CHICK IN DRESS

Stick figure chicken in dress. An attempt to do some cute stuff, instead of being dark all the time.

LIGHT PATCH FACE

A quick iPad drawing study dealing with just light and dark solid colors.

SKY WATCHER

As a kid, I often looked up at the sky while lying down, trying to figure out how many shapes I could create from the clouds. Then I wonder, "what is beyond that?" This image seems to know what is above, but is concerned about the world below.

MUST CONTAIN VOMIT

Is it me or is throwing up a requirement in today's culture? I constantly see it in movies and tv shows and it doesn't matter if it's a drama or comedy, the genre does not affect the hurl. Well, if it's a requirement, here's my take on it.

TRANSYLVANIAN GOTHIC

First drawing done in quite some time. It's an odd take on the American Gothic painting. I've never been to Transylvania nor do I know enough about its culture, but to me this drawing has a whimsical Vlad the Impaler type of feel to it (if that's even possible).

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

My postcard entry to "A Book About Death (ABAD)". My wife, Patricia has been organizing this year's show (May 3-8, 2011) which will be held at Willo North Gallery, Phoenix. This painting, which I turned into a postcard is based on a photograph Patricia did of me a few years back. A lot of entries have been coming in, and I'm looking forward to seeing them all together. There's still time to enter: the deadline for postcard and memento is April 25, 2011.

LIVING AMONG THE GIANTS

Quick sketch, pen and ink...old school, I know, but I still enjoy doing it.

ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN LOSES A PAW

There's a certain sympathy seeing a hurt monster. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to the loss of a hand or in this case a paw. I think it goes back to when I was working at the bindery of a publishing place years ago with an old cutter. There were many people that freelanced there that's lost a thumb or some other part of the hand due to accidents from these old large machines. Thinking back, I remember putting my hands under the cutter many times, in order to prepare the stack of paper for cutting and thought nothing of it.

DRAWING IN BARGEMON

Patricia and I went on vacation for most of the month of November. We went to Washington DC, then visited family in New York and then off to France. We stayed at our friends' house in Bargemon for a week. I drew this picture of Patricia on the ipad brushes application while she was drawing in the living room.

GOODBYE LITTLE DOGGIE

Nearly a year has gone by since the burial of my dog. I remember holding her cold stiff body in my arms one last time before I laid her down and buried her.  Soon after, I carved out this print and wanted her to be a part of much of my artwork. Late August marks the first anniversary of her death and this was the only artwork I've done of her since. Life has kept me busy, and sometimes days go by without even thinking of her, but every now and then I do and it makes me happy...and it makes me sad. Perhaps this now old print will inspire me again to remember her. Goodbye again Brenna B. Jones.

DIVE IN DINER

Patricia and I collaborated on a block print project for the Great Art House Print Exchange. The exhibition will be held at The Brooklyn Art Library on July 16th. For participating we will also receive 15 prints from other artists, so it should be fun to see their take on the theme: "It'll be fun, I swear." Here are some more images on Patricia's flickr page.

A DEBUT GONE BY

Hard to believe that over a week has gone by since the Urban Artists Collective (uac) gallery show debut at Willo North Gallery. I thought it went well as there was a steady crowd throughout the night having a great time enjoying the local art scene.

The Phoenix downtown scene is yearning for a serious art venue that still maintains an urban fresh edge and I'm hoping that with so many artists in our neighborhood, we can contribute in giving this hot city (and right now, I do mean hot) its vibrancy that it deserves.

The show is up through the end of July with events planned for Third Friday and July's First Friday.

URBAN ARTISTS COLLECTIVE DEBUT

photo by Jill Lawrence, uac member

Urban Artists Collective (uac) debut gallery show is on First Friday, June 4th 2010, at Willo North Gallery. Much preparation went into putting the show together. The artists pitched in and helped hang and coordinate the space. Here I am figuring out some final touches. Come in to see the creative and varied work of uac.

PROFILE OF A MIGRANT

The sun rays beat down on the dark skin that blends into this barren land. Darkness nears as drips of freedom stain this earth. It had a good run, but greed creates borders. This race is an opportunistic, violent, talented race. This is the journey of the human race.

WHITE

This painting completes the Red, White and Blue series. I gave this one more movement than the others, but still tried to maintain a certain flatness to the figure. I wanted the white in this image to represent a certain type of haze, smoke, dust or light that impedes progress.

CHUCK CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

A full day of art was capped off by visiting the SMOCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art) where they had a sketching event in the galleries alongside a Chuck Close exhibit. It's quite amazing how much patience is involved in creating these prints. Here's my sketch using white pencil on black paper.

BLUE

This is part of my Red, White and Blue series. It looks like this series is shaping up to be a statement on how unnecessarily complex everything seems to be in today's culture. What will we morph into? Can we keep up with the pace, and is it really necessary?

RED, WHITE AND BLUE SERIES

I've always been intrigued by the odd shapes of some of the creatures in the depth of the oceans, surviving in complete darkness. How do they adapt? Society too is morphing. I wonder what it all means as we start to live in the darkness of loneliness. This is the first painting for my Red, White and Blue series.

ORGANICALLY MECHANICAL

I finally got to do some artwork with Patricia and Todd. As we were brainstorming about what to make for our holiday cards, I began sketching some organic shapes forming it into something mechanical. I often do this in order to get some idea going. Many times it ends up being something morbid...why is that? I like contrast in imagery and perhaps that lends itself to be on the dark, creepy side. With this in mind, I'm thinking of creating a series of drawings and paintings in this style. Oh, and the holiday card? After various suggestions, Patricia took it all in and came up with a cool idea...I knew she would. She'll put it up on her blog when it's all developed.

PREHISTORIC BIRD FEED

It was the end of the watercolor pad and all that was left was the back cover. I decided to paint on it as it looked like similar watercolor paper is being applied to the stiff cardboard cover. I found it surprisingly easy to paint on as it remained rigid and I needn't worry about the paper edges curling.