A Peaceful Protester

Poor thing, never had a chance.

Order Inside Spontaneity

When I was 17 or 18, I felt liked my work lacked process. I was painting in a fog, without any idea of where I was going or what I was creating. I just let the colors flow and the lines take shape on their own. I would create paintings like this one I did in 11th grade, and it was kind of like unconsciously doodling.

I decided then that truly great artists had a process. I imagined that these artists would labor over these exquisite ideas for months, maybe years, before they would finally begin creating their masterpiece. In truth, I still have no idea what makes a great artist since there are so many to choose from. Even my idea of what great art is has changed over the years. One day its tight, technical paintings and the next it's about abstract expressionism. Yeesh.

Now, instead of feeling like I have no process, I feel like I don't have enough prep time. I feel anxiety over not having picked the colors more meticulously beforehand. I have to say, it's making me feel like I'm limited and that I won't grow as an artist.

So now I've decided that great artists know how to do both. I'm still not sure though, so I decided to do a little experiment. I gave myself 30 minutes to do something technical and familiar to myself (which is a face btw), and then I gave myself about 10 minutes to just let loose on it with color and let the brush create the detail.

I'm actually pleased with how it turned out. It's funny to me that I am more than happy with how the painterly brush strokes and color turned out, but I'm much less happy with the face.

Web Site

Thinking this is my website design. I've had it for ages but I just recently got dreamweaver back and I updated some of the artwork on there.

Midnight Sketches

I was really having fun with these. Especially since they didn't take too long.

Ryan Bailey & Cumberland Belle Font Test

This is the first and hopefully the last font test I'll do. I used Nashville font as the basis and hand drew it all out and did my own little decorative line below it. I happen to like the font but now I'm not happy with the composition of the drawing below it. Oh, the agony!

The Leaf Diver

I'm still playing around with drawing things separately, scanning them in and then smashing them together. It's fun. Here's something that accidentally happened. I hope the diving off the leaf came across. I'm gonna shove some patter in there and maybe some crazy water.

Ryan Bailey & Cumberland Belle

I got in the mood to play around with my brother's band's CD cover. Their band name is Ryan Bailey & Cumberland Belle. I never got around to trying it before when I was asked to though. I guess that's just the way that works. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with it either. I think in addition to this hummingbird there are going to be four flowers and, of course, the name of the band in some sort of decorative fashion.


















And here's a little bit of an update. Just added a few flowers and a halo thing. I think there will be one more flower and then the unpleasant necessity of creating the text. Oh lawdy.