A Year Gone By!

Oh my, a year has gone by and I have not been good to my blog. This last year I made a move back to where I grew up from Dallas, Texas to Grayslake, IL in May. I left my job with Our 365 Portraits, as they did not have a photography position for me here in Chicago. I am currently working with Olan Mills Photography and spending as much time

as I can creating art, outside of searching for where I will spread my wings.

Halloween, I showed some work in Kenosha, Wisconsin at ArtWorks in their annual "Monster" art exhibit. As always, the show closing was extremely fun;

wild and creative costumes, delicious oversized cake (one year it was a life size mumm

y), caricature drawings, and amazing art to see. I again attempted to make myself into a bird. Not just any bird, but a phoenix (see blurry picture).

My monsters this year were not spilled ink. I haven't done much with the spilled ink lately but have been focusing on creating colorful illustrations. I really want to work with water colors and gouache lately so I worked my monsters with these mediums as well as water color pencils. I love working with water color pencils, it gives an unexpected dimension to the illustrations. I find comfort in success with the unexpected.

This guy is definitely broken hearted. Left in the dust with only the shadows of foot prints from his last significant other. I recently was left behind and broken hearted. However, creating this brought humor to the situation and I saw a glimmer of hope in the future.

The green goblin is a curious glittery critter. Again this too was created with gouache and water color pencil, a mixed media piece you could say. I always have fun creating monsters, and I love that this show is an annual opportunity for me to continue creating little monsters.

Recent Ink Spill

I haven't been able to think of a title for this. A friend of mine and I were talking about it and I was mentioning how I see all these monsters in these ink spills. He went farther in saying how he saw some very bourgeois monsters. Everyone has something different to say about these ink spill/illustrations.... I find these different ideas interesting.

Mistakes in Art

Mistakes are what a person could potentially predict one or many in action. Not to be confused by accidents, something that cannot be foreseen, mistakes are what make us learn by our own and/or observing other's actions. One generally discards the endless work and passion spent on a project or situation when a mistake 'ruins' everything. When the first impulse is to throw away and start fresh can be good and refreshing, it's best to take what you have and make do. In most situations that's all one can do and when successful gives the most satisfying feeling of conquering the evil, awful, terrible mistake. After pushing past many of my own mistakes it can be possible to embrace mistakes for what they are, challenges.

A series of spilled ink. Of course, I intentionally spilled this ink, to make this series plausible to my claims I added a resistant to ink with water to create uncontrollable effects to each print of the spilled ink. Each print was unique and beautiful as it was, to manipulate the effect and 'mistakes' to something more than abstract I filled in the creatures and illustrations I find in each.

Summer Printing

This Means War!

Melvin

I was given a great opportunity to utilize the printmaking room for 3 weeks at the college I just graduated from. A few of my works are still in progress, the top four images are editions I was able to finish called "This Means War!" and "Melvin"..

I also have a few pieces in progress...

Flight of Emotion

       Pride and Victory (Oil and Acrylic)
    

     Flight of Emotion. A series of birds conveying human emotion outside of animal instinct. Pride and Victory (an acrylic diptych on masonite).

These pieces are hanging in my home in Ohio, I don't think I can part with them. They have a telling story of my growth as an artist and person through my last years in college. 

Liberation, as you can see below, is the piece I decided recently that I would donate to the school I graduated from, Carthage College.  It is so large that it demands a large area to be viewed.  Holding it at home or giving it to another person to hold in any home wouldn't quench the space it needs. I also feel that it belongs at Carthage, my experience and growth through out this piece was because of the place it was created. I think of donating it as a gift to those who instructed, lead and advised me to where I am and I feel it was the best donation I could give.

                          

                
  Liberation (Acrylic)

     The piece that was most emotional to me as an artist was 'Liberation'.  There are several layers creating the background which display an emotion that could be understood differently to each viewer. From serenity to depression, the downfall is contrasted by it's foreground subject, the white egret. This piece is 6.7' x 5.5', a very large piece which was a challenge my professor gave me near the end of my college career.  I could not be any more grateful for my instructors faith that I could complete such a monster of a canvas. After completing this I had a new sense of spirit toward myself as a person and an artist.

Hunger (Acrylic & Acrylic Medium)

Wounded (Acrylic)

          Wounded was my first piece in this series.  I had no references in mind or subject matter to work with.  I decided to open my mind to push forward with an idea for a series. I wasn't surprised with the concept of birds, I've always had a strange passion and love for birds.

Chariot Designs