I am still not sure how I feel about this piece. I always like the photo's I have taken looking up into the far branches of trees and thought it may make an interesting recycled mixed media piece. I think I am going to have to live with it for a while before I can decide what I think of it.

I have several pieces in this show, it should be lots of fun!

Yelp Shops Local Holiday Soiree!, East Millcreek

Events
Yelp

www.yelp.com

It's Yelp's largest event ever in SLC! Did you get your invitation? RSVP now!Yelp Shops Local Holiday SoireeThursday, December 1st7-9pmMillcreek Art Space At Flynn Artipelago (3474 S. 2300 E.)You've made your list checked it twice, and now it's time to hit the streets looking for those perfect gifts.....

I finished this piece over the long weekend. I am very excited it is finally completed. it took a while to get going but once I sat down and really focused it went faster then I thought it would.

I will be participating in the Millcreek Holiday Stroll December 3. The gallery I am showing in is also is also having a couple of large private showings of the works as well. I have eight pieces in the show. Mostly the mixed media work. Very exciting.

 This is the initial drawing for my next mixed media piece I am working on.  I have found memories of my rocking horse as a child, I remember pretending I was riding off to all kinds of fun and exotic places for adventures.

I just finished this piece, she is a fire fairy on an 8x10 canvas board. I had to switch gears temporarily from the portrait of my daughter I was working on. I have been invited to have some pieces in a gallery. The gallery space is rather small and so I need a few smaller pieces and pieces that will appeal to a wider audience.

This is the drawing I did for a new peace I am starting. It will be a recycled paper piece. I have been trying to figure out a way to do peoples faces in this style knowing it obviously cannot be a realistic portrayal. I am excited to give this a go and see how it works out. It will be nice to get back to work after being away from the easel for a few weeks following a death in our family.

Leo Tolstoy

This is a piece I did for a fundraiser for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Utah is having at Gallery Mar in Park City. It is made from a bowling pin. It is Leo Tolstoy and his hair and beard are made up of Russian text of "War and Peace." It is styled after the Russian nesting dolls. 

Event Information: 
When: August 26, 2011; 6 to 9 p.m. 
Where: Gallery Mar
580 Main Street
Park City, UT 84060

Mixed Media

This is my latest mixed media Piece, she is made of recycled wallpaper and scrap book paper. I am not sure why but I have always been drawn to these types of images of lone figures looking off in the distance in the same direction as the viewer is looking. 

Nostalgia Coffee

I hung a new show Friday at a local place called Nostalgia Coffee. It is a actually a really nice space and I was able to hang 15 of my pieces. They are going to be up for a couple of months which is really exciting. Because Nostalgia has really high ceiling and is a fairly large open space it makes some of my even larger paintings seem not so big. It is interesting the effect a space can have on a piece. I really like how the show looks though it is fun to see that many pieces all hanging together in one space. 

Eagle Gate

I finished this piece a few days ago. It is a painting of the eagle gate plaza in Salt Lake. The bridge spans a six lane road through the city. This is actually the third version of this particular sculpture. My friends father built this version on the 1960's and my friend remembers it sitting in his fathers shop in pieces. The picture is a bit fussy sorry. I like using a very limited color  palette with these types of painting  as I want to capture the rich texture of the cityscape by reducing distractions that come with a full color palette and trying to paint it like it is a photo.

Eagle Gate Progress

This is a painting of a sculpture called Eagle Gate that spans state street (a 6 lane road). I am making a little faster progress now that I have mapped out the perspective which took a while but has proven worth the effort. I am getting ready to really go to town with bringing in the texture wish me luck.

Buddha

This is a small mixed media piece I recently finished using recycled magazine pages. I thought the soft silhouette was most fitting for the subject matter. Being only 8x10 and fairly simple shapes as well as shading it went really fast. I was able to complete the whole piece in about 5 hours which is lightening fast for this type of piece. Some of the larger more complicated pieces can take 50 or more hours to complete.

Central Park West

I just finished this piece, something a little different from what I have been doing. This is from a photo I took in Central Park its the view from my friends favorite picnic spot. It took a lot of pushing and pulling the tones to get the effect to work but I m happy with it. 

Fancy Dancer Abstract

This is the latest addition to what I hope will eventually be a series of abstracts based on Native American pow wow dancers. This is based on a photo of a fancy dancer I took at a pow wow at the University of Utah a few years ago.

Jefferson Market Library

This piece always bothered me it just always looked more like an architects rendering then an actual real place, not to mention some other concerns. As I worked through the Bodhi Tree piece I finally figured out what bothered me most is that it was missing the garden at the back of the building.  So I went in and made myself a garden and fixed a few other small details that have been bugging me and I think I am finally happy with it (if not the picture which came out a little flat..sorry)

Abstract

I just finished this abstract based on a Native American dancer at a pow wow I went too. I have taken a lot of photograph's at pow wow's but I can never seem to catch the incredible flow and movement of the dancers with a simple photograph.

Duck Duck Goose

I finally finished this peace after several delays. It has been a really fun process and allowed me to reconnect with an old friend and mentor (thanks for the orange feet Bob). I associate the game duck duck goose with fond childhood memories which is what inspired this rather silly painting. If you are not familiar with the classic kids game duck duck goose the game is played by A group of players sit in a circle, facing inward, while another player, the 'picker' (a.k.a. the 'fox'), walks around tapping or pointing to each player in turn, calling each a duck until finally picking one to be a 'goose' The 'goose' then rises and chases and tries to tag the 'picker', while the 'picker' tries to return to and sit where the 'goose' had been sitting. If the picker succeeds, the 'goose' is now the new picker and the process begins again. If the 'goose' succeeds in tagging the picker, the 'goose' may return to sit in the previous spot and the 'picker' resumes the process. Anyway it was a good break after the vary long process of the bodhi tree piece. I really like those pieces but they can be very consuming to complete. 

duck duck goose the process continues.

I have been making slow progress on this painting due to being involved in some swaps on swap-bot (bookmark swap and doodle a day swap). It took an unexpected turn when my artist friend decided to pick up a brush and paint one of the ducks feet orange for me but I think I actually like it and will leave them that way. I will post a picture of my bookmarks later this week as well I think they turned out pretty nice.

great quote

I was talking with a fellow artist last night about the difficulty of knowing  when an art piece is finished.  He quipped about how he used to watch Bob Ross (happy trees) amazing ability to work a canvas then inevitably over work it rendering the work boorish and common place. Our conversation rattled around in my brain as I was reading this morning and came across this wonderful statement By Herold Speed in his book the art and science of drawing "Finish in art has no connection with the amount of detail in a picture, but has reference only to the completeness with which the emotional idea the artist set out to express has been realised."

Quote

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. William Faulkner 

duck duck goose the beginning

I decided it was time for a bit of light hearted humor after the long process of the bodhi tree.

I like using unexpected color pallets when doing these type of paintings to try to move people beyond the automatic reaction of "look there is a  ......." and hopefully give the viewer the chance to connect with the piece in a more intimate and emotional way. the painting is going through what i call the ugly phases right now and I always have to convince myself to work through the ugly to find the beauty waiting to be released (kind of like life sometimes), but I find that if I stick without I find the beauty.

assemblage swap

I entered a swap on swap bot that was an assemblage/shrine swap. An area I have not ever really explored in art. I was assigned a partner who I had to make a piece for based on her suggestions of what types of things she likes. The person I was assigned to likes gothic, death, coffins etc...

This piece took a while to come together in my mind but once I got rolling it went fairly quickly. The poem (which is in the lid) is actually a poem a had written some time ago. A bit on the dark side but fitting for this piece I thought. I slowly burned and smoked the paper to try and create the effect of paper pulled from the ashes, it is a bit hard to see in the picture but I think it turned out well.

Bodhi Tree

I am so excited I have finally completed the Bodhi Tree! I ran into trouble when I reached the leaves as it took a lot more leaves (and material) then I had anticipated. In the end though it was worth the extra time and effort I am pleased with the results. I am looking forward to starting my next piece.