who's for dinner?

we choose specific species of animals to eat, to be companions with, to be wild. however, depending on what society one originates from, these definitions can change. some people eat cats and dogs, others revere cows. some eat wild animals.

animals care for their young, feel pain, and have their place in the ecosystem. it is no longer necessary for humans in the developed world to eat animals. i have not eaten an animal for 14 years (as of this posting). i have been vegan for more than two years. i have never felt healthier -- in body and mind.

in the United States, there is an incredible amount of food waste. approximately 40 percent of red meat gets thrown into the garbage. animals raised for meat spend their short lives in horrific, tortuous conditions. yet, many of them will have endured misery only to be thrown away.

incredible amounts of resources go into bringing meat to the table. animals are fed more many more pounds of food than they become, they consume thousands of gallons more water than is required to grow an equivalent vegan meal. immense amounts of fuel are required to truck them around. they are fed scary amounts of antibiotics and other medicines and chemicals.

the next time you take a bite of an animal, think about the painful, miserable journey that being took to get to your plate. ask yourself: are your few minutes of culinary pleasure worth the cost?


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painting info:
Who's for Dinner?
Oil and Charcoal on Canvas, plus plastic bag
24" x 24"

georgetown glow

i am very excited to be participating in Georgetown GLOW this year. while not an official participant, the studio we work out of has submitted our entry to the Georgetown Business Improvement District.

GLOW is an annual event consisting of large outdoor light installations.

in collaboration with Klagsbrun Studios and the Tuesday Night Group (TNG), GreenMoonArt installed a 15 foot tall (4.6 meters) animated LED figure. since the TNG is a figure drawing collective, the figure is meant to evoke the idea of gesture drawing.

dubbed the "rainbow racer", the figure looks as if it is running uphill, through the trees.

GLOW runs from december 9 through january 6. come check it out! refreshments are provided on saturday, december 9 and thursday, december 14.  we're at #10 on the map.

preparing for georgetown glow

planning to have around 20 meters of neopixel LED strips for Georgetown GLOW. using industrial tubing with mesh embedded in it to protect LEDs and refract light. my cat approves of some initial tests:

entering some pieces in some shows

i am planning to enter the following pieces in a few art shows. if they get accepted, I will post details of where and when.

vitruvian einstein

currently working on a science-themed painting. not sure where it is going, but Einstein and Da Vinci are its beginnings.

Artomatice 2017 comes to a close - tomorrow!

Artomatic 2017 has been an amazing experience. this 6-week indoor art festival enabled 600+ visual artists, plus dozens of musicians and performing artists, to give a soul to a building that previously had been filled with government workers.

above is a shot of 4 of my 6 pieces. to those who stopped by, thank you. i enjoyed the thrill of putting together a themed exhibition especially for Artomatic. my work was done in both my crystal city studio (blue studio underground) and at TechShop.

if you haven't visited yet, you have two more days!

painting, arduino, and LEDs

i am pretty happy with this piece, currently at Artomatic. it is an oil painting on wood. once the painting was completed, i laser cut its outline, laser etched the New Colossus poem onto it, fitted it with an Ardruino controlling some NeoPixel LEDs, and made some wooden sides for it. i plan to do more pieces of this type.

evolution of a painting

here are some of the steps along the way to completing a painting i have hanging at Artomatic:

Artomatic sneak peek - Liberty series

here are some of my painting labels and and glimpses of parts of the associated paintings. this sneak peek is in anticipation of the opening of Artomatic 2017 this friday, march 24th.

my space is located on the 5th floor, just off of the elevators (large room opposite that of the stage/bar area).

Artomatic 2017!

i am looking forward to Artomatic 2017, DC's amazing semi-random arts festival.

approximately 700 visual artists, and many musicians and performing artists, will take over an old office building in Crystal City, Virginia (part of Arlington next to National Airport).

this year i am putting together a Liberty series, inspired by some signs i made for the Women's March. Here are some of those signs:

twitter art exhibit

just sent in my entry for the Twitter Art Exhibit.
it's an annual fundraiser using postcard-sized art.

it is an oil painting on cardboard. i scanned in another of my paintings and used it to laser etch the color off of the base painting.

genie is out of the bottle

this recent painting started with a squiggly line. i then worked with it and let it emerge. there was no plan until about midway through i started seeing some images and patterns in it. i wonder if there is anything that you see in it.

here is a rough time lapse of it as it developed:

because the very first, dark squiggle was the anchor for the painting, i added a strand of electro luminescent (EL) wire that can be turned on or off to accentuate that curve.

Footprints - Artomatic 2015

This is a photo of my completed space at Artomatic 2015. It is not just about Rhinos, although I use them to emphasize something broader. I will go into more discussion about its meaning in a near-future post.

The two paintings on either side are "bookends" -- a mother and child. The mother in the lead, the child trotting along after. The piece that is second from the left is entitled "Footprints" and is the focal point of the installation -- there is only a bit of one rhino in it, as other parts of nature vie for attention. It is detailed and complicated and deserves its own discussion. The piece to the right of it is "The Abyss" and also contains a rhino, though a bit more abstractly. The rhino in this piece looks into the abyss and is acting as a canary in a coal mine. The piece to the right of The Abyss is my first piece of art to contain an Arduino. A sensor lets the Arduino know when to make the eye sparkle. I learned a lot by doing this and am looking forward to continue to combine technology and art as a way to allow paintings to be more interactive.

If you take a photo of any of my work, please post it on social media with the hashtag #SaveRhinos. 

I hope you can visit Artomatic. It contains the work of 500+ visual artists (2D and 3D), plus many performing artists. There are also workshops and other activities. Meet the Artists night is the next major event and will take place on November 14. Check the calendar for more activities. 

Footprints - at Artomatic 2015 (preliminary)

Artomatic 2015 opens tomorrow. I decided to expand my rhinoceros series into the broader theme of the human impact on the earth. We all leave footprints -- what will you leave behind?  What will you tread upon?

This is the first time I will be showing an Arduino-enabled painting. It is not technologically sophisticated, but I think it adds a sparkle. I plan to do more of this in the near future, to create art that interacts with the viewer, its environment, or both.

Here are some teaser photos of some of my pieces. I will post a photo of my entire space once the show has opened.

It starts with a fresh coat of paint: 

This is a work-in-progress photo of a section of my flagship piece, Footprints:

And a couple more photos of bits and pieces of some of my pieces: 

 I hope you can visit Artomatic and see thousands of works of art by hundreds of artists.

a bigger picture

this mixed media piece of mine was in the show  A Bigger Picture at the fairfax art league gallery.
mixed media (oil, acrylic, pumice, sand, stucco).

and here is how i got it there and back:

rhino commision completed and delivered

after many months, the 68"x36" rhino commission is done (mixed media: oil, acrylic, pumice, brick, slate).

here's a comparison of the initial sketch and the final painting:

rhinos are coming

for the past several months i have been working on a large rhino piece. it will be finished this month. here are a some sneak peeks.

glass candy factory

i was privileged to be able to play a small part in anthony d'amico's glass candy factory -- a one-night-only show of his incredible glass art. the show included music and some dramatic bits. i can't say much more about it - you just had to be there.

thank you, anthony, for an amazing experience.

merging art & tech

i will be teaching a music & technology "camp" to kids in a few weeks (and also robotics in another session). i have been working on a prototype for a project. it is inspired by Lorenzo Bravi's "Hit the Beat" project. more details to come later when it is finished (plans and code will be posted online). the basic idea is to build a percussion box / drum machine. we will build the instrument, add design elements to it, and program it to play a rhythm.

here is a video of the cardboard prototype, and another of the birch wood prototype.

it is powered by an Arduino, which is controlling a solenoid. 

some recent portraits

some recent portraits done at the Tuesday Night Group, done a couple of weeks apart but using similar palettes (my remaining paint from the top one was used to make the background for the bottom one):