I took a ton of pictures of this painting before and after delivering it to my friend Brownyn today, but it turns out that the best picture I took of it was on my cellphone, which is the pic above, before I signed the piece. The digital camera shots were all extremely out of focus or in weird lighting that reflected off some of the still-tacky violet paint. So here are two shots of the same painting in different conditions. I may, at some point, borrow the painting again and see if I can get professional photos taken to reduce loss of quality here, but for now I definitely prefer the cellphone shot. :)

Here is the digital camera shot, after signature.

Here is the cellphone shot, before signature and a few touch-ups.

So I’m going to meet you halfway and start sharing my works in progress, which is admittedly a little bit intimidating to do as an artist.

This is my rough lean underlayer and a little bit of preliminary painting for a commission I am currently working on of a dear friend’s daughter. We both loved the accidental classical pose so much that it insisted upon being realized as an oil painting. I will continue to update as I progress through this piece.

I also have several posts that I need to make about some other exciting things, including a news article/interview about me, and a much-needed post about the Gala that my work and I were recently involved in. Stay tuned!

I was approached about a month ago by my good friend George Fernandez, who is also on the CPGLCC board, to create a painting for the Chamber that would somehow represent the business-feel, classiness, and community of the chamber, while somehow working in the oft-stereotypical, oft-oversensationalized LGBT iconography.

After thinking about it for awhile, my mind gravitated towards the Equal-sign symbolism, and I came up with the following painting as a tribute to all of their amazing work and progress in the community. If it doesn’t register right away, the clusters of business people are forming the equal-sign as a symbol of unity, diversity, and community. As far as I know, it will be hanging in their offices, and I am truly thankful for all of the amazing people with whom I connected last night, and their incredible support. Thank you.

“Season Song” (2008) | 24″x30″ | Acrylic

I sold this to my friend Kevin in Canada even before it was finished, which is quite a compliment.

(Detail)

(Detail)

A commission for my friend Brownyn at Gallerie 13, this is her grand-daughter Ashleigh. 24″x30″ | Acrylic

Here’s the real Ashleigh with the painting at a gallery reception.

Portrait and Subject - Ashleigh

I have generally come to terms with the fact that I just don’t like changing the layout of my art/design pages every time I have something new to add, so this blog may become the focus of the site itself, using Wordpress “Pages” as portfolios for various works.

This will primarily become a place for sharing updates to new works of art, but depending on my attention span, it may evolve into more of a creative journal of musings, ideas, projects.

As for myself, over the past year and a half, I’ve spent more time shifting my gears away from the graphic design world. In the Spring of 2008, I got myself a much more social and active full-time job outside of my industry, which offered me the benefit of being able to focus on the things I love about art and design; rather than being self-employed full-time and basically working an undisciplined self-schedule disaster that usually kept me up late as an insomniac addicted to coffee, never really knowing the boundary between “work” and “play.”

I took time off from design to pursue my dream of having my own consistent art gallery space, and moved to Mechanicsburg to “live the art life,” having my own apartment practically over Gallerie 13, where I was renting said space and really enjoying meeting and befriending artists, going to receptions, and producing new works.

Unfortunately, this was all happening amidst a flurry of concerns of the recession, and as my bills skyrocketed during the winter months due to heating costs, I didn’t really have the money or motivation to keep it all up. I started spending less and less time in the Gallerie and more time at work, just trying to pay my bills.  While it was a great experience, allowing me to create some of my best work and meet some incredible people, I decided [like many others I know these days] to take my parents’ advice and move back home with them. At 25, that’s not something that sounds very appealing, but considering all of the money I could save, and the art supplies I could buy, I decided to make the best of it.

These days I have been able to focus on figuring out exactly what type of things I enjoy doing without the pressure of “trying to do them for money” or “trying to figure out what people will buy.” Art should feel like freedom, not a marketing scheme. My brain begins to shut off when art and money become too intertwined.

In the next year or so, I plan to have saved enough money to invest in relocation to the Boulder, Colorado area to be close to my brother’s budding family, especially now that I am an uncle; I’d really like to be an uncle. After spending time in Boulder earlier this Spring, I fell completely and madly in love with it, so the reasons and plausibility for my move are innumerable. So, I guess you could say that this blog may potentially document that journey, and maybe help keep me on the right track.

Stay tuned, I plan on doing a few posts soon featuring artworks from the past year that I haven’t yet posted to my portfolio/gallery.

Blue-Green Man (2007) | Acrylic |

I’m not exactly sure what the dimensions of this was, but it was larger than “Ashleigh.” I think this was 2007, but I could be mistaken, a lot of details on this one I’ve forgotten because I only had it finished momentarily before it was bought. I find him haunting, I’m somewhat glad I don’t have to look at him on the wall in the middle of the night.