big blue green body

I was living in Charlotte when I painted this. Having just returned from a trip to my friend's family's beach house, we decided it was time to move closer to the ocean immediately.
This painting was executed quickly, and felt right from start to finish.
I donated it for a fundraiser soon after moving to Wilmington. I have no idea what it sold for. It was a silent auction.

adding oil

After the composition is worked out, and basic color scheme is in place, I start adding oils on top of the acrylic undercoat.

digital photo fun

I still am blown away everytime I take a picture, upload it, quick edit, then can post it here, or send it out. This is great technology.
i'm off to work. planning on having a great day.

Tibetan Ox in the water

This is the first stage of my most recent painting. I am going to post pictures of it as it develops. So far this is three acrylic colors on gesso, on wood panel.

surface noise

This one is going to Southport tomorrow with several others to a gallery named Artshak. I will have work for sale there for the next 6 months!

Riley the Waffle

Riley the Waffle was always warm
he found himself often in a cutlery swarm
he called on the butter to come to his aid
but the butter would seldom escape from the shade

finding socks that would fit was an infinite task
as Riley dashed through the store with a shiny green mask
the clerks all decided it was useless to fight it
so they joined in and all hit the flask

with ice cubes for armor, he lept out of the freezer
while in flight he encountered a miserly geezer
they exchanged quick "hello"s and then struck a pose
as the armor soaked poor riley's clothes

Armor now puddled beneath Riley's feet
he fashioned a bat with some leftover meat
just as he held the bat at full poise
dear Riley was startled by a frightening noise

he looked left, he looked right & gripped his bat tight
when the fork sauntered in with his chili night light
the peppery glow was a soothing distraction
but riley knew he should soon be prepared for duel action

the fork carried on at a moderate pace
so Riley decided not to douse him with raspberry glaze
attention called back to the task at hand,
Riley began his inspection of a disturbance so grand

suddenly Riley realized what had caused the commotion
the spray cream had been punctured
and caused a whipped, dripping explosion!
Riley set down his bat, gave the strawdog a pat
and licked it up in a circular motion.


This was the first real collaborative effort with Quinn. It was her idea. She told me that I should bring some drawing material to illustrate a poem she was going to write. I had no idea it was going to be about a waffle named Riley, I don't think she did either. Spontaneous creative collaborations rule!

machine love

This one is inspired by a temp job I had cutting pipe on the night shift when I first moved to Wilmington. The colors of painted steel coated with grease made my mind wander. Some of the gears had been grinding on eachother for many years. I figured that they must have developed a love for one another.

The answers came

This is the front to what I posted yesterday. Quinn (who is the woman in focus in this painting) asked me to paint this to illustrate something she described in these words......

"The picture is a visual representation of how I use to feel most of the time. It's a group of people, standing outside in a circle, with their arms out in front of them as if they are holding a stack of logs. Nothing appears to be in their arms...but the world is actually contained there in each of their arms. In their arms lies love, compassion, wisdom, passion, determination, faith, hope, desire, unique talents, integrity. What each of them holds in their arms are the things it takes to change hearts, to change life, to change the world. The image is heartwrenching. Each of them have amazing things within themselves...but they are at a loss as to what to do with them. They have come together, and understand the value of the togetherness. At least they do not feel alone. But what next? What are all these beautiful gifts for? Each person has a look of confusion on their face, sort of looking to the others for the answer. They know they cannot put their gifts/burdens down, they must stand firm. They are desperate to offer these gifts outward, but have no idea how to make it happen. So they stand together in this circle. Stand in silence with the key to a better world. Stand and hold the weight of the world with broken hearts.

This was the picture....

Now the picture has shifted. The picture is now engulfed in a radiant, golden glow. Each person has a beam of bright colors,racing with energy, which connects them to one another in the center and radiates out in all directions. After standing together all that time, the answers came. The answer to ignite love and progress, the music to call forth faith and hope, the vibrations of new beginnings...it all came."

I got to work on it immediately! This was a great experience for me.

additional amplification

This close up better illustrates what I was talking about in last post.

process

I am always intrigued by the temporary beauty that happens while a piece is created. It gives me the sense that I am a part of a process that is happening, more than something I am creating all alone.
This picture is the backside of a painting that I just finished, and was framing. I painted on the backside of this one out of convenience, and I had to sand four spots to get good adhesion for the framing brackets. It was then that I realized how cool this assembly looked to me. It was fun to take a picture of it, continue on with the frame making, and forget about the back of the painting.

Here's looking at you

Relationships, connection, separation, lacking, resentment, attachment, partnership. This is the only unfinished sculpture that I've felt the need to hang onto. It entertains me.
My plan was to carve my own Buddha, and his head came off while carving his foot. That entertains me too.
Light hearted contemplation on deeper things.

tell the truth today

That's what it says in the rectangle suspended between the two figures on the bottom left. "Tell the truth today" This painting was maybe halfway completed at this point.
That is my greatest challenge today. telling the truth. There's a lyric in a Dr. Dog song "Why is it that we need amazing grace just to tell it like it is?"
My experience today tells me that this is the best course of action. Speaking up, telling it like it is for me, and allowing others to help me. I wish I could say that with practice this has become easy. maybe easier.

practice

The word practice is one of my favorites. It implies to me a certain attitude of "lighten up", and at the same time "this is very serious". This painting was created at a time that I found an urgency to get home and paint. Mostly this was because I was learning a great deal about how certain paint medias worked together. I approached this canvas with the luxury of having no objective for how it turned out. The surface was built over about a month of painting for 5-20 minutes per session. It was fun, and educational. One thing that I have been afraid of with artmaking is to develop one approach, and get stuck in it. I find it critical for my growth to keep trying different approaches, and to continue expanding my vocabulary of brush strokes, and markmaking. It keeps it fresh for me.

Heart for Brains

This piece was more about style than content in its execution. I wanted to use some direct graffiti references with something of a rock & roll attitude for a heavily tattooed crowd who worked and frequented the establishment where this painting was first displayed. I used a small canvas, and kept the price low to ensure that it would be purchased. Now, three years later, and after having been toted to several other locations, it hangs over my TV set.
I've read a story about a Zen Master who when talking about his mind would point to his heart. A young art student made the connection to Bill Watterson's illustration style in Calvin and Hobbes when he discussed the two characters in the bottom left of the canvas. This was an exciting compliment for me! His drawings were a gigantic inspiration for me all through school.
Zen, Rock&Roll, Skateboarding, Graffiti, Calvin and Hobbes, and Love all on one small canvas. Good Times!

Dead Bones

This was my first online sale. It is an abstract that I had appropriated for a "Day of the Dead" show at Pura Vida. I spent one night adding skeletal references, and flowers to a zero that was in the middle of the composition.
A friend from my home town found me on myspace, and said that she and her husband loved this thing, and wanted to buy it. I sent the painting, they sent the payment.......straight business.

Turtles on Market Street

At the intersection of 5th and Market Street in Wilmington is a fountain that I have admired since moving here. The turtles are perched there, spitting water out of their mouths. All day, every day.

Dreams and train smoke

The line Tom Waits just sang to my living space was "I lived on nothing but dreams and train smoke". In the wintertime he is my favorite artist. This painting is shooting for that type of isolated poetic beauty. Old Chimney stands alone against the clear blue sky. Wilmington is loaded with this type of historic architecture. I love that.

Intentional art business connections

I woke up this morning feeling urgent about creating opportunity for a solution. The problem I face is I'm sure common to most other artists out there. How do I make my art sell. In this day of having the capability to connect with everyone else who is online, I have to believe that other artists are doing things that would help me. This morning I did a search in Facebook for NC arts, and made friend requests with everyone who popped up. This is not an approach I came up with on my own, I was in fact, reluctant to try it. I feel super good about it now, and am optimistic about the possibility of being in touch with other people who are in the same boat.
I make art that keeps me excited about being an artist, yet, I do not have very much experience in making this somehow fund the rest of my amazing life. "I've got a lot of things that I want to do! If I could just sell a few of these paintings I could go do them....." -What do you do in that situation? I would love to know.

without the frame

This is the painting from last night's post without the frame. I have two frames to make right now, and I'm almost ready to dive into a little woodworking project for a while. I'll keep this one brief.

going for it

This painting is my most ambitious in scale. 4' x8'. It's at least 200 lbs. It's the view of downtown Wilmington dwarfed by the green painted rusting metal of The Cape Fear Bridge as seen by the cars driving into, or away from Wilmington.
During the time that I was deciding to move to Wilmington I was mesmerized by this structure, and this view. In my gut I knew that this was to be a great place for me to live.
For months I've talked to people about trying to find a place for it to hang. So far it hasn't left my living space. I need to focus on getting it out of my home, and into a more visible location.

SUPER SONIC LOVE BEAMS

Super sonic love beams. That's what it's about. Funny thing about this one is it was painted at a time when there was absolutely nothing going on romantically in my life. I had been feeling lonely, but didn't find that to be very interesting subject matter for painting, not a neon one anyway.
Painting these characters and their laser like pull towards each other made me feel less lonely then.