About Me

I am an illustrator and painter of things that often fall under the categories of “strange fiction”, “horror”, “gothic”, “speculative fiction”, “steampunk”, “clockpunk”, “pulp”, or “science fiction”, or “weird tales”, and I tend to do so with a unique and surreal and fantasy art spin. I also like to mix the dark with the lighthearted, the serene with the chaotic, making pieces that can invoke a number of different and opposing thoughts and feelings, depending on the viewer, or their mood for the moment – though mostly a weird combination of peaceful seasoned with uneasiness…. suspense or unexplained anxiety.

My media of choice is typically acrylics, for their faster drying times and my ability to layer on microscopically thin layers and lines with ease. I do love oils also, perhaps more, for their effect – though my oil pieces tend to show up much less often, as they take much longer to create. I do however create the occasional digital piece, typically one or two a year. These dark digital collages are typically items that require digital work for their desired outcome. I love the creative process, whatever I am working in.

I also do woodcarving, carpentry, metalwork, sculpture in metal and in clay, and pretty much everything that involves some physical connection with the work in progress. If it involves blood, sweat, dedication, and some degree of suffering, it appeals to me greatly. “Hands on” is my mode of choice, leaning towards traditional media for this reason.

influences

I consider myself heavily influenced by my favorite artists – Gerald Brom, Michael Parkes, Michael Whelan, Frank Frazetta, Mark Ryden,  Pieter Brueghel (younger and elder), Zdzislaw Beksinski, Gustave Dore, Edward Gorey, Tim Burton, Dave McKean, Bethalynne Bajema, Travis Louie, Brian Despain, and many more in an ever-growing list of wonderfully creative people – I also draw much influence from the creative literary works of Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert W. Chambers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Neil Gaiman, Terry Brooks, J.R.R. Tolkein, Warren Ellis, and other favorite authors.

Additional information:

My earlier paintings were all used within a vampire horror thriller drama movie called “Quench”. In the story, the main character, who is an artist, is the artist of my works. My paintings are seen within many scenes in that film.

I was published in the Art collection “Gothic Art Now“, which has many wonderfully brilliant pages within.

I have a children’s book in the works, and hope I get it done this year.

There are all these things like magazine publications and such I should also put in here, I have a few of those, but only a few – My most recent in print was in Kilter Magazine – and I was quite impressed by it, and happy with the magazine I received. I have also been featured and/or interviewed at Dark Roasted Blend, IO9, Lines and Colors, Fantasy Art, Brass Goggles, Gatehouse Gazzette, Elfwood, Superpunch, and many other wonderful web magazines and web blogs.

Artists Statement:

My goal is to create calm, beautiful, and sometimes depressing scenes, atop an undercurrent of confusion, rage, terror, fascination, love, wonder, and even jest – all based upon a seemingly random combination of obvious themes, and obscured meanings – for others to interpret, or project, as they will.

I seek not only to present a scene, but to place the viewer within the scene – hence landscapes tend to be an integral part of my works, as I endeavor to make the viewer and painting one .

No matter the concept, or the underlying meaning, I wish to present a great amount of activity, drama, and even chaos, in the most tranquil and serene settings -and  I aim for each piece to present something new to each viewer with each and every day.