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?


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

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.

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.

bold and bright rhino

here is the final version of "shoot me to save me," the rhino painting entered into the Bold and Bright show in falls church.

rhino series - in progress

i continue to work on the rhino paintings. currently i have 6 rhino paintings in work. here are four of them:

the one in the lower right corner has been entered in a local show that opens March 8th. the show is called "Bold and Bright" and i think this rhino will fit right in.  :)

more info about the show: http://www.fallschurcharts.org/home

rhino series

i have recently started a rhino series. last month the government of Namibia allowed the the Dallas Safari Club to auction off a permit for a hunter to kill a black rhino in one of Namibia's "game parks." the proceeds from the auction will go to the park to supposedly help preserve other rhinos there. a "hunting consultant" won they bid by writing a check for $350,000. there are so many things about this situation that baffle and intrigue me:

• the whole "game park" system where animals are somewhat protected, yet poachers readily shoot whatever they want to and herds are frequently "culled" to keep populations at some ideal level. geez - just try parsing the rhetoric and rationalization in that sentence. 
• rhino horns (and tiger penises, and probably other strange body parts) are in huge demand in asia because there is folklore that those appendages help impotent men get hardons. who are all of these men who can't get it up? do they really thing this stuff works? i want to see the proof. otherwise, just join rush limbaugh and others and buy viagra. it's cheaper and more effective.
• apparently there are a lot of "hunters" who want to kill exotic animals and mount their heads on walls. (hmm, may tie into the whole penis thing mentioned above.) what is this desire to shoot other
• these game park hunts are like shooting fish in a barrel:  the animals are spotted by park "rangers" or someone, the hunters are driven out to where the animals of interest are, and using a high-powered, scope-fitted rifle, from a safe distance the "hunter" kills (assassinates) the animal. and somehow, the "hunter" is willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars and feels better about himself/herself after shooting a rare species. where is the hunting? did the parents of these sorry humans buy sports trophies for them, then tell them "good job?" instead of hunters, let's just be honest and call them "lazy wealthy exotic animal killers."
• oh, and the meat from the exterminated rhino will be given to a local village for food. so that's a feel-good thing. give some poor folks the rhino carcass so a recreational animal killer can tell jesus he's done a good thing by feeding the poor. will the recreational animal killer continue to feed the village week after week, or is this one-time thing enough?

those are just some of thing quandaries swirling around my brain at the moment. here are some initial painting sketches and underpaintings of rhinos. these are all 16x20 oil on canvas paper. i am doing them in preparation for a larger piece, but still not sure of the composition.

something to crow about

this painting was done for another special person who has unique ties to crows. "something to crow about" is oil on canvas paper, 16" x 20".

multi-painting

one thing i am loving about having studio space is the ability to "multi-paint" -- work on multiple paintings in one session. with oil painting, since the drying time becomes a factor, i find that now that i have the space, i can add bits to several paintings in succession. in a recent evening, i worked on all of these paintings (plus one more that i started after snapping this photo):

it was mind-bending to be able to work on birds, bridges, abstract pieces, and a portrait all in the same session.

eagle spirits

this painting began as a standard wildlife/landscape composition. however, as layers were added to it, something surreal began to emerge from the mountains. the following photos show this progression.

this painting is now in the show perspectivo: unexpected views of nature at the falls church arts gallery (virginia).