Think original!

There are only NINE DAYS until the end of the November specials!! ONLY $20 for an 8x10 drawing (only a drawing) OR $50 for an 11x14 drawing or painting for ONLY $50! Contact me ASAP!

Back to Basics

I'd like to work from my own photos again and have been for a few months. I feel like alot of the work I've done for the last few years have been, if not commission work, celebrity-related. This is my newest completed piece from a photo taken in 1998 or 1999. No title as of yet. It's an oil painting. And at the studio (I think it looks better in person, as it were).

Nimra and Close

There are times where I see another's artwork and just break down. Sometimes it's tears, sometimes it's anger. Chuck CLose is one of those artists. Not everything he does appeals to me, but his work is where I want to be. Another is closer to home (literally) and that's Armin Mersmann. I have worked with him at the Midland Center for the Arts for a couple years now. His insane attention to detail is where I want to be. It pushes me to focus and zoom in on the detail, as does Close's work. You can see Chuck Close's work here and Armin's work here
Then again, I see emotion in others' work whose paintings are looser and more impressionistic as opposed to the photo realism/photo rendering I've practiced half my life. My brush strokes are looser than my pencil lines, allowing a softer feel, but not always intentionally. When I was graduating from college with my BFA, my instructors said flat out that my black and white work has more power than my color work. One of them, after my "BFA exhibit final critique", walked up to me with his hands in his pockets and shaking his head.
"So you're not that good with color" he told me in his Bostonian drawl, "Ya just gotta work more at it, but your drawings and printmaking are very strong. You're good in black and white, but need work in color". Very good to hear the last week of my 4 year stint in the institution giving me my degree in Drawing and PAINTING!!

I will gladly pay you Tuesday

Continuing my series of Popeye, I bring you J. Wellington Wimpy!
(It's not done just yet)

Home Sweet Home

The West Branch Artist Pool show at Kirtland is now over and the remainder of my work is back in the studio, as well as some of Melissa's ceramics, too. So the studio is full of work. My body of work is back. Come check it out.

If I don't try, I'll never know, right?

Well, I hadn't planned on doing the recent Art de Combat at Enchante Gallery, but the morning of I decided to give it a try. If I won 2nd or 1st I can pay on the studio rent,and if I got 3rd I can at least get the entry fee back and a slick 20 in my wallet. I didn't enter the combat until 10 after 5pm (started at 5)and didn't choose a subject until almost 5:30. I gave up and drew Clint Eastwood from "Pale Rider". I was done in a little over an hour, so I walked around for a couple minutes and started on a drawing of Jim Morrison (still not done, though). The Eastwood was bid on in the silent auction, but the Morrison is available and in my studio.
Oh, and I did not place.

The studio that keeps on givin'!

I've added to my November special. ONLY $20 for an 8x10 drawing (only a drawing) OR $50 for an 11x14 drawing or painting for ONLY $50! I seriously cannot go any lower on pricing. There's also artwork in the studio marked down (red tags on them)and here are a few of the pieces marked down (drastically)

Block prints are each $20





The Joe Walsh charcoal is marked down to $120 and the Dom DeLuise/Ruth Buzzy is $40.



The graphite, titled "Mandy", is down to $120 (roughly 18x24) and the Stevie Ray Vaughan oil pastel is only $75.

NOVEMBER SPECIAL

Ok. New deal.
ANY artwork 11x14 for only $50. No limits other than the size. Contact me ASAP if you want it for Christmas.

Cast your Vote, but not until Saturday!

I want it clear that I don't give a shit about politics & I don't bitch & moan about changes & the way of the American Politician, because I don't care. BUT I do care about artists who put hard-earned money up to compete in art battles against other artists. I don't have said money so I might not be competing, but I still think you should check out ART de COMBAT this Saturday at the Enchante' Gallery in West Branch, Michigan.

Here's how it works: YOU get to the gallery and pay $20 at the door and get a ticket. You then proceed further and look at the artwork the artists are making (they have 3 hours to begin and finish a piece of artwork). You then decide which piece of art you like the most and write down the number the artist was given and drop your ticket into the designated ballot box. You then can enjoy the food and/or drinks available (pop, water, coffee, beer, booze) at no extra charge. Once you pay that $20 at the door you can eat and drink yourself stupid. Or you can watch the artists, mingle and/or wait to hear the results of the voting. Or you can leave whenever you'd like.
I may not be competing, as I have not had enough business to afford the entry fee for artists. But that doesn't mean I don't believe in these events to encourage the general public to get involved in the arts! You can watch an artist create artwork in front of you! And you can help that artist win money that can help their career or their family! AND there's a Silent Auction during and after the combat where you get a chance to bid on your favorite artwork being created. This piece, for example, was sold for only $40 at an art battle. Bad for me, but great for the highest bidder.