Little Man

Royal Animals Court Portrait

The elephant was not supposed to be in the shot. Pachyderms do not make great assistants.

Roxy

It's Peacocky!

Originally, this was part of the group of paintings I made for Biggest Loser. When I got them back, I worked more on this one. I didn't get a lot of time to work on them for the show. They never get "featured" but appear in background shots. They don't need to be that detailed for that. Some of that group I paint completely over. I liked the color of this one so I finished it. Requiem in Green 4'x3' Acrylic on Canvas.

I use metallic paint sparingly. I often think it cheapens a painting but here I liked the way it reflects light, hinting not so subtly at stained glass.

I really love "Alice in Wonderland"

This one is my latest "Alice in Wonderland" themed piece. And at 3' x 4' the biggest. I would like to publish my own version of Alice one day. It has allways been my favorite story.

Rabbit Hole is acrylic on canvas. I almost always use acrylic. The drying speed suits me best.

I have never really tried oils. I would like to experiment with them but I doubt oil will ever be my favored medium.

That's probably why I would be considered an Illustrator more than a Fine Artist. That's fine by me, most of my favorite artists are Illustrators. I am not terribly interested in the Upper Class Art Scene, my paintings are more Populist than that. My roots are blue collar Mid West, as much as I would like to imagine a gallery show with people dressed in black, sipping champagne and discovering the hidden meaning of my work. Sometimes it's just a painting of a Gorilla in a Costume.

Pink Snake

I also have Queen Elizabeth as a Bunny.

Henry the Ape really doesn't need much explanation. I had a dream that I needed to paint a gorilla dressed as Henry the 8Th, so I did.

He lead to several other Costumed Animal paintings. My background in Theatre, specifically costuming, comes in handy with these.

I had several of my paintings for sale at my Esty.com store.(I haven't updated my store) It was through Etsy that I was contacted by a Bat Enthusiast to create some bats in costume. Fruit Bat in 18Th Century Clothing is one of two that she purchased. The other Vampire Bat in 19Th Century Clothing is too dark to post. These are both about 9.5 x 7.5.

Springfield Life -That's the name of the building too.

This one is called Springfield Life. It is a building in Springfield MO. I hear it has since been renovated, this is how it appeared when I lived there. I attended Missouri State in the 90's.

This is a pretty good example of my style. I don't do photo realism. I appreciate paint. I want my work to be as much about the act of putting paint on canvas or pencil to paper as the subjects of each piece.

This piece took about five days, as far as I can remember. I work fairly quick. Once I start painting, I already have it finished in my head. It's just a matter of getting it out. Most of the time what I end up with matches the idea. Sometimes I will do a photoshop mock up of an idea for reference. Or for something fairly straight forward, work from an actual photo, though with modifications. Why just make a copy?

Let's give it a whirl, shall we?

I have never found a format that I like to host my illustrations and paintings. I am starting this blog as a platform to do that. Maybe talk about what I am working on, vent frustrations or share ideas. I guess this is a mission statement of sorts, though I don't like things to be so formal.

I have posted the painting I call Nadream. It is a self portrait of sorts. It is part of a series that I occasionally return to. I paint images from my dreams in a kind of Neo-Surrealist style. That's fancy pantsy talk for weird.

My friend Dana finds it disturbing that Nadine, my alter ego, is mostly underwater. That's my favorite part about my dreamscapes, finding out what part speaks to the Viewer? (Spectator? What do you call someone looking at a painting?)