Even though I had been drawing black and white charcoal and pencil portraits in college, I didn’t seriously move on to doing actual oil portraits until a couple of years after I had graduated. I was already somewhat comfortable with oil paint and I began taking on small commissioned oil portraits, in the Chicago area, [...]
When I’m not painting murals, I try to make sure that I’m doing something that is somehow related to art; it’s a good way to stay creative and learn new things that can often apply to future murals and other projects. A couple of months ago I was approached to do a couple of [...]
I was once the benefactor of nepotism. The country was entering into a recession when I graduated college and no one was hiring. My father in law was working at Caterpillar in Purchasing, Castings if you must know, and he got me a cushy job as a storage handler. I was originally slated to [...]
A bit back I posted on the progress of a mural I was painting in a Naperville dentists office between Christmas and New Year’s. I’ve decided to post the finished piece in a video (I opened a Youtube account specifically for this purpose and here are my first fruits for your viewing delight.) The mural was [...]
Before I was a muralist and fine artist I used to draw a lot; it was my select way of passing the school day. One of my preferred subjects was anything with sharp teeth (which unfortunately is something I seldom get asked to do a mural of). I drew this T-rex in college and I [...]
Being a muralist often requires working in tight spaces, tall spaces, cold spaces, hot spaces, all kinds of spaces… even, occassionally, outer spaces. I’m working on a mural for a dentist office in Naperville, IL, that falls into the category of dark, tight spaces. The wall I’m painting on is in a hallway, outside of [...]
I find that of all the murals I do, trompe l’oeil murals often get the most attention. Trompe L’oeil is a French term meaning “to fool the eye” and people are delighted to be tricked into believing something is real. In a previous blog, I posted the progress of one of these murals and I’m [...]
Although mainly a muralist, I get a good assortment of projects. Logo design is one of my favorite things to do; it’s simple, but has so much impact on a company’s image. This is my own logo, and surprisingly, it came together very easily. Usually when I have to do any sort of artwork for [...]
Since 2002, I’ve painted hundreds of murals, had my work on ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition, been strapped to some very big lifts, have traveled across the country, been in some great fine art galleries, received some minor recognition from the prestigious Portrait Society of America, and have accepted just about every art related project [...]
I painted this mural of an India Beach scene for an Indian restaurant in Chicago. The whole mural is much larger by quite a lot, but this is one of my favorite sections. Cropped out of this wall mural is a monkey on the right eating a burrito-wrap-sort of thing. Maybe I’ll post that part [...]
