Art Plunge

"The Path of Diligence" 48" x 36" acrylic/krylon on canvas It's finished!  I only worked a zillion hours on it. It's funny to think back on all the hours in the studio and how many hundreds of songs I listened to while this was being produced. I can't wait to get it shot by a professional so you can really see the lichen which was a breakthrough for me in this work. This one was appropriately named "The Path of Diligence" because that is what it takes to make it in this world. Diligence. Like a busy bee always on task to make the honey. Like a crane patiently fishing to feed itself. And all the fruits hung like little gifts if your eyes are open and you are diligent about getting them. There is an abundance of good in the world if you are diligent. As for the lichen, I've always loved the stuff. On researching it for the painting I discovered that it's a way to tell if a place is polluted or not. Lots of lichen means HEALTHY ...

"The Path of Fruitfulness" 24" x 24" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas I finally finished this piece I've been slaving away on! It is based on a Gankyil (Wheel of Joy:The Base, The Path, The Fruit) and I took a few detail photos :

The iconic Peter Max After dropping off art at Rising Gallery yesterday I remembered hearing about Peter Max having a show in town somewhere nearby. It seemed like a good day to hunt it down....after lunch. I had my first Twisted Root experience. It was good and the way they call you a celebrity name at the counter was funny. Although I was not thrilled with my name. Everyone else when called to the counter had a funny little joke, quote or lyric with theirs. Mine was simply called out straight and really what else can you say with a name like PINK . PINK?!?!?!  Ha!  At the drink machine I saw the word root beer and filled her up. I took a drink, this was supposed to be amazing root beer. What filled my mouth was not the taste of root beer at all. I was dizzy for a second as pure sugar rushed through my blood. What was this taste....so familiar...almost like cream soda, kinda like root beer but...no...it was...BUBBLE GUM! Then I spied a little piece of paper taped ab...

Latest works in my studio I snapped a shot of these two together before I wrap em up today. They are going to go travelling to Rising Gallery and my studio is going to look like a boring old dining room again. Little tip for the artists, a nice roll of painters drop plastic goes a long way towards protecting your art for travelling! Wired up the pieces yesterday so they'll hang nice and decided that the latest piece would look much sharper with the sides painted black. I decided that after messing around with a photo of it in Photoshop and seeing how striking it was against black. This one would actually look cool framed in black if someone bought it and felt like doing that. :-) I've entered two juried competitions in the past week, one was the Hecho in Dallas put on by the Latino Cultural Center and the other was the Craighead Green New Talent show. Both were free to enter and I have found it's best to promptly forget about these things as soon as you sub...

"The World of Traceable Ghosts" acrylic, krylon on canvas 30" x 40" C'est fini! It's done! I put a lot of hours into this and excited to show it in public this Friday at Rising Gallery. I'm curious to see it hanging next to the mice. Today I just finish off the sides and install hanging fixtures to my pieces, wrap them up for travel and they are ready for the ball. I took some detail shots with my  humble camera detail  detail A lot of symbolism snuck it's way into this one subconsciously. I've also added secrets than can only be seen in person.  One thing I want to say about my work, I almost never have a set idea in my head of how it's going to be. No road map. No sketch. I let the canvas tell me what to do. I feel like I learn so much more when there isn't a connect the dots to follow. The forms, colors, figures, they appear like magic apparitions. Each thing sparking the next thing, like dominoes falling. I ha...

detail from work in progress "The World of Traceable Ghosts" There is a good chunk of time when you first start a painting that feels a lot like hacking through a thick forest with a cheap plastic picnic knife. Then after some time it feels like your plastic knife has turned into a well forged and sharp sword. Things start opening up and becoming easier. Paths begin to appear where there were none before. I finally hit that point on this painting last night. It's a good point. It's the point when you see clearly what all is left to do to the work and not the "what the hell am I going to do?" point anymore. I've posted a few photos on facebook of my progress and gotten a phenomenal response so far. YAY! I was very skeptical of the color scheme at first. I've been living in aqua, green and pool blue land for so long! I even had a fellow artist and blogger (Lizzie Fortuin) from the Netherlands ask about putting my piece on her website ...it...

I feel about as smiley as that photo would have you believe!  I'm about to hit the gym for the first time in awhile and more importantly I'm about to go back to PiYo class which I have missed dearly. PiYo is a Pilates-Yoga fusion class with emphasis on strength training. There are some weights involved with your downward dogs and warrior poses. PiYo was so awesome for my health and back that I was easily addicted even though it is a HARD HARD class with lots of pain. Like tomorrow....I'm going to be so sore and crying for Epsom salt baths. I know this. Hit the road yesterday for a 2.30 mile run and felt awesome. Not having pain in my day was cause to celebrate a working body. On the road to health and kicking the bad habits behind me...Spring cleaning if you will! Its nice having some time to take care of ME for a change.  Started base coating a new canvas yesterday and liked the look of the spray so I tried it again, different colors and a whole different idea o...

THE FINISHED PIECE! "Sometimes You Feel Small part 2" 36" x 48" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas ...will be on view at RISING GALLERY on June 1! I started this thing on April 15th and finished it respectively on May 14th. Thats about a months worth of work on this thing, snagging a few hours a day or whole days sometimes to work on it. This was my first piece I fully documented publicly through it's various stages and also the first piece I used a different approach to. That being for one....the krylon spray in the background and also the very careful layering from back to front...all the elements in my pieces are usually just placed on as my brain sees fit, whether in the foreground or background.  It's been an interesting process and a few people were watching diligently and offering supportive words- thanks friends! Let's have the whole story now from start to finish: This thing is 36" x 48...

This is the latest progression on this piece. I've added the green branch shapes and the pale blue circles. This was the layer just before I'm ready to start adding in some darker features and weight into the mix. I'm ready to crack open one of my favorite colors: Paynes Grey and start heading into the browns. Yeah, my house is a mess but I'm on a roll and I can't be bothered with dishes just yet.... (Soundtrack while working on this piece: Swervedriver, June of 44 and some 60's mixes)

No doubt when you are doing something you absolutely love it doesn't feel like work at all. Whatever that may be... gardening, cooking, reading, writing and in my case....painting. In fact when I start painting and I'm in my zone I kind of equate it to being on drugs. It's like an addiction and I find it really hard to stop for the day. It's a lot like being in love. You miss it while you are away. You think about it and anticipate returning to it. Or maybe I'm crazy. I can only say in my defense that I have not been able to paint something for myself for a VERY VERY long time. I am coming off a year of having to hustle everyone elses commissions and deadlines and benefit pieces and nothing was done for little ol' me. POOR ME! Just kidding, sorta...but this is why I am feeling pretty euphoric that I carved out a little time this weekend to work on my newest and biggest piece. For me. Mine. MINES!!!! And to prove just how smitten and retardo I am about pai...

Fourth Layer: Blue branch shapes Third Layer: Soft blue grey organic shapes and pale green color fields Second Layer: Spray painted blue and pale green forms First Layer: Double coated flat color primer That is just a brief visual rundown of where the painting is and has been so far. I'm at the stage where I'm adding in some bolder branch shapes that intersect, overlap and dodge behind other forms. In case anyone was wondering about my process...no, I don't sketch these out beforehand. In fact as I get to each form- thats when I reach for a pencil and draw out the form to be, right before it gets painted. I work intuitively on my composition, breaking up shapes and space. Sometimes mistakes make happy discoveries. For instance my paintbrush was fully loaded with paint and bumped into the canvas accidentally where I had not planned it and I felt like I had to make a plan B or escape route to fix my mistake. I ended up really liking what the form was doing....