I'm an artist and cartoonist who lives in Davis California with my wife Regina, my best friend and favorite person in the world.
Most of my paintings and drawings are done with Sable brushes, chinese brush, and occasionally pen or croquill pen, but I also occasionally like to work digitally.
I show and sell my prints at a variety of local venues, most recently at The The Alternative Press Expo, Indy Euphoria and The Davis Friday Art Walk. My originals and prints can also frequently be seen at The Pence Gallery where I am a children's educator and administrator.
My gallery work consists of studies from nature and images generated from my imagination. So What are these images about? The simple answer is that they're images that were so compelling to me that I had to get them down on paper. Sometimes they've been in my head for a long time, and sometimes I need to draw or paint them right away before I lose track of them, and sometimes I discover them as I make them. If there's some deep hidden meaning in them I'd be glad to hear what you think it might be. The best pictures, I feel, are ones that take you to a place you've never been before, and if I'm successful, it's a place I haven't been to either.
I also do illustration for editorial and other purposes. The goal of my illustrations is to communicate an idea in a clear and compelling way, and sometimes to elaborate on that idea. Although this is a very different process than work generated strictly for my own pleasure, it has it's own rewards and challenges.
My illustrations have appeared in a number of free weeklies and other publications, including The Sacramento News and Review, LA Weekly, and The Santa Cruz Metro.
Comics (and I hope, eventually children's books) are an important but very different part of what I do, though one way or another it all comes from the same place.
You can see my comics on Top Shelf 2.0 or in the Pictures section of this site, or you can buy my handmade comics in the Store.
My current goal for my illustration is to change my focus from editorial to children's markets with such recent clients as Nickelodeon and Hungry Tiger Press. I have recently done a number of illustrations inspired by classic children's literature with this aim in mind. I received best in show at the 2010 Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators California North/Central Conference for this new body of work.
