New Shell Pieces

I've been working on some new shell pieces. These works are my way of showing how these natural forms inspire imagery to me. My hope is that people will take from this a new way of looking at the world around them.

The first is titled 'The Dance' and the second is titled 'The Tortise and the Raven'. The painting around the shells expands on the original imagery. Tried to give it a watery feel.

Walking Line - Update

Wanted to go ahead and post an update. I knew there was an elephant in there, and I found it.

Studio Night at Mother Dog

Last night was the "Raining Cats and Dogs" show at Mother Dog Studios. So, I was up there working of course, and left the mingling to the artists that were finished with stuff. Have a show to get ready for, and I'm not driving 50 miles to just sit around. And here is a picture of the inspirational wall, which was uncovered when I removed the big wooden box that was taking up this wall of the studio. The paint was just cracking and falling off. I've left it for now since it looks so cool, and I know that John will want to take many excellent photos with it.

Work in Progress - Walking line

I've decided to call these kind of pieces "walking line" after hearing Paul Klee's work being described as "... a line taking a walk." I thought that described what I was doing here. I let the line just travel around and when it's done I find the image inside, by luck. So, I never know where these pieces are going to end up. I usually do this on paper while taking notes or sitting in a meeting, and for some reason find the technique difficult to translate into charcoal and paint on board. This was the third line I tried last night, the other two didn't have anything interesting in them. Right now my focus is on figures and animals, so the egg-beaters are left out for now.

In Prep for new Collage Portrait

Here's a quick snapshot of the underpainting for my next collage portrait. Instead of magazines, I'm painting the collage. Below are some of the photos I took at the beach for the collage.

Worked in Studio today

I was hoping to get more accomplished today.  Continued working on the crayon technique.  Trying not to cover the drips to much.  It's starting to look decent.  You cant really tell from this pic (I have another I might upload later), but I was trying to fix the sky without painting over it.  On the far left you can see the "reverse-drips" that I tried.  Also, in the original crayon pieces the horizon line was mostly white (paper) so I thought I'd try that too.  It looks ok so far.  I want to capture some from the original pieces, but not lose the cool drips. 

Art Night - Magazine Project 4 (new model)

This picture doesn't do it justice, but I've felt bad about not posting.  So here is another Magazine Project.  I actually did this while the model was posing, well at least roughed it in.  I've finished it out more today.  I'm liking it, so I'm calling it done. 

Art Night - Magazine Project 3

For some reason I keep thinking of Doctor Who while I'm working on this.  I'm pretty sure it's inside the Tardis.

Life Drawing this Wednesday.  Should be able to try this with a real model.  Can't wait.

Art Night - Magazine Project 2

Here is from the second night of work on the magazine project.  I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I've begun further defining the figures and the backgrounds.  At this point, I do not know which will be more defined.  Probably I will reduce the background, but we'll see.

Art Night - Magazine Project 1

This Wednesday I did not have a model (yet again) for Art Night.  In my erratic humor that night, I decided it would be a grand idea to get people involved in a project.  I'm calling it the magazine project because that's where it started.  

The idea was to sketch a model using collage, then going back and drawing more detail out of that.  I've posted my example page (of course I had no model, being the model).  I will post the steps of this process so that people can follow along.  

Red Elephant

Here's a work in progress. I just started this painting last time I was in the studio, and fleshed out the idea at home afterwards.

Work from Studio

Everbody loves robots right? Hope you do, that's the new piece I started today. I wish the colors would transfer to my camera phone. Maybe I should take my real camera next time. Right now there is only one part of this piece that's giving me fits. Can you guess what it is?
Anyway, I wanted to do something different this time for my subject. So much landscape lately.


Ok, I know I've already posted the following pictures. But these are finally done. I've had this Tree and Building Interference for a while now. I couldn't figure out how to finish it. I'm happy with the results I got. The photo is a bit blury, and unfortunately cannot see the painterly effect I achieved. I guess if you want to see it, you'll have to visit the studio. I'm planning a new "interference" piece. I'll get photos of it as soon as it's started.

The Art Crawl painting still needs to be stretched, so the cropping may change (I won't repost it :) ). I love the blue, and the movement. This photo is a little washed out, but there is a cool fresco feel to it.

In other news, I got a new space at Mother Dog Studios. More room to fill up with paintings.

Art Crawl Painting Update

Here's the update on the painting I started at Art Crawl. I'm pretty happy with it now.

Art Crawl Houston 2008

Here are some photos from the studio. This was my first Art Crawl (as an artist), and we had a great time. There were lots of people coming through Mother Dog Studios.

This is one of the walls I had in the studio. Since I share a studio, we each got two walls. Fortunately, I didn't have too many pieces, hehe.

This is the back wall of the studio, I had my portfolio out on the table, and some more paintings hanging. The one in the middle is a painting I started that day during the crawl.

And here am I painting while people were walking through the studio. Of course I took every opportunity to put down the brush and talk to people. I had a great time explaining my pieces, and was happy that people were interested enough to hang out and listen.

Here I am working on the painting. I'll be sure to post it when it's finished. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time during the crawl.

And for those keeping score here is the beginning of the painting from Art Crawl. I didn't start with any concept, I started with the paint flowing down the canvas. The yellow blobs turned out to be people after all.

Wicker Chair

This was the last piece from Life Drawing tonight. I'm trying a new technique. I'm liking it.