Prints

So, I decided yesterday to go and print off some images at the local university. My wife has an account since she is a student, and I found out I could print off a few images of my work. To my wonderous joy, a friend of mine decided to finally get some of my work for his own printed off. So, not only did I have a great idea, my friend financed several images to be printed. (Unfortunately until loans come in and I figure out more ways to earn money off of my artwork....this money goes to the late van payment.)  The prints are 17x22 max, and anything below.  I'm figuring a regular price for the largest at $150, 13x19 at $75, and negotiating on lower sizes. So, for those friends of mine, call in a little friendly price discount and email me. :) Get a killer deal from the regular price that you may not be able to afford right now. Limitations are to my works that I have high res versions of on file. Let me know what you would like and I will work on getting a good reproduction. I already have two in the works. My Great Dragon Bastion oil painting from my BFA, and my sunset painting from my BFA as well. I'll post some low res versions to show of them later.

Hope everyone is working hard, finding that ends meet, and keeping relationships strong regardless of difficult times. I truly hope we all work through our difficulties and help each other out when things do go wrong. And when we find ourselves on our knees...let us remember to show gratitude for what we do have. I believe we know best what to ask for when we have been truly thankful for what we have. Otherwise, nothing will satisfy in our search and we will devalue the greatest blessings that we do have....what is worse than losing everything is having almost all that is worth having and not being glad to have it. Well, buy a print if you can. And if you can't don't be afraid to say hello anyway. :D

War and LEGO...a favorite reposted

So, I did this image years ago for a Digital Illustration class at BYUI. The assignment was to do a still life digitally. Usually pieces were done from photos since we were already doing art on a computer, so it was a challenge to do a real still life with real colors and values. Amazingly, this image I did far exceeded the photo I took of the same setup! So, it is true. And I really like this piece. Done in Photoshop with Nagel Brush series 10 brush number 132 I believe at 70%. This is a fairly high res image. So give me credit folks. My first Desktop image for all of you out there I guess. (1600x1000 below the first one...its as big as I could get it for some reason) :) The reference here is to my childhood spent with LEGOs for countless hours and then my adult years spent assembling War Machine figures and painting them. Man meets boy sort of you know. So, the title is War and LEGO. I can't remember how long it took, but it was an assignment to do an image every week....so at least within one week. And yes, I painted the War Machine characters. They are my paint design. I have others I am still working on. I may never get to them, but the idea for them is to make them look like they are cooling from being extremely hot, or that they have an extremely hot core....like the way lava looks when it hardens and flows. Anyway, Enjoy this piece as much as I do. :D

A strange thought as I sat at my computer.

So, there was this fear that people would not use the internet when internet marketing and business presence first embarked on their voyage. So few were familiar with the methods of online purchasing and browsing, and the older generation was somewhat reluctant to try it out. The computer itself was still such a vast sea of learning without the internet. NOW, now what do we have?  Well, fears of that past are blown aside as the rising generation took to the web with a ferocity and hunger unexpected. Perhaps not. Older generations now have at least one member of the family who can help with almost all computer and internet problems. There is a a connection somewhere. Our entire socializing structure has been reinvented through this digital age. Phones and computers have merged. A corded land line is almost forgotten. Is there a downside to all of this evolution?  How have we changed the time we spend?  Lost data is the equivalent of what a fire taking hold of your filing cabinet used to be. And a power outage is crippling. What do I say?  Slow down a little. Visit your friends and family more often. Play a board game. Keep flashlights and even keep a few candles nearby. Take a night as friends or family and reenact a power outage to see what you would have to do. Then?  Well, of course Be Grateful for what surrounds you. And forget all the disappointment that you don't have the latest and greatest, but be HAPPY that you have more than any previous age could have ever imagined! In a deeply interconnected age, don't forget how to manage your individuality when you are separated from it all. Be patient. Some things were meant to take time. Find happiness in something more timeless than technology. As the unreal of previous years 'becomes real', do not let the real of past times become unreal! What was treasured before is still to be treasured today... and forever.  And now me and my son are going to watch Wall-E. :)

Blue Screen of Death

Do you ever get really strange ideas that suddenly demand a visual explanation?  I had two ideas today. My second idea (first one not done yet) was this image of Death sitting in upon his throne (very generic) where he is waiting patiently. This is not new until you imagine him having a face of a blue screen!  Ha ha! Lol. I had a blue screen of Death today already which set me back about a half hour or more. Go figure. I had a third idea later as well, but again, I'll illustrate it before I tell you ;) So look for a second post on this subject....well, I hope. Since I have lagged on getting a solution together for selling my art online....well, doing art and not selling art eventually leads to doing less art- a lot less art!  There is a month or more in between my semesters in school, so often it gets really tight. On that note, I hope you enjoy the little stuff like this one. Best of luck to all our imaginations. Beware your dreams that their satisfaction does not exact all the energy you need for reality...Neither of them can live without the other. Especially for those of us who are inevitably creative at our core. :)

From here to there

Here is a quick sketch I was able to eek out during the holidays.
    I left the year with an excruciating trip out to visit family for Christmas. Fortunately the weather was good most of the 1300 miles. And the weather was a strange 40 degrees or more. This plummeted later with Christmas snow that no one can argue with... Well except that the locals there didn't know how to drive in snow and they don't have a polished plowing system. Nobody died during the crazy holiday with all of the cramped living space and home comings after long years past. Even the kids didn't get seriously hurt, although my son did ask when we were going home about 4 days before we did. The food was good and even in these meager times all of us had the chance to give a gift to everyone. The kids made a pretty good sum of candy and toys which only added to the pandemonium. New years eve was visited with an unusually difficult and funny game called "the wrong game". Go get it. It's a blast. By this time however I was in no mood to once again challenge my aging ability to traverse nearly half the continent with three children of ages 1, 4, and 5 also with my wife who can get motion sickness and who is just at the third part of her pregnancy with number 4. Whew. It's enough of A drain just to say that. But we made good time and fair weather most of the way through even though a serious snow storm chased us. We left later so that the kids could sleep through the night while I drove. We stopped for dinner that night for ..... Yes, when asking a child what their choice would be for dinner.... Pizza is on a very short list. Godfathers pizza and a good hour and a half later and we were on the road again. Unlike previous trips with one less child we drove strait through and didn't have any car sick children. We stopped at grandma and grandpas for a little 4 hour nap before the last 300 miles which was really nice. It was good to see them too. Finally Home. Yes we made it. Upon arrival in the cold homeland I sent the family to the other grandparents just down the street while I commenced shoveling the two weeks of snowfall. Two feet at the front of the house where it fell off the roof and 10 or 8 inches along the rest. It's amazing how different it is to shovel a massive amount of snow like that after a 22 hour drive than to do so from a fresh start in the middle of a leisurely day. But to pull into a clean driveway for the next week is priceless. School will start a month later than I anticipated and so will financial aid. A few side jobs on the table but with so short of a time to the start of school and literally thousands of students flooding into town at another school swooping up the job market..... This will be a tough month for sure. Wishing I could sell prints of my work but I don't have anything set up nor do I have an inventory. So the year is new and the circumstances are old and similar. Goals are just a continuation of past goals unfinished or unaccomplished. This year will see tremendous change in global and local attitudes with respect to events that are inevitable. Strange that the year ends with Christ and begins too often with a resolve that doesn't have his spirit in it... He having been left in the holiday past. Gifts have been received, coffers emptied, travels experienced, family remembered then left behind with promises to keep in touch more often, and we all return to the hum drum of what we were so enthusiastic to leave when the holiday began. I then. Can only say that we all be grateful we survived our adventure. That we be grateful we saw our loved ones and that we shared our wishes and fair share of emotional ups and downs. Work hard. Find time to play. And as for me...spring cleaning has already begun :) . Take care everyone. Remember Christ, and help someone out this week. Just because.

- Post using Blog Press from my iPod touch

Halloween pictures arrived!

Well, today Taylor came home from school with our Halloween pictures that we had taken of us at his elementary carnival. Finally a recent picture of all of us. Taylor wanted to be Optimus Prime again, and Elizabeth wanted to be a princess. We decided to make Shannon a Lady Bug while Nadia and I chose pirate outfits. A happy moment during a difficult Fall and Winter. Shannon turned 1 since this photo.

Hm...

Mr. Mom lately. Not completely, but feeling a little displaced though. Overwhelmed. Behind. Don't really want to say anything beyond that.