Siolo paints

Time to get serious!

2012-02-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

Diana

My illustration work has been going very well and I have drawing shows booked all the way to September. I love drawing and I love making fun little things, like the Alphababes, that people can connect with easily and are happy to have in their home. On the other hand I have some serious work in my head that I'm finally ready to tackle. This piece is the first in my new series. These paintings will be large and they have a 3-D element that addresses some psychological concepts that are important to me and that I feel a strong urge to communicate. I have zero expectation of making any kind of profit on these and I'm ok with that. Hopefully the drawings can keep me in food and art supplies while I whittle away at these big works. Wish me luck :)

Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly

2012-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

This week the first show I curated opened with a big bang on Friday night. The show is called, "Pretty, Sexy, Dirty Girly," and is a multimedia exhibition of female artists addressing the topic of feminine sexuality. There is pin up art and figurative paintings that celebrate the female form, fetish art that challenges and arouses, installation pieces that examine the media's role in feminine portrayal and performance art that will capture your attention. This exhibition features all new art from some of the North West's most interesting and talented female artists. The show is hosted by:

Bherd Studios -- Seattle Urban Contemporary Art Gallery

Gallery Hours: Wed - Fri from 12-6pm + Every 2nd Friday from 6-9pm.

8537 Greenwood Ave. N | Suite 1 Seattle WA 98103 (206) 234-8348

Participating artists:

Andie deRoux, Crystal Barbre, Jackie Kingsbury, Niffer Calderwood, Maggie Schneider, Debora Spencer, Jenn Brisson, Sadie Beaudett, Jenny Dayton and burlesque performances by Lyla la Coeur and Cherry Manhattan.

Curated by Siolo Thompson

You can see all the artwork online here: http://prettysexydirtygirly.blogspot.com/

Here are some pictures from the opening

Alphababes!

2012-02-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

The whole Alphabaes series went up on the gallery wall on Friday and they were a great success. The originals have all been sold but I have prints for sale here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/siolo

Alphababes!

2012-02-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

The whole Alphabaes series went up on the gallery wall on Friday and they were a great success. The originals have all been sold but I have prints for sale here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/siolo

My third shot at the H plus the N and W

2012-01-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Detail of the letter N.

The letter N, it took me awhile to to find the right composition. I toyed with a few
different ideas; ladies standing, ladies sitting, cats and dogs... I like
how clean this looks and I'm very happy with my rendering on the blond
lady and her lovely bottom.

Hurray for W! I'm really happy with this one. I think the H and the W
are going to the same person so I wanted them to look good together.
W for wicked and willful and wonton!

This is the third H I've drawn, just could not quite get it to work until now.
It took me four ladies and a magic braid but I think I'm finally happy with it.

New Letters! This time it's V and O

2012-01-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

This is my second V, the first one just felt a bit too bottom heavy
so I came up with a new composition that is taller and to my eye,
more harmonious. There are lots of great V words:
vixen, vivacious, voluptuous, and vamp to list a few!

It took me awhile to figure out how to do the O.

This thing with the mermaids is probably cheating but

once I had the idea I couldn't get it out of my head.

New Drawings for the Greenwood artwalk this Friday

2012-01-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

This coming Friday is artwalk in the Greenwood neighbourhood and my home base, Bherd gallery has a great solo show of John Osgood's work. The show is titled between the lines and is really worth checking out. In addition artist Curtis Ashby and I have some new pieces on offer. I did these watercolor sketches and a few small paintings. If you have been meaning to pick up something from my tiny people series these are affordable and won't last long. I had three up last week at the pre-show and they all sold. It's going to be a fun artwalk and I will be in the gallery all evening. Come by and say hello :)

Naughty Nautical letter A

2012-01-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

The letter A, I had to redo this one to fit the format and
I sure am happy with it. The girls are a little more covered up
here, after all the book might need a PG13 cover right?

The letter Y, youthful, yours, yearning, yippee... okay, not the best words.
Can you think of something better?

New letters for today, getting close to finishing now!

2012-01-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Letter M with giant hat pins or tiny girls?

Detail from the new letter M

The new letter M in rectangular format. I'm not sure where the hat pins and hummingbirds came from.

The letter I is for impetuous, impish, irrepressible and intense

My new favorite letter

2012-01-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

The letter U

It's been a process, getting these letters to be stylistically consistent and finding the right way to present them. I am liking them more and more as I go. I will need to go back and re-do some of the earlier ones that were square instead of rectangular, but that's okay. My first drawing of the U was similar to this but the arms were further away from the body and made more of a square. I really like these girls though so I will probably finish the first U and keep it for myself or list it on Etsy.

Today is brought to you by the letters H, D and E

2012-01-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

The letter H, I'm not sure about this background. I might have to try it on something darker.

The letter E: enthusiastic, ethereal, ecstasy.

The letter D, this is a good one - delicious, daring, darlings

The Alphabet continues. Today we have the letters W, Q and M

2011-12-31T08:58:00.000-08:00

I think this one came out nicely, I like these girls. Can you see the W
clearly enough? Sexy W words, wanton, whisper, wicked....?

Q is a tough one, quivering? Queen? Queer? Quiet?

The letter M? How about mysterious and mischief, moan, mouth, maven....
What else?

New letters! This week P, G and J

2011-12-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

P for penguin! Heh.. and pouty, pretty, plump, pleasant, and pert.

And J is for... oh gosh, can't think of any J words today. Suggestions?

G is for girls! And gams and gamine, gems and garters and games.

Today is brought to you by the letters X, A and L

2011-12-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

The Letter X - I think we will have to use the x in sex and sexy.
Xrays and xylophones are a bit out of place here.

The Letter A is for angel, appealing, ample, ass??
A may not be the best letter for this game.

The letter L is for lusty, lucious, love and ladies
and I can think of about 10 more sexy Lwords!

Naked alphabet drawings

2011-12-18T10:14:00.000-08:00

B is for boobs and bottoms and blondes.

K is for kiss and kitten and kinky.

The letter C is for charming and cute and corset.

Illustration Friday - Separated

2011-12-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

A very quick brush and ink doodle on toned paper for this week's Illustration Friday prompt word: Separated

Brigade - for illustration Friday

2011-12-04T17:35:00.000-08:00

My Country is Full of Ghosts

2011-12-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

An artist should observe and describe the time in which they live. They should SEE the world around them, the people that fill their lives, the places that they populate. The artist should attempt to record and reflect the important issues of their time and bring attention to those things that matter. I believe this and I consider myself to be an observant person and yet I refuse to see people everyday. The homeless guy that approaches me in front of the grocery store; I look away because I know he's going to ask me for something. I see his bundles and rags, I see his dirty clothes but I don't look at his face. He is just another ghost.

This series of drawings is my way of acknowledging my failure as a human being and as an artist. It is also a challenge to myself and others. These empty human shapes are people who deserve to really be seen and acknowledged.

Portrait-a-day

2011-11-27T14:22:00.000-08:00

A few new portraits fom my portrait-a-day project

Matt Brown

Rodrigo DeMedieros

Julie Jules

Portrait-a-day project

2011-11-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

This project, Portrait-a-day, has two purposes. Firstly, I am a relentless autodidact and this exercise is an effort to teach myself how to capture a likeness and mood using very few lines. I have great admiration for artists who are able to tell a whole story, describe a personality, encapsulate a moment with just a few strokes of paint and contouring of light and shadow.

Secondly, these portraits are a kind of self-medication. When I sit down and focus on my memories of another person, the way they smile and move through the world, the reasons I like or admire them it helps me feel connected to life and to others. There are no strangers in this gallery, I will not be drawing people that are not already living in my memories, in my heart and in my head. Life is a collection of isolated moments, the best of those are moments spent connecting to others, to things outside ourselves and our own lonely worlds. Each of the people in this gallery have made me feel less alone in the world and I am grateful for that.

Cover Art for Lisa Cihlar

2011-11-11T07:09:00.000-08:00

Lisa Cihlar is a wonderful, Midwestern poet who writes gorgeous, lush, dark things. Dancing Girl Press is producing a book of her poems and I was lucky enough to be asked to supply cover artwork. The poems are so full of good things to draw, it was a perfect assignment for me and I love the work I did for this one. Lisa is also a super cool person and when I finished her piece she sent me this message in reply:

A prose poem to go with the book cover:

Another Reason She Doesn’t Pray

This makes the unwound bear seem not exactly gruesome, but instead as if one can see inside -- that the external has no power to bind vision. This is the way she sees the world through cadaver eyes. This is how she gets even. This is where the heart is inside the braid of bone and muscle. The heart is not filled with love but blood. It doesn’t mean to get even with thumps and skips. That is just its heart nature. If you want to find love look north. There is the sex and the hate and the tears and hunger. There are the words and the feeling that is the words and there is the place where a spark or a bump can change everything. Which, seriously, is just too damn cool.

Progress shot of my new Cthullu work

2011-11-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

I have been getting a fair bit of illustration work lately; book covers, art features, product logos. Sometimes these assignments are fun and sometimes they are just a bit of a drag. Mind you, I feel so privlaged to be able to wake up every day and do work that I love even if it is sometimes a bit tedious. Once in awhile though, I get a chance to do something really fun, something that is congruent with all my geek interests in sci-fi and comic books. The above progress shot is for an anthology of Cthullu mythos stories. Each writer is paired up with an illustrator. I got a great story to work with called 'The Green Tunnel'. As soon as the project is coming to a close I will send out some information about the finished book. The best part about this; the proceeds are going to people who suffered loss and damage in hurricane Irene. Awesome project all around.

November Shows

2011-11-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

Art feature in PANK magazine Nov. 2011

2011-10-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

PANK magazine is publishing two of my drawings in next months print edition. They are a cool operation that promotes emerging and experimental poetry and prose. Once upon a time when I was still writing I dreamed of having my work published in PANK, it's funny to finally see this come about in a completely different medium.

Up Next - Small works at the Ghost Gallery and the Bherd Showroom

2011-09-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have two new collections of small works headed off to the Ghost Gallery and Bherd for November. I'm working on oak rosettes and alder rounds which I am lacquering and trimming out with gilt edges. You will have to see these ones in person as the photographs do no justice to the amount of work that I have put into them. Working this small is kind of liberating. I have been able to fold more detail into these little things than I usually dare - I fear clutter (emotional and physical) but somehow on such small surfaces it seems okay and not to overwhelming. I'm keeping the palate limited to sepia, umbers and some pops of red and white for a cohesive look and feel. As with any new thing I do, I am curious to see how they are received.

Ghost Gallery

504 E Denny Way
(between Olive Way & Summit Ave)
Seattle, WA 98122
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill

(206) 832-6063

ghostgallery.org

September shows

2011-08-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Three showings coming up next week and I'm hustling, like usual, to get things done in time. My new oil paintings of the tattooed people surprisingly got picked up by the Columbia Tower Club and those hang on Friday. After that I'm trying to put together as many pieces as I can manage for Babeland on Cap Hill, a female oriented sex shop. The above piece is one for that series. On Friday the 9th I'm putting up my new animal totem sketches at Bherd.

Here are the times and dates:

Columbia Tower Club
701 Fifth Avenue
New, large scale oil paintings
Opens Wednesday, September 7th and runs through December.

Babeland
707 E Pike
Ink and Watercolor Illustrations
Opens Thursday, September 8th
Show runs through November.

Bherd Urban Art Gallery
The Greenwood Collective
8537 Geernwood Ave N
Opens Friday, September 9th
Show runs through November

The Grind

2011-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

When you play an RPG or any of those extensive character driven video games, leveling up your character is mostly a matter of 'grinding'. Grinding refers to the repetitive tasks or actions your avatar must perform to gain sufficient XP (experience points) to reach their next evolution. Usually grinding involves killing goblins or other low level beasts though it could also be chopping down hundreds of trees, mining absurd amounts of iron ore or even making pies depending on the game and how you play it. Grinding itself is not great fun but a moment comes when you have fulfilled the quota and suddenly your avatar begins to sparkle or rays of light come out of his head and it's euphoric, briefly. Now you can use new tools or better guns and you become more efficient at... well at grinding. Ah, yes. Just like a slot machine. There is no end to this process and it just gets harder each time to level up. For the sake of my sanity and productivity I stopped playing video games. However, painting has become something very similar for me. I grind away at each level, trying to learn more about my tools and techniques and after hundreds of hours my head starts to glow. Well, something like that. I think I leveled up with these most recent pieces. I've transitioned into using oil exclusively and I'm starting to get a pretty good handle on how to make it do what I want. I've got about 90 levels to go before I get my painting skill cape but I might not be a noob anymore.

Pictures from the Bherd gallery opening Friday, July 8

2011-07-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Showroom at Bherd gallery has become a really cool part of my artistic life. John and Michele Osgood have created a space where Urban Contemporary Art can live and breathe without restrictions. I'm very grateful to be part of thier stable of artists. The above photo is one of my walls before people began to arrive last night. I love being in the gallery when all the new art has just gone up and the public has yet to see any of it.

This is my other wall.

Accross the hall the main Bherd gallery space featured an exciting array of murals. This work is by Zach Bohnenkamp and it's terrific. The show will be on display for the next four weeks and is totally worth a visit.

The King of the Western Wood

2011-07-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Another new Piece from the General Snozu adventures:

Artist Reception at Bherd Showroom, July 8th from 6-9

2011-07-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Check out what's coming up this month in The Bherd Showroom. I am the featured artist this month and have a collection of new General Snozu paintings. There will also be some fantastic new work by the other 5 Bherd affiliates (CASH, Zach Bohnenkamp, Justin Kane Elder, Jesse Link, and John Osgood). If you haven't seen the new space across from Bherd Gallery, please stop by July 8th for the artist openings.

Artopia!

2011-06-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

This year for Artopia the fine folks at Seattle weekly challenged a group of artists to transform newspaper boxes into pieces of art. It was an interesting project as we only had a couple of days to execute our designs. Something geometric would have been easier than what I did but I am a figurative artist after all so my piece needed to reflect that. The design I thought up is not exactly what ended up on the box. Time crunch forced improvisation. You can find my project art the corner of 45th and Roosevelt in the U district.

Anomie Belle music video shoot

2011-06-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I was invited to participate in director Bogdan Darev's music video for Anomie Belle. If you have not heard her music yet, you should, it's fantastic. It was an exciting, demanding, interesting week. Th concept we were working with involved painting elaborate landscapes on to models bodies and animating them with anatomical movement. It's hard to explain and the pictures don't do justice to the art or the film we were able to capture. I can't wait to see the final product!

These are some of my sketch book pages for the project. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make these landscapes fit the bodies and how they would move once they were 'activated'.

These pictures are blurry but you can see how some of the pieces were applied:

Now we just have to wait for Bogdan to edit and release the video. I fell so lucky to have been a part of this crazy project. Anomie and her manger Anthon are amazing, complex, talented people and as soon as I met them I knew we were going to make something special together. Working with Bogdan and his partner Maria was a truly extraordinary experience. I don't know if it is possible to have more pure artistic passion than these people. The whole crew was just lovely and I know that not only did we create something really special, we also forged new friendships that will alter the way our stories progress.

General Snozu has gone missing

2011-06-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

Upcoming Show - TPN Gallery Walls - June 7th, artist reception

2011-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

And sometimes we almost understand....

2011-05-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Wallingford Robot... he lives!

2011-05-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

The Wallingford Art walk Robot is nearing completion. Maggie and I will be working on him this afternoon and we hope to finish up the last things that need detailing. The mural will be inaugurated at the Wallingford art walk tonight. we will be on hand to introduce our work to the community. Stop by if you can :)

Mural work in Wallingford

2011-04-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend Maggie Schneider and I began constructing the Wallingford Artwalk Mural. This mural will feature a very friendly robot and an awesome Tetris like geometric background. We should be finished with the work by next weekend and the mural will be inaugurated at the Wallingford artwalk on Wednesday May 4th.

Sea Monster tonight, April 6th 6-9

2011-04-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

29x13 framed and matted watercolor

The Sea Monster lounge is located at 2202 N. 45th St. in Wallingford and I'll be there for the Wallingford artwalk tonight (and Pioneer Square tomorrow). I have a series of 5 new 'illustration' style pieces all featuring scantily clad girls and heavy line work. This work is a departure from my usual more painterly stuff on canvas or wood panel but I wanted to do some things that would be more suited to the bar environment.

17x7 unframed water color

In addition I have a collection of small watercolor originals that people can purchase if they can't swing the price of a large painting. Here are some of the ones on offer that I will only be asking 15$ to 30$ for:

8x10 unframed watercolor

Clos Electrique Rouge

2011-04-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about illustration work quite a bit lately. Unlike some artists, I don't think there is such a great divide between fine art and illustration. For me it mostly comes down to representing an abstract idea or set of feelings vs representing a product or specific story. Of course some stylistic elements work better in print than others. Traditionally illustrations use a lot of crisp lines and bright colors. In this vein of thought I decided to try and 'illustrate' some of my favorite things. This piece is an ode to my favorite bottle of wine.

2008 Clos Electrique Rouge – the estate vineyard of Cameron Winery planted in 1984 to 10 different clones of Pinot noir. The ambient yeasts from this vineyard site give rise to gnarly wines underlying the dark cherry and licorice notes typical of this part of the Dundee Hills. The extremely minuscule yields of 2008 (less than a ton per acre) have given rise to an intense richly hued wine of complex character. And yet, because our vines are not irrigated, the alcohol levels are only 12.7%. Lovers of Cote de Nuit, this should be your choice for a compelling wine from Oregon. $55.00/bottle

Back to the Drawing Board

2011-03-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Painting is not harder than drawing. Okay, that's not true... painting is much harder. It's really fun to step away from my painting work once in awhile to craft a drawing. I can use lines to express things that I usually have to use color and light for. Using lines feels like cheating. For me, drawing is akin to running without weights after being weighted for a long time. The above drawing/illustration is 11 x 14 and she started as a graphite piece over a titanium wash on illustration board. I then did some color and outline work with ink. Easy, fun... nothing like painting.

Some details:

If you would like to buy this piece she can be purchased via etsy, just put her up for sale today. She comes framed and shipping is free: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70914937/bonsai-original-painting

General Snozu, the melancholy. He is the last survivor of a lost land.

2011-03-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

General Snozu's adventures continue. In the above painting he is visiting the King of the Southern Seas. These pieces are all going to the TPN Gallery Walls show and they are coming along well. Hopefully I will have more info about the General Snozu book soon.

These are all oil paint on wood panel.

Two artist receptions this weekend

2011-03-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Woodland Spirits - 18 x 24 Acrylic on Canvas 2011

The above piece is part of the collection of paintings that will be installed at Habitude at The Locks which is located within a working art gallery. Rotating art exhibits visually transform the space each month and starting Sat. March 12th it will be my turn. All of the paintings on display will be part of the 'Tiny Riders' series. I've become more committed to that theme and have three more shows booked between now and July that exclusively feature 'Tiny Riders'. There is also a book in the works and I've had a publishing offer!! ... too early to talk about but exciting none the less :)

Okay so this weekend: Habitude in Ballard on Sat. night from 6-9

Habitude at the Locks

2801 NW Market Street
Seattle, WA 98107

And Friday night from 6-9:

Bherd Studios Gallery

8537 Greenwood Ave. N | Suite 1

Seattle, WA 98103

This Friday I will be one of 17 Seattle urban contemporary artists that provided their visual interpretations of the book Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett. This darkly humorous cult classic pokes fun at the end times and nearing apocalypse. We found this a particularly timely piece of literature for a 2011 exhibit, with predictions of the end days right around the corner.

Featured Seattle artists include: Nick Beery, John Belli, Mike Capp, Cris Cook, Duffy, Justin Kane Elder, Eddy Lee, Matt Lewis, Xavier Lopez, Eric Osborne, John Osgood, Augie Pagan, Kate Protage, Chris Sheridan, Brian Thies, Siolo Thompson and Brian White.

*Plus a special encore opening in conjunction with the Pioneer Square 1^st Thursday artwalk on April 7 from 6-10pm on the 3rd floor of 619 Western building.

Animal Totems - paintings for March 2011 showing

2011-02-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things I mean to paint. Things I tell myself that I will paint next time I'm sitting in front of a blank canvas, next time I'm planning for an exhibition. Once I start to sketch, all my great plans for more intellectual, less figurative, less childlike work just fades away and these creatures and tiny people and magical robots begin to appear. There is meaning in all this fairy tale imagery it's just obfuscated by the whimsy instead of being wrapped in a more serious package. These are the shapes of my dreams and try as I have I cannot force them to be otherwise.

The process, in spite of content, is still very educational. I learn a lot from each painting. This week I've playing with depth of field, rendering fog and transparency. In my head I saw this swap kind of setting with a lot of mist and vines, tangled branches, watery gray light. I tried to capture that by building up layers of various opacity. I started with vertical strokes of Panyes Grey loosely mixed with gesso. I tried to concentrate lighter areas around where the figures would be. I then sketched the bird and rider in with a heavy gesso application.

I realized around this point that it was a mistake to have done my figure sketch so early. I should have laid down more background first. On the next painting (the one I am working on now) I did this differently. After a bit of agonizing about background/foreground item placement I started painting in trees and branches using Panyes grey for the background items and carbon black for the ones in front. Lots of gesso was applied thinly to recces the background and simulate fog.

Of course after that I detailed out the bird and rider and added the red thread in the birds mouth (he is building a nest with it). I learned all sorts of things from this painting that I am applying to the next one. Will post soon :) Thank you for reading!

New Robot painting, step by step for anyone interested in that kind of thing :)

2011-01-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

I based this painting on a Gil Elvgren pin up girl an Ashley Wood toy robot and and some compositional elements that I think I picked up from staring at Brian Despain's robot paintings for the last three years. I'm not comparing myself to any of those guys as they are all three far, far better artists then I. I just wanted to share some of my inspiration sources for those interested.

After sketching out the composition on paper I laid down titanium white, panyes grey and gesso on a 24x36 inch high profile, pre-primed canvas in a loose cloud pattern with some streaky effects as I wanted this piece to feel a bit dynamic and actiony instead of looking like a portrait. I then sketched in gesso the female figure over the clouds.

After letting that dry I started working on the robot behind the girl who is made (in my imagination) out of old parts from a junk yard Lincon. I wanted this guy to be really tall and kind of Iron Giant like.

I used burnt umber, carbon black and alzarian crimson to build my Lincon robot. I wanted him to have a dark coppery or rusted looking body rather than something shiny and high tech looking.

At this point I got tired and called it a day. I don't usually paint this fast anyway but I'm under a lot of deadlines right now so I'm pushing myself pretty hard. Next morning after coffee and shower I started really fleshing out the girl and finishing up Lincon. I think she still needs a weapon, maybe a drop holster and gun or large knife and the boots need work but it's getting close. very hard to know when a painting is 'finished' but I'm calling it good for now :) Thanks for reading!

Pin Up art with a little bit of a dark side

2011-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

A portrait of the quirky, benevolent witch Agnes Nutter

2011-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Sketching for the "Good Omens," group show at Bherd Studios in March

2011-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Michele over at Bherd Studios in the Greenwood art collective had the fantastic notion of forming a group show based on the book 'Good Omens'. As I read through this fun romp of an end of the world tale I'm sketching the characters as I become acquainted with them. This is my idea of what the friendly witch Anathema Device looks like. Just a sketch, still pondering what I will paint for the final piece.

New Work for Bherd gallery closing reception

2010-12-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

These are the five pieces I am bringing over to Bherd for the closing reception tomorrow. I have been influenced by Boardwalk Empire - an AMC saga that takes place in Atlantic city during the 1920's. These pieces are a tribute to Alphonse Mucha and the wonderful work he did.

New direction for January show at Darrells Tavern

2010-11-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

Darrells Tavern is a kick ass north end dive bar. In fact it was voted best dive bar in Seattle, 2010. I was invited to show some work there and after mulling it over a bit I decided to honor the American dive bar by doing a series of paintings that include American cars, pin up stars and local musicians. I'm not a big car person as most of my friends know but I sure do like to paint them. The smooth lines, the chrome, the utilitarian shapes.... very satisfying. So this is my first piece, it's just under painting right now. I think the Cadillac will be cherry red and the girl will be blond with a full sleeve tattoo. I'll post progress shots as I go. These are all big paintings, this one is 3.5 feet tall.

Pictures from the bherd and Gainsbourg shows, Friday November 12th

2010-11-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

Friday night was great fun, lots of fantastic art and tons of friendly people. Seeing all my robot paintings up at the Gainsbourg was very cool as well. I have been working on the robots for awhile but since I have been traveling so much this year I never have had them all in one place.

Back to the critters

2010-11-09T08:24:00.001-08:00

I'm doubting my ability to sell the conjoined twin idea, especially as small pieces so I am back to the animals for Friday's show. Behold the latest.

Pieces for bherd show, Friday November 12th

2010-11-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

After much agonizing, false starts and saddled animal portraits I finally found a theme, color story, cast of characters and idea that I am excited about working on. These two pieces are part of a set of five for the bherd show on November 12th and if people react favorably to them I will most likely start working on large versions of these guys. I'll have to stand behind unwitting strangers at the show and see what they say about the work. Should be interesting.

Conjoined twins?

2010-11-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

After agonizing over the animal paintings for the last few weeks I decided to set them aside and go in a different direction. I like old Victorian portraits of folks in fancy dress - I also like conjoined twins and the questions they spawn in my imagination. I started this piece yesterday and am thinking of covering it in wax. I think these could work if I find the right gothic frames to put them in.

This one is for Kari

2010-10-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is a watercolor sketch, not sure if I'll end up doing it on canvas. I may shift gears on this project all together as I can't seem to make anything I feel 100% about. Anyhow, this one is about my old room mate Kari and her pet rat named Ben. If nothing else this project should build my children's illustration portfolio :)

The Rabbit Rider - Painting in progress

2010-10-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

One of the paintings I am agonizing over. Not sure what else needs to be done to this. The first sketch has some charm, I think but the painting looks a bit sparse. Eh... I'll work on it some more.

The paintings I threw away

2010-10-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's not the first time I have been disappointed enough in something to just chuck it in the trash, I do that with some frequency because I am prone to creative tantrums. Well, actually I never throw things away I just gesso over them and reuse the canvas which seems reasonable. With these pieces though I put them in the garbage right after my call back for 'Top Artist' was over and I felt (for a few hours) like a complete failure. I was ready to throw the towel in on the whole art thing and if I had been at home instead of in New York I probably would have destroyed a lot of canvas. I had these three paintings with me so they had to bare all my discouraged ire. By the time I got back to London I was in a better frame of mind but a week passed before I felt capable of painting again.

Let the blogging begin

2010-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

I have long resisted the urge to blog. It always seemed a bit self indulgent and I had a hard time imagining anyone being interested in reading about my artistic travails. However, I do enjoy reading other people's art and illustration blogs so perhaps it's not crazy to think that someone might want to read mine. I guess I'll see.

This week I am getting ready for a group show at the bherd gallery in Seattle that opens on Friday, November 12, 2010. I have been agonizing about the work because the gallery asked us to do rather small pieces 5x5, 5x10 or 10x10 and I have been moving toward doing larger and larger pieces. Scaling back down has been challenging. So these are the ideas I have been working with so far - feedback is always welcome :)