"Shades of Noir" at RiverSea Gallery

"The Blueprint Remains" 36”x48”

I am once again proud to be the featured artist at RiverSea Gallery. The show opening is October 8th, from 5:00-8:00pm. The featured show exhibit will be hung in the main room through the month of October (but remember my work is always available at RiverSea!)

For this exhibit I have created a body of work based on images from classic film noir. 

Each piece is created using a multi-step process: 

First I procure the source image from a film. Sometimes I find images from the internet, but more often I capture a screen shot with my camera directly from my TV screen as I play the movie. 

This image is from the famous movie "The Killers"

From this image I create several drawings. 

 

Then I make a small collage based on the drawing. The collage’s tiny size makes it necessary for me to simplify and abstract the shapes in the image. I pay careful attention to simplifying shapes, color relationships, and the interaction of darks and lights. I sometimes start on a dark brown ground, which further helps me to edit out unnecessary details and distill the image to its essential parts.

"The Blueprint Remains Miniature" 4.5"x6"

 I then create a large piece based on the small collage. 

RiverSea Gallery is located in beautiful Astoria, Oregon on the northern coast that features great painting, sculpture, craft and jewelry. 

(503)325-1270

1160 Commercial Street, Astoria, Oregon

Open Monday-Friday 11:00-5:50

Sunday 11:00-4:00

Show Opening: October 8th, 5:00-8:00pm

Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Show Closing Reception!

"The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Art Show", features 28 artists who created artworks based on Grimm's Fairy Tales. I made a mixed media work of art based on Cinderella. As the exhibit draws to a close, we have decided to have a closing reception.

The subject matter is unique to me, plus I utilized many different techniques all on this single piece, including collage, collage with tracing paper, charcoal drawing, and paint. I dare say, it is sort of a tour de force of my new artistic direction! Here is a chance for you to see the piece in person before it is taken down.
Closing reception: Friday, May 27th, 6pm.
Portland'5 Centers for the Arts, 1111 SW Broadway

This is a detail of "Cinderella Complex" that utilizes collage, collage with painted transparent tracing paper, charcoal drawing, acrylic paint and scratching with a razor blade.

This is a detail that uses thick applications of charcoal, which is then scratched away with a razor blade to articulate and draw the mice. The leaves are collaged painted paper, and the dress is collaged painted tracing paper over drawn and collage. You can see her legs through the skirt. 

Springtime Shows!

It seems appropriate that spring is the time where I commence upon a new phase of my art career with a new body of work. I am showing in two new exhibits, very different from one another, but equally exciting. "The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Art Show" and at Lane Gallery in NW Portland.

"Cinderella Complex" 40"x20"

The first is "The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Art Show", a juried exhibition of artworks based on Grimm's Fairy Tales. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to make a unique work of art, slightly off the subject matter I have been focused on for a number of years, yet a subject that I felt inspired and impassioned by. This piece of art is based entirely on my imagination, using only a few pieces of photo images as references. 

The image is made from combining charcoal drawing, acrylic paint, and paper collage, including painted tracing paper to depict the diaphanous skirt of her dress. Through the filmy material, you can see the outline of her legs and one shoe. Heavy charcoal drawing is used in the lower part of the painting to not only depict the mice, but to represent the charcoal cinders that are the source of her name.

A statement will be displayed along side during the show:

"Cinderella is about to take control of her destiny by transforming herself into a Princess worthy of a better life. But although the transformation may appear complete (by the looks of her clean, glamorous appearance) underneath that veneer she is still rooted in her harder, grittier past (ashes in on her dirty, bare foot, surrounded by nocturnal mice). Though her difficult past may be seen as an inescapable wound, it also bears the foundation of her strength and determination" 

Opening reception, April 7th, 5-8pm. Exhibit dates, April 7th through May 31st.

Portland'5 Centers for the Arts, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland, OR