Happy Black and Blue Year

Ok! Here it is! The completed bout poster for the Tornado Sirens, our Naptown Roller Girls. (Accompanied are some process pics)

The Finished Piece:


The Life of a Painting:


Work in progress:


The approved sketch:


The initial thumbnail sketch:

Tornado Sirens call me back to the Watercolors

Some of you know, some don't: I'm working on an official poster for the Tornado Sirens. Commissioned piece for the Naptown Roller Girls' January bout, the first of the 3rd season. The style of the piece is Art Nouvea meets Pin-up girl. No joke. Rocking it out in watercolors on frankensteined Rives BFK... Josh and I are experimenting with turning printmaking paper into watercolor paper... wetting down the raggy printmaking BFK taped down to board, drying, then coating it with a PVA sizing agent. It then dries stiff, almost like rough plastic. Sanded down, it makes a wicked watercolor board. No bleeding, good saturation, hardly any warp when really wet, takes pencil, takes eraser... Altogether a pleasure to work on. Now I've got a cream color base without a messy wash. I know you wanna see the piece, but I'm keeping any images secret till it's done, which should be late tomorrow. Here's a pic of me working on it:

A Marker Self Portrait

Haven't drawn a realistic self portrait in a long time. Here it is, in Micron brush pen, a warm gray Copic chisel marker, and white charcoal pencil. Got a little dark with the eye on the left, so i reduced it out with some workable fix and white charcoal. It's still a little dark. Meh. Ain't nothin' but a thang.

Winter Open House

Well, the Wheeler was PACKED on Friday night. More people than I've seen here ever before. Saw a lot of friends, met a lot of awesome people, and my new work was a great success. Everyone really liked it, which was a big thing for me, because this is a whole new direction for my work. Below are some snaps of my set-up. Also, for you blog followers and Xmas gifters- check out my Online Art Store for new works for sale, at elegant holiday prices!

Open Ocean in Mixed Media

Firing out some new work in time for the Open House this weekend. I'm having fun with these reproductions from the Moleskine series. I'm going to try to get 2 more done in time. Here's the latest:

"Open Ocean"
Mixed media: Acrylic, India Ink, Soft Pastel. On board, 16" x 24"

Another Painting...

"First Rain"
Mixed media: Acrylic, Marker, Soft Pastel. Another reproduction of a Moleskine cover. 8" x 12"

Wheeler Arts Community: Winter Open House

Here we go again with the Open House! This one is set to be a BIG opening, running 2 nights this weekend. There's a dozen or so resident studios open (including mine and Josh), live music, the Herron School of Art and Design's Senior Photography Show, a student Architecture Exhibit, an exhibition of work from the Indianapolis Art Center's Big Brothers, Big Sisters program, guest artists, and much more. The highlight of the evenings will be a table in my apartment with extraordinary special wooden writing pens, hand-crafted by none other than the internationally acclaimed woodworker sculptor Greg Abbott (my dad). These uniquely carved writing utensils will make you or your spouse very attractive. They will be for sale as well, for a very attractive price. Need more convincing? Check it:

Still need more convincing? No you don't! Get you and your family's asses to this show! :)

A Few More Moleskines...

Still having fun with these! Here are a few with toothbrush spatter:

"First Rain"

"First Snow"

"Mammoth"

An Acrylic Painting...

I broke out my old acrylics tonight and recreated one of my Moleskine covers on a plywood board. It's 8" x 12" Acrylic and marker. Fun to get back into painting. More posts soon!