Facebook as best I can but it's still where most of the people I know congregate). IG especially is my main arts exposure. Who knows?
Got some iPad time with my nibling (first time we've ever had a proper hangout) over Thanksgiving and the experience inspired a fresh burst of digital artwork (Autodesk Sketchbook on iPad 18.1.1). "Moonlight Squirm" (made using AS's oil function) hopefully portends better stuff in the future.
December 4, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Got some iPad time with my nibling (first time we've ever had a proper hangout) over Thanksgiving and the experience inspired a fresh burst of digital artwork (Autodesk Sketchbook on iPad 18.1.1). "Moonlight Squirm" (made using AS's oil function) hopefully portends better stuff in the future.
I turn 50 today and figure I ought to do something I wouldn't usually do on this new platform. So here's a"not-for-sale" painting (in the unlikely event I ever sell another): "Huronic Oblation" (2022). It and three others are, at present, the ones I want to keep or pass on in any eventuality.
November 25, 2024 at 1:19 PM
I turn 50 today and figure I ought to do something I wouldn't usually do on this new platform. So here's a"not-for-sale" painting (in the unlikely event I ever sell another): "Huronic Oblation" (2022). It and three others are, at present, the ones I want to keep or pass on in any eventuality.
Concentrating on art that brings me joy or celebrates values important to me. 2022's "Zacchaean Hustle" is an early example of this conscious drive; a blend of Ann Arbor's Blind Pig and Detroit's Lager House, with people enjoying music and each other's company in a diverse, inclusive environment.
November 24, 2024 at 1:50 PM
Concentrating on art that brings me joy or celebrates values important to me. 2022's "Zacchaean Hustle" is an early example of this conscious drive; a blend of Ann Arbor's Blind Pig and Detroit's Lager House, with people enjoying music and each other's company in a diverse, inclusive environment.
Most of my work isn't exactly escapist, but can be pretty opaque in its relation to present situations or capital-P "politics." "Boreal Misgivings" (acrylic on board) from 2021 was one of the few that was intended to be an at least oblique comment on climate change (like that would do anything).
November 23, 2024 at 12:05 PM
Most of my work isn't exactly escapist, but can be pretty opaque in its relation to present situations or capital-P "politics." "Boreal Misgivings" (acrylic on board) from 2021 was one of the few that was intended to be an at least oblique comment on climate change (like that would do anything).
Went to the Lager House last night to hear Alisa Amador; first real show I've been to since the election and it was badly needed. One recent priority has been trying to convert some of my better sketches into full illustrations, and this one of the Lager from several months back is in progress...
November 22, 2024 at 1:29 PM
Went to the Lager House last night to hear Alisa Amador; first real show I've been to since the election and it was badly needed. One recent priority has been trying to convert some of my better sketches into full illustrations, and this one of the Lager from several months back is in progress...
Staring down the barrel of turning fifty this Monday and 2019's "Taunted By Rodents" (archival ink on paper) seems to fit my mood this morning far more than some of my more recent stuff. Weird to reflect now on the intervening pandemic and how great 2023 and most of 2024 were.
November 21, 2024 at 1:04 PM
Staring down the barrel of turning fifty this Monday and 2019's "Taunted By Rodents" (archival ink on paper) seems to fit my mood this morning far more than some of my more recent stuff. Weird to reflect now on the intervening pandemic and how great 2023 and most of 2024 were.
Most of my earliest paintings have long since gone in the trash--there was a lot of crap I had to do to get to a good place--but "Circe's Retreat" from 2018 is still a personal favorite and a good example of how I used to use acrylic. Once I discovered oil, I've gone back a lot less, but still...
November 20, 2024 at 11:51 AM
Most of my earliest paintings have long since gone in the trash--there was a lot of crap I had to do to get to a good place--but "Circe's Retreat" from 2018 is still a personal favorite and a good example of how I used to use acrylic. Once I discovered oil, I've gone back a lot less, but still...
Watercolors can be a blessing and a curse for me; I have no interest in doing them the traditional (or "competent"?) way, but that frees me to experiment a little more with style. I did "Sciurine Lures" in 2021 and want to find my way back somewhere with this approach again.
November 19, 2024 at 11:05 AM
Watercolors can be a blessing and a curse for me; I have no interest in doing them the traditional (or "competent"?) way, but that frees me to experiment a little more with style. I did "Sciurine Lures" in 2021 and want to find my way back somewhere with this approach again.
Most of my ink illustrations have been on 8.5 x 5.5 in. Canson sketch paper, but some have been larger (9 x 12 in.), and "Shades and Shallows" as shown here was a good example not least of where I was psychologically during "high pandemic," for lack of a better word.
November 18, 2024 at 1:10 PM
Most of my ink illustrations have been on 8.5 x 5.5 in. Canson sketch paper, but some have been larger (9 x 12 in.), and "Shades and Shallows" as shown here was a good example not least of where I was psychologically during "high pandemic," for lack of a better word.
In a more realistic vein, "Corktown Eurydice" (archival ink on paper, 2023) was inspired by open-mic nights at the Lager House in Detroit, which has probably almost overtaken Ann Arbor's Blind Pig or Ypsilanti's Ziggy's as my most-visited show venue (long may that continue).
November 17, 2024 at 12:19 PM
In a more realistic vein, "Corktown Eurydice" (archival ink on paper, 2023) was inspired by open-mic nights at the Lager House in Detroit, which has probably almost overtaken Ann Arbor's Blind Pig or Ypsilanti's Ziggy's as my most-visited show venue (long may that continue).
Starting in with the inkwork this morning; been tending more towards urban realism (of a sort) in past years, but "Daunted Forage" from October 2019 was a decent example of the Lovecrafty vibe I still go with from time to time. Like almost all of these, archival ink on paper (usually Casson).
November 16, 2024 at 12:06 PM
Starting in with the inkwork this morning; been tending more towards urban realism (of a sort) in past years, but "Daunted Forage" from October 2019 was a decent example of the Lovecrafty vibe I still go with from time to time. Like almost all of these, archival ink on paper (usually Casson).
My figure painting isn't great, so I tend to swathe it in vaguely fantastical trappings, as in my tentacle-snouted occasional cast (seen here as a kind of St. George 2022's "Violet Mercy"; oil on canvasboard, one of my favorite ways to work).
November 15, 2024 at 1:28 PM
My figure painting isn't great, so I tend to swathe it in vaguely fantastical trappings, as in my tentacle-snouted occasional cast (seen here as a kind of St. George 2022's "Violet Mercy"; oil on canvasboard, one of my favorite ways to work).
My job used to carry Swiss cheese in white-backed cardboard, and I found it an excellent surface for oil, acrylic, and even gouache so long as I was careful with it. This is "Chlorochrome" from 2020, still one of my favorite results of this particular medium-to-surface approach.
November 14, 2024 at 1:18 PM
My job used to carry Swiss cheese in white-backed cardboard, and I found it an excellent surface for oil, acrylic, and even gouache so long as I was careful with it. This is "Chlorochrome" from 2020, still one of my favorite results of this particular medium-to-surface approach.
2021 was still probably the best all-around year I had for paintings if not inkwork, and "Murder Sprouts" was a particular favorite; had it as my laptop background for years.
November 13, 2024 at 11:49 AM
2021 was still probably the best all-around year I had for paintings if not inkwork, and "Murder Sprouts" was a particular favorite; had it as my laptop background for years.
Remaining unsure how or why to use Bluesky, so I'm just gonna keep posting paintings for now. This is the (horribly aptly-titled) watercolor "False Autumn" from 2021.
November 12, 2024 at 11:16 AM
Remaining unsure how or why to use Bluesky, so I'm just gonna keep posting paintings for now. This is the (horribly aptly-titled) watercolor "False Autumn" from 2021.
Dipping back, then (tomorrow, maybe?) dipping forward. "Gumdrop Yodel" (oil on canvasboard, 2019).
August 7, 2024 at 12:40 PM
Dipping back, then (tomorrow, maybe?) dipping forward. "Gumdrop Yodel" (oil on canvasboard, 2019).
First toe in the water. Bringing back "Dagonaides Rising" (watercolor on paper, 2021).
August 6, 2024 at 1:37 PM
First toe in the water. Bringing back "Dagonaides Rising" (watercolor on paper, 2021).