"Blue Shiver" 48x60 in. Oil on Canvas. This painting was in my solo exhibition at Abend Gallery this past fall and I thought it would be a good way to kick off the summer. A group of sharks is known as a shiver. This shiver of whale sharks forms a triad on a colorful abstract background. I wanted to capture the beauty and streamlined efficiency of whale sharks in this painting. I have always found their anatomy fascinating. These wondrous creatures feel strange and magical when looked at from a certain light. I exaggerated their color to enhance this effect.
#whalesharks #shartart #sharkpainting #animalpainting #contemporaryart @abendgallery
I feel so fortunate to have received this honor from my colleagues at Regis. I’m deeply grateful for this, and to work among colleagues who support the arts and celebrate its significance. Every day I am humbled by the incredible, brilliant, caring, and hardworking people I work with here at Regis.
#facultyaward #supportthearts #regisuniversity @regisuniversity
Hope you can join this Thursday from 6-8pm for the Regis Senior thesis exhibition this year: “History of Self.” Works by Rylan Alpers, Isaac Garcia, Mary McNally, Angel Pedroza and Rowin Schonbeck. Located at the O’Sullivan Art Galley. Here are a few fun install shots.
Fundraising for new easels for Regis Gives Day today April 7th and tomorrow April 8th! Hope you can help! Link is in my bio.
#regisalumni #supportthearts #fundraising #regisgives #regisuniversity @regisalumni
My painting "Wild Romance" is part of Abend Gallery's Animalia VIII exhibition. This painting reimagines Caspar David Friedrich’s "Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog." A deer stands where a man once stood. Friedrich’s painting is a hallmark example of the Romantic movement which sought to imbue untamed landscapes with overwhelming emotions and push back against rigidity and rationality. Titled "Wild Romance," this painting subverts the human-centric view of the original work by establishing the animal as a defiant agent. This shift reclaims the landscape for the wild subject, blending the social critiques of my previous exhibition, Animal Kingdom, with the ethereal, mystical atmosphere of my recent exhibition Magical Realism.
#newwork #romanticart #animalpainting #animalart #deerpainting @abendgallery
My painting “Wild Romance” will be in Abend Gallery’s group exhibition Animalia VIII. The opening is this Saturday April 4th from 5-7pm. Hope you can join!
#animalpainting #deerpainting #newwork #groupshow #artopening @abendgallery
"Pegasus" 20x20 in. Oil on Panel. This painting was in my solo show "Magical Realism" this past fall.
Pegasus is the son of Poseidon and Medusa. He is a Greek god, often portrayed as a white horse with white wings. In my portrayal I wanted to capture the duality of lightness and darkness inherent to his origins. I used crow wings as a reference for the black feathers. I wanted this god like creature to feel realistic and approachable. This painting is still available through Abend Gallery.
#pegasus #mythicalcreatures #magicalrealism #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart @abendgallery
"Abundance" 20 x 20 in. Oil on Panel. I titled this painting "Abundance" after Ezra Klein's recent book with the same title. Klein explores the potential for a hopeful and abundant future with new policy and clean energy development. Unicorns are beautiful and mystical creatures. We often think of a unicorn as something rare. So, in a sense this painting depicts that rare but urgent hope in the face of darkness. I'm happy to say this painting found a lovely home.
#abundance #newwork #horsepainting #animalpainting #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #coloradoart
"Queen of the Ice Cream" 48x36 in. Oil on Canvas was in my solo show at Abend Gallery this past fall. One of my favorite childhood boardgames was "Candy Land." I always loved the imagined world I could extrapolate from this game. I wanted to make my own painting that would play with this idea. I added a figure to the work who could ground the composition. I chose to paint a zebra with red stripes that would allude to the stripes on a candy cane. Since many of the mythical creatures in my "Magical Realism" exhibition were either male or neutral, I wanted to make sure I included a specific reference to a female in the form of a queen gazing over her sugary kingdom. There are thick applications of paint here to capture the texture of ice cream. This work is still available through Abend Gallery.
#candyland #candyart #icecream #queen #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart @abendgallery
My painting "Lord of the Wild Things" (56x56 in. Oil on Canvas) was in my solo show at Abend Gallery this fall. This painting is based on the Celtic god Cernunnos, also referred to as "Lord of the Wild Things." Cernunnos is a god of animals, nature, and fertility. Though he usually has a humanoid form, I chose to portray his spirit in the form of a deer with a large array of antlers. I painted blooming flowers, insects, and creatures enveloping his horns. This work relates to my personal experience of motherhood. I gave birth to my son two years ago, and finished this painting while he was a baby. This large scale painting portrays the magical and mystical feelings often associated with the wonder of generating life.
#cernunnos #celticgod #myths #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #oilpainting #soloshow @abendgallery
"Maned Wolf" 18x18 in. Oil on Wood Panel. This painting was recently in my solo show at Abend Gallery. This uncanny animal is a real species called a maned wolf. It is native to South America. It also goes by lobo colorado which means "red wolf" in Spanish, and aguará guazú which means "large fox" in Guarani. Despite its name and appearance, this animal is not a wolf or a fox but is most closely related to the bush dog. The background is from a surrealist painting titled "The Eye of Silence" by Max Ernst in 1943. I wanted to reference the tradition of surrealist artists who made the strange familiar and the familiar strange. This majestic wolf looks like it could walk out of fairy tale. Happy to say this work is in the home of some lovely young collectors beginning their art collection.
#newwork #artcollector #manedwolf #soloshow #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart @abendgallery
This painting titled "Fossa" 36x48 in. was in my recent solo show at Abend Gallery. The fossa is a real animal who lives on Madagascar. Its Latin name is Cryptoprocta ferox. Though it looks like a cat, it is part of the Viverridae family rather than the Felidae family. It developed similar traits to a cat through millions of years of evolution. I love how strange and otherworldly this creature seems. I painted it on a Max Ernst surrealist background to emphasize the unusual nature of this creature. This painting seeks to highlight the fascinating creatures that we can find on our planet in the hopes we will be inspired to be better stewards of the world.
#fossa #surrealism #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #newwork #oilpainting @abendgallery
