Process of Peace

This is something I did for an upcoming show called "Process of Peace," in which artists were asked to investigate how they try and find peace in their own lives and world around them.
The show is curated by the ever-engaged and evolving Sarah McCann. She also curated the "What's Your War" show here in Baltimore last year. I'm a big fan of hers.

Some sketches

Some recent sketchbook pages. Some from sitting in meetings at work, others from sitting... in church.
I know.
But the church Jess and I have been going to is beautiful on the inside, and I'm still listening just as much. It's how I used to doodle in class. It usually allows me to stay more focused on what's going on. I think my coworkers have gotten used to it, too.

Stasya and the Gryphon - Year 4

For four years now, on a very dear friend's birthday, I have given her a page of a growing story. It is about her and, thus far, a gryphon she befriends. (They're also spelled griffin, or griffon, but I like the way the first spelling looks)
The first one of these I did was before I would have considered myself an illustrator at all, or was doing much professional illustration work. Now, to whatever extent that I even think the titles of artist or illustrator are separate, I happily embrace it, so it's interesting to look back on these.
Usually done in watercolor, this latest was in the middle of a number of deadlines so I begrudgingly did it digitally.

Chaper 1: In which Stasya meets the Gryphon and offers him a pear.
(This one is still my favorite, even being the oldest. There's something in the subdued ferocity of the gryphon, intimidated perhaps by the equal fearlessness of the girl, that I've yet to recapture completely).

Chapter 2: In which Stasya reads to the Gryphon and they fall asleep under starlight.
(This is when I realized I was actually making a series).

Chapter 3: In which the Gryphon unexpectedly takes flight.

Chapter 4: In which Stasya, not one to wait around for the whims of flying creatures, finds a boat and begins her own journey.
(Interesting how much my colors changed, and the environment became so much more substantial. I think this is a direct product of the digital approach. It also takes a huge compositional departure without the Gryphon dominating the scene, but to tell the girl Stasya's story he had to leave, at least for awhile.)


The next chapter, if I'm more on time than I was this past birthday, will be posted in November.

Mock Turtle

This is one I finished a bit ago and didn't post.

So here it is.

Circus - Progression

Thought I would throw some progression shots up for the Circus Piece.
It's good to look back where a piece came from. I'm not sure, in certain states of mind, I would pursue a piece that started like this one, but for some reason the place that I was in kept me at it and thinking about it.
It's easy to walk away from pieces, from seeing something through to the end, but sometimes that's what makes lessons concrete.






Another image I was using to compare hand and arm positions. This was really interesting to me. Simple changes of rotation and placement created entirely different moods. Ultimately, I went for the one that made her seem the most formidable and rebellious.

Sometimes the number of choices we can make that can affect the feeling of a piece boggles my mind. At any point, we might make the smallest adjustment that turns our little ship of a painting into waters that truly sing, or onto a submerged rock. Still, we must go sailing.