Art Candy

When We Were Young

Children grow up in the blink of an eye. My eldest son is off to college next year... does that make me old? Anyway, last summer we had the pleasure of hosting a family reunion right here in Minnesota( it should be called MinneSNOWta this year). Fortunately, it was August and the sun was shining on us at the family resort up north where we had rented a group of cabins. We fished, canooed, bonfired and tubed. We even helped my niece bait her hook,catch a few fish, and have an emergency bladder evacuation off of the side of the pontoon( we were in the middle of the lake with no biffy in sight). It was a fun trip and an bit of inspiration for the painting I posted above.

More from the sketchbook

Ryan, Frankie & the Duck( even though its not a duck)

My puppy , my muse

We just added a new puppy to our family which has been a new and interesting experience to say the least. Her name is Frankie and she is a mini bulldog... A mix of English , French and pug. We have spent the better part of the month training her not to chew on us and everything else she gets her mouth on. We have a few nicknames now for her. The most used is the Frankenmonster which fits her perfectly at 4pm every day which seems to be the witching hour for her. Anyway, I was stumped for new material and decided to just draw some images that include my kids and my dogs. Both are amusing and make for good subject matter. I am making a series of sketches that I intend to make paintings out of for the summer shows. The above sketch is called Angel Dog( The taming of the Frankenmonster). I'll post an image of the finished painting when I have it.

Typepad

Sent from my iPhone

The Future Starts Today

This is a new card design with a optimistic point of view. I thought it appropriate for the start of a new year!

Block Printed Bags

 

My new block printed hand crafted leather bags will be on display and for sale at Art Attack open studio tour in November at the Northrup King Building.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

My new card line through Goldfield Arts! I will have my cards for sale at the Art Attack open studio tour November 2,3,&4.

 

Inspired by Olvera Street

I just finished this piece titled Olvera Street. I was recently visiting Los Angeles and was inspired by all of the colorful stalls and interesting people that the area has to offer.

Cielito Lindo has many meanings. Not only is it a wonderful little taco stand at the corner of Olvera Street but it is also a classic Mexican song. What touched me the most was that cielito lindo roughly translates to "lovely sweet one" which seemed to fit perfectly with the image.

Sheridan Arts Magnet Mural Project

I have been working on a mural project for the last couple of months with the sixth graders at the Sheridan Arts Magnet school in Minneapolis. The mural is meant to tie in with the social studies project that the students completed on the history of Minneapolis. The kids wrote research papers then created small paintings to go along with their research. We worked with the students at Washburn High to generate ideas for the mural. The sixth graders were instrumental in coming up with imagery and information that I then took and made sketches out of. I created a video of the process. Check it out!

 

Tomorow is another day...

I think that my mother said it best..."tomorrow is another day." I beleive she capped the sentence off with honey or sweetie but those words still resonate in my head when I have a bad day or when things are just not working out the way I had hoped. I have been working on images for an upcoming line of greeting cards and was having a tough day when those words of encouragement popped into my head. I decided to create an image befitting those words and the painting below is what I came up with.

I chose cheery colors to lift my mood but I think that the position of the figure says it all. Hopefully someday soon this card image will give someone else a boost on a not so great day too.