What is Art?

Ever wondered what art is? Well so do animals!

Creature Comforts brought to you by Aardman Animations (and this episode brought to my attention by AK, thank you!)

Thinking About Art Reviews Artomatic

I just saw that Artist/Blogger JT Kirkland, at the art blog Thinking About Art, posted a review of Artomatic and said some nice things about my work. You can read it here and his fiancé's list here.

A Process Animation #1

Ever since I opened this blog about a year ago, I had the intention of using it as a place to reflect on and give a bit more insight into my working process. While I was working on the painting "Backward isn't Forward," I took pictures each time I moved on to a new piece of the painting or made changes. Below is the first "Process Animation" of many to come. Hopefully I'll learn a bit more about the production side so I can make a video of a higher quality in the future.

The video is only 5 seconds long, but believe me, it took a lot longer than that!

Backward isn't Forward: a process animation

I sold "Backward Isn't Forward" at Artomatic 2008 (it will be there until June 15th), but I now am happy to announce that you can order numbered prints here.

Interview with Jolene Sugarbaker

Last Friday at Artomatic's "Meet the Artist Night" I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jolene Sugarbaker, The Trailer Park Queen. She asked some good questions and put together the video below and posted it on Youtube.com. (Note: The sound isn't that great because of the background noise)

You can find out more about Ms. Sugarbaker here.

Thanks Jolene!

Revenge of the Cat-headed Baby and Other True Tales About Life and Death

I just finished my newest illustration for one of SpeakeasyDC's two shows that will premiere at this year's Capitol Fringe Festival. It was fun and fast!

By the way if you've never been to a SpeakeasyDC event, storytelling for adults, then go!

(graphite, blue pencil & colored in Photoshop)

Artomatic 2008 Opens!

After a little more than a month of painting frantically (10-16 hrs a day) Artomatic 2008 is finally open and last Friday night’s opening was a lot of fun. The organizers estimate that 5,000 people passed through and among them were a bunch of my friends and family (thank you for coming!).

I talked to a lot of people that night, so it’s a bit of a blur, but I had some really good conversations with people about my work and had a chance to catch up with artists Matt Dunn (see his strong portraits of DC residents and tourists in the southeast corner of my floor), Chris Bishop (see his very cool paintings of robots and girls on the 12th floor), Scott Brooks with Mike and the family (who just opened his really great solo show at Long View Gallery on Saturday the 10th), Marcie Wolf-Hubbard (see her colorful mixed media collage paintings in the southwest corner of my floor), Pat Goslee (see her colorful layered abstract painting in the southwest corner of my floor) and met Sean Hennessey (see his mixed media glass sculptures in the southeast corner of the 7th floor).

This year I'm really happy with my space and the really great artists that are in the same section as me. Given the wide range of work on display at Artomatic and the nature of the space selection process you never can be sure what kind of work will be right to you and whether or not you'll find a good location in the building. This year however, I lucked out big time when fellow artist Emily Greene Liddle organized a bunch of really talented artists and picked out an amazing space on the 11th floor across from one of two bars in the whole building. So yes, I’ve got a great space and am right next to some really great artwork (thanks Emily)! They are: painters Alan Defibaugh on the partition next to mine, Candace Keegan and Emily Greene Liddle on the partitions across from mine, and Jared Davis around the corner with his black wall and 8 ft. tall Venus space goddess.

If you missed the opening, please come by this Friday, May 16th for “Meet the Artist Night” and say hello. There will be some wine, snacks and plenty of art to see!

Here are some photos of my partition, installation, opening night and…….. Batman (with his Dad).

the space

wall painted and lights installed

installation

done!

after a long day, my fabulous assistant..... is tired!

the party gets started!

me and artists Candace Keegan, Emily Greene Liddle, and Alan Defibaugh

and Batman (with his Dad)!