Number 19: The Unicorn

The subject of many of my previous pieces had a very "testosteronie" content (i.e. skulls, swords, etc.)

I wondered what I would come up with if I moved 180 degrees.

I have been fascinated by the color pink, as it seems to be the only gender-specific color. So that was the first step.

For content I guess I'm sort of trying to channel the aesthetic of an 11-year old girl, hence: the unicorn, and tiara.

I feel this still falls within the range of mythical content that appeals to me.

Wood, acrylic, epoxy, spackle, glitter, tiara,

17"H. 14"W.

Here is a sort of "moodboard" I came up with early on.

Number 17

This is a wall-hanging relief piece titled "number 17"

The content is a skull with a crown looking as if they are made of pressed brass/tin. It is a faux-finish approach to the material as it is in fact, spray paint on wood. The death's head has a rich history in art, and I love it as the archetypal symbol. in this case it's a loaded symbol to hang paint on. I also included my sketchbook thumbnail at the bottom

Wood, acrylic, epoxy, glass, spray paint
15"H. 12"W.

Predator - digital portrait

This was a fairly quick piece to do. It's straight forward environmental portraiture. I don't know if I would call it a study or not. (I may make prints of this to sell) I do have a thing lately for anthropomorphized animals. In this piece I'm less emphatic about weird and witty content.

I'm trying NOT to do work right now that is overly ambitious. This can bog down the discovery process. This piece is all digital. I'm using a Wacom tablet and stylus for the first time here, so it's sort of a new media exercise.

I found myself leaning toward illusionism on this, and when I do that, I always ask myself: Why?

Illusionism has its own sort of "rules," and there are no rules in art, so I'm conflicted. The rules of illusionism, IMO, are to be easy on the eye of the viewer, so they suspend disbelief.

If the reason to go this way is simply to display ones "skills," then I think that is a less interesting reason for making art. If however, it is to convince someone of your vision of reality, then it is serving as infrastructure, and that seems to be a good reason for going down that road.

If I do shoot for convincing illusion going forward, then I hope it is for the latter reason.

These are some detail shots to show the textures of the piece

The Executioner

I'm going back to 2D thinking for the moment.

This is a digital file titled "The Executioner."

It's a long story but,  it's about death being meted out by unlikely individuals.

I have a limited edition of 100 giclee prints on canvas of this available at my Etsy store (right side of blog)