Elephant Woman

So I recently have fallen in love with combining various elements into a single image. This is of course a woman, with an elephant body... which elephant legs are totally fun to draw, cuz they remind me of bell bottoms. It was made more convincing by the fact that elephant shoulders are similar in shape to people's hip bones. So that was the obvious connection point!

I sketched this up in pencil first, took a picture of it with my iphone and then emailed in to myself. Then I worked out the tones and color composition in photoshop. Working digitally at this stage allows me to make decisions quickly and undo if need be. Now I can use this as reference for my oil painting. How fun!

Let me know what you think!

Album Art: An Experiment in Interpretation

Check out this exciting new show this Friday the 13th, 6-9pm!!

Album Art is a collaboration of 6 artists inspired by 6 albums to produce 36 works in a variety of media. It will open November 13, 6-9pm at Gallery 5619, 5619 Airport Blvd. The reception is sponsored by Saint Arnolds and 10% of proceeds from sales will go to the Austin Visual Arts Association (AVAA).

Schwab - Kathleen

Check out the commercials online

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Schwab

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Schwab - Cathren

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Schwab - Joel

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Schwab

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Mother's Day Commission

This portrait was a rush order for Mother's day. I hope it was a good surprise!

Study

After an extended trip to visit Alicia's mom and my mom for mother's day, I started back enthusiastically to work yesterday. This is a study in graphite on Rives BFK, my favorite paper right now. I like to use the heavy weight paper for my pastel drawings, but for this I tried a light weight sheet in white.

Sully Sullenberger

This is a mixed media illustration of the pilot who safely landed his passenger airplane in the Hudson River. The story completely amazed me.

Buzz from the ispot

Check these out:
http://arttalk.theispot.net/artnews
http://theispot.blogspot.com
http://www.theispot.com/whatsnew

Charles Schwab Commercial #5

This year I got to work on my first TV commercials with Mekanism (San Francisco & NY) for Charles Schwab. They hit prime time in March. I created this keyframe using Adobe Illustrator and then sent off my layered file for animation.

More to come!

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Charles Schwab Commercial #4

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Charles Schwab Commercial #3

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Charles Schwab Commercial #2

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

Charles Schwab Commercial

Copyright: Mekanism, EURO RSCG and Schwab.

AMLI Building

During the last weekend of SXSW, I got a call from the Gourmet Paint Company in Austin and they were needing a logo put on the AMLI building downtown (2nd & Lavaca). This was a fun quick job that got me out of my studio and back on the street where I love to paint. This was the second time I've created a logo on an exterior wall. The original plan was to use a projector to speed the process along, but it was too bright out and the lights at night made it completely impossible... which was actually a bit of relief. I hate using projectors and much prefer using a simple grid method to enlarge. I then used painter's tape to create the clean edges. About half way through, I abandoned using a pencil altogether too, because the sheen on the paint surface made it difficult to see at certain angles... and I basically started drawing with tape. Weird, but exciting! I love experimenting with new tools and refining methods.

Matt & Mallory

Commissioned Portrait

commissioned portrait

Wedding Invite

Finished Mural

DAY TWO

DAY ONE

This is the beginning of a new mural commissioned by a couple in Austin. The tuscan landscape will add depth to their dining room.

Texas Biennial Piece

I spent the last month painting furiously on this triptych for the Texas Biennial competition due on June 30th... hopefully it will get in. I was also preparing it and many other paintings for a show at Flightpath on 51st and Duval hanging on Saturday the 5th. The opening will be the following Saturday the 12th. It's called "Only In Dreams" and it features a lot of great artists such as Alicia Traveria, Kevin Peake, Nathan Jensen, Kennon James, Nick Derington, Dan Shuta, Michael Veroni, Amelia Litsa, Christopher Jennings, Jason Chalker, Ryan Parker, Chris Garcia, and Stanley Scott. It will be up for a month, so go check it out!

Preparing the Battle Field

If you think there is no way that we could go to war with Iran before the Bush Administration leaves office...
consider this article from the New Yorker.

Headshot on Panel

Oil Study on Panel

I began this image with a base color of burnt sienna and then I used three colors (yellow ochre, purple, and titanium white) to paint this close-up alla prima (on first try). I tried to retain my brushstrokes and used a large #12 and #8 bristle brush.

Small Oil Study

Small Flower Painting #1

This 8x10 oil painting came along great in a short amount of time, but could definitely use a few tweaks. Its actually an unopened lotus... which is an amazing flower.

Small Flower Painting #2

This 8x10 oil painting on panel was a fun study. I knocked it out in about an hour and a half and was pleasantly surprised by how finished it looked. I used a #10 bright, bristle brush from Windsor Newton for the underpainting and most of the body of the painting. Then I used a #6 bright to punch in most of the detail and highlights.

Pink Rose

Rose

Purple Flowers

It has been probably over a decade since I used stippling (marks with numerous small dots or specks) in my art, but at an old client's request I revisited this technique in color. My past works were always in black and white, as was all my art back then. When I was in seventh or eighth grade I thought I had invented this new style after I saw a poster's dot matrix up close and tried to emulate it in my own ink drawings. I took one of my drawings to a teacher and proudly proclaimed that I had invented an entirely new technique. My teacher was quite graceful in deflating my ego.

The process is quite time consuming, but the slow building up means a lot of control. It helps to blur your eyes a little while you work to see what it looks like from a distance. Georges Seurat, who is probably the most famous artist who used this technique only completed a few works in his lifetime. One a year and he would do numerous studies before hand in chalk to know exactly what he wanted before he began. In contrast to his rather ominous drawings with rich tones and velvety blacks, his paintings were incredibly bright because the mixing of color was an optical illusion and so the actual paint was not dulled by over-brushing.

Sketch 01

Oil Sketch #2

New Header

A special thanks to my wife Alicia, who cut out and assembled the lettering for my header. She has been busy working in this new style to create promotional material for the very talented musician Tyler Jordan and soon will have some stationary to sell at Harts N Crafts. Keep an eye out for it on her blog.