"2008"

The sign in front of the house sybolizes the condition the housing market was in starting in 2008.
I thought it would be interesting to incorporate the situation of our times into something I was already doing.  It seemed obvious since I was already painting pictures of houses.  So, now the painting is at Harris Stanton Gallery entered into an annual Absolute Art Auction to benefit the Akron Art Museum.  It is a silent auction from May 9th to May 16th raising money for the museum.  The auction closes on May 16 with a vodka tasting party.

I walked this path many times in the Cleveland Metroparks.  This place is definitely part of my life and I so I started capturing and photographing the park.  Deciphering the trees and woods  into shapes and organized groups of space to give the painting order was a big obstacle for me, until I was introduced to Wolf Kahn's paintings.  He took chaotic jumbles of woods and landscape into strong organized compositions through color and shape.

This is a drawing a did for Spaces Monster Drawing Rally yesterday, Saturday.  It's a live drawing event in which you have 1 hour to do a drawing or drawings in.  This is my first year participating and I didn't know exactly what to expect and as all things go it was a learning experience.  Most of all, it's a lot harder than it looks.  I only did one drawing because I ran out of time to do another one.  I see now the changes that I would like to make, however, as you finish the drawing at the Rally the drawings are then displayed on the wall and for sale to raise money for Spaces with no going back.  I hope I can do this again next year, but I think I'll be alittle more prepared.

I have a sketchbook that is about 3 feet thick and getting bigger everyday. But my painting process is really slow.  The ideas are there, but translating them into paint takes alot of time and thinking.  Time is something I don't have enough of, something I think everybody can relate to at some point or another.  Another thing with painting is that I need alot of concentration when I'm working on them and if I'm not in the correct state I cannot paint.  These sketches I did on an electronic drawing tablet.  When I print them they look different than on the tablet which is kinda cool because the hard copy is abit of a surprise from the original drawing. The lines are thinner and seem more expressive when I print them.