Newest work!

Good news everyone,

I finished a new painting. I call it "Reaching for the Starman". It's a tribute to an amazing artist named Jeffery Catherine Jones. I copied part of one of my favorite paintings of his, the spaceman on the left, and added my own style on the right.  The figure on the right means different things, but mostly it's about me reaching to the stars of the art world for inspiration. I'm donating this for a Kickstarter project to help fund the final editing of a documentary made about Jones. I saw a version of it in Kansas City when I was there for Spectrum Fantastic Art Live!  It was a very deep and fascinating movie that really moved me. When I found out about the Kickstarter project, I had to help out. This little painting is a way for me to give back for the inspiration that Jones had on me and my work.

The film is called Better Things: The life and choices of Jeffery Catherine Jones.  It's a fantastic look into a very interesting period in the history of illustration and fantasy art, and the life of one of it's giants. I didn't know her work by name, but after seeing the film I realized I've seen her work before and was already a fan. The "Spaceman" (my inspiration for my new work) had been my desktop wallpaper for at least a year. The solitude and the earnestness of the figure spoke to me. The form is fluid and alien. It's reaching for something, but what? It's vaguely American, but it could be another race all together. Sitting on a crescent moon, our figure in the helmet is perched in a surreal seat. It evokes the painting of an old master who I can't remember, where God is crouching with one arm down holding a compass and creating. This painting makes me think when I see it and I hope that my tribute does the same for you.

Bananas

This is a new thing and I am probably 30 mins late so its not cool anymore, but I still think its funny.

Skintones anyone?

Good news everyone! I was looking around the Internets and found a really cool thingy (technical term). I quite often have a realllly hard time figuring out the proper skin tone for a given humanoid figure in my work. Skin tones are hard. Lucky, someone with much more time and models on their hands made this little help for skin tones. They reference Pantone colors as the main color the person is. I think it's a really fun way to picture what the skin tone  of you subject matter would be. The reason this is helpful, at least it will be to me, is that once you know the "base" color of the skin you are working with, it's only a small matter to darken and lighten as you move across the different planes of the head and body. Please enjoy, link to original article.

We lost Lonely George

Flipping through my Twitter feed tonight, I came across a sad headline. Lonely George, believed the last of his subspecies was found dead in his enclosure Sunday morning. He was something of a poster "child" for the Galapagos Islands and the threat of human involvement on those islands. His passing hit me more then I thought it would. I remember hearing about him when I was in grade school and seeing photos of him. The unfortunate thing, his DNA was incompatible with the females put into his enclosure from other islands oooor he was sterile. I don't know about that, but all the clutches laid never hatched. So, we have sadly witnessed the passing of a unique species from the earth. George wasn't the last giant tortoise. The tortoises from the other islands have been put under protection since 1974. The good news is that their numbers are up from 3000 in 1974 to around 20,000. In honor of George, the lonely tortoise, I did a little drawing from a photo taken of him in 2008.
Link to article: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/24/famed-galapagos-tortoise-dies/?test=latestnews

Spectrum Live

This week has been really great. The long drive and lack of sleep has been worth it. I have chatted with some of my favorite art heroes, like Mike Mignola, James Gurney, Scott Gustferson, Greg Manchess, Brom, and met a bunch of other artists that are amazing. When I get home, I will be writing more about the workshop that I took from Greg Spelanka. Did I mention I have a Hellboy skull in my sketch book?

New Batman trailer!

This should be a post with the new trailer to the Dark Knight Rises. I'm working from my phone, so I am not sure if it'll work. If it does, and you you haven't seen it, its pretty cool.

Toppens for the birds

Anti-Occupy Protest Takes on Bird Killing Wind Turbines | The Weekly Standard

Ok, I usually keep things pretty much focused on helping Hazel, promoting my work, or other artistic endeavors. In a round about way, this is about art. The linked article (hope it works) is about the "Occupy occupy DC" group protesting the OWS people coming back out of the wood work now that the weather is warming up. The anti-ows folks were protesting wind turbines. As a very minor bird and bat watcher, I had no idea that the environmently "safe" turbines slaughtered so many flying animals.  Due to an increase of predators, song bird populations are already on the decline. Now birds have to worry about giant blades of death. My wife paints lots of birds for a living. Could she be documenting a declining and disappearing group of animals? Something I don't know the answer to, but wonder after reading this article; how much research goes into finding out the impact of these turbines? Are they placed in migratory highways? Remember, it's toppens for the birds, not chopp'n the birds.

Help for Hazel

Mediocre news everyone. Our little rabbit Hazel is sick, she has a tumor on her belly. Its a mammary tumor. One that needs to be removed. Sadly, this particular operation is expensive. It's not enough to make your head explode, but it is enough to make our check book and debit card cower in fear. To raise the funds for the healing of our little rabbit, Bregelle has setup a drawing for one of her awesome paintings. To enter the drawing, please visit Bregelle's website for all the details. It's a really cool chance to get a painting of your pet or favorite animal, like a muskrat, yeti, or panda bear. She'll even paint an octopus if you win and want her too. Please take a chance to win your painting and tell your friends. I might even do my own fundraiser, any requests?

Rabbits

Good news everyone, I'm still technically alive! And drawing. The other day or month or so, I was watching my rabbit run around and jump. She inspired these little sketches. Rabbits make little hops for joy when they are feeling good. This might only be a domestic rabbit trait, but it's a lot of fun to watch.

Yeah! Sundance!

Tonight we are once again in Park City. It is the first weekend of Sundance, but don't let that scare you if you were thinking of coming up here. We found FREE parking in under 20 minutes. Three of my favorite artists, Frank Gonzalas, Anthony Granato, and Richard Salicido are having a show. It's called Pin-Ups and Pussycats. It's a very feminine show. With some edgeness thrown in there to keep things spicy. It's worth a trip up the hill to Park City to see.

A picture from tonight

How about an awesome picture too? This is my awesome artist friend Amy Ringholz at her show tonight. She is very hip and the showcased artist this year for the Jackson Hole art festival.

Mobile blog away! Can this really work?

Testing the Blogger app

If this app works well, I might be posting a lot more. Maybe more stuff like this dancing gorilla.