The Shire . 24x36 inches . 2011

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1. morning (natural light)

2. noon (natural light)

3. late afternoon (natural light)

4. evening (interior artificial light)

5. Midsummer's Eve party is beginning! (interior and UV black light combined)

6. Gandalf's firework show (UV light only)

7. Time to sleep and dream (no light / glow in the dark)

Ingredients: acrylic, sand, phosphorescent pigments, crushed glass, glass beads, water & light on canvas

I'm showing you 3 different natural lighting pictures so you can really see how it changes when the sun moves across the sky during the day. :)

When my friend Beth texted me to ask if I'd be willing to do a painting based on the Shire, I said yes immediately, despite "landscapes" not being something I normally paint. I knew exactly what it would look like the moment I saw her text. The final painting isn't much different from the sketch I jotted down minutes after telling her I would do it.

The sky changes colors! Of course it does. It's THE SHIRE.

^Viewed from the left.

^Viewed from the right.

The stained glass windows of the hobbit hole change colors too. :) Check out picture #4 up top.

Every hobbit hole needs a fancy door.

Fireflies. They stay twinkling even after the fireworks have gone out. :)

Beth wanted a painting of her favorite place, something that inspired her and gave her a calm, peaceful mindset in which she could write. (She's a writer!) The Shire is her favorite place, I think, and I like to pretend that it exists somewhere out there. She and I both share Hawaii as a profoundly inspiring (real life) place, so I felt I knew a bit where she was coming from. I read The Hobbit while making this painting, and it influenced every step I took. As I experienced Bilbo's journey, I kept asking myself what *I* would want to return home to after such an ordeal.

Man that book is awesome. Have you read it? Of course you have. I hadn't, technically, it felt like I had, I knew the story, it had been repeated to me endlessly by Colin and our friends over the last 10 years and I knew all about the Shire, of course, that was something that always really resonated with me. But obviously The Hobbit is a whole different (smaller, cuter) beast than Lord of the Rings and I was wrong to think I knew everything I needed to know about Bilbo and him going There and Back Again and omg how many ponies had to die in the making of that story?

Anyway. Fantastic book. The only bad part about it was that it ended. Well, I guess, except for the three other (giant) books that come after it. Anyway.

Just so we're clear, this is not Bilbo's house. This is Beth's house.

Beth, I've stocked it up with ale and pies, a few cakes, some tobacco, and plenty of wood to get you through the first leg of your stay, but you'll likely need to fill it back up before you move to Vancouver. There's plenty of rooms though, you won't ever be without pies and visitors. May this painting bring the Shire to you and serve as the perfect writer's retreat no matter where you live. :)

Sacred Space . 30x40 inches . 2011

1. natural light (bright, clean, direct daylight)

2. natural light (warmer sunset daylight)

3. interior light (direct artificial lights, warm toned)

4. mixed interior and uv black light

5. uv light only (with a blacklight)

6. no light (glow in the dark)

Ingredients: acrylic, candle wax, beach sand, phosphorescent pigments, varnish, water & light on canvas.

Perhaps you've seen this design before. (If not, you're gonna have to search it out in my portfolio.) The original, Thin Space, was my first professionally sold painting, completed in 2006, a little over 5 years ago. I've played with the design on request a little bit here and there, though this is the first time I've recreated it on the exact same size canvas. 

It's funny (to me) how people react to it. Everyone in my life seems to have a profound relationship with Thin Space, for whatever reason, probably because it was the painting I announced my career with. As an artist, my relationship with it has evolved much in the same way my techniques and inspirations have evolved. They are definitely no longer the same. It's not just that I cannot create a piece exactly as it was, although I can't. I don't even use the same materials. There's no possible way to get the paint to dry exactly as it did on a previous painting. More importantly, I wouldn't choose to. My art now is a reflection of my life now, just as it was then. Who I am, and the person I've become is reflected directly in what I create.

This painting is not in competition with Thin Space. This is who I am now. I made it to be what I see now. I reworked a few things I wanted changed, of course, but mostly it's that my exploration of the concept is fundamentally different. Today, I see Thin Space as mother-of-pearl, and almost futuristic looking. Shiny, glassy, new. I have moved beyond what I liked five years ago. They both represent different phases of me. I wouldn't expect anyone to say that I, myself, was better 5 years ago, or better now. I'm just different. (Actually, I do think I'm better today than 5 years ago, but that's another blog post.)

Either way, I think I'm going to retire this design for now. Maybe in another 5 years I'll make it again, to see how I've changed. I like using this painting as a benchmark for my progress. It seems fitting. Thin Spaces are a constant in all my paintings, though the titles may change. I paint This Spaces. That's what I do. 

As viewed from the left.

As viewed from the right. See how the color changes?

Whatever your opinions are about this piece, I see it as better, because I see myself as better. It's not about the painting. It's about who I've become. I will be different in 5 years, I promise. It's a good thing. 

"You cannot step into the same river twice." -Heraclitus

Watching Over . 24x30 inches . 2011

 1. natural light

2. artificial light

3. artificial and black light

4. blacklight only

5. darkness

When my collector Tina and I first discussed the making of this painting, she asked me to make it as Light Reactive as possible, using lots of glass and phosphorescent pigments. Done and done.

The moon shifts from violet to blue-green, depending on the time of day. The ocean waves shift from gold to white to green.

It's one of those pieces that can't be fully appreciated through the lens of a camera since it changes so distinctly as you walk past it. Two people standing on either side of the painting will think it's a different color.

I love making stuff. :)

Moon over water paintings are possibly my favorite pieces to do. It's not just that I find the concept and end result to be peaceful, but the very act of creating it and experiencing its progress puts me in a calm state of mind. (Something I often need anyway, especially when I have lots of work to do.)

Tina's father passed away a few months ago, just before I began work on this painting. Everyone called him Kick. I wrote his name underneath the moon, and I hope that this artwork will honor him and serve as a beacon of peace and serenity for Tina and her family. 

Japan Adventures: Karaoke

[Previously on: Japan Adventures]

You know what they say. When in Tokyo...

Also, remember that sake I mentioned 12 times? Well, funny thing about Japan. Not only can you drink openly on the street and buy massive amounts of sake in every convenience store in the city, but they sell it in juice boxes! Maybe that's what fooled us. It's just juice! Right?? We stocked up and smuggled it into our private Karaoke room. Don't tell them, you're not supposed to do that, even though everybody does that. Oh and also, you have to buy one drink per person when renting the room, so we went with Shochu, which can only be described as sake that's more like vodka. Hooray.

All good ideas. Another good idea was when we miraculously ran out of sake and Greg went on a sake mission through the streets of Tokyo to find more. WHICH HE DID.

Yup.

To be continued...

Japan Adventures: Okonomiyaki

[Previously on: Japan Adventures]

Say that 10 times fast.

After a long day of wandering the streets of Tokyo, the four of us finally met up with Laurence and promptly demanded one thing: Sake.

Well, that and Okonomiyaki.

Colin and Laurence and been scheming this meal since we arrived. To be honest, I had no idea what they were talking about. "Kind of like an omelette," I was told. What? Eggs? You want eggs in Japan? Uh, okay, if that's your thing, I don't care. As long as we get Sake.

So, given our requests, Laurence directed us to this little place down the way that he'd been anxious to show us since the word "Okonomiyaki" had first been uttered. It was clearly a local favorite. (yay!)

I humored them and their need for eggs, because LOOK AT THAT SAKE GLASS! No, that's not water. It's life. Hot, buttery, life. In a giant glass. Ahhhhhh, sake.

 

Laurence ordered for us. He's handy like that. We waited. We were all anxious to discover why the boys were so excited about eggs. The place was awesome though. I kind of wanted to live there. And the smell of whatever eggy thing was being prepared was heavenly.

Anticipation...

And.... here! Wait, that doesn't look like an omelette, that looks like... pizza? Paradise? Yum?

Actually it was served a bit like pizza, everyone took their own slice, but it was, in fact, eggs. I wish you could see the way the onions were still cooking and curling before us on the hot plate. You never think to take video of food until later. Now I could finally see what all this egg madness was about.

omg yum eggs aahhhh nomnom eggs yum nom. Or something like that. I don't think we shared a lot of words. There was eating. And more eating. AND IT WAS FREAKING DELICIOUS. The absolute best egg-based thing I have ever eaten ever. EVER. Yum. Good call, boys. I stand corrected. Woo eggs.

Oh, and did I mention that sake? ::cue the angels singing::

I probably should have gotten a picture of the glass next to something for perspective, but it wasn't a traditional sake glass. Actually I think they just served it in a regular water glass. Bless them.

I hold that sake directly responsible for the events that followed.

To be continued...