Coconuts and Aspen Leaves

Charcoal Drawings

2011-06-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

I just completed a seven week drawing class at the Community College of Philadelphia. The class focused on developing drawing skills through direct observation. We worked in Charcoal on cold-press watercolor paper. I was particularly challenged to design interesting compositions. I want the viewer to take a closer look as if each piece is tells it's own story.

2011-06-30T17:54:00.000-07:00

I was asked by some close friends if I would design their wedding invitation. I was excited to take on this project because I have just started learning Adobe Illustrator. After discussing what they were thinking we decided on West Philadelphia as a theme. So I ended up taking some pictures of the unique houses in this part of the city and then added the couple walking along the sidewalk. The theme was continued throughout the invitation information and Wedding program.

Design project for Vineyard Community Church.

2011-03-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

This is a small project I worked on this week. I have started to designing some different projects for our church here in West Philadelphia. This piece will be used for an upcoming sermon serious that are pastor is sharing this spring.

2011-03-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

This is a pen and ink sketch I worked on the other day at Starbucks. I was trying to focus on drawing the shadows, and letting them define the image. It's hard breaking the habit of outlining everything in the composition. Somethings become far more interesting if they are just lightly implied.

The second picture is just some haphazard things around the house.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Card

2011-02-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to make this card after my wife ordered Roald Dahl's children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I designed the card in Illustrator. Then I printed it out on card stock paper. Lastly,I added the golden ticket, so that it can be removed and read.

Learning Adobe Illustrator CS5

2011-02-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is a wine label that I designed for my Adobe Illustrator class. We were asked to come up with our own wine or beer company, then design the logo and how it would appear on the front of the product. I was very happy with how it turned out. The design incorporated all the different skills I had learned throughout the course.
This was another design assignment we were given. We were asked to come up with a sports logo. I looked at tons of different logos and decided I would come up with a team from Alice Springs(Australia). The Thorny Devil is a rare and fascinating little lizard that thrives in central Australia. It was kinda funny the fact that I had to convince several people that Thorny Devils actually exist.

2011-01-28T15:07:00.000-08:00

This artwork I did for my Black and White Design class. Our assignment was to make a collage of images from scrapes taken from magazines. One the collage was complete we had to draw the collage out in pen and ink. I enjoyed learning how to use my pens to make a black and white image look interesting.
This artwork was for the same class. We were given nine circles and asked to design an image that would link all of the circles together. I liked how the positive and negative space work together.

A snow-day doodle

2011-01-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

2010-10-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

It's Autumn!

I can fly Illustration

2010-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a friend If I would do an Illustration for her daughters bedroom, from one of her favorite children's books.
This was the sketch I did after looking at the Illustration. I worked to make sure it was very close to the original Illustration. I also took some creative liberty when it came to designing the different fish. I added a little octopus in the right side. For some strange reason I felt like the girls swimming inner-tube needed to have a patch on it. I find that I have to work hard to not make my cartoons all look like Disney characters. When I learned to draw cartoons when I was younger thats all I wanted to draw. It was only after I started to get interested in other types of art that I started to see the zillions of different styles of drawing cartoons out there. Many of the styles I now enjoy more than Disney's character designs.
The origanal Illustration from the

children's book I Can Fly. The Illustration

was done by Mary Blair.

Cartoon project

2010-09-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

I was asked to Illustrate a banner for our friends elementary school classroom. Each year the teachers are given a phrase for the year. This year it was "One team, on goal, no limits!" So I rolled out about fifteen feet of paper and just had fun creating cartoon characters doing different things. I wanted something that would be fascinating for the kids to look at while they are day dreaming in class. He He!

More hand-painted cards

2010-08-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

This is more of a doodle with design and color than anything.
This Maple leaf was made by covering the leaf with acrylic paint and pressing it firmly against the card. Once the imprint of the leaf has been made I used a paint brush to touch it up. But for the most part this card was very easy to create.
I learned how to take Ferns and use them as stencils when I was visiting New Zealand. I did a greenish background and than used white spray-paint. It has been a supper hot summer in Philadelphia so Ferns are not as easy to find, compared to when its all rainy around here.
This mellow bear kinda looks like he is hugging his mug of coffee. I wanted to start to break out of the common rectangle type of card and see if I could do some cards with odd shapes. So this is the first of several to come.
This is a camera stamp I made over a year ago, but I thought I would dust off the card and post it. It was the first home-made stamp I tried to carve. I would actually try to carve another one in the near future.

Doodle

2010-08-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

A doodle is a type of sketch, an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes.

Thats what Wikipedia says a doodle is. I know you can't trust what Wikipedia says but ad least I took the time to identify my source.

Scooters and Cacti

2010-08-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'm so fascinated by little Vespa Scooters. Every time I see a person driving one in the city, I want to ask them to pull over and share their toy so that every one gets a turn.
This is an acrylic still life I did for some friends that were getting married. I don't know why they needed a painting of cacti and kitchen items, but that what I painted. I finished a drawing course where we learned to draw still life. We worked it in graphite and Charcoal, but I wanted to apply what I learned in a different medium. I've seen these artist that do a little painting like this each day. I love the concept, though I haven't disciplined by self to paint that much. One thing that I enjoy about doing still life is everyday objects are transformed when I take the time to look at them and figure out how to draw them.

2010-06-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

2010-06-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

2009-11-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

This is on the University of Penn campus. Kinda liked how the evening light made the interesting windows stand out.

I walked home today from school and had my camera out... snap snap snap!

2009-11-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

This is my 2nd project I did for printmaking class. For the Assignment we were given three random items that we had to use to create a color composition. My three items were - A gun, a lighter, and an umbrella. I added a buffalo because I wanted to make a kinda western theme, and I like buffalo, they remind me of when I was a kid driving past the herds of Bison on the way to my Grandparents house in Buena Vista Colorado.
This is a charcoal and cont'e still life I just finished. It took three classes to finish. I was happy with how it turned out. The folds on the front are my favorite part. Charcoal has an interesting look when the piece is finished but working with charcoal so messy it gets every where.

2009-10-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Yes its fall in Philadelphia! Wanted to show the leaves. I was out in the rain yesterday trying to get the contrast of the damp weather contrasted with the bright leaves.

2009-10-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is my second project for my color and design class. We had to do a portrait of someone famous and we had to divide the picture into four sections. Each section we used a color wheel to do different color harmonies.
This piece is called "Crustacean". This was a project for printmaking class, where we were asked to design a playing card. It could be anything we wanted put it had to look like a playing card. I wanted to do a crab first because it was much different than any one else in the class. After living near the ocean I love the little crabs that you see scurrying around into their holes in the sand.

2009-10-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is a Piece I did for my class on color. We we were asked to do all the colors on a color wheel. (also show what happens when you add white and black to the colors.) We also had to add 5 shades of Gray, so thats why the background looks the way it does.)

i found my blog

2009-07-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

colorado rockies

2009-03-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

altoid can art

2009-02-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Rad skateboard

2008-11-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

More Matamata

2008-11-14T23:56:00.001-08:00

And Then there were the birds

2008-11-14T23:50:00.001-08:00

Some Very Belated Photos - Matamata

2008-11-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

One man's junk ...

2008-11-08T23:51:00.000-08:00

Never thought rust could look so interesting up close. It would make fasinating abstract painting.
This photo, I actually took in New Zealand, but thought it would be worth while to add.
" One man's junk is another man's photo" or something like that.

Gecko photo shoot!

2008-11-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

This morning, I was having my quiet time in my studio. I got distracted by this little gecko. So I got some light on him and did a little photo shoot. In Romans 1:20 it says- For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

As I stood there with my camera in hand, I was so inspired and impressed with God's creation the detail, colour, and design! (not to mention these little guys can walk up walls with out effort) Yah God's allowed to interrupt my quiet time any time he wants to.

So on a side note: I tryed to figure out what type of Gecko it is and found out its called a "day gecko" and they come from the island of Madagascar.

The Beautiful South Island

2008-09-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Sand Duney Fun in New Zealand

2008-09-18T01:02:00.001-07:00

The Lion of the tribe of Judah

2008-08-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me if I would draw a lion roaring on his guitar. I worked on drawing it yesterday afternoon. I drew the lion with a permanent Sharpie Marker, so there wasn't much room for mistakes. I was happy with the way it turned out when I was finished.

2008-08-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

2008-08-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

2008-07-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Good Shepherd Mural II

2008-06-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

I was asked to paint a mural in the Nursery of The International City Church. These are some pictures of how it turned out when I was finished.

The Good Shepherd Mural

2008-06-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

2008-05-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

2008-05-16T00:55:00.000-07:00

I thought these birds looked like spectators as they watch the surfers swimming out to the waves.
This is an area called the Gold Coast. Its about 45 minutes drive from where we live. The buildings are hotels and apartments that look out over the ocean.

Le Penseur 1917

2008-05-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

This is just a sketch I drew today. I was looking at a post card of a sculpture by Auguste Rodin. As I was drawing I was trying to focus on the negative spaces and allowing them to define the figure.

2008-05-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

2008-04-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

This is an acrylic painting I painted at the end of our time in Bali. We lived in a Christian community near the ocean. When we took walks out on the beach we would see the colourful life of the fishermen. These boats are originally from the island of Madura.
I was working from a photo that Lalita took. It was a good challenge because I'm used to painting in watercolour. I worked at painting detail in the first boat and much less detail in the boats behind it, To create a sense of distance.

Bali, Indonesia

2008-04-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

I was going through some photos I took while we were in Bali. These four were taken at a Hindu ceremony that took place out in front of the fishing village we lived near. I was always interested to learn about the Balinese people and their culture. Bali is the only Hindu island out of the 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia.

Self Portrait

2008-04-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

Silhouette

2008-04-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

I put my camera on self timer, and than got up and ran to jump into the picture. I liked the way it turned out. I will have to try it again, only more rocks next time.

Jumping Crocs...

2008-04-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Thought it would be fun to show some of the photos from our boat trip to feed the Salt water crocs. They take you out and the crocs are used to being fed so when they hear the sound of the boat coming, they know they are going to get a good feed. Lets just say its a bad time to fall over board.

Paintings

2008-04-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of watercolor paintings I did while up in the Northern Territory, Australia. The second painting was inspired by Aboriginal Art.

If you can read this you are literate.

2008-04-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

some pictures speak for themselves