Pen Pal Painting Exchange 2013 Photos...

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the Pen Pal Painting Exchange in person. The Art House Co-op posted a set of pictures from the opening.

It would have been great to see this at the venue to see how the full set felt together as well as the pairings of imagery.

The photos give a bit of the view.

Pen Pal Painting Exchange 2013

'Pen Pal Painting Exchange - Portrait' 4" x 4" - oil paint on canvas, 2013. Finished up this small piece as part of the Pen Pal Painting Exchange project for the Art House Co-op. 

For this project, the participating artists were sent a 4" x 4" canvas to create a piece to swap and connect with one of the other participating artists.

I decided to create a dark portrait for this piece since I have been working mainly on human portraits with my recent work. This was also inspired by the amazing work of Javier Marin. His beautiful sculptures have an amazing human yet otherworldly feel.

My piece will be a part of a one day show in Brooklyn later this month on Saturday, September 28. After this it will be sent along to another artist in the show as part of the exchange.

Cover by Cover Art Auction...

You're invited to a silent art auction curated by The Brigade & Deweywood to raise funds to bring interactive learning to James John Elementary. Artists were asked to pay homage to their favorite album covers and will have over 20 works up for auction.

LIVE PERFORMANCES BY:
Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats)
Pall Jenkins (Black Heart Procession)
Nate Lacy (Mimicking Birds)

Suggested cover donation: $10-$20

RSVP: http://bit.ly/coverbycoverfb

The Cleaners at Ace Hotel
403 Southwest 10th Avenue
Portland, OR 97205

BLOG: http://bit.ly/coverbycover
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/coverxcover

Album Art Auction for James John: KISS - KISS 1974

The detail above is my most recent painting...an homage to the self titled debut album of KISS. The piece has now been shipped off to Portland in preparation for the upcoming show for the Album Art Auction for James John. Artists were provided a 12" x 12" piece of bamboo to create a piece based on a classic album that inspired them.

When I was in grade school my uncle Brian gave me a stack of records which included a set of albums by KISS. Being a monster nerd, the theatrical Halloween style makeups on the covers were amazing. Pair that with their TV movie KISS meets the Phantom of the Park and I was an instant fan. 

It had been some time since I had really listened to KISS. Old and new music moves on and off of my iPod with no real organization. Detroit Rock City and Beth are the staple tracks I still find myself playing. Revisiting the self titled record was a nice dose of nostalgia.

Binski Portrait - Color Study...

Finding some renewed focus in recent months. I have been able to just about finish two paintings. Being asked to participate in another Portland based group show kick-started me back to painting.

Working on sealing up the Portland show piece and I have one more sitting with Binski portrait color study which is pictured here.

Feels good to get back to the paint after all the months of just sketching. I have missed it.

Next up I will be back on the Robert Conrad piece and jumping on the actual Binski portrait.

Sketches, etcetera...

Sketches...sketches...and more sketches - graphite, ink, acrylic washes and chalk, 2012.

Lower Polk Art Walk...

Three of my 'Movie Portraits" series will be showing at the Lower Polk Art Walk this Thursday.  My friend Christie was instrumental in getting this display set up. 

It will be great to have some work up in the neighborhood where I have been visiting galleries for the last several years.

Stammered Sketching...

Moving forward on the sketchbook.  Realizing it takes me about 1.5 hours to do one page.  My process is to quickly draft out a gesture of an idea to get the basic image down.  Once this is done I will go back and revisit the sketch and refine the drawing.  At that point I have been laying in some color keeping to a limited palette to add some consistency to the book.

Sketches...

'Nightmare 01' sketch - ink on paper, 2011. This is the first sketch for the "Nightmare" Sketchbook project that I have been working on.  Progress is creeping along slowly.  I may actually have this done by the end of the year.

Picked up a collection of life-casting supplies from Douglas and Sturgess this weekend. I am excited to get the garage set up for doing some prosthetic appliances, maquettes and masks.

Neglect...

Oh art blog...why do I neglect you so?  I have missed you and you are now back on my mind.

Some new posts are long overdue.  These days my center of attention has been sketching.  Working on finishing up the Sketchbook project that was due earlier this year and wrapping up a lingering personal sketchbook.

Getting back in the habit of sketching daily has been therapeutic.

I am very antsy to pull together another short film.  Story outlines have also been scattered in between drawing time.

Another big change is the move to my new diggs...more room for art projects!

Bird-man 01...

'Bird-man 01' sketch - ink on paper, 2010.