Glass, Cinder & Thorns II

This Saturday (tomorrow) @ 323 East in Royal Oak, MI

will be the 2nd Glass Cinder and Thorns show, curated by my dear friend, the lovely April Segedi.

Its an all female line up! All works based on Fairytales, mostly the dark little twists hiding inside the stories.

The first show was amazing! And Im pretty excited to see all the work for this installment!

Here are my pieces

"Let Me In" - plaque set of 4 - oil on wood

Click images to see at original size

I see this girl, shes the wolf, but she wont be cooked in any boiling water. The pigs lose in this story.

I have a thing for the rule of 3. Not sure why. And Ive always loved the 3 little pigs. I can remember being at my cousins house, listening to the Disney record over and over.

My pieces were aesthetically inspired by Disneys adaptation of the story.

check out the picture in the background, what a bunch of sick-o's.

I Love this book cover as well.

be sure to contact 323 East for any purchasing questions!

april@323east.com

oh and here is the flyer 

vist the FB event page for more info

https://www.facebook.com/events/426245224106034/?fref=ts

have a great weekend everyone!

sneak Peak/New Print!

time for another sneak peak! 

The show is getting closer, and the guys at 1xrun are helping to promote the show by releasing a print of one of the pieces from the show.

"Memento Mori"

24x36 

oil on canvas

"Memento Mori" is an old saying, basically meaning "remember your mortality"

The 2 tall figures in black are "Plague Doctors". 

This was a typical way they would dress, completely covered (understandable of course).

But the most fascinating part is the masks they would wear. 

The "beak" served as a vessel for scented substances, like amber, mint leaves, cloves, rose petals and myrrh. 

They  thought this would protect them from "Miasmatic bad air", which was a theory that certain diseases where being spread through the air. 

I also read somewhere that they would wear red goggles to ward off evil, Im not sure if thats true, but its all very interesting.

The hat was part of symbolizing their profession, and the sticks were used so they didnt have to touch the patient.

so being fascinated by all this, they made my list of inspiration.

The girl in the piece dosent represent a plague victim, I just like the juxtaposition of a sweet little girl with these 2 tall    shadowing figures, like life and death.

 In my head I feel like they are her friends. 

so this piece will be released as a print through 1xrun on July 4th.

And the original will be available at the show on July 9th @ 323east

Beautiful Monstrosities

click the images to see them bigger

watch out for a flood of sneak peaks, and other fun info in the days to come. 

also make sure you check out Aprils blog for sneak peaks as well. 

Snowflakes and CandyCanes

Last night was the opening for "Snowflakes and Candy Canes"

Holiday group show over @323 East. Everything is priced below 300$ so you can give the gift of art instead of buying mass produced crap from chain stores!

I have 3 pieces left in the show. Including this piece.

"Sweets" - 11x14 - oil on canvas

I also gave them an original drawing, which I failed to get an image of.

I wasnt sure if I wanted to put it in the show. I was very uncomfortable and felt out of my element showing a drawing. I stopped seriously drawing when I started painting..so it felt weird. oh well its hanging up in the gallery now. I did enjoy drawing, I may do more. It does feels strange to do something that only takes a couple hours..not weeks or months.

anyway if you live in Michigan, in the Royal Oak area, go check out all the cool, and very affordable art!

www.323east.com

pale shade of grey

home from Ron Zakrin's show tonight at 323 East.

tonight was nice

sometimes I realize that I know some wonderful people, and I feel blessed.

tomorrow is going to be hard

Glass Cinder Thorns

March was a great start to spring. So many good times, and this show to wrap up the month.

Glass, Cinder & Thorns.

my piece "Forbidden Fruit" - 16x20 - oil on canvas

my piece in its mega frame - below Me and curater/gallery manager Miss April

Me and my Aaron and sir Robert Del Valle

photos taken by John Bigtacion.

great night!

I am currently busting my butt for a 2 person show in June.

"The Great Balancing Act"

more info on that soon

Plus: Twilight Zone show @ gallery 1988 - May

and Crazy 4 Cult:4 - July

Glass, Cinder & Thorns

another fantastic show @ 323 East going on March 20th!

Curated by April Segedi, Manager of the gallery, thought there too many male artists in their lineup, so she went and gathered a slew of amazing female artists for this group show!

can you spot my piece?

We decided to promote both my newest limited edition print, and the show together.

They deemed me the "spokes girl" for the show, and Im honored for the title.

So April and I will be doing some media type stuff this week together.

looking forward to it :)

super rad photographer Joe Gall, came by the studio to do some promotional shots. Check out Joe's work, very cool stuff.

Psst....that painting in the back there, is for my summer show "The Great Balancing Act". I'll have about 12 possibly more paintings for this show. More info on that later.

Gooses Geeses

I teamed up with my good friends at 323 East to release this special print.

I got such an amazing response from my fellow Detroiters on this one.

When it was on the cover of Real Detroit, I had people come up to me telling me they saved the cover. I was touched :)

Its also one of my favorite paintings Ive done, so it made sense to release it as a print.

I wanted to make it special, and 323 helped me make it possible.

this is the first and only edition print Ive printed on canvas, and I m extremely happy with the turnout!

each is framed - signed and numbered, and comes with a certificate of authenticity.

extremely limited! There are only 10 available, and 3 artists proofs as well.

they go on sale tomorrow!!

check out my site, or go to www.323east.com

sticky & Sweet sneak peak 3

My process:

this is how I start. I paint the background first, then work up.

sometimes I take a photo, then do a (extremely) rough color study in photoshop

some images for reference, and yummy inspiration!!

and about 3 weeks later
"The Girl with the most cake"
24x30

on June 8th I'll be turning 30.

so painting this I keet thinking about how Im really excited to be turning 30.

finally Im really feeling comfortable in my own skin, things are great right now, and seem to be getting better.

one of the last times I seen my Grandma, was at my sisters house warming party. They had a cake with blue flowers. My Grandma stayed by the cake, making sure she was first to get a piece, and she wanted a piece with a flower. The rest of the day her lips were blue. She was so cute

Sticky & Sweet - June 20th

well I'm super excited to be doing a show with super rad Kill Taupe! !

There isnt anyone else Id rather do such a fun show with!

The show is themed with all things sweet and yes sticky!

I will even be baking cupcakes for the occasion!

the opening with be on June 20th 6pm-10pm

@ 323 East in Royal Oak

"Sticky & Sweet" sneak peak 2

for the "Sitcky & Sweet" show, Kill Taupe and I are doing together

"Spin" - 16x20 oil on canvas panel

while I paint I surround myself with images

the ground around my painting space is covered with them

Will Cotton