Paintings and Collage Art
This is a page that describes these groups of paintings. To see the pictures, please visit the Gallery drop down menu, hover over “paintings and collage art,” and then click on the group you would like to see:
From “Paintings and Collage Art,” I have my “Solfege Family Collection,” my “French Quarter,” my “Paperdolls Series,” my “Saddlebred Series,” my “1997-2010 Collection,” and my “Custom Paintings.” From the music art, baseball art, celebrity art, to the collage drawings and figure drawings, and custom portrait paintings and landscape art, this is a lot to cover so I am going to try and give a brief description about each series. I will have more and more details on my blog and FAQ pages (from media kit and blog) as time goes on.
The “Solfege Family Collection,” my newest series, consists of seven separate designs/instruments originally crafted in various colors and media including paint, fabric, chalk, marker, beads, and much more. The originals, sealed with a high-gloss finish are 48″x48″, are offered in giclee sizes ranging from 8″x8″ to 36″x36″. Each work of art: “Doe the Bass,” “Ray the Guitar,” “Me the Piano,” “Fa the French Horn,” “Soul the Drums,” “La the Sax,” and “Tee the Marimba,” are named after the solfege sight-singing technique “do, re, me, fa, sol, la, ti, do.” I was inspired to create these pieces because I love music, grew up around music in church, and spend my time with a family of musicians that have played professionally since childhood. I wanted to design a series that I was interested in and enjoyed creating. So far, my most popular works of art have been the mixed-media or collaged pieces, and also the ones I have enjoyed creating the most. I incorporate actual envelopes in all of my collaged pieces including these, and in this series, I started incorporating bird images on a whim even though I ironically fear them.
The “French Quarter” is similar in style and technique to the “Solfege Family Collection, ” but different in that it was created before and separately from the Solfege idea. This piece is what inspired my continuation for painting musical instruments, “The Solfege Family Collection.” The “French Quarter” original is 36″x36″, mixed-media, and sold the night of its first debut. The owner of this piece named it herself because it reminded her of good memories of the French Quarter. I was led to create this piece through inspiration of local Arizona musician of the Herndon Brothers Band, also in the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, who’s two of many instruments are the accordian and trumpet.
The “Paperdolls Series” is also a mixed-media collage series. The series consists of nine separate designs originally crafted in various colors and media including fabric, paper, and paint. The originals are 24″x24″ and are offered in giclee sizes ranging from 8″x8″ to 36″x36″. The silhouette of the girl on these pieces, is intended to represent the “doll,” while the materials used to create the series represents the “fabric/paper” used to dress the doll. The Paperdolls Series is very popular among women of all ages but has also intrigued some of my male collectors, and has even been placed in areas like music rooms. With the love and fun of textures, colors, and pattern, my hope was to produce a series that brings back the fond memories of paper dolls in a decorative and fresh way while using all the elements that go into any stylishly enhanced person or place. The nine different works, in nine separate color palettes are meant to stand as one or all together depending on your own personal style and feel.
Like all the above mentioned series and collections, most of my art is fashioned with repurposed materials, which has also made my art eco-friendly. I got started on this concept when the 1997-2010 Collection was forming. The pieces from this Collection that exhibit this concept are the “Mighty Foundation,” “Lyle Lovett,” and “I Like Your Sleeves.” The pieces from the “1997-2010 Collection” is a group of works that I obviously created during 1997-2010, which may have started from original commissioned pieces, exercises from college, or my own original ideas I exhibited at shows. Each piece from this collection has a unique story, and I hope to be able to describe each one in detail as time goes on.
For now, the one that I will point out above them all is “Mighty Foundation,” the mixed-media collage piece I mentioned earlier, created in 2008 for an exhibition in Scottsdale, AZ. This piece of music art happens to be a music sheet I painted of a real song “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” I painted this piece because I wanted to portray a picture that symbolically represented my upbringing or foundation if you will, and with my interest in music, the concept worked out. I am a preacher’s kid (PK) and have been all my life. Although it hasn’t always been a bowl of cherries, I like to give credit to my father and his pure intentions for the values and love he taught my brother and I in our “Mighty Foundation.” The collaged elements, such as the rose represent growth, while the burned edges represent heartaches that I have coped with a long the way.
The last two series I would like to describe are the Saddlebred Series and the custom paintings. The Saddlebred Series developed by way of a woman I know who trains and owns Saddlebred horses. As I got to know her, I also got to know some of the nuances and characteristics of horses, of which I had not much of an idea. My curiosity in creating the art involving Saddlebred horses developed at this time. Like I said, I did know much about the breed at first, but as I continued to learn more by drawing and painting them, I found that the intricacies of their apparent unique qualities and personalities ignited a spark and genuine love for creating the pieces exemplifying them. You can view the drawing studies on the Saddlebred Series notecards.
Lastly, my “Custom Paintings” are a few of the commissioned pieces that I have created throughout the years. I love doing custom paintings and portrait paintings because then I know the owner has a deep connection to the piece. Of course, it is always fun to paint a child whether it be a picture with their birthday hat on (Hailey), playing the piano (Dash), or playing in the sand eating watermelon (Dan and Steve). The painting of “The Gift” was recently purchased and donated to the Shoshone Indian Tribe. This piece was a collaborative effort on my part and the model, in efforts to show the struggle of the Native Americans trying to keep the culture alive in modern times. The feather in the portrait is a real eagle feather “gifted” to us by the Chief. If you are interested in a custom painting for yourself, please visit “Custom art and Gifts” and let me know what you have in mind.”
I hope you enjoy!