paper cut / cut paper

one year tomorrow

2011-03-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

Wow...
I know I'm not much for maintaining an online presence but a whole year without posting to my blog? Is anybody still checking it? Anyway, a lot happened last year but I won't bore you with that. The big news is that I have my own solo show coming up in May, at Good Gallery in Portland. So there! I haven't been totally slacking of on my personal work. The show is gonna be mostly brand new stuff, so I'll wait til the show to post it here. In the meanwhile, here's a flyer so y'all can mark your calenders.

Creepy Crawlies

2010-03-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a new piece! This was done for Good Gallery's April show, Creepy Crawlies, and it's called Forest Floor. Come see it in person at Good, the opening is first Friday.

Also, it's one of the larger pieces I've finished at 18x24 inches.

ALSO! I'm making prints of this. Not sure what for yet, but it's happening people!

Robot Love!

2010-02-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple pieces I made for the Good Gallery February show. It's all about robots and it's up for the whole month, so go check it out!
Gallery site is: goodpdx.com

Melvin is small and lost in your backyard. Help him out, won't you?

Penelope is too big to realize that those things she's picking are windmills and not flowers. Somebody stop her!

science!

2009-12-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

I'd love to know if these are accurate. It's surprising how many different terms there are for the same thing. To keep it under control I made them very general. Hope you like them!

mmmm... leftovers

2009-12-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

I made this piece a couple of months ago for a Good: Gallery show called "Preserved".
The current group show is "The Present", and there's lots of great art up there this month. Go check it out!

Nosferatu and other happenings

2009-12-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

I won't apologize for not posting lately. I just won't. Instead I'll try to prove to you how much I've been working since my last update.

First of all, I had the honor of being a part of a play! Atomic Arts, a theater troupe here in Portland, asked me if I would like to create some backgrounds for a production of Nosferatu. The idea was to make little paper craft sets, photograph them, then set them up in an interactive sequence using flash so that the lighting technician could simply advance through the sequence whenever there was a scene change. I had to learn a lot to accomplish all that, but I had a really good time doing it, and would love to do something like it again in the future. The play has completed it's scheduled run, but I hope you'll enjoy a few of the more interesting backdrops I've posted here.

In addition to that, I've been working with bent on some cool projects and I got to animate on a couple really fun ones. Hopefully I can link to them soon!

chickenosaurus

2009-09-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

I recently checked out a book from the library called How to Build a Dinosaur, by Jack Horner. It overviews research into reverse engineering dinosaurs from chicken eggs. Here is a link to an article that can give a better overview than I can:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/dinosaurs/6090313/Chickenosaurus-Canadian-scientist-says-he-can-create-dinosaurs-from-chickens.html

I haven't gotten very far in the book, it was enough for me just to know the basics of what they're experimenting with and let my imagination fill in the blanks. Part of what I love about paleontology is the educated guesswork, it really is awesome how much paleontologists can infer from the little clues they get. I think that if they were able to do this it would be like catching bigfoot; it'd be awesome to see but it might take out some of the mystery.

Anyway, that was a lot of text, here's the picture:

This is my first attempt at illustration in a long time. I tried out a few lighting scenarios and then manipulated it a bit in post. Is it working? I'd really love to make more like this, and a couple of good critiques would be helpful.

art for love

2009-09-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

This is a cake topper I made recently for a friend's wedding. I'll probably get pictures of it on the cake itself soon. It looked really neat, another friend of the Bride, Kitana, made the cake and really decked them out with flowers. She integrated the topper beautifully! It was an honer to be a part of it.

New work from the show

2009-07-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

Going along with the previous post, here is some new work from the show at Tyson Gallery. I've been experimenting with matting and working in a shallower depth of shadow box, and I feel these were some of my more successful boxes. What do you think?

First up is Green.
He is in camouflage.

Next is Mr. Fancypants. He is decidedly not camouflaged.

Blue.

And this is the largest piece I've made yet. It's about 2 feet across by i foot down, un-matted. I'd like to do some more large pieces, but with a different method than this. Making a large bird was pretty unwieldy, but I'd love to make a large image that's filled with small birds. Some day soon?
Here is a detail:
I'm thinking some of these shallow-depth pieces would make good prints. Can I gauge your interest? Any suggestions for how to go about it?

Art Show!

2009-07-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

On July 2nd, first thursday, I had my very show solo show. Thanks to everybody who came out! I know I said I update this blog more than my website, but I'm even pretty slow at updating this. Admitting it is the first step to recovery, right? Without further ado, here are some pictures from the show...

This local celebrity stopped by:

There were curated groupings of art:

A big old waterfall made out of cardboard and fabric:

All at the Tyson Gallery

The show will be up through the month of July. If you get the chance to see it, it will be open on the weekends. Tyson gallery is located on the corner of NW Broadway and Flanders and is part of the Everett station lofts.

Resurrection

2009-03-28T22:01:00.001-07:00

This piece is called: "Hey, I made it!". I just finished it this afternoon for Good Gallery's monthly themed group show, this time the theme was Resurrection. And seriously, I'd probably get nothing done if it weren't for these monthly themes lately.
This one depicts a phoenix, feeling refreshed after his self immolation. I imagine that it probably is pretty scary for a minute for the phoenix to endure this process, hence the title, yet here he is in full splendor. His nest is a campfire made of basalt stones and paper twigs, and the container was found as usual at a thrift store. He is about 5 or 6 inches tall from beak to the tip of his tail feathers. Be sure to come check him out in person a Good Gallery! The reception is next Friday, April 3rd from 7 to 10. Check goodpdx.com for further details.

mouthful

2009-03-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

Boy, if it wasn't for good gallery's monthly shows I'd get nothing done! Seriously though, February? Short month.
This was made especially for good's mouthful show for the month of march. As always, check their site at goodpdx.com for a full rundown of the show and times you can come check it out in person.
PS: Don't forget to turn your clocks back!

Robot Love

2009-01-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, here's some new stuff (finally!)
These pieces were made for a group show called "Robot Love"! The reception is happenin' February 6th at Good, a Gallery in Portland. www.goodpdx.com
It's going to be a great day, since Coraline opens on the sixth, too. Don't worry though, if you're too busy peeping stop-motion goodness on opening day the show will be up for about a month and I think the gallery keeps pretty regular hours.

Sculptures

2009-01-08T14:00:00.001-08:00

This next set is a couple sculptures I finished a little while ago. The crow is first, he's about 3 or 4 inches, but he looks really big to me in the picture. I was thinking he'd be cool to re-make life size. I could install him on a big branch and he could look like he's yelling at you when you walk by. Anyway.
The other one is a big snake, and that's about it. Hes one of the larger things I've made, measuring a whopping 7 inches tall. I learned a lot while making him, namely it's tough to get paper to curve like that. Hope you like em!

More Boxes

2009-01-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while since the internet was down at my house. I've got a sort of backlog of work, and something big-ish in the works, so I'll try and keep up from now on.

I was working on the first image for a while. I had the pieces finished, but the frame wasn't coming together the way I liked. It's finished now, and I like it.

The next piece is loosely based on the puzzle: find a little red house with no doors and no windows, and a star inside. The answer is an apple, because the seed casings make a star pattern when you cut it in half cross-wise. Anyway, this little old lady figured out the riddle, and moved in. Adding a door and window for convenience.

Owls and Jars

2008-12-09T11:01:00.001-08:00

Heres a couple more plants in jars. I don't know if you can tell, but the one in the test tube needs to be transplanted.

This is another shadow box (sorry about the poor quality). The owl is irate because it's too early for him/ he had a long day.

Warm Fuzzies

2008-11-25T18:56:00.001-08:00

These are pictures of some shadow boxes I made for a show called "Warm Fuzzies". I'm not too fond of the one of the foxes in their den. I'd like to re-do it, so I'm not submitting it. Any crits/ suggestions about that one? The other one is going in. It will be viewable at Good Gallery starting Dec. 5th. It's the gallery's first show (and my first time showing) so come out if you can! Heres a link to the site:
http://goodpdx.com/events/

Bloopers are showing...

2008-11-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Here's an animation project I worked on for Bent. We did 3 commercials for tv, and a few shorts for the web. The link will take you to the web stuff, bloopers (click on watch videos).
Here's some background if you haven't seen the televised part of the campaign: The blond guy is Chad, he represents Alltel, and sells cell phones. He's good buddies with Santa, and they team up at Christmas to sell even more phones. The other guys represent the other major providers, and they try to stop all this in each spot.

http://www.alltelholiday.com/?WT.mc_id=11084970

I was the animator for "Its the Easter Bunny", "Loose Head", and I did the background action for "test fire" with Sarah Hulin animating the dialogue.

Bird and Nest

2008-11-16T18:53:00.000-08:00

Heres two things that go together. They're meant to be displayed so that you can walk all around them, but I only took pictures from a couple angles.

A Puppet

2008-11-14T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a little budgie puppet that I made for a music video idea that I had to scrap.

This is him perched on my finger (for scale)

His wings and tail feathers are fully articulate.

But he's just been sitting around. I'd still like to animate him one day.

2008-11-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to put up a couple more today while I have time. I should probably space them out more, but you'll be able to tell by the repeat background that I photographed each piece at the same time anyway.

Here is a trilobite in matrix. I made it using cork and scrap paper. He's got some little seashell fossils for company. It's about 3x5 inches.

This is another one of those little dioramas. This one is of a mountain goat. It's about 3 inches square.

New stuff!

2008-11-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've been gone for a while. A looong while...
I've been animating, which is good. If you haven't seen the milk ads, check em out!
www.mustdrinkmoremilk.com
In terms of animating, I did the Russian Dolls spot and the Statue Race solo, and tag-teamed Back Alley Puppet Fight and Fartfest 4000 with Sarah Hulin. Also did fin and eye elements for the golfish in the hand-puppet spot.

So, it's been pretty busy times! I've got a backlog of work that I haven't posted, so I'll get to it starting riiiiight now:

The bee is old as the hills. He never got a jar to live in, and he's just been perched on that pine cone on my shelf for forever. Now it would just seem wrong to confine him.
The next one is my first attempt at a diorama. I promise here will be better ones in later posts.

been a while...

2008-04-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, I finally got an external hard drive, so I can work on my pictures and save them!
Heres a few pieces I've made recently. They are pretty tiny, so apologies for any blurriness.
Mostly keeping with the jar theme, but theres one of a ladybug commuting to work that kind of breaks it up. I don't really want to put him in a jar for some reason...
I might do it anyway, or put it in a bell jar as it protects them from dust.

2007-12-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

I made this guy during a slow period at my internship. He's a stopmotion puppet made using armature techniques I learned at work, and covered with my usual paper style. He's about 6 inches long, and took a little over 2 days of solid working to finish. I don't think it will animate very well, the armature is a little too stiff for the size, but I like it as a prototype and I'll probably animate it anyway. Plus, I kept the patterns, so I can always re-do it.

issues

2007-11-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Don't worry. No drama. My computer is crazy, it won't let me do anything besides be on the internet, otherwise it freezes. Hence, no drawrings or anything like that until its fixed. On the plus side, I can link whoever reads this to a great behind-the-scenes doc about The Shining.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/81783/detail/

I've never seen the movie (can you believe it!?) but I read the book and it creeped me the heck out. I'll have to see it sometime soon, on a nice sunny day which will happen in, oh, about May given NW weather patterns.
Oh! Also, I hear these are all over the airwaves, but this run of commercials is the first I've ever worked on, so I'm gonna have to subject you all to 'em again.

http://www.alltelcircle.com/holiday/

Hope I get my computer fixed soon.

Entymology

2007-11-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

So, heres something I've been doing. I have made two others like this and I hope to make a series. The cricket is life-size, and made of scrapbooking paper. PS, sorry the closeup is a crappy enhancement of the original picture. My camera doesn't like to use it's macro function.

sketch?

2007-11-10T00:23:00.001-08:00

Who has the time? I'm trying, I really am. Everything I did tonight came out bad, I think its too late in the day for me. So, I did these a while back, but they're new to everyone here so all of you can chew on that. Spiderman is copyright of Marvel comics (do I even need to say that?)

Hats

2007-11-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Smoking hats, don't know if you can tell, but the birds have on little gas masks.

and so it begins...

2007-11-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here is where I will put a collection of mish-mash for all you kids that I left on the east coast. Hopefully it will contain sketches, but also photos and stories. So, I will now draw something and try to figure out how to post pictures.