Happy Christmas

landscape

Funny thing when ever I am asked about where is home something like this is what comes to mind.  My folks moved when I was in college to what some days feels like the edge of the map.  They live outside of a nice little community.  In the middle of 27 acres mostly surrounded by cow-pastures and Christmas tree farms.  When they first bought the land and were setting to build Google maps showed forest on its best days.  My dad always kidded about living on the edge of the world, where dragons roam.  It makes me sad not to be able to travel home this year, where there is always great food, cooler climate, and loved ones.

dancer

I love it when I create a project thats something a little different from my more "typical" works and everyone immediately knows what it is.  I created this beautiful little wire dancer for a semi-home made gift exchange that I went to for the holidays.  It was a whole heap of fun especially since we have for the most part scared to the wind.

cola bottle

 

It's been raining cat's and dogs all day.  Makes it hard on people dropping off and picking up cars here at the auto shop.  Though we have been really lucky this year and have something going on all the time.  Have been sitting waiting on customers and in-between creating invoices and ordering parts drew a sketch of my Coca-Cola bottle.  With hopes that it will be sunny tomorrow so that my head will stop hurting and my mood vastly improved.

Tree House Village (re-post)

As promised I added some color to the original tree house village.  It certainly adds something not sure which version I like best.

Double fun

For this creation I decided to play with two trees and felt there need to be some connection between the two.  I know that my parents had a pulley system running from the back of our house to our tree house and it was the coolest thing to get lunch/snack sent over via pulley system.

Club House

For whatever reason this tree house demanded to have a slide and I feel like it is product of the 90's.  I can't even count how many movies from that period that have boys hanging out and having sleepovers in a neighborhood club house.  Though Sandlot still holds a special place in my heart.

Bird Like

For whatever reason, these turned out to look more bird house than tree house.  Love them all the same.  Lets just fly away into the sunset.

Open Air

Another tree house design.  This one is a lot more open with lots of look out platforms.   Making easier for tree houses to transform into a pirate ship with a little imagination.

Play

 

One day I'll have a yard, so that I can build a tree house for a study/studio and it will be glorious!  I feel like it would look something like this, with an elaborate pulley system to allow for me to move my crazy projects and proposals around.  Also allowing for lots of different projects to be undertaken in different settings without the hassle and mess of cleaning up each time I change train of thought. Who doesn't want to be creative, adventures and inventive in a place separate from the everyday?

Techincal details:  ink pen on white printer paper.

Tree House Village

I guess it's getting cooler in the great state of North Carolina.  With this comes a child like wonder as a new bare world is presented to us all.  To start, I have an overwhelming love for tree houses. Love the idea of play and creativity that comes with the imagination of playing in a tree house.  Being part of a secret club, that is separate  from the world.  I know my brothers and my childhood tree house still holds a dear place in my heart.  (The knowledge that it no longer stands brings a tear to my eye.)  The challenge of creating a perfect house with all the right dynamic parts for a child, and the idea that it is embodied in a specific perfect tree is wonderful.  Even better is the knowledge that it is home to inspiring imagination and love of the great outdoors.  I feel this is the starting point of why man wished to join the birds in the sky.  To live and thrive above all the rest and truly sore in the clouds.  

This is the first I am afraid of many tree house drawings to come. As well as the first version of the drawing above, I am hoping to add some green leaves to give a little more depth of field.  (Pictures to come later if successful.)  I had a great need to create a tree house village so that each home would look as different as any "normal neighborhood" that rest safely on the ground.  I had a lot of fun playing with different architectural styles, using some of my formal design training. 

Technical details:  ink pen on white printing paper.

View lost

Enjoy the messiness of this work on torn scrap paper, makes the entire work even more appealing.  The chaos and topsy-turvy is due mainly to the way in which I framed and organized the drawing.  Everything has been compressed into a much smaller space, without  my allowing a real sense of perspective and balance.  All the same it was a fun activity playing with the boundaries of the depth in the drawing.

Wall

Always finds that doodling when I am allowed time to let my mind wonder is always interesting.  As much fun as it is to people watch they don't always hold still long enough for my pen to find them.  Found this little detail while gazing out the window at the consignment shop.  Though we were very busy found this and it's sister work easy enough to come back to after attending customers lazy Saturday needs and whelms. 

Side table

Been spending a little more time in my apartment lately, at the more random hours.  Finding I would really like a couple side tables for my apartment.  Would love to build and tighten up my own designed would look something like this. 

Mountain-scape

Mountain-scape was an interesting commissioned undertaking, honestly haven't done a whole lot of landscape painting since I took art lessons from Ms. Maxine.  There is a whole lot of details to the work and was fun once I got into it.   Though I do feel a mix of emotions as it reminds me of my parents home outside of Asheville NC and being on my mothers families whole sale nursery.  Hope the image reads clearly for those interested parties.

Technical details:  acrylic on 18" by 14" stretched canvas

Abstraction

Was working on an abstraction of an ink well for my business cards.  This one is my far and away my favorite version and decided to create a larger version.  Even if what came to be is a lot my abstract.

Technical details:  acrylic on 12" by 12" stretched canvas

Under took a somewhat different commission project more recently.  This one was requested with specific interest in World War II motorcycles.  Haven't had much experience painting motorcycles but was super excited about stepping out side of my more typical projects.  Feel pretty good about how it turned out and learned a whole lot while creating this work.  Really struggled with the scale in which to create the bike.  Feel that this is a happy size for the bike and the background to live in harmony.


Question is:  should I rework the size or any of the shadow/highlights? Delivering the work end of the week or next week?  When ever I complete it's sister landscaping project.


Technical details:  acrylic on stretched 18" x 16" canvas.

Ink

I re-found my small collection of ink bottles.  This is a quick sketch with water color, is just one of one of collection.  These much loved, lovely ink well are so tiny and colorful; begging to inspiring creativity.

Technical details:  black ink pen, water color on paper.

Street View

Another found image that thought had some potential to play with.  This work was started with the hopes of creating a mix media project.  And was a struggle don't know, don't really completely understand why but this is the third version of the same work.  Granted working around fifty hours a week recently but haven't had this much trouble envisioning a work in a long while.  Choose to include the original image, for a better understanding of why this photo drew me in.

Technical details:  black ink pen, acrylic paint, water color pencil & water on water color paper.

The Bears!

The long anticipated and awaited Bear painting!  It's been a long while in the making and to be honest completely overwhelmed with the shear size of the work and the simplicity of subject matter.  My mother requested that I create a thirty-six by twenty-four painting of a or multiple black bears.  She has had a love of them since she was a little.  Now that my parents log house is "nearly complete" she found a need for a large painting.  Had been looking for one in some magazines and then some how realized that she had me.  Afraid the photo doesn't do justice to the color quality but felt the need to share all the same;  the background is very green not nearly as blue as the image portrays.  Sorry only been able to capture images in the evening due to catatonic working scheduled.

Technician details:  acrylic on 36" by 24" stretched canvas.

Joyful

 

As bad as some things are, It dawned on my middle end of last week;  I must be one of the luckiest people in the world!  I am working lots, unlike some many right now.  Between my three jobs plus my freelance/commission projects.  Which means I get to do what I love, create and develop all sorts of projects!

This lovely work was created for one of my favorite peoples.  She is as wonderful bright and cheery as the work created.  We where taking some time to catch up and she made mention in passing that she would like a version of my other zoomed in flower work.  I took that as incentive to start a painting for her.

Dreaming

A good friend came to me when we where in school, a long while a go asking me to create a painting for her.  We more recently revisited the subject and found hopeful inspiration in an unlikely subject; her mothers unforeseen passing.  She has a strong memory of flying home into the sunset seeing birds flying.  My hope is that she will love the work and find strength in beauty that is around us every day.

Technical details:  Acrylic on 14 by 16 stretched canvas.

Little out of balance

A very wise professor once told me "never erase, what you deem a mistake.  Don't work in pencil because you'll be more tempted to do so."  Those 'happy accidents' become part of the work.  Probably part of the reason I love this work so much, it's a little out of balance like the rest of me.

It's a very loved pumpkin spice candle that lives and rest in my kitchen and has seen some better days.  Partly my fault forgetting it sitting on my toaster-oven while in use.

Technical details: Ink pen on printer paper.

Up Up and Away

 

Drawn from a phone picture taken of the back of the building in the garden at the consignment shop.  The shop is located on ground level, in an older multiple use building downtown.

Old Nike Sneaker

I loved this work thought in truth was struggling developing an idea for another painting.  There is just something playful about how they developed and informed the page as a work.

Technical details:  Cheap ink pen on printer paper.

Let's Spin and Dance

Sorry guys haven't forgotten about you all.  Picked up another job to pay the bills.  I have also been working creating just having more trouble lately getting my work in a digital format.  Was at the consignment store on first Friday (downtown Greensboro) talking to my boss about possibly entering some works in an up coming show.  

I Have played with creating mobiles before while in school and thought I would give it another shot.  Need some honest critics and feed back on what you all think and if its a project that should be further explored in the future.   

This work is about three feet long and two and half feet at deepest point.  Has lots of movement.  Made of silver twisted industrial wire, white sewing thread and aquarium marbles.

Der Wagen Haus

Today was a slow day at the Haus, where I work most afternoons.  Doodled a bit in-between task, luckily for me I do have two walls of windows facing a busy street.  It's amazing what you can do with an ink pen and some highlighters.

My Lovely Geranium

When my dad retired from the school, he gave me his pet geranium.  That has been living in his office at the biology department for the past 8 or so years.  Its absolutely Mammoth in size.  I took photo from below one of the stalks and the image above is a drawing that I've been dieing to create. 

Friend of birds

Sharing the other part of my blue bird series.  He's a touch lonely but was trying to get balanced within the work with tree limbs.

Blue birds

Have been working on an assortment of freelance projects lately.  Very excited I finshed one;  part of a set of paintings that I created for a friend.  She was interested in having some art work in her apartment that was like nothing found in stores.  Drawn to the color of the blue birds, I worked/played with some different approaches.  If a mother can chose a favorite child this is mine, sorry the first photo is dark.

boxcar logo

 

Super excited about my ultimate mixed club teams jersey design.  I have loved watching projects come to life;  even thought the whole process has been a little catatonic and still not complete.  If it all works out these are going to rock!  The boxcar is going to wrap around the left side of the body under the sleeve, more of the boxcar in the back than the front.

word pant

Mixed media/cut and past painting.  Trying to work outside of my more typical approach to painting.  Found lots of words and phrases that I liked but they were in very different fonts, sizes and a whole host of colors.  Decided to undertake the tedious task of painting over all the letters to make them more congruent.  Pasted it all together and started painting.  Had to rework and mold from my original attempt to allow the piece to work as a sold whole not two separate works.  This took a lot more thought than I would like to admit but am happy with the end result.  Hadn't planned on sharing this work but feel that it is different/same enough to my other works displayed.

Technical details:  Neyon magazine, glue, acrylic, 18" by 20" stretched canvas

Lone Shoe

Who doesn't love there old tennis shoes?  Found this image on line and reminded me of the days.  Where you just couldn't be cool if your not wearing a pair of NIKE'S.  Took some artistic licenses with the color of the famous Nike check. 

Technical details:  acrylic on 8" by 10" canvas board. 

boxcar

 

 

Some working drawings that I have been working on for a t shirt/jersey.  There's been lots of ideas bouncing around.  These are my favorites by far at this point in the process.

Happy Little Suprise

This was an interesting experience, while working on this work for one did it in three parts.  The back coloring, trying really hard to get the gradation smooth/easy to read.  Then created the cone on the flower which looked nothing like what I thought it was going to but turned out better than I could have imagined.  Lastly the petals while working on those I was working way to close and sitting there brooding about how they looked really wrong, that I was going to have to go back and redo the entire painting.  Luckily was forced to take a step back and what a happy little surprise some how my work came together without my realizing.

Should have known all along, being forced to take a step back in other aspects of my life and evaluate.
Technical details:  acrylic on 16" by 20" stretched canvas

A London Double

 

Hand a lot of fun with this one.  Found an photo from a trip long long ago with a taxi and Double Decker bus in it.  Inspired me to hunt down a better image for a work.  Really liked this one was interesting in different sort of way.  Got a chance to play with color and work on making the bus look worn out and tired.

Technical details:  acrylic on stretched canvas.