November 15th, 2010
For many years, I've been uncomfortable with being "me". Somehow that just wasn't good enough. I don't think I thought that my name could be synonymous with any type of success, until now. Being on FAA, I've met some wonderfully talented artists who have used my name to signify one of the best in my genre. Perhaps it's time to no longer hide behind a pen name, but come out of the "closet" and sign my art using my real name...the real me. Well, I'm still searching for the me I will become,...
September 5th, 2010
Lately I have been in an artist's funk-lack of inspiration. I felt like I've lost my muse. I can attribute most of this to my personal life that I've been spending more time on-trying to keep my family together, not to mention some personal work. With my wife away at the Highland Games this weekend, I've had some extra time to tend to my creative flow, or lack thereof:)
I've started collaborating with a local photographer. He sent me some of his work, so I thought this would be a...
The Journey of the Burning Man
August 5th, 2010
Of the artwork I've done, "The Burning Man" has been perhaps one of the most interesting journeys I've taken in some time. It's one of those pieces that I'm amazed I ended up where I have AND pleased with the final outcome.
I started with the idea of playing around with all these texture elements I had collected over the past few months and re-use them to create something totally different. Sounded simple enough. The last abstract I did "Sheol" I thought came out nicely. I decided...
July 25th, 2010
I've just finished my new work "The Dreaming Tree" inspired by the Dave Mathews Band song with the same title. I've recently become a "fan" of their music after seeing a live concert from Atlanta on TV where they played an 11 minute version of this song. I was instantly hooked by the journeys this live version took me. I've had this song in my head for weeks at a time.
This painting is another example of having one idea in my head and the painting itself guiding me towards another...
July 13th, 2010
If you've followed my art over the years, you'll notice a few pieces that are quite the departure from my norm. I've always been a "nerd" of sorts: I still love vampires, werewolves, ghosts, aliens, etc. I've been listening to the Twilight series (yes, I know...) on audio as I drive to and from work. I wanted to do something different. I'm also a Zagg Skin artist so I'm thinking of some fun things to create that would look good on a laptop. Bottom line is that I'm doing this more for the...
April 30th, 2010
I was so inspired by my previous work, "Past Life" that I've decided to continue using trees as a thematic element in my new paintings. This one, "Moss On Tree" really was a lot of work to get the look and feel I wanted. I literally re-worked this several times, finally arriving at the final product.
April 30th, 2010
I've found myself at another crossroad. Well, to be perfectly honest, I've been right here for some time staring down at my shoes. These shoes seem to be stuck in mud. Not a pleasant situation, but one of my own making. Not to be too hard on myself, I've made some attempts to remove a shoe from time to time and make a step towards somewhere different.
In looking behind me, I can see a few steps I have taken that seem to bring me joy. Some say you can never really know where you...
April 30th, 2010
"Old One" is my fourth installment in my series on trees. I wanted to create something more dark, something more akin to a classic horror film. I knew that I wanted to use a old tree with a large exposed root system to add to the "creepy" factor. In the process, I started to form a face, a dry withered face-sad, perhaps even haunting. The challenge was to not make the painting look like a photo overlay. Thanks to my daughter who, when I thought I was done, said it looked like a photo on...
April 29th, 2010
"Sakura" is Japanese for the cherry blossom. You may have noticed that I added the kanji symbol for sakura "桜" above my signature. I discovered that kanji, the Japanese written language, is a way of explaining the "meaning behind" a word, not the sound of a word. 桜 describes the cherry blossom as a beautiful woman wearing a hair ornament. 木 is the symbol for "tree" and 女 the symbol for woman, and finally ッwhich refers to the ornament on her head that makes her very pretty. I...
April 27th, 2010
I was browsing some recently sold artwork when I stumbled upon a painting entitled "Deep Red" by Deborah Hudd. I really enjoyed her artwork. In fact, all the paintings of some Jazz legends inspired me to create this new piece, "Brew". For those who know Miles Davis, you should recognize the title from his fusion work, "Bitches Brew". This experience is, once again, an example of starting in one direction and ending up somewhere completely different.
I started out by re-working an...