The Asheville Show!!!

I must admit, this was pretty exciting for me. I have never had a solo show in a state in which I do not live, let alone a state that is a couple of states away! This was the longest trip I have taken by myself in my life, and I'm a tad bit scared of long distance driving, so in many ways it was a personal victory :) What's even cooler is the night I got into Asheville, (after the longest drive I've ever taken), I found out I got into nursing school! I was sitting there, grabbing a bite to eat, checking my email on my internet phone, and there was the "email of acceptance!" It was a great weekend! :) And it was so AWESOME to show my work at The Lola Salon and Gallery. It's such a cute place, and the people are SO nice! (They do great hair cuts as well)!-- if you are in the Asheville area and need a great hair style, or some cool art, I'd highly recommend checking them out! Anyhoo...here's some pics from the show-- Enjoy!

La Venus de Pollo!!!

Here's the latest! It's an original gouache painting...I think it's about 4.5 by 7 or 8 inches...I will need to go back and measure ;)

Lately I've been into putting the chicken into classic paintings, so the Venus definitely seemed appropriate! I matted it up and framed it in a lovely 9 by 12 inch black frame. The original is in my studio, and up for grabs currently. I need to list the prints on Etsy! :)

Mr. Chicken is now on t-shirts! :D

Yup, the chicken is spreading his wings!!! Right now is the "experiment" phase to see what kind of chicken merchandise people are interested in. (And also which images). Here are a few t-shirts I now have available via my etsy shop, mrchicken.etsy.com. I recently acquired more shirts with a wider variety of images, as well-- (Mona Lisa Chicken, The Scream, Blue Guitar Player, Vitruvian, etc...), but I still need to photograph them! I plan on doing a photoshoot this weekend if all goes according to plan, so those should be available soon as well! (they can currently be purchased in my studio). On a side note-- taking these pics was a blast!

Chicken Impaled With a Pearl Earring...

I've always liked this masterwork by Vermeer...thought the chicken should give him props! :) I just love the starkness of it, and the gaze...there's something to be said about a certain type of gaze. Perhaps this is why artist's like portraits so much ;)

Dirty Chickens!!!!!

Rumor has it not only did she carry a watermelon, she is also a fowl dancer... ;) Here is the latest chicken painting! This one was done in gouache and measures 5 by 7 inches. I've always been very fond of "Dirty Dancing," so making a chicken painting of a scene from the movie seemed appropriate. In fact, I may do more than one...we will see!

The Latest in Surrealism...

I have not yet decided on a title for this one. I'm thinking either "The Talk" or "The Embrace." It's a little painting, around 5 by 8 inches, but will be put in a 9 by 12 inch frame. For this piece I used watercolor, gouache, and a fine point pen. I think I might do a larger version too...I'm considering doing more with the background-- more itty bitty details and such, 'cause I like to do that kinda thing! We will see :)

Mr. Chicken Scores a Hole in One!!!!

So I've been breaking from format a bit as of late...(the past couple of months)...it started with the chicken collages incorporating photos and my chicken art....now I'm also collaging my "other art" with my chicken art! (and that's how this piece came about!)

Previously each chicken was part of a series, each being and artist's trading card with an accompanying story. This is the "A" series. I will continue to do that, but my wild and crazy brain is forcing me to expand beyond that! (Hence the collages, and soon to be other sized chicken paintings :) Just can't help myself! (I hope ya all enjoy the freakiness)! :D

Moving Shop!

Not to far away though! (Just another Etsy click away)... Yup, that's right-- Mr. Chicken is getting his own Etsy shop!!! (your place for all things chicken)...

The Chicken seems to be my top seller, in terms of my art, so I thought he deserved his own little corner of the internet. And they frequently say on Etsy, that having a "cohesive" look helps...so I'm going for a "cohesive chicken" look. Here's the banner! Should make for an interesting adventure...

And here's the link! :) http://mrchicken.etsy.com

Chickens for Sale!!!

In honor of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course-- chickens-- I am holding a sale on Mr. Chicken Prints. The Supersized Chickens are being offered at a reduced price, and the little trading cards will have free shipping--yippie!!! The Supersized prints are normally $17.50 plus shipping, but for the holidays will be sold for only $10-- yes it's true!...Get that poulty while you can!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Snitterdog?section_id=5889306

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Snitterdog?section_id=5307797

Back to Surrealism!

(And watercolors)...It's been a while since I've worked in watercolors, and as a result of the recent sales of two of my surrealistic watercolor pieces, I thought it would be a good choice to do something of the same genre....

I'm calling this piece Fragility-- and as usual, take from it what you will :)...Her skin is meant to look like broken glass, and she is holding an egg...This photo was taken about a week ago, so it already looks a little different, as I've introduced more browns in the piece...(I'm still not sure if that is the right call!) :O ...we'll see-- I have a feeling this piece will evolve over time.

Mr. Chicken is a Tree Huggin Hippie...#13A

After his recent aquisition of a bonzai tree, Mr. Chicken feels inspired to commune with nature. As a result, he decides to head to the nearest rainbow gathering, where he consumes mass quantities of granola, digs holes in which to deficate, and also does not bathe for over a week. In addition, he forms a special bond with a tree he now refers to as "Momma."

Mr. Chicken is now Supersized...and in Oils...

Yup, that's right-- Mr. Chicken is now being offered up in a "supersized" format-- thanks McDonalds! :O.....

Uh, anyway. The Mr. Chicken series originally began as a bunch of artist's trading cards-- (you know, baseball card size art). I had a number of people ask, "do you have that in a larger version?" Alas, at the time I did not. Now I do-- yeah!!! I am selling the prints now in a larger format-- 5 by 7 with an 8 by 10 mat.

Even better, I am recreating some of my best sellers even LARGER and in oils. "Mr. Chicken Has His Beer" is the first one I finished. I am currently working on a larger, oil version of "Vitruvian Chicken," and also "Mr. Chicken Goes Scuba Diving." Good stuff...

Karate Chicken...#12A

Today Chicken-san travels back to 1984-- a special time in our nations history, featuring feathered bangs and spectacular bands like Bananarama...Here Chicken-san prepares to dethrone the testosterone driven Cobra Kai-- a quaint little group of martial artists with a fondness for pimple cream and showing no mercy. However, Chicken-san will not be squished like grape. Chicken-san is best around. BONZAI!!!!! (Paint fence Chicken-san...sand floor)....

Yuppers :) This is another artist's trading card, created using gouache on watercolor paper. Can ya tell I'm a child of the 80's? Go Ralph Macchio! :D

Mr. Chicken Loves His Rubber Ducky...#11A

After a long and adventurous weekend, it is time for Mr. Chicken to take a nice warm bubble bath with his special friend-- Rubber Ducky!!! Not only he is cute, yellow, and chubby... he makes bath time lots of fun! WAK WAk!...

This is the latest in my Mr. Chicken series :) They are artist trading cards painted on watercolor paper using gouache. The last 2 were custom orders involving excessive amounts of drunken revelry-- fun stuff!!!! ... after all the good times I figured he might need a bath... And you know a bath would not be complete without a rubber ducky! :)

I'm a Horrible Procrastinator... :O ...

You know that sketch I blogged about a couple of posts back? Yeah, I haven't started that one yet... :) The main reason being is that I'm going to do it in oils, and I haven't worked in oils in years...I'm kind of a perfectionist, so I'm, uh...putting it off for a little while...(soon though, I swear)! :) ...

The painting shown here I am finally starting. I began this sketch a few years ago...(It's basically about losing your mind-- something many artists can relate to right?-- here's to you Van Gogh! :)...I think I'm going to call it "Pickle Head"... Get it? The head looks like a pickle, kinda...and also it's a refererence to your brain getting pickled :)...Yes, screwey but true :) It may look quite different by the time I finish it...I will most likely put a wallpaper background in it, like some of my other surreal paintings. I'm attempting to creat a "cohesive" body of work, or so they call it... :O (we'll see how it goes-- I have a bit of artistic ADD or something)...

In honor of my procrationation, and the many ideas I have in my head, I bring you this fun and quirky video by The Foo Fighters! :) I love this song/video. This song, called "Big Me," was big in my late teen years. I've decided to do a Mr. Chicken based on this video...Mr. Chicken Eat His Mentos (perhaps?)...I think Mr. Chicken might have to sport some Dave Grohl braids :)...(Remember those fun and dorky Mentos videos?) Of course though, since I procrastinate and am working on 10 differnt things at once, it may be a while :)
..sorry I had to post the link insted of the video-- I couldn't embed it for some reason! :O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhfWzCPRPtg

Flashback in Time...#2A... Astronaut Chicken...

So I realized I had another chicken painting with no video, so here it goes..

Meet Mr. Chicken. He works undercover and takes on many secret identities. Today he is on a covert, top secret mission as a NASA astronaut. Who knows what Mr. Chicken will be up to tomorrow...

yes, Mr. Chicken (Astronaut Style) now has a video... :) I had to get this one up and running, if I am to proceed with the series )-- Enjoy the chicken solar power goodness! ;) Yeah!!! :)

My First Book Cover! :D

Yeah! It's been published!!! :) So last fall I had a bit of time on my hands...deciding not to go to grad school down here and all...so I hopped on the internet and found myself a freelance illustration gig :) Here it is! :)-- the cover anyway. The book is called The Battle For Augusta, and is for sale on Lulu.com. It's basically an allegory about the civil war and golfing...or something to that effect ...I think...(I haven't read it yet, but I'm going to get a copy)! :)

http://www.lulu.com/content/3123859

I did the cover in watercolor, and some interior illustrations in graphite. I should post those on my Flickr site now that I think of it...I think the cover turned out OK...It was kind of a rush job with a deadline, so I think it turned out as well as could be expected...If I could do it over and had more time, I might do a few things differently, but overall-- I think it looks OK for my first go at it...

Before this I illustrated a career curriculum for a non profit organization...It was black and white, and executed in pen and ink. I'm much better at drawing than painting I think. I'm also better with "non realism," so this project was a challenge. I can do realsim, but I need a photo to look at to make it accurate...with this I had to kind of make up the composition-- you know, make a composite image from a bunch of different photo references-- MUCH harder than just one photo as a reference...:O...Anyway, I hope this looks all right for the publishing world. I would love to do more professional illustration down the road :)

Snitterdog Lost it's Front Page Virginity! :)

For the first time ever Snitterdog was on the front page! Yeah!!! Alas, no sales resulted, but it was fun nonetheless :)...The Greene Fairy has been on the front page twice, but this is a first for my "main" shop :)

It's funny that my "main" shop is not the more successful of the two...I guess I call it my "main" shop becuase it's the first one I opened...It's also closer to my true personaltiy-- odd, goofy, and strange... :) Oh well, I can see why The Greene Fairy may end up fairing better....it's not quite as odd...I really like odd, so I'm really pulling for Snitterdog! ;)...I'll be happy with whatever little straws of success I can grasp though! :)...so if The Greene Fairy kind of becomes my "main" shop, so be it! :)...I'll still do my odd little paintings though... :)

Mr. Chicken Plays With His Beaker...#7A

Yes, it is true...I have been neglecting Mr. Chicken..:O...But no More!!! :)...Here is the latest in the adventures of Mr. Chicken :)....

After spending a day and a half in bed with the hangover from hell, Mr. Chicken is back in the game. To prevent such a God-awful plague in the future, he decides to get in touch with his inner Mr. Wizard, and concoct the perfect chemical cure for a hangover...Alas, he does not find it...He does however, come up with a magical elixir which allows him to travel back in time....

(I've had the next one #8A in my head for about 2 months-- I really need to get it down on paper soon :)...hint: he travels back to the 1500's...:)...(I think it's the 1500's anyway :)-- I'll have to check history to be sure!

And for the accomanying video-- it's in the science neighborhood :) I almost went with a Back to the Furture video-- but that's another Mr Chicken adventure! :) Ah, happy childhood memories-- another flick from the 80's I used to watch when I was a wee little thing! :)

I did a custom Alchemy Order! :)

Yeah! This is very exciting to me...I generally get...the "convobot regrets"...etc....YOU SUCK!!!! no!!! ....This time I got a yes :)...so exciting! :) This is what I created for someone :)...It's a Rowan leaf, for a little girl named Rowan :) I like how this one turned out...tomorrow I'm off to start another custom order...a 4 leaf clover! :)...In my "Greene Fairy" style...I hope it turns out well! :)....