Naughty Bears

Teddy Bears are so cute and cuddly, but ... there is always a dark side to every adorable creature out there, this is my interpretation. These are the first two, many more to come - be watching for more:

"I Just want to sleep" Photo courtesy of the L'Etoile Collection: death to the grandfather clock - roll of plastic out of the back of the car ready to clean up for the drop.

Teddy Bear Suicides: Such cute colors, fluffy ... oh ... that's a razor blade

Commissioned Work

The best part of being an artist is the ability to take the dreams of others and bring them to reality through my fingers. Here are a few of the pieces done based on the requests of others:

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1. The Test of Time: Photo courtesy of the Fellows Collection

2. Izzy POP: Photo courtesy of the Pinney Collection

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3. Kobe: Photo courtesy of the Flamer Collection

4. Untitled Acrylic: Photo courtesy of the Hayashi Collection

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5. Untitled Pencil Drawing: Photo courtesy of the Boursaw Collection

6. Orchid: Photo courtesy of Anonymous Collection

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7. Untitled: Photo courtesy of the Anderson Collection - Interesting concept to take a portion of the image and enlarge it (lower left). By a happy accident part of the clouds looks like a dragon - Can you see it?

8. August 6, 1945: Photo courtesy of the Lamb Collection

9.There was a lot involved in the subject matter for this piece so I thought I would walk you through the creative process. 1). I met with the client and drafted a sketch to include all requested items. 2.) Following this I started color blocking for basic composition and cleaning up the layout and depth.

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And after a lot of re-working ...

Landayland: Photo courtesy of the Landay Collection

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10. "The Dude" Acrylic on Canvas (30"x30"): Photo courtesy of the Flamer collection.

12. 12"x16" Acrylic on Canvas - Photo courtesy of the Fellows collection.

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This is one of the most recently commissioned pieces I have completed.

13. "Another Day at the Beach" 11x14 Acrylic on Canvas - Photo courtesy of the Fellows collection.

14. "Another Year" 14x18 Acrylic on Canvas - Photo courtesy of the Fong collection.

Stephen Kaltenbach's sculpture using my hand

http://www.stephenkaltenbach.com/public/

15 - 24: Illustrations for My Sweet Lady Dog by Deborah Fike (publication pending)

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Skeletal Series

The internal structure is quite amazing. We are so fragile, but it is such a beautifully grotesque reality:

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1.Acrylic and Prisma Color (self-written poem):  The poem I wrote on this piece may help add depth to your viewing: "Inside is a world of unhappy fulfillment; a heart content with dissolution; a soul found in its own meandering; an individual attempting the statistics. Inside there is never the essence of ... ME."

2. Acrylic and photo transfer on board

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Acrylic and Sharpie                              Chalk                                 Chalk and Sharpie

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Chalk and Sharpie on tissue paper

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Acrylic                                                     Pencil

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Watercolor

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Chalk on tissue paper

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         Acrylic                                 Sharpie                             Watercolor

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 Sharpie and Pencil                    Pencil Study                                    Pencil Study

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     Pencil                                           Pencil                                                Ink

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Spray paint and Silicone on cardboard

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Spray paint and Silicone on cardboard

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             Acrylic                                 Acrylic and Sharpie                    Acrylic and Sharpie

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29. Acrylic, sharpie and charcoal on loose canvas

30. Chalk 4'x8':  This is another piece that I wrote a line for, it is in script around the body, I think it will add to your experience viewing it - this is also the line I've put at the open of the blog: "It was a night as black as the pupil of my eye that led the passing wanderer into my soul ..."

31. Acrylic (+ real yard stick on left): When considering the content of this piece I had to keep in mind those items most precious to me. I had a very deep dream the night before doing the piece and that dream accounts for the diagram that is in blue.

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Newpaper mold made entirely out of obituaries (life size): Do you find yourself looking in the obituaries to see if any one you know has left? Or jokingly expressed "Just seeing if I'm in there" ... is this all we are?