Catcall: "Best Of The Best" Illustration Winner!

This piece, entitled Catcall, recently won the award for "Best Illustration" at the Best of the Best juried competition show at the Ettinger Gallery in Laguna Beach (March 2009). The painting was created as an editorial piece that reflected on adolescent behavior (when aroused by raging hormones!). Media: watercolor, bodycolour, and colored pencil.

"Bus Stop"

This is a very small painting (5" x 5.5") that I made of a friend waiting at a country bus stop. Media: Watercolor and bodycolour.

"The Petrel's Bride"

[Cover]

[Regular Interior Illustration]

[Interior Spread Illustration, pt.1]

[Interior Spread Illustration, pt.2]

[Interior Vignette Illustration]

Five illustrations made for an unpublished children's book, The Petrel's Bride, retold by Kate Caswell. The story is an Alaskan folktale involving a magic petrel bird and a proud young human woman whom he takes as his bride. The media I used for these illustrations were watercolor, bodycolour (Chinese White opaque watercolor/white gouache), and colored pencil.

"Best Steak In The World"

An editorial illustration based on an article in Outside magazine that talked about the best steak in the world (apparently, it was found in Argentina). I decided to take a different spin on the article title than the editors had chosen, however. Mine is the American Dream version: an average guy who has amassed, by virtue of his prize-winning steak, a shiny new grill, a hot babe, and a plateful of charbroiled trophies. The media used for this painting were watercolor and colored pencil.

"Teabaggers"

This is an editorial illustration I created regarding the tax protesters that were picketing round and about (I saw them in Laguna Beach) on April 15th. Media: Watercolor and watercolor alone! 

P.S.- The word "teabagging" has a very colorful definition which, for professional reasons, I won't be explaining here...but I swear up and down that I did not give the neighborly folks depicted here this name out of spite. Nope, there were actually crowds of people running around proclaiming themselves as teabaggers, hoping to homage the tea-tax protesters of 1774 Boston. I only hope they got themselves enlightened before they met up with the Pride activists...;)

"Call To Revival"

This is a still life I completed over a period of four hours (including the time it took to compose the picture frame and make a couple of studies). Media: Watercolor and bodycolour.

Six Expressions

Here is an exercise in drawing and painting the face throughout several changes of expression. I chose to illustrate the expressions of a young woman who has just been walked in on as she exits the shower (but potentially has been walked in on by someone she's not too...uh...opposed to!) I executed these paintings using watercolor and bodycolour.

Mirror Series

This is a mini-series I created, based around the idea of people examining themselves in mirrors. My aim for this series was to create paintings that could be used effectively in commercial context (editorial or book illustration) but that had narratives that were open-ended ended enough to stand alone as a fine art series. The media I used for all three paintings were watercolor, bodycolour (Chinese White opaque watercolor/white gouache), and colored pencil.