Meduim:  Block Print - Water-Based Ink    Size:3"x4" (each)

I've really started liking block prints and decided I wanted to try and after watching some students at Hempfield High School doing it decided that I was going to do it.

I recently came up with this idea at work and carved them out. The first (left) is a wave motif that has appeared mutltiple times in my different works. The second is the sun (very orange =/) and the third is the completion of both pieces placed together.

Initially the vertical lines on the wave didn't bother me, but after placing the two together, they need to be removed.

This is actually my second attempt at block printing, the first one didn't go as planned and it came out backwards which I didn't like and I never went back into the process. I learned from my errors this time and at least got the image I wanted.

Ceramic Cow Container - 8(L) x 5(W) x 6(H)

This is a ceramic double pinch pot container that I made while in college.  Since I just completed moving and have been unpacking my stuff, I ran across my old sketch book for my ceramics class.  I had just unpacked a lot of my ceramics stuff and the cow was fresh in my mind when I started looking through the sketch book.

The project simply was to create a container using two pinch pots.  There was no other direction and the project was open ended as per subject matter.  Many of the other students mentioned during the critique that they believed that the project was either a piece that was a commentary on animal cruelty or that it was a social statement about the direction of our eating habits.  Neither were actually true, but it was interesting to here how others perceived the piece.

Medium:  Red Ball Point Pen on White Paper    Size: 4x6

This "Peg Legged Pooch" is a random doodle I made the other day.  He might make an interesting animated figure for me.  Though, in order to animate him, I may have to rework his head a little bit.

Getting ready to move in the next 2-3 weeks so this is probably my last post until mid-late September.

Falling a little behind lately as it's been the month of traveling around interviewing and not having enough time to make any art. This coming month is going to be just as crazy as I'm starting to pack since I'm moving. I should have something soon though...I'm taking another painting class and will finish up in a week or two.

Here's an older piece though....

Medium: Oil Paints on Masonite       Size: 24 x 36

This picture is one of my first oil landscape paintings that I did in my first oil painting class.  There is a lot of artistic license taken on this image.  The original painting, which was mostly wiped away had the hill on the left going the entire way across the picture. 

The original concept drawings were done at Clearcreek State Park near Siegel, PA.  This park is down between two mountains and the river winds between them, but my teacher felt the the image was boring and wanted me to open it up and change my painting to include more sky and distant hills and mountains. 

Medium:  Acrylic Paint on Mixed Media Paper    Size: 24x36

Title:  "Rose Petal"

This piece is titled "Rose Petal" simply because that's what the image is.  I took a abstract painting class where we got to use an electron microscope to magnify objects thousands of times.  This painting also had to be done monochromatic, so I chose to use Pthalo Green.

The electron microscope only identifies in black and white and the rose petal had a value change from light to dark and had very small cracks(?) in it that were unvisible to the unaided eye.  It was a very interesting class to take and some of the images from objects that people brought in really yielded some amazing views.

Medium:  Acrylic Screen Print on Canvas    Size: 8x10

I've gotten really re-interested in printmaking lately and this cupcake piece is the first try and getting back into screenprinting.  I have not screenprinted in a number of years and the red outline really shows that.  I do believe that part of my issue was the lack of additional coats of gesso to fill in some of the dips on the canvas.  Both the yellow and blue parts were painted on after the red outline had time to dry.

I was very excited to do this again and can't wait to get a little more into it.  I have many ideas that I'd love to do and will hopefully be able to show them in a couple weeks...when I'm not painting, drawing or working on my etching of the bridge in the previous post.

Medium:  2H Pencil on Sketch Book Paper   Size:  2x3

This is a small sketch I did the other day in Homestead, which is just outside of Pittsburgh and crosses over the Monongahela River.  Though I was sure at the time that it was no longer in use, I was proven wrong while sketching in that area when a train with large loads of coal crossed over it.

I plan on using this sketch to create an etching and practice up on printmaking skills that I have not used in some time.