Poster for Martian Horses

Martian Horses will be playing on Friday, February 4th!

please click to enlarge poster for show details

This was a really fun poster design. I busted out my exacto knife and did some serious paper cutting.

swirly smoke

teeny tiny bug parts!

two down, just a few more to go...

phew!

I painted the paper with acrylic paint
and wrote some of Jimmy's lyrics on top.

more bugs in the clouds of smoke...

Andy and I stamped the printed posters with the Martian Horses logo, and here they are drying.

Hope you can make it to the show. It's going to be a good one. =)

Kiwi Collage

Introducing... Kai the Kiwi!

(To view the study, sculpture, drawing, and vector graphic for this portrait, please view a previous post.)

Kai the Kiwi

I almost gave up on this one, because I didn't like the drawing I initially did. I sat on it for months!

In a way, it was a good break from the book project, and I was able to focus on some other interesting artwork. I feel refreshed from the break and am excited to be back at it.

lesson - If I'm unhappy with a piece, sometimes it's best to take a step back and find a new approach.
discovery - white outlines on the animal is an interesting look that works well for night scenes!
challenge - choose an animal based on an interesting behavior, and illustrate that behavior.

In the end, I think it turned out to be my first successful night-time portrait! I feel good about meeting that challenge.

Happy New Desk!

There's nothing like ringing in the new year with a visit to IKEA. Thanks to my new VIKA BYSKE. I now have enough table space in my studio to sew, draw, and much more!

I love my VIKA BYSKE

working on Kai

I also mounted samples of all my fabrics and organized them by color. It's already helping me choose better gradients for light and shadow in the portraits.

Happy New Year!

Change of Plan

After much thought, I've decided to make some major changes with regards to my book. Due to some issues I was having, I will no longer be doing an alphabet book, but a trilogy of animal books. Each book will have 15-16 portraits (instead of the whopping 26.)

click to enlarge and read the details

The first book will be entitled Animals on Land which will include most of the portraits I've done so far:

Byron the Bullfrog
Fae the Fox
Ira the Ibex
Jamal the Jaguar
Kai the Kiwi
Lauren the Loris
Quinn the Quail

Talia the Turtle will be in the second book, entitled Animals under Water.

One of the main benefits of this decision is that each book and its respective exhibition will have a cohesive environment, which will hopefully draw the audience deeper into the atmospheres I create.

Another perk of this change is that I can now work on any animal that inspires me! I don't have to worry about what letter it's name starts with anymore. So, please do keep sending suggestions of your favorite animals. Pretty much anything goes!

After all three books are done, I may still put together an alphabet book. I'll even have the option of re-using some of the 45 animal characters that I will have already created.

I feel good about this new direction. Things are making more sense to me now, and I feel a new excitement about this project!

Kai the Kiwi

After a long break, I'm finally back to work on my book. Here is my work so far on Kai the Kiwi. Hope you enjoy!

the study

the sculpture

the drawing

the vector graphic

Animal Sculptures (set 1)

Here are a few characters for my alphabet book project. They're now complete with color, and I've found a special spot in our home for each one.

Keeping the picture of my mom company...

Byron the Bullfrog
5" x 3" x 3"

Overlooking the office/studio from atop the cabinets...

Fae the Fox
7" x 5.5" x 4"

Hanging out on the CD shelves...

Jamal the Jaguar
8.5" x 4" x 5"

Gazing up at the Christmas tree ornaments...

Lauren the Loris
4.5" x 5" x 5.5"

Perched in one of the bathroom cubbies...

Quinn the Quail
3" x 4.5" x 5"

I made Quinn a copper wire plume because the original clay one broke off during the firing. Sometimes a mistake can turn out to be a good thing... I quite like his new blingy headdress!

Well, I hope you enjoyed meeting my little friends! This is only the first 5 out of 26, so there will be many more to come...

Pillows

I finished my first set of pillows today, which I plan to make available for sale on Etsy.

These designs were inspired by historic folk ornaments.

Guardian Lion
Folk ornament from Cambodia, 11th - 12th century
16" in diameter

detail of stiching

detail of fabric: beige dupioni silk, black cotton with gold pattern, black cotton on the back

Winged Sphinx
Folk ornament from Greece, ca. 600 B.C.
15" in diameter

detail of stitching

detail of fabric: light indigo cotton, mustard yellow weave, indigo cotton on the back

Minoan Octopus
Folk ornament from Crete and Greece, ca. 2000 B.C.
16" in diameter

detail of stitching

detail of fabric: pink flower sari silk, beige dupioni silk, grey/black weave on the back

If anyone knows more specific names for the fabrics I used, please let me know. I should probably pay more attention when I'm at the store! For example, I don't know what to call that mustard yellow one. There must be a name for that pretty weave...

I'll let you know once I set up an account on Etsy — it's something I've been meaning to do for a very long time. I'm making a promise to you and to myself that it will happen by early next week!

Sweet Lola

I just finished this portrait of Lola, one of two dogs owned by my friend Toni.

Lola
18" x36"

I'm especially happy about this one, since I was able to incorporate various painting techniques that I've learned over the years. In the close up above, you can see the use of impasto, drips, and patterns.

The pattern in the sand is similar to the one I usually use for the hair on my sculptures, which you can see in the fox's tail above.


This is the original photo I used as a reference for the painting. Toni totally captured Lola's personality with this great shot! =)

Recent Paintings

I've been devoting a lot of my time to painting recently, which is a nice change. Here are two portraits I just finished.

Calvin
Acrylic, 24" x 24"

Tracey
Acrylic, 16" x 20"

The Exhibition

The reception for the exhibition went well! It was a great experience, and I'd love to do more installations in the future. I think I'll try and do some more 3D environments on a smaller scale for now. (Anyone remember making shoebox dioramas in elementary school?)

Here are a few pictures of other student works in the show. My self portait is in there too!

Gems of the Sea
by Joseph Burke