birthday wishes

So this last weekend i was invited to go to my friend Kelly's birthday party. I haven't seen her or really heard from her since i graduated high school just because ya know people lose touch and branch out into the world. we hung out a lot back in high school and for a lot of my friends back then, I would try and draw something for them on their birthday's. I made a piece for her back my senior year, she used to be really big into playing with zippo's and just kinda playing with fire. so for that piece I drew her as this kinda Human Torch character, with her hands on fire. Since i haven't seen her for a long time i wasn't sure what to get her for her birthday. So I decided to do a little throwback to that piece and kinda update it because i have gotten so much better as an artist and I thought she would appreciate it. I pulled out a copy of the old picture (sorry i couldn't get a good copy, otherwise i would put it up) and just tried to remember somethings that she liked. She is a strong christian, so i wanted to put that in somewhere, she has a fiance, rick, who's a pretty cool guy, so i wanted to put him in somewhere and she's big into her music so i wanted to get that in there. so in about a day and a half of putting it together and kinda trying to figure out what to do, i got it done. What's really cool too is that i got to try this new tool called pentel brush pens which pretty much acts like a paint brush so it was fun to use.
My girlfriend and I showed up to the party on Saturday and had a pretty good time, I knew a few people, but rhiannon didn't know anyone, so i chilled with her most of the night. The funny thing was kelly was telling everyone that i was an artist and was talking about the piece that i did for her back in high school, she even brought out the piece, so it was pretty fun seeing a piece that i did back then. I don't have much of my original artwork, either because i gave it away or it was destroyed. But seeing how much she liked that piece made me feel good and I was excited to see her reaction to this piece. Fast forwarding, Rhiannon and I were getting ready to take off and we said our goodbyes and kelly comes over and said that she hadn't had a chance to open gifts yet, so we went to the presents. She grabbed it and opened it and was really excited about it. I love seeing the look in my friends eyes when i give them a piece that i made because its something original and special for them. One of these days I'll hopefully be able to say that i've made something for everybody i know, but i can only take it one person at a time. who knows, but i had fun at the birthday and Kelly if your reading, again HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Tech Vs. Me Round....who knows..

so im sitting here trying to crop and fix a pic i scanned into the computer of a drawing for a friends birthday. everytime i try and make a move to spruce up the drawing, the screen tells me, " error: cannot make adjustments for ......so and so reason." I think that honestly technology is out to get me. any kinds, all kinds, i get something techy i kid you not it breaks or has a malfunction within a week. all i want to do really is just scan in a pic so i can show ya'll but the problem with that too is that i dont have a decent and/ or larger scanner so i can scan pieces that might be 11" x 14" or a bit bigger. so right now i have to resort to using a crappy lil digital camera to try and get something and the camera keeps shutting off on me....i have a great respect for those who can master these monsters of machina, but i give in.....for now. But as what to what i was saying earlier, i do need a bigger scanner, something that can scan in nice large pieces, so if anyone knows anything about one, please let me know. And i hope to be able to put up this drawing for ya'll to see soon. its been a fun piece to do and once i get it up i'll tell ya more about it. till then...

My 1st solo art show!!

On February 23rd, at 10 am i paced back and forth in front of the UAF gallery, eagerly awaiting my fate in the hands of my professors. it all came to this, " do i pass and become the bearer of a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree? or do i have another semester of attempting to graduate?" I was called back in and....I had passed! I was so relieved to know that all the stress from the previous year was behind me.
For those who don't know, I have been working for the last year on achieving my B.F.A. and having an art show is only my work. My show was consisted of works that were re-tellings of famous and some not so famous tall tales. Let me tell you, this show had consumed my life, every waking moment I was in the studio, working furiously to pump out my work. In the end my work paid off, with 12 paintings and 7 drawings displayed, i was finally going to show the fruits of my labor.
That night i had my opening, and it was amazing! i didn't leave the gallery the entire night, just because i had people constantly coming up to me and wanting to congratulate me. i was so grateful to see my friends and family, it really meant a lot that the people i care about most were there. the whole night lasted about 3 hours and by the time we closed the doors, I was wiped. I honestly couldn't have done any of it with out my beautiful girlfriend, so thank you for everything, even though i still say it all the time. after that night my show stayed up for about another 2 weeks, it was amazing. I'm kind of sad that I had to take it down, but i did get pictures. overall i sold 8 out of 12 paintings and 5 of the 7 drawings, so not bad for my first real time as an accomplished artist. With the show behind me, I'm looking to the future, i currently have 8 commissions set up so i will be a busy man, but that wont stop me from taking more. so please don't hesitate to contact me. Again to those who came to my show and also to those who supported me, thank you so much!

hey...long time no talk...

so i made a blog and....i dont even use it... how messed up is that? i have been playing more on my deviant art site as of late and just dont know what to put here. i will have a new blog up after my finals though. but a recap of some of the things that have been goin down for me are: i got the presidents choice award at the presidents show! i got the student choice award at the student art show! i am gettin a cabin! ( yay no more couch sleeping!) and im goin to homer for christmas to hang out with my girlfriends family! *gasp wheez* so theirs a recap. i know i keep saying ill put art up and dont worry i will. later!

challenge beaten!

all right so this is the comic that i created for the 24 hour comic day, its basically about jeff, an old roommate of mine that i think was perfect to write a comic about. now i plan on redoing this, ya know cleaning it up and and maybe trying some photoshop on em. but please let me know what yall think

yay for sleep deprivation!

so this past saturday at noon to sunday at noon, myself and 19 other artists participated in the 24 hour comic challenge, basically meaning i stayed up for 24 hours and had to create a 24 page comic in 24 hours. we went in with no script and no prepared work. And it stayed true to its name as it truly was a challenge. but out of 20 people only 8 people( including myself im proud to say) finished the challenge. so go us. im puttin a couple pictures up of the event and when i get my comic back ill place some of the pics up, but to those who competed around the world, i salute you, this was probably one of the best things ive done in my life.

skull scarabs!

so these are two pieces that i have done for a guy, he's gonna be puttin this stuff on his site soon enough, ill let everyone know about the link, but this is what I got so far,




















the skull scarabs!
























mighty barbarian slaying skull scarabs!! ( dont really have a title for it)