Gathering, Art Opening, First Friday of December

Nature isn’t cruel or kind; it’s just hungry.

IMG_20161123_173755

"Phineas"

Statement for the collection, “Gathering”, which will be on display for First Friday in Kendall Yards in Spokane in December.

 

Facebook event information.


I work with the feelings that remains and found objects give me, to make a piece that expresses that creature’s life.
Many artists who work with animal remains are more humorous than I am about it. I see the remains as a medium for art, with some neutrality, but I don’t make jokes with them. The horrors of life, death, and the hard times most animals go through, are the stories behind each of my works.

 

Usually, animals live difficult lives, and their bones speak to me about this.

 

rugged dog skull, taxidermy art

I often get questions because there are other artists that do slaughter animals in the context of their work. I don’t do this.

 

Many of my pieces come from road strikes. I have been working on a series of photographs and an extended essay about roadside nature and roadkill, human safety, and how highways effect the animals that live near them.

 

As a consequence of this work I have seen that these wild animals are the survivors of repeated injuries (fractures and old healed injuries in their skeletons attest to this) and the way they interact with the road, the difficulty of their lives, fascinates me.

sold

I work with human bones too. It is easier to buy human bone than many animals. I get my human bone from places which sell vintage anatomical displays and specimens. Yes, these bones are legal. I didn’t kill anyone to get them. I don’t use anything illegal, and I avoid using items which violate CITES or the MBA.

These works are dark. I don’t get silly feelings from death.

her roses resonanteye

I’ve sold work and done commissions for vegans- for people who are animal and conservation activists. My work speaks of  people’s misunderstanding of the natural world. Nature is full of drama, death, struggle, and strangeness. I try to use the materials I have to portray that.

Reminders of mortality are not for everyone. And yet, we need to be confronted with these reminders, because there’s a beauty in impermanence, a longing sensation, and we crave the reality of time’s dark passage.

The winter is the best time to think about endings, about death. Rebirth will come, but first we have to pass through the solstice- the darkest hour is always just before dawn.

 

 

 

IMG_20161121_180020

The Horrors is here, get your creatures!

 

The horrors-cover lo-res rgb AVAILABLE HERE.
The Horrors is an adult coloring book, featuring 61 pieces of original line art representing monsters, cryptids, and ghosts from around the world. For each of the nightmares, there is a page explaining their origin and history.(here are two pages as a sample, you can print these to color for free!)

 Since some of the illustrations include guts, gore, and possibly (monstrous) nudity, this coloring book is not suitable for children, only for adults.

(more…)

some works from the archives.

These are the more popular things I’ve made available as prints over the last few years. They’re not all my own personal favorite pieces, but they’ve gotten the most attention and love from you guys. I think collecting them together here might give me some clues about what you all like so much, maybe.

Also I won’t be posting for a few days as we’ll be celebrating solstice here, but I’ll be back right after, on the 23rd. xox

“Down with the Ship”
This was a piece of tattoo flash I did as part of a series, and people really seem to like the sideways lighthouse in it. I did it at 11×14″ in watercolor, and did the linework with a nib pen and ink. The original sold and the prints have sold a lot too, I don’t often draw ships but I think I did a decent job on this one. You can still get some sizes of prints of this, here.

vjhbh

 

“Einstein”

I did a little contest on my facebook asking people to tell me the funniest story about someone falling down. My friend Tiny told a great story, and was the winner. The prize was a portrait of anyone famous they liked, they’d get to keep the original art. He chose Einstein, and man was he fun to draw. Lots of people seem to like this one. I tried to give him nice gentle eyes. Yes, there are still prints of him. I did this one at 8×12″ in colored pencil.

ein

 

“Red Highway”

The original of this, I gave to a collector of my work. It was a 10×13″ watercolor. Of all the landscapes I’ve done, people seem to be most interested in this one. Maybe it’s all that hot dawn cloud color. I’m not sure.

reda

 

“Dahlia with Dice”

Of all my still life work, this one gets the most attention. Maybe it’s the format, that high vertical? It was originally a 12×16″ watercolor painting. The prints of this one are popular and I’ve made a few handmade runs of it, as well as the open edition prints.

EPSON MFP image

 

“River Otter”

A lot of you guys love the animal totem series, and this guy is the crowd favorite. He’s a little more simple than some of the others, so I think a lot of people just really, really like otters. Colored pencil on handmade tinted paper, 8×12″.

ott

 

“Weeping Doll”

I’ve done handpainted prints of her. The original sold as soon as it was finished. I’ve redone the entire image twice and both reproductions by hand sold immediately. And the open edition prints…people really like this beat-up old doll. She’s pretty melacholy. It’s originally a 10×13″ watercolor on hotpress.

EPSON MFP image

 

Then, there’s “Shy Owl”. The most popular of them all. Due to the buyer of the original schmoozing me out of open edition printing, (I was an idiot and won’t be doing that so cheaply ever, EVER again) there are only cards available of this guy. Every print I did make of it, that limited amount, sold instantly. People email me asking for a print all the time. I’d be at least a few hundred dollars richer if I’d never said I’d only make a few prints of him.
An expensive lesson.

I'll never give up my reproduction rights so cheaply ever ever again.

I’ll never give up my reproduction rights so cheaply ever ever again.

 

The Horrors, two pages!

The new coloring book, The Horrors, is out!  The book is an adult coloring book containing ghosts, cryptids, mlnsters and urban legends from around the world, complete with stories and descriptions. You can find it here (it’s the scary werewolf!) click the images for a size you can print out and color.

 

 

 

 

 

EPSON MFP image

 

 

 

Jackalope
The jackalope is an antlered, sometimes winged, jackrabbit. It’s found in the southwestern United States.
They’re as fast as an antelope, and as camouflaged as a jackrabbit. You can get hunting tags for them in Wyoming, every year. When hunting a jackalope, wearing good, high leather boots is a must, as they can be dangerous and may try to gore your legs or savage you with their horns.
The jackalope can imitate human voices and may lure hunters away from their fires at night by calling for help. They also find the scent of whiskey irresistible, so traps baited with glasses of whiskey are a good way to capture the elusive beasts.

EPSON MFP image

 

Jersey Devil
I personally encountered the Jersey Devil. I was taking a long solo hike and was passing through the Pine Barrens in NJ- a grey, odd landscape, at dusk. I was coming around the bend of a trail when a…a thing ran past me, across the trail. It was the size of a small horse, on its hind legs, with antlers. It had a horse’s head, emaciated, and a deer’s body- but behind it flapped immense leathery wings.
I turned and ran about a mile back on the trail, at full speed. I didn’t try to hike past that point until full daylight, with others, the following day. There were clear deer tracks in the dirt, only two feet…

The Jersey Devil is said to be: a cryptid, some kind of giant bat-deer, and alternately, the evil deformed child of a satanic witch. Nobody knows its actual origins, but stories in the area are common. It’s one of the few creatures in this book I have seen with my own eyes.

 

I’m going to include the sheilanagig as well, without story. enjoy coloring these, and grab a copy of the book!!! xoxEPSON MFP image

 

 

 

six free pages to color!

EPSON MFP imageIn the spirit of giving, here are some print-size images for you guys to download and color! These are imperfect scans of six pages from the Horrors; I figured a lot of folks have bought the book and many more would probably love to just color in a few pages.  Click any image to find a full-sized version for printing.

(although you’re missing out on 22 other creatures, and the text that goes with them all!You can get the full book here if you’d like the complete experience.) Enjoy, and feel free to share!

weeping willow doll.

image

ink, watercolor, wash. wicked creepy doll with weeping willow. you can find it among my originals & prints here

book signing and coloring contest!

We had a good time, two prizes were won, and all these pages got colored!
You can still pick up the book in person at Laughing Buddha, or you can order one online here.

Thanks to my instafriend Jon and his sweet lady for being so awesome that they won the prizes, and to everyone else who sat and colored with me! xox

Here are some photos from the night, and some pictures people have colored from the book itself.
(the jackalope? he’s in the second expanded edition, just you wait)

10644810_10152498668937712_6059654861539954405_n 10347774_10152498668412712_2133600093353073809_n 10612756_10152498667767712_7935412508437463388_n (1) 10422280_10152498668187712_1159083977089234305_n

(more…)

Signing party for the Horrors, the night before Halloween!

We are having a book signing party at Laughing Buddha, at 8pm the night before Halloween!

I will bring some good coloring pencils for people who pick up a book!

And I will bring my wrist brace for the morning after.

10424313_10152658803248416_6244479501374841373_n If you’ve already got the book, come by anyway! Let me see what you’ve colored!

Here is a link to the facebook event, feel free to share it!  If you’re not in Seattle for Halloween, you can still buy a signed edition here. But if you ARE in Seattle, come to the signing party and pick one up! There will be a prize for the best coloring job, and a prize for the funniest as well.

We will have some printed pages for broke folks to color in and take home, and candy.

Here are some of the awesome colorings-in people have sent me so far! I’ll add more as more people send me photos!

(more…)

jinny's chapter, an excerpt.

jinny greenteeth

jinny greenteeth

excerpt from chapter 12 of the horrors.

 

Jinny Greenteeth is considered a dark sidhe, a wicked fairy. Alternately some believe she is the ghost of a woman murdered in the bog. She’s attractive at first, luring you in. Then she will grab you, hold you tight, and pull you under. Then she devours you.
She may pretend to be a drowning woman, in order to get you into the water- or a beautiful nude woman, swimming, enticing you. She haunts rivers, ponds, and bogs. Some say she is a terrestrial mermaid, cut off from the ocean and forced to stay in freshwater.
The only way to escape her is to look away and not allow her to touch you. Once she’s touched you, like weeds, she will wrap around you and bring you under the surface.

jinny’s chapter, an excerpt.

jinny greenteeth

jinny greenteeth

excerpt from chapter 12 of the horrors.

 

Jinny Greenteeth is considered a dark sidhe, a wicked fairy. Alternately some believe she is the ghost of a woman murdered in the bog. She’s attractive at first, luring you in. Then she will grab you, hold you tight, and pull you under. Then she devours you.
She may pretend to be a drowning woman, in order to get you into the water- or a beautiful nude woman, swimming, enticing you. She haunts rivers, ponds, and bogs. Some say she is a terrestrial mermaid, cut off from the ocean and forced to stay in freshwater.
The only way to escape her is to look away and not allow her to touch you. Once she’s touched you, like weeds, she will wrap around you and bring you under the surface.

« Newer -- Older »

This is a unique website which will require a more modern browser to work!

Please upgrade today!