If you see this guy riding toward you run! Or better yet stop. Maybe you are about to do something really dumb.

Finally a little free time... just a little. I have weeks of yard work to catch up on and the leaves just keep piling higher. Next year I am going to cut the trees down. It will be a lot less work. : )

I just finished off 60 illustrations (most of them double page spreads) and it nearly killed me. It was one of the few times in my career that I actually blew a lot of the deadlines set by the art director. I did manage to finish up the entire project within the set date, but I blew just about every other deadline in between. Luckily they were very understanding and in the end we were all happy. I just hope it never happens again. Feeling like you are constantly behind is too stressful!

I have been sitting on some good news. This coming March I am have a one man show at the Bluebottle Art Gallery in Seatle. If you are in the area please come by and say hello. My wife and I are both planning on attending. I plan on eating a lot of seafood and soaking in the cool factor.

Oh, and if you have any ideas for paintings send them along!

Busy, busy, busy

Here are a few images I cooked up for next years Workbook. This is not the ad I went with, but they have a lot of the same elements.

IF-Capture

A quickie!

Vacation....

It's kinda nice when you can take a vacation a half hour from home and feel like you are a world away...

Out on a limb

I love to paint, but I am not really all that confident yet as a painter. A lot of it has to do with the medium. Paints are so darn finicky, and they seldom do what I want them to. The computer however does everything I want it to, and since I can "undo" anything there are only happy accidents in the digital world, not so in the world of paints. It's a transition that I can sometimes find difficult to make.

Sculpture is another beast all together. I am comfortable as a sculptor. It is really my natural medium. I spent more time as a child building things than drawing them.

All that to get to this. I did this little painting (4" x 5 1/4"), and I liked it okay. Then I had the idea to build it. I used a shadow box I have had lying around for years. I really like how it turned out... More are on the way I think.

New Paintings

Here are a few new pieces. They are very small 3"x4 1/2". They are titled "Love me not" and "Cemeteries give me the creeps".

I've got worms

I did these a few year ago and just stumbled across them. I liked them, my client... not so much.

Visual Thesaurus

This is pretty cool--->Visual Thesaurus You can only look-up a few words, so choose them carefully.

One more robot!

I think this poor little guy just lost something important...

IF-Robot ll

I had to do one more... another robot with bad intentions. Hey, being a robot is not all fun and games.

On a side note: If you are in or around the Chicago area go to the Center of Science and Industry and check out the awesome collection of robot and space toys, very cool.

Check out Tom Torrey's robots for more inspiration.

IF-Robot

One for Illustration Friday. I wish I could do a dozen more...

Voir Dire

This is a recent cover (and spots) I did for Bryan Tyson at Voir Dire Magazine. The magazine is all about the jury system in America. Of course you know this because you subcribe to the magazine, right?

Brian always gives me a lot of creative freedom, and I have a lot of fun. I think it shows. We are both always pleased with the end result. Best of all he keeps coming back for more.

Sketchbook

A few items from the sketchbook.

Work is killing me and the steelhead are starting to bite. Talk about a bad time to have priorities...

Summer is coming oh so slowly to northern MI. I find eating ice cream a lot helps.

Lion

I really got stuck on this one, but I was happy with the final outcome. Somedays my felt tips just let me down.

Kristin

This was done for the Drawing Board's jam.

As usual my first attempt was to stiff and in need of a push...yuck! It always happens to me, especially if I don't sketch first.

I did this quick sketch. I liked the way the neck flowed into the body and then into the dress. It seemed very organic which in turn influenced the colors and background.

A few variations...

Now didn't I say I have work to do? Leave me alone!

More Paintings

Getting redundant isn't it? These will be the last for a while as I need to focus more on illustration, at least for a few weeks. I can not seem to get birds out of my head. Slightly larger at 11"x14" and on canvas.

Two new paintings

Here are two new painitngs a little different, a little looser. I had no idea the colors were so similar until I scanned them in. I was determinded not to add a horizon line to the boots and dog image. It's killing me!

Captain A

I don't do superhero's very often. If I get a little more time I'd like to add his body and a little more action!

Ticket

Another painting....

6x8 acrylic on birch panel

Batgirl

Just for fun. Inspired by a thread over at the Drawing Board.

Umbrella

Another new painting.

6x7 acrylic on birch panel

IF-Chair

For some reason this post has been deleted three times now. Hopefully this one will stick. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The new site is up and running... finally! Please check it out at your leisure. If you encounter any bugs let me know. It runs fine on my end but I know that means very little. There are animated gifs on a few of the pages that may take a few seconds to load. The pop-up books pop and there are multible views of most 3-d items.

I am still tweaking a few things. I do intend to make all of the portfolio items clickable so that a slightly larger images may be viewed.

IF-Glamour

A new painting. It seemed to fit the new IF theme just right.

6x7 acrylic on birch panel

Red Bird

6x7 acrylic on birch panel

From the sketchbook...

Some pencils for this weeks IF image.

Well it started as E is for Eviscerate, but that seemed a bit much. How about E is for Empty.

New site preview

My new site is close to launch. Here is a preview of the home page.

Rain

Something from the sketchbook this fall... but indicative of our last few weeks of winter.