A Couple Announcements

Hey gang!

I've been feeling very inspired and artsy as of late from meeting up with some creative types, and as a result, have been taking advantage of it. Stayed up a couple nights ago until 4am to design a poster for an art show I'll be partaking in soon. The first weekend in August, I'll be showing and selling my stuff at the Bainbridge Art Expo and Music Fest. I've never attended, but it's a big local gig and sounds very promising. Looking at the handful of other somewhat-traditional artists accepted, I'm gonna really stand-out which makes me very excited indeed. Maybe I'll be able to pull all those crazy, hip art cats out of the woodworks around here. You know, spice up life a wee bit. Give the young art scene a push, if you will.

I see the coffee is kicking in.

Anyway, I'll discuss details about the show at a later date once it gets closer so any of you hip and local Puget Sounders can come and hang out if you'd like.

This brings me to an important bit:

A) The next online shop update has been decided upon! Finally! Come Friday, May 30th at 11am PST (2pm EST) I'll load up the shop with some new paintings, prints, and all those little ceramic wall plaques. Hoorah!

A couple of painting sneak peeks:
This one I finished a couple nights ago (approx 5x7") and has a background composed of collaged vintage stamps. As previously discussed, I'm loving slugs at the moment. It's funny. This piece was originally going to be so much more complex, but came out far simpler and I really love that.

And this one, while not new (painted last year), will be listed as well. I'm ready to see it go off to a new home (though I do love seeing it on this wall).

There's a few others as well that I'll keep in the dark until next week.

I'm off to do more sketching and painting (image above is from my current sketchbook). Happy Tuesday, guys!

Of Nobles And Nudibranches

This week's quick Friday 15 sketch has been unloaded into the shop and you can find it right here.

The weather has been drop-dead stunning these past two days, prompting me to buy a couple new sketchbooks and pens and just lay outside drawing the day away. Pretty heavenly. That's largely how I'll be spending today as well. Also, to help with a current in-progress painting, I studied and sketched a whole lot of slugs the other day. I've got slugs down. And look at this neat Haeckel illustration I found via Wikipedia showing various nudibranch varieties! Pretty cool, eh? I need to go out and buy a Haeckel book 'cause this is beautiful--and very frame-able.

A shop update is looming--I'm just waiting on the arrival of some boxes from Uline. Within the next week or two, certainly.

I'm out to get some sun in my Northwest eyeballs! Happy weekend, my loves!

Life At The Seashore

Party hats for one and all!A sneak peek at a small walrus who's more than ready to have some fun. He's housed in a frame that's equally tiny but just as festive as he, with some pink pizazz. I've got a thing for pink at the moment.

I had a really nice weekend. Went to a ballgame with my dad and brother and had a good old time. It was freezing cold though (the only downer) so I spent the entire game with my hands stuck firmly in-between my legs and a jacket wrapped snugly around me. Lots of coffee and hot chocolate was drunk by all.

Also took myself to the beach to have lunch and walk/think/ponder life near the waves. It was *so* nice to refresh myself like that.The tide was low, the rocks covered in kelp and seaweed, and the air was crisp, cool, and salty. Yup, life is pretty good.

One more thing before I get back to work with the paints--there's an interview with little old me over yonder on The Peach Tree blog if you're interested and would like something to read. Do check out the rest of her blog as there's lots of inspiring words and images.

That's all for now, ladies and gents! I hope the rest of you had weekends full of loveliness as well!

A Jaunt Across The Pond

Hello, my friends!

This week's sketch has just been listed in the shop. I recently had a dream in which a tiny sailboat was sailing around inside a teacup... *UPDATE: It's now sold. Thank you!*
I got a bit more done on the paint front the other day, but am hoping to get two more pieces finished today as well. Then again, I really *really* need to go grocery shopping, so that's number one on my list. Blarg. Grocery shopping is a necessary evil.

I'll pop back in tomorrow with more to show and tell. Happy Friday, everyone!

Sweet Dreams In The Thicket

I'm so sorry guys for being a bit scarce. It's been a rather busy week for me at the day job covering other folks' shifts and generally helping out wherever need be. I just uploaded this week's Friday 15 quickie sketch (wanted to get it online this morning, but eventually sleep won that battle).Red and pink are plaguing my sketchbook at the moment and I've been doodling some rather stylized foxes as of late as well... You can find "Sweet Dreams In The Thicket" right over yonder for the taking. **UPDATE: Annnd...just as quickly as it went up, it was bought. Thank you! I'll have another sketch in the shop next Friday (...in the morning this time).**

I have 4 as-of-yet unfinished paintings of various sizes taking up space on my work table and I'm pretty stoked about all of them. I don't have pictures of them *yet*, but soon. Very soon. And as a matter of fact, it's shaping up to look like I may be doing a shop update of sorts with all kinds of paintings, a few new prints, and some small ceramic wall plaques. I don't have a date in mind yet, but I'll let you all know when it will be occurring.

Speaking of ceramic wall plaques...

Here's the 8 that will be going into the shop in this as-of-yet-undecided shop update. I typically don't sell my ceramic pieces but I can't resist with these.

Lousy *lousy* photos, but I was too excited to sneak in some peeks at these. I made these entirely by hand (rolled the clay, cut it, fired it to bisque, painted it with glazes, fired it again, etc) and I'm quite fond of them. They're currently hanging in a hallway, looking quite dapper (especially that sly little fox one...). Simple and sweet.

I hope you guys have a splendid weekend!

An Art Storm Approaches

Wow, I got a ton done on the art-front over the past day and night. With two cups of potently strong (and yummy!) coffee along with an ipod loaded with some fresh tunes, I was on fire last night finishing up paintings and getting new surfaces prepped for yet more works. Woo! Go me!

I finally completed that large piece I had hinted at a while back for my dear friend, Rachel. It's a biggun' for me at 11x14" with a good amount of detail. The worn and cracked ballerina statue is based from one over in Salzburg and is just beginning to come to life in this piece. I'm *so* happy with it (and Rachel, I hope you are too!). And unlike the last time I worked on a large piece, this time I took progress photos so you can sorta see how it came together, which is always a bit fun.
This morning it was varnished up, framed, and is currently resting until it gets to go to its new home. :)

Also, a bit unrelated, but I thought it would be kinda fun to do a bit of a sketch-unload sale every Friday. Here's how it works. I have oodles of old books which I use the pages from in some of my paintings. However, I can't use 'em up fast enough. I'm drowning in papers. So, once a week, I'll do an ink/paint sketch on a random book page and throw it in the shop on Friday for someone to snatch-up. Every sketch will be a staggering low price of only $15 (hence the name of the Friday sketch-unloading event: "Friday 15") so that anyone can have a chance at some fresh original art, regardless of their pocketbook.

We'll see how it goes. I may only do two or three and decide it's just not working, but I think it'll be really fun. And unlike my finished paintings, which are typically pretty detail-ridden and polished, my sketches are always far more experimental and loose.

So, here's this week's Friday 15 sketch, dubbed "He Wasn't As Strong As He Thought":
And you can find it over yonder for sale. *UPDATE: It's now sold. Thank you!*

That's all from my neck of the woods, gang! Once these new paintings get started, I'll show you all some snippets. But for now, I'll just tell you that one very tiny piece involves a walrus and another piece will showcase something very...slimy.

Cheerio!

Please Stay Seated During Your Flight

Well, the concert was a-mazing. Gosh, I'm still pretty taken aback by the whole thing (fabulous audience, wonderfully intimate setting, the band sounded great and it was obvious they were enjoying themselves immensely). And I was less than 6 feet away from the stage {insert girlish squeaky-noise here}. It's so cool when a band you've followed and admired for many, many years is every bit as good live as you imagined they'd be. And my fellow Death Cab fans, you may rest assured. The new album coming out next month sounds *awesome*. Utterly awesome.

And after much tinkering, the Bearded Lady is now available in print form over yonder.

My scanner just about keeled over and died from having to scan the gold leafing on this painting. It did not like the gold leafing at all. But with a kick and a punch and a "you WILL like this...or else!" I was able to get everything lookin' good, the result being a lovely and very richly-toned print. I do love gold leaf but my goodness it can be a bit of a pain in the rear for reproductions.

On a completely unrelated side note, I was cleaning out old computer files earlier and came across this scan I made years ago from a flight safety card I *ahem* "borrowed" from a plane that I thought you'd all enjoy."DO NOT jump out of plane into flames of doom.

DO NOT jump out of plane onto sharp pointy rocks.

DO jump out of plane when the coast is clear."

It's a weird quirk, but I love flight safety cards. Is it strange that flipping through them is my favorite part about flying? I just love how every flight has their own uniquely illustrated safety card version. And sometimes, you get really hilarious illustrations (like the one above). I'm fairly easily amused, as you can plainly see.

Happy Wednesday, kids!