First Names Only

Tumbled

2011-12-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

More imagey things will be coming soon.

Society 6

2011-11-13T20:28:00.000-08:00

I recently have created a page on Society 6. I'll be adding more items to it so keep checking my page to see if your favorite art thing is up. Drop me a line if you want a specific image uploaded for purchase.

Or just drop me a line to say "hi". That would also be lovely.

A link to my page will be on the right hand side of my blog. For always. So, there's that.

On another note, beyond commerce developments, I've had some other great things to keep my busy. Personal work done in my free moments will be put up soon.

Volume One

2011-10-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Late posting, but here are the illustrations that I did for Volume One's Best Of issue. I had a great time working with them on this project and I really enjoyed making these images. The article can be found here. {Volume One}

I made this.

2011-08-25T15:22:00.000-07:00

Now its in my thinking corner with my awesome feline friend.

Good Morning

2011-08-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Being up until dawn is not always the worst thing. Here is a quick painting that I did of one particular morning.

In progress

2011-08-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

Because of an exciting illustration project, this little darling will stay on the easel for a bit longer. But I'm glad to be getting back into my oil painting and tightening up my technique. I took a tiny break so I could reassess my direction. Now things are going wonderfully.

Also, batten down your hatches: a First Names Only store is a-brewin'. More on that later.

Volume One

2011-08-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to see one of my images in print. Volume One magazine featured my Spitfire image and I couldn't be any happier with the result. You can view it here. Thank you to the staff and editors and Volume One. I look forward to working with you again.

Roots

2011-08-02T17:49:00.001-07:00

New painting off the easel and in a show. It's taken a while to get back into the oil and I can't for the life of me remember what tore me away from it.

My Get Away

2011-07-24T17:20:00.001-07:00

This is where you can find me from now on.

Paddles STAT!

2011-07-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Don't die blog! I'll be posting more soon, just hang on until then!

Elephant Face

2011-05-21T12:01:00.001-07:00

Some very deep and unforgettable thoughts going on behind those eyes.

Outfits for Elephants

2011-05-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

The pachyderm is easily one of my favorite animals. They never forget, can fly with their ears and you can decorate them. One of these is not so true outside of a certain film, but its all about the power of believing.

Pattern Town!

2011-04-27T02:41:00.001-07:00

I love patterns.

Spitfire

2011-04-25T16:52:00.001-07:00

Nighttime Challenge

2011-04-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jeffry Morales (name drop! check out this gentleman's work) challenged me to do a nighttime-y piece. Here, Jeffry. Now, I challenge you to mail me some cookies!

Waterfall

2011-04-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

I had to break my gouache out for this painting. I've been doing so much digital work recently that I missed the tangibility of paint on paper.

Sketchbook Update

2011-03-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Both from my sketchbook and inspired by my favorite lady singer, Ingrid Michaelson. She is fantastical and so wonderful in concert. I saved my ticket stub from one of her concerts in Madison months ago and just thought of a thing to finally do with it. Also, her cover of R.E.M.'s Night Swimming won't leave my brain, not that I want it too, and I had to paint the above night swimming thing. I HAD too.

ps- I'm also hoping if I say her name again, Ingrid Michaelson will find this post. Regardless, I whole heartedly enjoy her music.

Appalachian Love

2011-03-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

Second installment of The Tree's Wife. I'm taking my time with this story because it's so wonderfully complicated. Also, all the reference I have found is amazingly pretty and, I keep wanting to move there. Not only are real estate sites full of distracting possibilities, Craig's List is a source of charm. There's a man out there that fell in love with a lady with a couch mounted to her truck bed. Sounds like true love and I hope he can see her again.

Anyways... still tinkering with this one. I'm the least satisfied with the rock texture. I'm going to have to watch Pocahontas again to see how they handled those rugged surfaces. I love research.

New Website

2011-03-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

I waged war on Dreamweaver and have successfully updated my website. Go to it HERE!!!

Tele-Studies

2011-02-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

Quiet Time

2011-02-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

In my dream parlor!

Davenports

2011-02-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

That's a real word for real furniture items. My grandma says "dannyport." Still not certain about that one.

Candlesticks and Luminaries

2011-02-11T17:09:00.000-08:00

Moo yourself!

2011-02-11T15:19:00.001-08:00

Cows always seem disgruntled.

For the Ladies!

2011-02-01T13:10:00.001-08:00

A fun image from my sketchbook that I am very grateful for the ability to proudly share!

Sketched Lawrence

2011-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

I found this old image of Lawrence of Arabia in an old National Geographic. What a desert dreamboat.

Joe Ed and Florella forever

2011-01-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Just the first image for my new project. As always, crits are absolutely appreciated!

The project is inspired by Mary E. Counselman's The Tree's Wife, an Appalachian Romeo and Juliet story. Joe Ed Jennings and Florella Dabney meet and despite tradition, the two fall in love. They meet underneath this old oak tree and Joe Ed carves their initials into its bark.

Introducing

2010-12-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

My newest project. Its just the roughest of the first two thumbnail roughs but I'm very excited about it. It takes place in the Appalachians and so far the research has been amazingly fun.

Two Distractions

2010-12-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

I've been told that I'm behind in my posting. This is true. But I have two very good reasons.

a) I've embraced my inner old lady and have begun a quilt!!! I need to make 72 squares.... I have 35. I'm really excited to be working on this! It's getting colder at night, so another blanket is a plus. I also have a deep and abiding love for all things pattern and color. In a quilt EVERYTHING goes!!!

2} My cat, Blair, is my total work buddy and demands quite a bit of attention. Look at him there.... dawwww.

Stabled

2010-12-13T23:15:00.001-08:00

Just another work in progress. Any advice on how to finish this darling off would be most appreciated!

Our Street

2010-12-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

I like the idea of just a couple walking around an old medieval town. Just the two of them and all that history.

Dream Library

2010-11-29T13:12:00.001-08:00

Revamped! Thanks Jeffry and Heather!

New Face!

2010-11-24T12:40:00.001-08:00

Stilted House!

2010-11-24T12:39:00.001-08:00

Revamped and reposted!

Some Houses!

2010-11-08T13:17:00.001-08:00

I wish I was more fancy

2010-10-18T14:18:00.001-07:00

The Monster

2010-10-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is Blair. The cutest evil little creature ever.

Have a seat

2010-08-16T13:13:00.001-07:00

My Baby!

2010-08-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

This is my new-to-me-bike-that-is-definitely-twice-my-age-atleast. It's a Schwinn American bike that is probably from 1962 or 1964. Somewhere around there. I'm in love.

sketchbooked

2010-08-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

SHARK WEEK!!!

Buffalo or Bison? Buffalison?

Changed my mind

2010-08-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

This is a much cooler forest. Forget Nazis and Hansel whatever. Find me a place like this.

Tea Time

2010-08-02T12:56:00.001-07:00

Take a Ride in a Surrey

2010-08-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

With the fringe on top.

Poultry Companions

2010-07-30T11:19:00.001-07:00

These are my feathered babies!

My favorite chicken is the Araucana with the coppery feathers. Her name is Penny because she isn't entirely made of copper but still very honest. The white one with the awesome stretch and squish is Sam. The brown turkey is named King George because he was a tyrant to another beloved but departed turkey named Benjamin Franklin. The Wyandottes at the top have no names but the rooster is very pushy and tends to boss around the bigger chickens.

Wish you were here...

2010-07-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

in lovely Wind Mill City!

Fancy Lady

2010-07-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

Hansel and Gretel

2010-07-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

I recently read a novel about two Jewish children that ran into the woods of Eastern Poland to avoid the Nazis. They used fake names and became real life Hansel and Gretel. I did a quick painting of what that forest might have looked like in the summer.

The Shot in the Dark

2010-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Meet my portrait of Sheriff Pat Garrett. The man that took a wild shot in the middle of the night and hit Billy the Kid dead in the heart.

Poultry!

2010-07-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

Chickens are just too fun not to draw.

New painting in progress

2010-07-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

New painting! I found this old picture of Sherriff Pat Garrett. He's the man that shot Billy the Kid, right through the heart and in the dark no less. The original taker of the shot in the dark. Later he became a Captain of the Texas Rangers and bffs with Teddy Roosevelt. Then, he squandered all his money and was shot by a cattle rustler in a saloon.

Driving with the Devil

2010-07-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch of Red Byron. NASCAR fans should know him as one of the premier car racers. He started in bootlegging as an adventuresome anti-prohibitionist commodity driver..

Chugga Chugga

2010-07-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Just some sketches of some trains. The cabooses are always my favorites.

Mobile Home

2010-06-29T13:50:00.001-07:00

If I had a mobile home, this would be it. Its relocatable and green! See, its on a huge tricycle. As soon as its sculpted, I'll post this new dream home of mine.

New Treasure Trove

2010-06-29T13:47:00.001-07:00

My new treasure chest... soon to be painted and varnished.

Chicken Dream Roosts

2010-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

I should like to think that any chicken would like to call one of these structures home.

Wind-some Ladies

2010-06-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

har har.

ps- a scanner is on the way because this camera issue is not helpful.

P.p.s- Yay for scanners!

More Windmills!

2010-06-22T13:30:00.001-07:00

Some of these are repeated, but I added onto my fun with windtractors. I even put them in a very quick and rough landscape where they can all go to work. More to follow.

Wind farming

2010-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

Another piece of a story that I'm working on. Here are a few of the windmill concepts I have been working on. More to follow with COLOR!!!

Cowboy!

2010-06-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

I've been playing around in Photoshop CS5. The new brushes are indeed amazing, but trying to get a handle on the fun will take me some time. I still do the silly thing of looking down at my tablet for answers when I make a mistake.

Feed the Wild Teddy Bears

2010-05-07T08:48:00.001-07:00

My baking leading lady! I gave into a more simplified and feminine aesthetic for her and referenced Audrey Hepburn in 1954 Sabrina with that dreamboat Humphrey Bogart. This was all done in Photoshop, which, for me, made it tricky trying to maintain the smooth lines. I kept running out of tablet.
Just some of the apron and baked items that I worked on for the project. I got really hungry.

I wanted to just paint some bears in gouache to get the old gears going on their shapes and gestures. Animals are amazingly expressive and I will be doing much more with these fellas in the future.

This is just meant to be a quick (under 30 seconds) commercial. I choose to look at a positive side to handing out fun baked items to bears: they would like it.

Thesis

2010-05-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Thesis Wall

2010-04-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of transferring all my sketchbook images onto a wallpaper to go behind my other paintings. If I stay within the provided 4 feet maximum width for the show, I have to go up to 8 feet to accommodate all my images, not to mention that most of these will get covered up by other paintings.

.... Dear God, I'm really tired.....

Ok, work time!

Thesis Continues!

2010-04-23T06:29:00.000-07:00

Just two more images from my Senior Project. I put together a book of most of my images and travel stories and I have also made some limited edition cards for people to bring into their own homes and enjoy!

Feel free to contact me if you would like to purchase a book or have one set aside for you before the show!

Bearberry

2010-04-23T06:17:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist.
I've been working on my new story idea; a quick story about baking delicious treats for all the lonely teddy bears living in the wild. The idea is extremely rough right now, but I'm cranking out props and environments and characters like some gouache-in', photoshopin', sketchin' lady!

In Search of Monsters

2010-04-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

A new story that I'm working on. I have a few quick environments and character ideas to post. It's about some kid that goes off into the woods looking for the monsters that everyone says are out there.

Wood Stoves

2010-04-03T00:37:00.001-07:00

Just some concept shapes for some fun wood stoves. I'll go back in with color and paint these up.

Bridge Fun

2010-04-02T22:19:00.000-07:00

Just having fun with photoshop and bridge silhouettes.

Krakow

2010-03-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

I will be the first to say that Polish people are pretty amazing character studies. Some street musicians plying their trade and yes, that man is his own horse. What are you going to do about it?

Spelunking

2010-03-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

This man in full Medieval Moravian regalia was making coins with a giant hammer and talking about the vicious alligator (crocodile?) that was eating people and oxen in the 14th century. Now a wooden sculpt of it hangs in front of the Town Hall.... next to a wooden wheel. Anything goes here.

Yeah, I wish. But I was in some really stellar caves in Moravia (southern half of the Czech Republic) and I loved it. Especially when they turned off the lights and played Ave Maria on a boombox circa 1996 and it sounded so fantastical.

Prague Puppets

2010-03-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Czechs love puppetry. Huge fans. You can even watch an entire, elaborate recreation of Mozart's Don Giovanni performed by marionettes. Very cool. But most of these puppets are befitting of their Czech humor (ie. creepy or ironical).

Leisure time...

2010-03-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep, so I just wanted keep my hands busy and relax my mind. I couldn't trust myself to work on anything serious, but I do enjoy some of the fun of this piece.

Thesis Preview 2

2010-03-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

Sneak previews into some of the sketchbook work I've been doing for thesis.

Robot Worker Needs a Union

2010-03-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

i feel his pain.

The Flirt Animatic

2010-03-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

This is the animatic I made for my The Flirt story. Its fun to see it with music.

Thesis Preview

2010-03-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

These are a few small and unfinished images from my in progress thesis. I had a good discussion with my teacher, The Patrick Fiore, and I need to start pushing this work much, much more. I'm relying on reference too much that its limiting my own memory and experience with the individual pieces. Just have to keep working and hope that it all works out.

Realization

2010-03-05T06:39:00.000-08:00

We've entered that stressful time of year and its easy to get bogged down. I was worried about a character concept, when it hit me: I'm drawing robots. How can I be worried when I'm allowed to draw all sorts of fun anything and call it homework?

Lesson learned. Let the fun resume.

Arbre Abode- part deux

2010-03-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

I just finished the paint job on my dream house. The colors are more subdued, but I did paint the foliage with autumn in mind. Fall is the best time of year for treehouses and owl friendship.

The Flirt

2010-03-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Just some quick pieces from the first project of my Storyboarding class.

We had to take a cartoon from the New Yorker as inspiration for the story. This one was mine.

So, this is The Flirt. I looked at peacocks for inspiration and decided to have fun with the more elongated '20's style.

I decided that her room should be Parisienne and be FULL of mirrors.... and a chandelier.

And that is what happens. There were some major changes at every step of this storyboard but I do enjoy the final project. So far, I am really enjoying the class and having fun with sequential storytelling.

Sewing!

2010-02-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

I've finally gotten around to retouching and posting this. I did a page of chicken gestures a while back. This is a few of the sketches in stitch form. The pattern of the fabric is a bit (a lot-a-bit) competitive, but you know me, I can never resist a fun pattern. Someday.

Back to THESIS!

Creeper!

2010-01-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's possible that this man could be my neighbor.

procrastination treasure hunt

2010-01-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

found this....

Charmingly hilarious bravery.

Arbre Abode

2010-01-18T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is my new dream house. I know I said I wanted a haunted house, then a house boat, but the canopy is where its at. And when I get tired of that, I have a rocket to take me to the moon!

I still have to paint this guy, and I'm really hoping some tragic accident doesn't happen between now and then.

New post coming late in the new year....

2010-01-14T06:13:00.001-08:00

not a good start.... but I got much more in the works that isn't at a good showing point. This will become a painting and I will post that asap.

Website is go.

2009-12-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

I'm on the internet!

Also, on the About page, there is a link where you can download a zip file of Mucha's Slav Epics. Its all the good detail shots of the paintings that I could nab while in Moravsky Krumlov.

Let me know if you have any ideas for my domain name. All the obvious ones with my name are taken. : (

sketches

2009-12-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

Storms-a-brewin'

2009-12-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

I plan on sculpting this as soon as I finish another project.

London town

2009-12-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Sewing Machine

2009-12-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick exercise. I need to do more of these.

inked.

2009-12-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Merlin

2009-12-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

I've always been interested in the endings of stories.

ooh?

2009-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

I read this article about more people in urban areas choosing to raise their own chickens for organic eggs and meat. So, this strutting rooster is in Seattle.

My Face

2009-12-03T13:00:00.000-08:00

Just my senior self portrait. I'm stoked to see the final poster with everyone's faces on it.

I'm getting one.

2009-11-13T21:53:00.000-08:00

So, I can dodge my loan debt like a pirate on the high seas.

still life

2009-11-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

The green thing is a cross section of celery. The mug is something I brought back from Prague.

Plein Air

2009-11-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

One of the paintings that I did at the Madeby Store opening.

Loose Raptors

2009-11-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

I planned on using these guys on my new business card. Maybe not so much.

Fowl

2009-11-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ink sketches of a few of my mom's now dead and soon to be feasted on chickens. It concerns me that she feels no guilt.

I used to play...

2009-11-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

but now I draw them.

sharing is caring

2009-11-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

Notes on Sargent from his models

I pulled that from a blog I stumbled on. It's full of informative quotes, images, and all sorts of enlightening bits. Thank you, Gail Sauter.

Jeanne de Valois

2009-10-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

The final-ish. Crit tomorrow with some possible changes ensuing after. I need to practice up on my painting shiny diamonds and stones and surfaces.