Life is a Great Big Canvas

 One of the things I enjoy painting is known as "altered art" what that means is that I find an unwanted painting at a yard sale or second hand shop, and I alter it, adding in an element of pop culture, normally. Usually I only alter part of it, and try to keep the additions looking like they are part of the original piece. Sometimes, if the painting was really amateur, I will enhance it a little, before adding another element.  For this particular piece, however, it started out as altered art and just became an original painting. I started on a thrift store painting that was never finished. It was a tree with the outline of a child peeking out from behind it. It was just barely sketched in, with a little green painted in the background.  Some pieces just tell me what they need to be, and this one rasped, "Gollum! Gollum!" So I researched, and ended up using three different reference photos of Gollum and Andy Serkis, to draw out my Smiegol. I am not the greatest lan...

This is my second space painting, "Approaching the Space Time Vortex". I am a sci-fi fan, and what came to me as I painted this spiral galaxy, was that maybe it needed The Doctor's TARDIS somewhere in the picture. I didn't add it in, but it did inspire me to try something Doctor Who inspired. I painted a line of pendants with a TARDIS in them. Here are some examples, all of which are sold out. I will be making more soon, if you are interested, but they do seem to sell quickly. Please contact me if interested.

When I was newly married to Andy, I noticed some old framed prints in my inlaws' house. They were fantasy scenes with still-vivid blues, and neo-classical maidens in flowing white gowns. These belonged to my brother in law, Brad, and from him I discovered the art of Maxfield Parrish, and I have been a devoted follower of this artist-illustrator ever since. Maxfield Parrish was born in 1870 as Frederick Parrish, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but later adopted his mother's maiden name and used it as his first name. His father was a painter and etcher. He discovered his passion for creating art early in life, and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Drexel Institute of Art. At the age of 27, his career was launched with the illustration of a book by Kenneth Grahame, The Walls Were As of Jasper. From there, he went on to illustrate many books, advertisements, and magazine covers, including Hearst's, Collier's, and Life, as well as to paint mu...

During the time that I ran The Dancing Elephant Gallery, a friend of mine, Carri Sue Anderson, once suggested that I check out the art of Lindy Bronson of Chopper's Art. I looked him up on Facebook, and I could not believe what I saw. Here were gorgeous, detailed drawings in pen and ink, mainly done with stippling. His subject matter varied, but included a lot of pop culture and celebrities. They were fun and interesting subjects, but what got me was the quality of the art. Lindy really works to make sure the image is accurate and realistic, and the stippling (tiny dots made with an ink pen) was done with amazing precision. I knew I needed to make contact with this man, and get his art into my gallery! Lindy agreed to be featured artist in my gallery, the month that I closed the physical doors. I wished I could have represented him longer, but I had a feeling that our artistic relationship would not end once we closed up shop. I don't know about Lindy's point...

My strong points are in portraits and still lifes. Last summer I wanted to push myself in weaker areas (weaker meaning areas I don't try too often). I love science fiction, and eventually I want to do a series of sci-fi paintings, so I thought I would try a space scape. This is based on a NASA photo. I call it A Star is Born, because this nebula is a birthplace for stars. It was an interesting and enjoyable experience for me. What's interesting is that in a nebula like this, there is not just one light source, so you can have light and shadow going every which direction. It was fun. I have done a couple others since. I hope you enjoy it.