Got frustrated again the other night, way too controlling of the process. So I did this to relax. Oil on panel, 5"X7"

Getting productive, are we?

EXCITED!

A bunch of stuff in the works. One, I'm doing a cover illustration for the good people at Isotropic Fiction . 

Second, I'm working on a series of miniature paintings for a show at Metallo Gallery (did a whole post about it below. You know you want to read it. Come on! You know you do!) 

Third, I've submitted a few paintings for an emerging artists' show at the Harwood Art Center. 


I created a poster for a friend's art show. I'm also doing a personal fiction/poetry project and working on a (shhhhhhhh!!!!!) graphic novel. 

Things are really starting to cook! YAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!

Here's a picture of a knife-wielding dwarf astride a giant squid joyfully flying through zero-gravity to illustrate how I feel right about now: 

 

Miniatures at the Metallo Gallery in Madrid, NM

First off, it's pronounced MAD-rid.

The Metallo Gallery in Madrid, New Mexico holds an annual miniature show in the spring. All works on display are 36 inches square or less. 

Two years ago I had my first art sale ever there, this painting called Do Not Duplicate: 

 

This one, Blood Tree, didn't sell but it's still there at Metallo someplace, probably in a storage closet or under a cup of coffee or something: 

 

Being in this show and selling a painting was a gigantic, life-changing event for me because it was the first time I'd ever felt affirmed that painting as a vocation was a viable option.

  

This year I'm going to submit a series of paintings of fake vampire teeth: 

 

Why plastic vampire teeth? For one I like artifacts of pop culture. I think they're cool. But I believe they also say a great deal about our hopes and anxieties as a people. Halloween and horror I love in particular, admittedly because of nostalgia (it's the best fucking holiday and time of year and you know it), but also because I think there is something remarkable about a culture that alleviates its fears of death and dehumanization by dressing up its children - its children - as the dead and horrifying. 

What a way to come to terms with our mortality. We fetishize youth culture (sexually active youth culture, anyhow) then once a year we symbolically kill and maim it. Horror movies perform the same morbid task all year long. Extraordinary. 

I wish I could know how history will judge such strange behavior. 

So, vampire teeth. Why not? I'll keep you posted if and when I get into the show this year. Until then, I have at least two more paintings to do.