For my humorous poetry book releasing in March 2020, 'A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billion Other Funny Poems', I have been working on various iterations of the covers for the last year. Here is the current finalist for the front:

And here are some variations for the back. I made several different ones so we could accommodate varying amounts of back-cover text (such as blurbs and reviews). We won't actually know how much space we need for the text till very late in the game, so making lots of variations gives the book designer flexibility:

As you can see there is a ton of work that goes into the making of a book that is invisible to the reader.

Many thanks to the City of Burien for installing a Utility Box Mural based on one of my paintings 'Contemplation, in Yellow' featuring a meditative self-reflective coffee-drinking elephant. I mean, why not? :)
This public art is  located at the corner of 122nd and Ambaum in Burien WA.

I host a monthly exhibition of original art in my studio-gallery in Pioneer Square. The theme for October is Halloween and features my popular Lil' Reaper character (and friends). Come see lots of new paintings, including a giant 5'x5' Lil' Reaper painting that you can bid on:

Sometimes, just to exercise different muscles, I do a different genre of painting. Here are some Abstract Landscapes i recently completed, available from the Miner in Art Gallery in Roslyn, WA. These Sunset paintings are 'impressionist-expressionist' art. They are not renditions of actual sunsets, but more about how the sunsets feel, and about exploring color. Each painting is 12"x12" acrylic on wood and framed in a antique-gold frame.

My Spring 2018 Catalog of Original Art is now available. 

Click here: Spring 2018 Catalog

Click through the slideshow below to see the full life-cycle of this 'Haunted Still-Life' painting: 

Here is a behind-the-scenes peek on how my painting "Cube of Hearts" came to be. 

Usually when I paint, I have a fairly good idea of what I want to create. With "Cube of Hearts", I decided to try a different approach, one where the painting would organically emerge from the marks. At least one artist I admire follows this process and I thought it would be worth emulating, just to see what happens. Here is what happened: 

1. In the beginning, a lot of random abstract marks on a canvas. Doesn't look like much at this stage, and could turn into anything. I strengthen certain lines looking for patterns.

2. I keep painting randomly on it, trying to see where it goes. Busier and Messier. Which way is up? I turn the painting upside down and wonder: Is that a face on the top right quadrant and a cat in the bottom right quadrant. Maybe a monster of two? 

3. I like some of the edges that show up at the top and decide to darken those areas to create a sense of sky, background, horizon and space:

4. I decided there is a hunched figure squatting in the foreground, and the cat in the bottom right is really more of a fox, given the bushy tail. I paint over the face to create a faceless blob. Maybe that'll be a creature of some kind.

5. I try to refine the figure, but realize it isn't working.

At this point I get stuck. I feel this painting isn't working and it's looking pretty un-aesthetic - not sure I can resuscitate it, Maybe the experiment is doomed for failure. I put it away.

For 6 months.

6. Six months later I put it back on the easel. I like the figure, I like the fox, I like the sky. Maybe I can do something with it after all. First thing I decide is that the figure is not going to be sitting, but floating. And if the figure is floating, better it floats, not over ground, but over clouds. Pink clouds. I'm so partial to pink clouds. The figure needs to be blue, to contrast the pink. and if the figure is blue, then the background needs to be orange to 'pop' the figure. And since the sky is blue, that'll tie the figure to the background, making the painting cohesive. And since the clouds are 'cool' that'll bring them to the front of the 'hot' orange background. Maybe this will work after all!

7. One week later, the fox is fleshed out and the figure has a dress ending in a mass of floating tendrils, one arm bent upwards - is it holding something? or holding onto something? I don't know yet. No happy with the face at this point though:

8. The tail on the fox is too fat. What exactly is that white blob in the back? Not liking the yellow hair - the color is too close to the background. I decide making the hair pink would give it more contrast (warm/cool) while also tying into the clouds and pulling the figure forward so it floats more:

9. The figure's eyes need to be open. The creature in the back needs to be friendly and furry:

10. I still have to figure out what the figure is doing with it's arms. Is it hanging from something: Balloons? A Rope? And what is it holding out near the fox: A crystal ball? A giant pearl? A heart? As I mull this over, inspiration comes from an unlikely source:

11. Meanwhile, I decide the other hand is holding onto... a parasol. Was that inspired by Mary Poppins? No idea, but it seems right. I decide the parasol needs to have a detailed Victorian look:

12. Now the painting is finally coming together. Lots of finishing touches - color progressions on the face, refinement on the fox. I decide the fox shouldn't have it's eyes open - it's more mysterious if the fox is smiling with eyes closed, which also matches the blobby monster in the background. I also need to fix the fox's muzzle - it seems a little off:

13: Final touches - the cube needs more refinement, and the white monster is standing out too much and needs to be 'knocked back' and the blue on the dress is contrasting too much with the orange. I need to harmonize the painting by glazing over both the dress and the white monster with a dilute orange glaze. Finally we are done:

In conclusion, this was an interesting experiment. I would never have come up with this image if I was trying to pre-conceive it so there is something to be said for 'emergent painting'. That said, this painting also took a loooong time from start to finish so I'm not too keen to devoting that much time to a single painting. Hard to make a living as an artist that way :)

Hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes peek!

This year, 2017, I managed to paint 'only' 90-plus paintings. Must.Do.Better.Next.Year! :P

Note: All the images above are 'To Scale', relative to each other.

I am honored to be part of a 2-person show at the City of Kent Centennial Center Gallery, along with my friend and master pastel artist Barbara Noonan. The show runs through end-Dec 2017 and the gallery space is open M-F 8-5 located at 400 W Gowe St, Kent, WA 98032 .

Here is a fabulous video of the exhibition that aired on Kent TV recently (My interview starts around the 3:50 mark):

I have 16 original pieces in this show: