24″ x 32″ – Oil on Linen

“Shift” is a layered portrait depicting the artist in a submissive pose analogous to a string-puppet or marionette.  The painting is a self portrait. He is broken and being manipulated by an unseen actor, force or idea.

24″ x 32″ – Oil on Linen

A counterpoint is the relationship between two independent and distinct voices or notes with differing rhythms. Just like a lot of my self portraiture, ” Counterpoint ” is a reflection of my world view. A view that celebrates the idea that we can be whatever we want. We create ourselves. The individual is a complex and conscious being, but I would add that the individual is in flux. Forever changing from one experience to the next. Time and our experience of it changes us. This is illustrated in Counterpoint’s use of the sequence of hands and fragmented ( pieced – together ) figure. This painting is the FIRST time I tried to break free from earth tones. Notice the colorful hands? Unfortunately I painted them out, but it was an attempt!

  24″ x 32″ – Oil on Linen

This piece continues with my investigation of the moving image. But instead of creating multiple frames for an animation I want to spill a scene onto one page. The process of layering multiple figures together also encourages abstraction and creates a hauntingly rhythmic mood.

What does this piece mean? This layered painting depicts the artist in an internal struggle to understand his place in this world.  This drawing illustrates the idea that we are products of our experiences. We are shaped by layered moments of time and through our experience with it. A finished drawing of this painting is here.

  24″ x 30″ – Canvas

“Touch” and “Squeezed” are my first attempts to collage and abstract the figure with the purpose of creating a new portrait. I pressed my face against the glass of a digital scanner. and rearranged those scans into the composition you see here. The smearing and smudging of the skin is the effect of moving while the scanner is running. The image is then digitally enhanced, cropped and melded together from multiple scans. I spend quite a bit of time with the digital aspect of the piece before it’s ready to paint or draw.

Oil on Belgian Linen – 24″ x 30″

“Touch” and “Squeezed” are my first attempts to collage and abstract the figure with the purpose of creating a new portrait. I pressed my face against the glass of a digital scanner. and rearranged those scans into the composition you see here.