2008 - 09 Paintings A selection of paintings from the past year or so. See them here.   3 of these will be on display next weekend (June 13, 2009) at Pump Project along side the work of my friend and painter, Doug Webber. New Drawings I have a new batch of drawings from the past few months at our figure drawing group, Night Moves Art Ensemble (more info below), up on the site. See them here.   Also, I'll soon be updating a new series of oil paintings from the past 6 months so please check back soon for those. Night Moves Art Ensemble Figure Drawing at Pump project Austin TX every Mon/Wed night, 7 - 9 More information can be found at www.nightmovesart.com Pump Project - Group Show Sat, Nov 8th, 2008 We're having a show at Pump Project November 8th. This will be a group show of work from our figurative drawing group and will include drawings as well as oil and water color paintings. More information can be found at www.nightmovesart.com Austin Figurative Gallery - Solo show Sat, April 15th, 2008 I'll be showing 10 new figurative paintings as well as a large batch of my 15 minute oil sketches. There will also be a Butoh dance performance in the gallery by Ellen Bartel and Spank Dance as part of the Refraction Arts festival here in Austin Texas.

Recent drawings completed at the Night Moves Art figure drawing sessions at Pump Project in Austin TX.

Our sessions generally include several 1 min - 15 minute poses, depending on how everyone feels. Poses are decided on by the group and the model. The group is something I look forward to every week.

Drawing is so fundamental. Dali once said that he loved drawing because, and I'm summarizing, there's no faking it. A drawing is either good or bad. There's no avoiding the problems of composition and form.

The excellent instructor Robert Henri once wrote, "Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing.". Drawing is breaking down the subject into it's most basic form, representing with line, without the distraction of materials, color, and the build up of media. Drawing is the foundation of any great visual art. Those that dismiss it are doing a great disservice to themselves.

I studied Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston Massacheusettes with a focus in documentary. Over time my interests bent more and more towards a conceptual and painterly approach, Hockney style paste and cut ups, multiple exposures, distoring prints by using developer in various ways and basically anything I coul do to propel an image beyond stark reality. Although I consider myself to be a painter I still enjoy photography very much and endeavor to process my images into a more painterly world.

As in painting my primary photographic interests are figures and landscapes. The photo above is of Ellen Bartel who runs the Spank Dance Company here in Austin. Ellen along with several others regularly perform Butoh at the Austin Figurative Gallery openings. Photographig Ellen performing gives me a unique opportunity to work with the figure in motion. This is a temporary collaboration which only occurs once a month for about 15 minutes. I'm very fortunate to know Ellen and to be a part of her process.

Below is one of my landscapes which I also use as a jumping off point for my environmental paintings.

I've done some concept art for games and other projects and sometimes just for myself. My early inspirations were American illustrators and comic artists--Jeff Jones, Frank Frazetta, N.C. Wyeth are some of my artistic heroes not only for their raw talent and ability but because they created work that told stories. The balance of technical skill and creative vision took us all to places we never dreamed of and it's that kind of transportation that only pictorial art can achieve.

Over the years I've also come to love the work of people like Sid Mead, Mobius, John Berkey, Kent Williams and many others.

Below is a collection of some of the concept work I've completed. Paintings are done traditionally and digitally while illustration is always handled tradtionally.

One of my digital paintings for Nexus War was selceted for inclusion in last year's Spectrum Annual 14, (2008).