A Brief Hiatus...

Due to recent developments in our personal lives, we have felt the need to upgrade our domicile to a larger version.

As a result, my art/blog activities have ground to a halt to make time for repairs and packing.

Fortunately, we've bought a house in need of some DIY love. Upon my return, I'll have many projects and a few paintings in the queue.

See you in a few weeks.

Swim Until You Can't See Land

Miles of walking and days of waiting in line and I finally got to witness the Scottish invasion firsthand. Well, half of the invasion.

Unfortunately, we missed the rowdier Scot band We Were Promised Jetpacks. We would have been about five feet from the stage, too. The price for missing them? A pretty good chicken burrito at Anarondas just south of downtown Austin. The burrito was good, but I should have better discipline at almost 29 years of age.

I blew out my right ear drum for this shot of the Frightened Rabbit front man. Man, they were good.

SXSW was great, though we didn't get to see a lot of the city and the sets were all very short. You can't beat free unless you hate waiting in lines. I did need the sun...badly.

Another Pig in the Wall

You know you're anti-corporation, but do your friends and family? Gently ease them into your populist ideology with this friendly watercolor of the capitalist pig.

How to become a Populist in three easy steps:

Step 1: Purchase, frame and hang "Another Pig in the Wall"
Step 2: Cut up all of your credit cards
Step 3: Voluntarily start collecting your meals from trash cans

Start a revolution from your bathroom wall.

Prints coming soon to an Etsy near you!

El Fin

I've finally wrapped up the Napoleon Dynamite painting. He's all boxed up and will be leaving for the beaches of California today.

I didn't have time to get a digital capture of this painting, so no prints will be available. This one is truly one of a kind.

Jon Heder II

Nameless, faceless. It's like looking at a skull with the skin pulled back.

At this point, I'm always left wondering if my painting will materialize. I haven't had one fall apart on me yet, but that doesn't stop me from wondering if the portrait will be recognizable when I put in the last detail.

I should enroll in a photography class. I'm never able to take pictures of these things that do them justice.

I will say that I'm really happy with the background. The real reason I agreed to do this painting was because I thought the hair would be fun. It was.

"It took me like three hours to finish the shading on your upper lip. It's probably the best drawing I've ever done."

Koi Prints Arrive

I got my prints in of the Koi watercolor. It is a graphite drawing painted with watercolor, digitally printed on a matte finish paper.

The prints are 8" x 10". I have this one framed behind a 7.5" x 9.5" matte.

Vanna credit goes to El Pollo.

Her Name Is Owlivia

Jeff surprised me with an owl yesterday, isn't he adorable and full of convenient (yet hidden) storage space. There's more to the story but I would prefer to paint myself in a flattering light so I will skip that part. :-)

The prints arrive!

I finally hired a printer and got some work back. The first one out is the antique lure. Looks pretty smooth on that heavyweight paper behind a matte.

This one is going on the old Etsy account. I've got the koi prints back, but I have to pick up a black matte to fit the print, since my in-house critic has assured me that it isn't presentable under a white matte.

I'll post a link once I get a few items in my store. Shouldn't be long.

Jon Heder

This is what one of my portraits looks like right before I paint on the canvas. It's the rough sketch of a face to keep me on track to know where I am on the canvas.

This one is a commissioned piece weighing in at 25" x 25". In case you don't know Jon Heder, he is of Swedish descent and is best known for playing Napoleon Dynamite.

This one is headed for the west coast in about a week. I'd better send along some sunscreen so he doesn't burn.

Corporate Swine

This is a sketch of a watercolor that I'm working on. I'm not quite sure if this is going anywhere yet. It's currently called "Corporate Swine". Pretty self-explanatory, right?

I figure there are a whole army of Tea Party supporters itching to hang something like this on their walls.

It feels like he needs a cigar. Lighting a cigar with a c-note is a little 80's Wall Street.

I know Gordon Gekko would approve.

Antique Lure

I thought a vintage fishing lure might be a good object for practicing my watercolor technique. This one is still in progress, but I'm getting pretty close.

I'm going to meet with a printer today to view some samples so I can get prints made to add to my Etsy store (which currently sits empty). If all goes well, I'll have them up this week.