Pattern Play 2021

Acrylic, collage and posca on canvas, 30x30 inches

During the height of the pandemic in the 2020-2021 academic year, I taught remotely from my studio. Although I didn't enjoy being online all day, I thought that since I was joining my students from my studio that I would involve them in my work process and share what I was working on. At the time, I was jumping between several pieces including this 30x30 inch piece on canvas. Every class day, I would show them my progress and talk about the things that I was considering as I was working on it. Focusing on shape, pattern and color over the course of the year, I slowly added more layers, more colors and collaged bits. Despite everything that was going on in the world at the time, this was my own little respite.

This piece can also be found in American Illustration 41.

EUREKA! (There are sparking magical bits all around us!)

Mixed media on board, 18x12 inches

This piece is made up of 3 individual pieces that I collaged at the same time. The two smaller pieces, Sparkling, Magical Bits and A Bright Spot, accompany the larger piece, EUREKA!, to create the final, overall piece. These were a blast to make! I especially loved incorporating some 3D game pieces into these, which you can see better in the second image.

I'm not sure how old I was when I was given my first wind-up robot. I still have it. It's about 2 inches tall. It's plastic and very basic. It looks like one of those little toys that you get out of a 25¢ vending machine where you put the quarter in and this little toy in a plastic bubble pops out. Slowly, over the years, I got more robots as gifts and before you knew it I had a collection. 

I love robots because you can take any combination of shapes, put them together and you have a robot. There's no right way or wrong way to make a robot or to draw a robot. Think of all the different famous robots that are part of pop culture: Robby the Robot, Gort, Maximillian, Wall-E, Bender, Rosie, to name a few. They're all different. I love that.

After having collected robots for so long I started to draw and paint them....and eventually, I started making them into small 3D wooden bots. Why not draw and make the things you're inspired by?

Here are just a few of the 3D robots that I've built and 2D robots that I've painted/drawn over the years. Just about all of the 3D robots start with either a drawing or by playing with blocks. I have jars of old wooden blocks that I use to create robots. I sometimes cut/alter them to make new shapes or I just use them as they are.

As much as I love to work on larger pieces, I always like having a handful of smaller pieces to work on so I can bounce between a variety of work. Although most of these are the size of a simple 4x6 inch postcard, they might sometimes be 6x9 inches or larger. Like the larger pieces, I have no idea of what these are going to be. They're puzzles that I'm figuring out along the way.

I completed my first sketchbook in high school. I think I was a junior. My art teacher at the time actually called them "idea books" which I've always liked because in many ways, that's what they are for me. Even if I don't realize it at the time I'm drawing, what I put down within those pages often leads to something else that I come to understand and see later. 

I've carried a sketchbook with me for years. I rarely go anywhere without one. I'm not sure how many I've filled, but drawing and exploring within them is something that I treasure. I try to keep them all in the same place so if there was ever a fire in my studio, I'd know right where to grab them (if possible!).

The pages you see here are a random sampling of some of my favorite spreads.

I almost never do pencil roughs. I'm not sure if I ever did or not...but most of the time I go right to ink to paper. If I don't like what I ink/draw the first time, I draw it again (and again) until I like it, until it feels right. If it doesn't get to that point, I scrap it & throw it out. And then, I go for a walk.

When I come back to it, hopefully it happens and everything comes together. Here are a few drawings that fell into place right from the start.

Pattern Play 2020

Acrylic, gouache, cut paper and posca on board, 8x10 inches