Saturday, February 27, 2016

February Update

Just wanted to give a quick update on some things that have happened this month and last month.

As usual, I participated in the Postcards From the Edge show again this year. It is put on by VISUAL AIDS and takes place in New York at the end of January to raise money for AIDS research. Last year I actually missed the deadline so I wanted to make sure to get back on board again this year. I created this little cat drawing for the show. Each person participating was allowed to create one 4" x 6" work to be sold.

The next thing I tackled after that was to do a piece for the annual BRINK show at Antler Gallery in Portland. This was the 3rd year in a row I have participated in this show. It is always fun to do and a portion of the sales go to the Audubon Society here in Portland. In previous years I had thought of doing the iconic dodo as my contribution, but never did because I figured someone else would do it. But after checking with the curators, I was informed it had never been done. So I happy tackled it. Researching for reference photos was kind of fun on this one. Here is how it turned out…


The show took place mid January this year. Normally the shows at Antler take place at the end of the month, but the gallery was traveling to Los Angeles to do the L.A. art fair this year, so the show was scheduled earlier.Following that, I immediately had to work on my piece for the EMA show, curated by Hellion Gallery, that took place in Tokyo. I also did this show last year, although I only did one piece last year. This year we were all asked to do three. So this was the first of the three that I made. We were going the wooden EMA boards to work on. It was very much a blank canvas…..

The EMA boards are usually hung on shrines in Japan and have wishes written on them. Here is how the first one I did turned out…

The next project I worked on was 5 pieces for a 3 person show at Screaming Sky Gallery in Portland for the end of January. My fellow artists were Keith Carter and Morgaine Faye who also live here in Portland. There was no real theme to the show, which appealed to me. I had never shown with Screaming Sky before, but had of course visited a few times. These are the pieces I did for the show, as well as a couple pics of it all hanging up!







And lastly, just wanted to share a couple side projects and miscellaneous bits of news. I was recently featured in the "Don't Wake Daddy" 10 year anniversary book. The book features artwork by many artists who have participated in this annual show over the years. The shows is curated by Feinkunst Kruger Gallery in Germany. I feel very honored to be included amongst such talented folks. The book itself is a beautiful object and nicely put together! Each artist feature got a few pages :)

One last fun thing that happened recently was a beer I did the label for was released at the end of January. Gigantic Brewing, which is a local company, asked me to supply them with some artwork for one of their new beers. It was called "Kiss the Goat". I didn't have to do anything new for the project, just give them a good image that fit the tone of the product. This is what I came up with. I had to alter a few things in the computer slightly to make it all work, but I think it turned out pretty good. It's a dark beer and has a rich flavor. I was lucky to get a case of it for free as part of the deal :)

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Images from my solo show "Noctem" at Antler Gallery

I recently enjoyed my fourth solo show with Antler Gallery in Portland. I am always excited when they ask me to return to do a solo show with them. This year, I branched out a bit and did some shadowboxes, which I had been wanting to experiment with for quite some time now. I was also convinced to do a mural in the show where the pieces would be shown. This ended up being quite a feat and for a minute there I wasn't sure it was all gonna get done, but it worked out in the end! Overall I was pretty happy with how the mural and the pieces turned out :)

Looking forward to showing again with Antler in April for another solo show!












































Friday, September 25, 2015

Unnatural Histories IV

This is the piece I created for the fantastic group show "Unnatural Histories IV" at Antler Gallery in Portland. Last night I attended the opening and it was a wonderful turnout with killer work all around. If you are not familiar with the show, the theme is mythical creatures, already known or one of your own creation. Each artist also provides a description of their creature along with their work. This year I chose to illustrate the Tarasque.

"The Tarasque was a fierce mythological creature that inhabited the area of Nerluc in Provence, France. According to accounts, it wreaked havoc on the land and killed anyone unfortunate enough to get too close. Most describe the beast as being a sort of dragon-like hybrid with a lion's head, six furry legs like a bear's, a torso thicker than an ox covered with a turtle shell and a scaly tail that ended with the stinger of a scorpion. It was said to have originated from Galatia and was the offspring of the Onachus (a scaly, bison-like creature that burned everything it touched) and the Leviathan (a giant sea monster described in stories from the Bible). The Tarasque appears in a legend in which it was tamed by Saint Martha. As the story goes, the King of Nerluc had tried his best to rid the land of the monster, employing all his military tactics, but to no avail. It was Saint Martha who ultimately rendered it docile by charming it with prayers and hymns. Once tamed, she led it back to the city, but everyone was so terrified by it's appearance that they attacked and killed it. Martha preached to the citizens and converted many to Christianity. Feeling remorse for the death of the creature, the people changed the town's name to Tarascon. The coat of arms of the city of Tarascon features an image of the creature. In addition, an annual festival is held on the last Sunday in June to relate the legend of Saint Martha and the Tarasque."

To see all the pieces in the show, and to purchase them online, please follow the link below!


Gearing up for October solo

Lately I've been super busy gearing up for a solo show at Antler Gallery next month. Currently working on 10 drawings and hopefully will also get to do at least a couple small shadow boxes, as  time allows. I was having a real hard time getting started on this body of work, and at one point wasn't happy with a single piece I was working on. But now that things are moving along a bit better, my feelings are shifting from being so negative. Still have a largish drawing to tackle the ink lifework on next. Will keep posting progress pictures in the meantime…….stay tuned.








Sunday, August 9, 2015

Pictures from the "Preternatural" show at Pony Club Gallery in Portland

Will be on view for the month of August! Hononred to be part of such a great lineup!