Artist Statement My work consists of observing occurrences from ordinary things in life, and sometimes my compositions are blended with a touch from the absurd or my imagination. Since I was a young child I was inspired by illustrators like Stephen Gammell and Tim Jacobus whose work is cherished in the popular Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series. The work terrified me as much as it inspired me to make my own macabre illustrations. It would be easy for me to conjure an eerie image like one of Tim Jacobus’s infamous Goosebumps covers, but I tend to find a balance with what is real and seen in our everyday lives with an inclusion of the make-believe and fantasy.
There are narrative elements in things observed in our daily lives. I notice things around my small village that evokes wondrous illustrations or other mediums I feel may express the composition’s story. I like to find narrative elements in landscape studies, self-portraits, and characters that I have thought of and put into my various sketchbooks. These characters consist of illustrated animals or comic characters I have designed based on my imagination and adoration for cartoonist, illustrators such as; R. Crumb (Zap Comix, Fritz the Cat), Gary Larson (The Far Side), and Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) or Charles Schulz (Peanuts). Typically I tend to use pen and ink to craft my comics or compositions, but I do not limit my variety of mediums or tools. If I have a project that tells its story more successfully as a painting, then I would be wise to make it a painting rather than a mixed media drawing. Overall I want my body of work to entertain my audience in the same way they are entertained by his or her favorite storyteller. As an illustrator I want my work to tell stories without having to write a single word. My work will do the story telling, and I will be merely the individual who decided to give the tale its design. If I see my audience reading my work and getting lost into a conversation about the piece’s overall message or merit, then I’ll feel as if I am achieving the overall goal with my work. |
A Friend For The Hydra
Page 1 2016 Pen and Ink Sageberry
2016 Pen and Ink, Watercolor The House in The Woods
Page 1 2016 Pen and Ink The House in The Woods
Page 4 2016 Pen and Ink |
A Friend For The Hydra
Page 2 2016 Pen and Ink The Birdhouse
2016 Oil Paint The House in The Woods
Page 2 2016 Pen and Ink The House in The Woods
Page 5 2016 Pen and Ink |
The Nap
2016 Pastel, Pen and Ink A Collection of Things Past
2016 Etching with Watercolor The House in The Woods
Page 3 2016 Pen and Ink The House in The Woods
Page 6 2016 Pen and Ink |