gaurdian

worked on this collab piece over the weekend. the bird is a tropical bird called a trogon. trogons are know to be reluctant to fly long distances and tend to spend a lot of time perched so it kind of goes with the imagery. it also functions as a crazy hair decoration. plus, they're just beautiful birds. richard is an awesome painter and i feel really excited to show with him next month. i sometimes get nervous as to how the hell am i going to contribute to what he's already created. this is part of the process, its what keeps me motivated.

pola-droid

i was recently hipped to this pretty fun program called POLADROID (click to check out the site and download). its a neat little program that makes your photos look like old polaroids. i find it amusing and addicting. here's some pics i dropped in.

lady slippers

i ended up using the sketch i posted yesterday (see below). this is another collaboration with my friend Richard Salcido. he recently sent me five more paintings that he started. a couple are portraits and some are backgrounds like this one. it's a 16x20. surprisingly i was able to bang it out in one session.

orchid update

here are some pics i snapped this morning before work. the orchid is starting to open another flower! this will be the fourth. i believe there's going to be eight total. i had to scoot it around away from the corner over the weekend. the buds were getting cramped. i'm pretty excited considering i've had it for two years and this is its first bloom since then. one of the lids opened up on the larger nepenthes this morning too. so excited. i can't wait to get some more this spring.

sketch

quick composition sketch i did today with three lady slipper orchids. might use this for one of the collaboration pieces i'm doing with Richad Salcido. eh maybe, maybe not....

last two!

i stayed up late last night and got both of these done. i'm kind of glad how all six turned out. there's still some fine tuning to be done like cleaning up any smudges and the like, but the majority is pretty much done. yea, i believe a large composition on a white background is in my future.

quick post

here are two more small round pieces and a montage studio shot. have a good day!

Collaboration

Recently finished this collaboration with my good friend Richard Salcido. It's going to be in our show next month at Silver Queen Fine Art in Park City, UT. It's 24x48.

second

here's number two of six. finished it tonight. i'm having a great time with these.

in the round

this is one of six round 12 inch canvases i'm doing right now. i wanted to do a single bird on an empty ground and see how it reacts, if it can stand on its own, how it functions on a round plane ..etc. this is in contrast to what i've been working on lately with exploring the interaction of botanicals and birds within the space and so forth. i find it interesting to go back and do a single bird composition like i've done before, yet this time i feel more confident and there's more of an intent in dealing with the overall simplicity. i've always wanted to do a large composition on a white background but haven't indulged until now. i guess these are a prelude to do just that.

Terrarium!

my orchid in my terrarium is starting to bloom!! so awesome. i've had it alive for two years without a single bloom. i put it in the terrarium i have with some pitcher plants and tillandsias and it seems to adapt really well. it's so true when they say that plants will definitely let you know when they are happy and enjoy their environment. we're gonna need a bigger boat soon.

11x14

i have this little 11x14 on the easel right now. i've never worked on a dark background like this before. i'm sort of liking how its working so far. i'm also kind of liking the flat silhouette shape in contrast to the more rounded and worked up areas. something to consider for the future possibly?