Shiny, Happy Robots!

both are 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas

I dislike the idea that most robots in movies and TV are always out to destroy things, so I am fronting an effort to show that robots can be fun, peaceful, things of the world too! Motor on my fiends!

Watercolor robot

 Autophagy Robot 9 x 9 watercolor on paper

Very occasionally I'll do a watercolor painting just to keep my chops up. Watercolor was my first color medium and I learned quite a bit from it and have parlayed that into my acrylic work. This will be for the cover of Autophagy magazine, a science journal for the University of Michigan. A patron of mine is a professor and we've been working quite a bit to collaborate microbiology and art to better illustrate these 'invisible" processes. In this piece, I tried to illustrate the "the building of " a human cell. The robot assembles various parts of a cell (labeled behind him) into a sphere (a cell). I wanted to give a retro future vibe to it, so I made the robot look like he was from the 1950's. I got my reference from my books of 50's cars, household appliances and toys, and jumbled it all up!

Goldfish

Goldie 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas

I've had fish most of my life, but lately, i've only kept various kinds of goldfish for my outdoor pond. This one is modeled after one of my chubby underwater friends. It just didn't look quite right until that third eye was on there, read what you want into that............

Tortoise and the Hare

Tortoise v. Hare 12 x 24 acrylic on canvas

Children's literature has always been an inspiration to me. Simple parables and twisted analogies to help guide us humans along our way through life. In this case, the slow but steady and trustworthy turtle, against the sleek, but overconfident rabbit. My spin is too simply put science fiction elements in there to make people rethink traditional ways they've been presented things, and to surprise them when familiar content in new contexts.

Robots v. Cowboy

Cowboy v. Robot 16 x 20 acrylic  
As a child, I'd been left in front of the TV a lot, especially during those long Michigan winters. I've probably seen every old western movie ever made by watching Bill Kennedy at the Movies, a Detroit TV staple for many years. When I hit 9 or so, I was introduced to Science Fiction, and my world took a bit of a turn. Since then, I clearly favor my science fiction, but still love my western roots. I always loved the look of the simple wooden architecture, big clouds in the sky, and the"action scenes" of those old westerns so I had this idea, and here you have it.....

Celani Vinyards commision

This painting is from about six years back, done as a gift for Tom Celani of Celani Vinyards in California. This piece was a fairly large painting for me these days and was  roughly 4' x 5'. The bottles themselves were just a few inches larger than life, and had a ton of detail that was challenging to say the least. And don't even get me  started on how difficult the bottle reflections were, yikes.....

One of my absolute favorite projects from last year. This painting was inspired by a piece of great line art created in the early 70's by the late great George Watson, (also my children's grandfather). I loved his graphic style and how he was an excellent designer AND illustrator of many styles- not an easy task. He worked the Detroit ad agencies in the 70's - 90's, and continued his wizardry in Traverse City opening his own ad agency AND an historical Victorian bed and breakfast. A very busy and great man for sure, wish I could've met him.
When I would see this original art hanging in my hallway, my wandering mind couldn't help but fill in the gaps around the edges, which eventually set me in motion to do just that, fill in the gaps. I was inspired to create an appropriate background to complement George's great use of line, shape and character in his work. I was also inspired by my love of classic Warner Brothers cartoons and a of influence from R. Crumb too. I painted this on canvas as a birthday gift to my wife. It is 16 x 20 and was done in acrylic paint.