Illustration Friday - Theme : Open

Spiral Flower Mandala
Find it in my Etsy shop!

This is an image that I have always associated with opening energy from the heart! I thought it would be good for posting on the IllustrationFriday site. If you haven't seen this site before, they send out a theme every week and illustrators post an image related to the theme. I'm going to try and participate as much as time permits with this weekly process. I have been looking for ways to dialog with illustrators, maybe I can learn a two or thing!

New Print - Radiant Forest

Radiant Forest 8" x 10"

I finally made a print of this painting! It is my absolute favorite accomplishment to date! You can find it in my online shop.

It has been really fun, taking walks in my paintings lately. I have been trying to create worlds where the viewer can go on a bit of a mental trip for a bit as they wander around the piece. MMMM color! color! color!

Here's the Statement I wrote for the show it was in at Plaza Design in Arcata.

Artist’s Statement: March 9th, 2007


Magic:

For the longest time, since I was a youngster, I have been fascinated with magic. I don’t mean the kind of slight of hand stuff that “magicians” do. I mean the real stuff … “MAGIC!” The kind that comes from making a wish. The kind that dreams are submerged in. The kind that happens when you love someone and the whole world glows!

Somewhere along the way I learned the difference between story magic and spiritual magic. The stories are a way to talk about things that we already intuitively know. It is through story magic that we learn how to know and long for spiritual magic.

I learned that spiritual magic comes from focus and discipline; faith and inspiration. Along the way I met many people on many different paths. I read the insightful writings of others. I learned to cultivate my own intuitive magic.

As an artist, I’m finding that the best way for me to talk about magic is to return to the sentiment of my youth. The children that I work with and raise show me the space that can be created, when intuition makes the rules for play; when love is held right out on your chest for all to see!

New Card - Three Flowers

Three Flowers
Greeting Card
$3.50 in my shop

I just made a new card out of my 3 Flowers and Worms painting. I didn't want to take the worms out, but the card was getting too stretchy when I tried to fit it into the Greeting card format. This image is like everlasting spring time!

If you are intersted in doing a wholesale order; Just let me know.

Two New Paintings for Plaza Design

Gardener's Paradise

Flowers in the Sunlight

Two new Paintings for my Plaza Design Show in Arcata, CA

Opening Friday, March 10th. 6-9pm

First Painting Finished since I started Greeting Card Biz!

Two Birds in a Bush - Acrylic on Wood 22" x 26"

This is my latest painting! It has been 5 and a half months since I have finished a painting. Well, I finished off two paintings a couple of months ago, but they had been started before I started the card business so they really didn't need much...

I like this piece, because I don't often allow myself to be illustrative like this. I've been teaching myself to do this over the last few years.

My artistic lineage is pretty closely aligned with the old prejudices of Abstract Expressionism. In College, "illustrative" was considered an insulting term. It has been a long journey of getting over the my inhibitions and embracing the depiction of such care free subject matter as birds and flowers. I still balk at painting cats and dogs though.

Ah, well maybe someday!

Algeometric Tide PRINT - A Fun New Abstraction

I'm kinda' excited about this new print, I came across the image as I was organizing pictures to show to Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I like all of the pink in this one. In this picture I was playing with the idea of repeating shapes and layering the paint in an organic fashion. I also like to depict floating organisms and movement. Just imagine a stream bed with pink water and you are there!

I also love to think about microscope imagery. Cells look so mysterious to me. If you find that stuff interesting you might want to check out a UK artist named Terry Winters. There are some great examples of his prints here.

Warmth of the Suns Rays PRINT

This is a new print that I have made. It has been a card for quite a while, and someone recently requested it as a print. The colors seem to print perfectly. I was trying to create an organic paint quality in this piece and that quality seems to work really well with printing. If you want to see one of my favorite painters who probably inspired me to try out the organic look; check out Leslie Price. He was my painting instructor at Humboldt State University.

I was trying to depict radiating energy in this paintig; like sunlight or happiness, or love.

You can find this print and many others in the Shop.

Two Dancers - a new card.

This is my latest Valentine's Day card design. It is a a drawing that I colorized in photoshop. I don't often make images from drawings like this. You can find it in my Shop.

It's really fun to work with line like this! I'm also very happy to be making a figurative images too. Even if it is a simple image, it is a start. I used to work with figure regularly back when I was in school at Humboldt State University. Here is the link to my figurative art page on my main site, in case you are interested. I did work on some more ambitious narrative paintings back then. But I haven't ever gotten around to getting digital photos. Sorry.

It is an interesting challenge to depict love. It has been done so much that one truly finds themselves picking through a mine feild of cliches. However, I do think it is worth the risks. What other subject is more relevant to us?