BOOM!, Acrylic on Panel, 24x36

This is the other painting I submitted to Cottonwood’s Pop Culture Show. 

The last two times I've submitted paintings to Cottonwoods’ shows, I wasn’t juried in. While I was I disappointed, it pushed me to put together two of the biggest, most ambitious, and most satisfying paintings I’ve made yet. I’m hoping the third time is a charm.

POW!, Acrylic on Panel, 24x36

I just submitted this painting to Cottonwoods’ Pop Culture Show.
For the past year or so I’ve been teaching myself 3D modeling because I know there would be a point when I wanted to design my own signs. It gives me a lot more flexibility with color, composition, typography, and what the sign says. And it sure beats driving around town looking for something to paint. However, there are still some real life signs I’d like to take on because of their history and how it feeds into my own designs.

All Together Now, 14x11, Acrylic on Panel

With both kids out of school and only one good eye, I was able to get a painting done by the deadline for Cottonwood’s Still Life show. I dropped it yesterday and won’t know if it gets into the show until the middle of next week. The competition is usually pretty tough, but I couldn’t not try.

BOWL, Acrylic on Panel, 20x30

A few months ago, my friends Chris and Jenny asked if I was interested in doing another painting of the Bear Creek Lanes sign for their new home. I was very interested but felt I should ask Jason (the now owner of the original painting I did earlier). I'm  not sure on the protocol of this kind of thing, but I wanted to make sure he was cool with it before I committed. Luckily he enthusiastically gave his blessing, so it was up to me to figure out how to do it differently enough to keep challenging myself but not too differently that my friends would still be pleased. The original was cropped and was only 5x10 inches and the Schells wanted a painting that would be many times that size. It would be my largest painting yet!

The challenge of this particular sign is that it’s an elongated L shape and could possibly leave a lot of empty space in one of the corners if I painted it straight on - I needed a different angle. 

I decided to make a simple 3D model of the sign that I could manipulate to give me a rough idea of what the best angle would be to shoot a reference photo. 

I didn’t want to spend a lot of time shooting on location, because I know people can get weird about someone taking photos of their stuff. I (quickly) took a day shot and an early evening shot with the neon on, and we decided that the daytime photo looked the best. 

So with that, I got to work.

Pack, Acrylic on Panel, 14x11

This is the final painting that I’ll be submitting to Cottonwood’s Abstract Show. Drop off is today and the show opens March 28. Even though I made three paintings, I’m only going to submit two. The second painting “Stacked” just wasn’t up to the caliber of this one and my first abstract “Winding.” I absolutely loved doing these paintings and there’s so much more potential in doing more. I could play with color, shapes, composition, “camera” angle. So expect more of these along with still life and sign paintings.

Stacked, Acrylic on Panel, 11x14

Another painting for Cottonwood Center for the Arts' Abstract Show.

Winding, Acrylic on Panel, 16x20

The great thing about galleries having an open call for entries is that it gives me an opportunity to work on different styles and themes. This is my entry for Cottonwood’s Abstract Show. I’ve had the idea to do something like this for quite a while, but the deadline gave me the push I needed to try it out. I’m hoping it fits their criteria for abstract art. I like to think of it as a painting of an abstract sculpture. Whether I’m juried in or not, I had a blast putting this together and I’m hoping to have one or two smaller ones by the submission deadline. Wish me luck!