"As One" has been SOLD!

I am so honored to say that my painting “As One” has been sold! This piece has been so special to me for several years now and I’m ecstatic that it found a new home.

For me, this painting served as a giant leap forward in my skill level and confidence as an artist when I made it back in 2019. While creating this piece I had to silence so many doubts and trust myself and the final result allowed me to keep pushing with even bigger and better paintings.

And while I have you here, I want to encourage you to use the button below to see what paintings and prints are available in my online shop! Artwork can make for such meaningful holiday gifts!

International ARC Salon Semi-Finalist!

I am absolutely honored to announce that my painting "Light After Dark" is a semi-finalist in the 16th International ARC Salon! With over 5400 submissions from 75 countries, humbled doesn't even begin to describe my mental state. I've wanted to apply to this competition for years now but always missed the deadline. So I honestly cant believe that one of my pieces got selected.

 

The finalists will be announced on November 1st! As always thank you for your continued support over social media! It is greatly appreciated.

“Light After Dark” is currently available for purchase from my solo show with Abend Gallery. Use the button below to view it in their shop!

 

Newest Painting "Our Gentle Hands" has been SOLD!

I'm really excited to say that my painting "Our Gentle Hands" has been sold! I really appreciate all of your kind words and insights about this painting, I worked extremely hard on it so it makes me really happy to see it go to a new home! And thank you to everyone who expressed interest in this painting, I don't think Ive ever had so many inquires!

 
 
 

I will have a full process video for this painting soon plus I’m planning on doing a print release as well so stay tuned!

 

Complete Process video for "Through the Leaves"

I hope you enjoy this process video for my painting “Through the Leaves” this piece not only required a lot of technical skill but also a lot of thought and reflection. This original painting is currently available from Abend Gallery in Denver if you are interested! You can click the button below to view this piece on the gallery website.

Complete Process Video for "Interconnection"

I hope you enjoy this process video for my painting “Interconnection” this piece took many hours of planning and prep as well as many more hours of concentrated work. This piece is currently available from Abend Gallery in Denver if you are interested! You can click the button below to view this piece on the gallery website.

Three Paintings Sold to a New Collector!

 

Hi everyone! I'm really happy to say "Surrender" "Impending Storm" and "Ghost Ranch" have all sold to a new collector! I always feel so fortunate when someone new finds my work and decides that they just have to have some of it in their home.

I want to give a special shoutout to the Los Alamos community for engaging in my work on facebook and welcoming me as a new small business. Their kind and welcoming words really help me feel like my art is connecting with people. I feel very luck to be a part of such a well-connected and engaging community!

 

Brand New Terra Human Painting | "Interconnection"

My final brand new painting for the "Contemporary Figuration" show at Abend Gallery is here! Say hello to "Interconnection" This lovely original painting is available on Abend's website. Click the button below to view this piece on the Abend webstite.

Here is the painting description: The world contained within this painting shows us blending seamlessly with the environments that we love. Every memory, emotion and thought that is contained within us is interwoven with those of the earth to create a single beauty. The immense highs and lows in our lives directly mimic the mountains and valleys in a way that shows the earth understands us to the core. The mountains listen to our thoughts and feelings while the stars comprehend our dreams and aspirations. The trees plants and animals grow and live for decades only to lose their lives and begin again in another form.
As a viewer we are allowed only a momentary glance at this world through a window so that we may contemplate our existence and what we wish to do with our time.

3 New Terra Human Paintings for the Holiday Miniatures Show!

I’m really excited to share 3 brand new Terra Human paintings for the 30th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show at Abend Gallery!
These pieces along with many other incredible paintings are now officially available during the virtual opening at AbendGallery.com click the button below to view this amazing show! Scroll down to view all three of my paintings!

 
 

“A Moment of Acceptance”

7”x11'“

Oil on Artefex Panel (Framed)

Available for $775 from Abend Gallery

This piece serves as a reminder of the importance of our self image. How we think of and speak to ourselves greatly influences our mental health and mental well-being and unfortunately we can be our own biggest critics. But if we can choose to give ourselves the grace and patience that we give others we will find ourselves in a healthier mental state. Like many of us, the person in this painting sometimes asks too much of herself and can’t help but speak words of negativity in order to push herself. But these words can do more harm that we know, degrading our self worth and leaving us unbalanced. The moment in this painting is a moment of realization. A moment in which we see ourselves for all of our strengths and weaknesses and decide to give ourselves the grace that we need to stay healthy and balanced.

 
 

“Creator and Creation”

7”x11'“

Oil on Artefex Panel (Framed)

Available for $775 from Abend Gallery

This piece illustrates the innate connection we all have with the natural world that created us. The incredible nature that surrounds us serves many purposes and one of which is the way in which it encourages us to look inward and recalibrate our identity. Often times our fast paced lifestyle causes us to lose sight of who we are and replaces our empathy with malice and judgment that distances us from others and ourselves. Our primal brains are still catching up with the ever changing lives that we live, which are filled with social media, technology and an overwhelming amount of complicated people. 

But when we are able to step out of the day to day chaos and immerse ourselves in the nature that created us we connect with our surroundings and tap into our primal nature. This innate connection we have with nature can help us reestablish what we value in our lives and it can help us grow as individuals to then better serve others.

 
 

“The Giver”

7”x11'“

Oil on Artefex Panel (Framed)

Available for $775 from Abend Gallery

This piece is an ode to those who strive to do good in this world. The people who despite the darkness surrounding them emit a light of empathy, kindness and understanding that inspires others. These people are the helpers, listeners, watchers and hard workers who always seek to help the world even in the most microscopic of moments or gestures and never ask for anything in return. The heart of a giver is one that should be cherished.

Throwback Thursday Posts

Hi Everyone!

Here are some of my throwback Thursday posts that I like to put on Facebook and Instagram. They are great opportunities to look and back on my old work and reflect on how far I have come in the last few years. I hope you enjoy!

In this throwback post I thought it would interesting to look at two different styles I implemented in with a single reference. Before creating the realistic version of this painting I decided to make an energetic and expressive study to get a rough impression of the subject and experiment with color. Once I got into it I really enjoyed jumping around the piece with spontaneous brushwork that seemed to add some nice movement to the figure and the light source. Now I don’t always create these impressionistic studies but in this instance it serves as an interesting comparison to the more realistic “final” painting. In the realistic version I worked in sections with a variety of brushes to both apply and blend the paint. I focused on blending and color accuracy to make the piece realistic and nuanced.
I feel like both of these painting styles have a place in my creative practice and in the artistic world as a whole. Being spontaneous and heavy handed can serve as an amazing break from my usual detail oriented process. And I greatly admire fellow artists who can blend both realistic and expressive techniques into a single dynamic painting. Overall I really love how there is so much to explore in the realm of painting and I feel like I have barely scratched the surface!

For this post I thought I would show a triple comparison showing my progression from High School to College and finally professional art! And I want to take this opportunity to talk about the most important thing that I learned in this 15 year process.
Throughout my education I was especially lucky to have much more exposure to art than most and it really worked well for me. But like most children who are artistically inclined I was only rewarded for my "inherent artistic talent." Me and other creative students were told over and over again that we were talented and this choice of words told us that our artistic ability was fixed and couldn't be changed. Now I don't blame anyone for this because as a culture this is how we see artists because we don't understand them. So my time creating art in high school was great overall but I still was not able to shed this preconception that I was "talented" and therefor not able to improve.
My art experience in college was a transition time, I started to make a connection between practice and improvement in my art. My professors were the first people to tell me that art is a skill that can be developed over time. All of the sudden art felt less mysterious to me, I always knew that I was a hard worker and now I was starting to find a place to dedicate my effort.
It's safe to say that my professional career as a painter would not have happened if I wasn't shown that art is a skill not an innate talent. So much of how I work now is based on practice and slow improvement, trying to make every painting better than the last using my own personal growth to measure success. And I look forward to learning and improving as much as I can for the rest of my life 🤗
Thanks for listening

New Figure Painting!


I've been meaning to share this figure painting that I made a few weeks ago so here it is! This piece served as a study for an upcoming Terra Human painting that I'm working on right now!
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in this lovely piece, I worked very hard on the lighting and intricate color relationships 

 
 

This piece is currently available for purchase! Contact me or check my online shop for purchase!

New Show Announcement!

Hello everyone, I'm really excited to announce that my two paintings "Walking Giants and "Between Light and Shadow" will be in the Influences Art Show put on by the Loveland Artists Collective!

This show will be open the whole month of September with an in-person opening reception on September 11th. 😷
If you are in the area come check out my paintings as well as the other awesome artwork in this show!

"Flowers and Thorns" Has Been Sold!

I am both humbled and excited to say that my painting "Flowers and Thorns" has been sold!
This piece is incredibly special to me so I really happy to see it going to a forever home of a new collector! I had the pleasure to speaking to this buyer on the phone and I have to say that it's really reassuring to know that this piece will be going to a loving home that really appreciates its beauty. The buyer said that she simply could not get the image out of her head for sever days and needed to buy the original piece!

As always, I'm greatly appreciative of this sale and so happy that something I created will be hanging in someones else's home!

A Very Special Painting

About a month ago my father-in-law lost his dad and my wife had the idea to paint this beautiful photo of their hands during his final hours. Losing a loved one is incredibly hard, but I think it’s especially difficult to lose a parent. I asked my father-in-law about the significance of his and his father’s hands and this is what he said.

“Our hands represent our ability to work, to create, to hug, to wave, to congratulate. They hint at how hard our life was and how fragile we really are.  My dad’s hands are a window into how he lived his life. He was a tireless hard worker and used his hands to build and create many a building, out of bricks, blocks, glass, and wood. The scars and callouses on his hands also give a glimpse that he did not live in fear and was tough enough to do anything he put his mind to. In his final hours, his hands were still strong and yet soft. I will miss dad and his hands.”
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant…”
I chose to name this piece "When Our Work is Done" because Levi was a worker and a problem solver all of his life and now he finally gets to rest.
Levi will be greatly missed and never forgotten.

Throwback Thursdays!

For today's Throwback Thursday I thought it would be a great opportunity to look back at all the paintings I've created so far this year!
Now it's safe to say that 2020 has been a rough year for most of us for a number of reasons but I cannot help by still be thankful for for the people who appreciate and buy art even when our world is so uncertain. I personally think that art can be a powerful catalyst for self reflection and introspection that can make a huge difference in our lives. And I feel like so many of you understand this as well and it makes me really grateful to have any sized following as long as they understand my message.
So as we push past the halfway mark of this year I hope that we can all seek to understand each other to the best of our abilities so that we can progress as a whole. Even though the world can potentially throw even more at us in the coming months I still look to the future with optimism because I believe in the power of art.
So thank you for all of your support so far in 2020! I hope that I can create even more amazing art in the second half of the year as well as connect with more artists and kind collectors!

First Half of 2020 All Paintings.jpg

For this week’s Throwback Thursday I thought it would be fun to look at two paintings with very similar compositions and subjects that are 3 years apart!
It’s pretty cool to see how my technique and observation of color has improved over the years, resulting in more vibrant paintings with more depth in my opinion. I love seeing these pieces side by side because even though I would consider one much better than the other because I can safely say that each painting was the result of my ABSOLUTE best effort at the time and that is something I can always be proud of.
When I’m creating a new painting it can be a really intimidating process and one of the ways I cope with this pressure is understanding that I don’t need the painting to be perfect, I just strive to make each painting better than the last. And honestly its okay if that doesn’t even happen either. There are many ups and downs when creating artwork and its totally fine when you try something and it doesn’t work.
Over these past few years I have been pushing myself inch by inch to create better artwork, trying not to ask too much of myself but always striving to get better. And its really been working for me and I encourage you do try this as well in other aspects of life. There is nothing wrong with taking small manageable steps towards your goals, it can keep your mental health in check and bring you to some amazing results over time!

TBT EVE and Vulnerability.jpg

I thought today’s Throwback would be a great opportunity to talk about what I feel is one of the more important themes in my work which is vulnerability in men.⁣
I first started to explore this theme in my artwork back in 2017 with “Shelters Built on Men” a piece that explores the pressures we place on men in our society and how we build upon their backs expecting them to always be strong and unwavering. This piece served as a great transition into illustrating themes that have a strong significance in my life and address issues that are important to me. ⁣
As I’ve explored this theme over the years with several paintings I’ve started to think about the pressures we put on ourselves as men and the societal norm for us to hold in our feelings, fears and troubles. There are so many troubled men in our world who feel alone because they fear above all else the idea of being vulnerable with another person. They choose to suppress their emotions because they are afraid to feel what’s inside of them.⁣
Exploring this theme can be rewarding yet difficult for me, because it not only makes me worry about the mental state of men in our society but also my own mental and emotional state. Am I being real with the people around me? Am I being real with myself?⁣
But when I look outside myself and think about the men surrounding me in my life, they are the ones that brings me hope. When I think about the male friends and acquaintances in my life, I cannot help but see their incredible growth over the years that I’ve know them. These are people who are seeming to push against the perceived norm and are willing to be vulnerable with themselves and with people around them. They are pushing to learn more about what’s inside of them so that they can be better partners and friends. But most importantly they are being genuine with each other, sharing their struggles, anxieties and fears so that these emotions don’t bottle up and change them from the inside. ⁣
⁣
Cheers to these people in my life! You know who you are! Please know that I appreciate and celebrate you!⁣
Thanks for reading!

Hidden Away TBT.jpg

"Walking Giants" New Newest Terra Human Painting!

I'm incredibly proud to bring you my newest Terra Human painting "Walking Giants." This piece is the result of approximately 185 hours of focused and diligent work and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Now usually I like to tell you that "I really enjoyed working on this piece!" But that wouldn't be entirely true with this one. Honestly this painting process had a lot of ups and downs with plenty doubt looming around in my head. I had some days when I felt really optimistic about the piece and was convinced it would be my best painting yet. But I also had other days when I thought this piece was too much to handle and it would be a waste of time. I just kept telling myself that if I continued to persevere and allowed my identity to come through the brushstrokes, then the piece would turn into something special.
In the end I think it's okay that this piece wasn't 100% awesome to work on everyday. I think the struggle makes it that much more meaningful to me and I now feel really accomplished to have conquered this project. I really hope that this piece brightens your day and prompts you look inward.
I will be posting this full piece with it's description soon so be on the look out for that!

“Walking Giants” Currently available for purchase in my online store. CLICK HERE TO VIEW IN MY STORE!


✍🏻 This painting addresses the concept of humility. There is so much that we can obtain and achieve in our lives that it’s easy to forget the vastness of space and time as well as our small part in this infinite world.  We are seen in this painting traversing this world with true humility and a willingness to learn. As we walk we take care not to crush even the smallest plants and animals because we understand that all life plays an important role on this planet. As the luminous sunrise bathes the surrounding cliff edges with color and warmth we are reminded of the seemingly infinite amount of time this planet has been alive and changing. And we start to understand that our time here is short yet meaningful and there is much good that we can do if we walk tall and care for those who are both bigger and smaller than us.

"Missing Pieces" | New Terra Human Painting!

Hi friends, I hope you enjoy this slightly different formate for my new Terra Human painting! For this piece I chose to create a portrait and create a sort of double exposure effect in order to incorporate the nature components. So instead of having a figure physically sitting or laying in a landscape, she its actually blended with it. Scroll down for a full description of the painting.

 
 

This painting is about the loneliness that we many of us are feeling during these uncertain times. Our normal interactions with friends and family have been reduced and modified and this has affected our emotional wellbeing more that we realize. Some of us may be experiencing heightened anxiety or depression that make us want to retreat away from other people even more than usual. We all cope with times of stress differently and that’s alright as long as we understand that deserve the love that is in our lives and that things will get better eventually.

The woman in this piece has retreated away from people but she finds comfort in the nature that surrounds her. Visually the branches almost support the shapes and curves of her face, keeping her head up in a time of sadness. She has blended into her surroundings so that they may fill in her missing pieces and make her whole again. 

Thanks for reading! As always, this original painting is available to purchase in my online shop! CLICK HERE TO VIEW IN THE SHOP!