Their Perpetual Soiree

"Their Perpetual Soiree" 36 X 48 Oil on Canvas 2011

Alright friends, like most of my other paintings, this one is semi-autobiographical and semi-fantastical. After years of as bartender I wanted to paint about drinking and partying and the weird tole it takes. 

I love whiskey and booze still pays for a big portion of my bills. My inspiration for this painting however, was the tired, cheerless look that I've noticed in people get when they go out night after night. It is as if hanging out at the bar has become a boring routine rather than an exciting choice. In this painting I wanted create a party in which no one is really having any fun at all. I wanted to illustrate that fine line between the habitual drinker and the alcoholic. 

Actually, the T-Rex is an alcoholic. He is an angry drunk, and so am I. Just kidding, I'm really nice. And by-the-way I can't drink anymore. My doctor told me not to.

The Sketch

This painting took me much longer than usual, about two months. I had a couple of other projects in between the time I started the painting and the time I finished. Also, the painting is huge.  

Here is the rough sketch for the painting. It is kind of beat-up looking. Honestly, I thought that I had lost the drawing. Later I found it in a sad pile on the floor behind my drafting table. As you may notice, the monkey in the tree was almost an after thought. I quickly drew him on tracing paper and taped him to the original. 

There are many differences between the sketch and the painting. I think it's fun to compare the two to see what I changed along the way. I love doing this when looking at comps and painting by artists I admire. When I am working on a comp like this, I am really only interested in the composition and placement of key elements. I usually freestyle everything else. 

Along with sad drunks, I was inspired by two other things, the first being my t-rex figurine. I have a whole collection of figurines, and they seem to appear quite often in my paintings. 

And the final thing that inspired me was the Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams. When I work on a drawing, I listen to heavy metal, and when I paint, I listen to horror or fantasy novels on audio book. I know I am a dork, but his series is pretty bad-ass. I am almost finished with the last book and if you like fantasy novels, be sure to check it out. 

Bar Drawings

For this week's blog I decided to share some doodles from my moleskin. Once a week I go out to a bar to  drink whiskey, shoot the shit with my friends and draw cartoons just for fun. Usually I try to draw something that makes my pals laugh. ...and yes, I am that weird guy who draws at bars. At least I am not that guy pretending to read a book.




I drew this first one at the Starlight. I was thinking about  starting an exercise routine. That never happened.

I have no I idea what I was thinking at the time, and yes the spotted unicorn is both vomiting and peeing at the same time. Watch out world, my art blog is super highbrow.

I also drew this one at Jameson's and I believe that there was a homeless person on the corner with a bong. I do live in Eugene, Oregon after all.

And I drew this one at the Horsehead, the day after my birthday. I am 32.

A Lesson in the Arts

"A Lesson in the Arts" 24 X 18 Oil on Canvas

I have been thinking about going back to school to get a degree in painting. For some reason, it feels like a really hard decision to make, and instead of making a true decision, I decided to paint about it instead.

...and here is what it looks like in the frame.

No Pets No Smoking

Hi Everyone, here is a new Painting entitled, "No Pets No Smoking". This one is really small compared to the sizes I usually paint, coming in at a whopping 12 X 16.

The Concept behind this painting was that my wife and I were looking to move out of our apartment and into a house so that we could have a little more space. Each day we would check craigslist and discover all these perfect places to live, however none of them accepted pets, and many had really strict policies, like you have to water their garden each week, no musical instruments, no smoking, no drugs...blah, blah. And in instances when the landlord did accept pets, many actually required a pet interview which we thought was really funny. Anyway our joke became, no pets, no humans.

In the end we just decided to stay in our apartment, and I made a new painting about the whole adventure instead.

And here is what she looks like in a frame.

A new T-shirt design for threadless

Click on the thumbnail to view my other t-shirt designs!

This is a new t-shirt design that I was inspired to make after a night of old-fashioned boozing.

A Thief Amongst Princes

This is a new painting, and my first ever blog