surreal, vivid illustration of an eyeball conducting, or maybe breaking from, electricity. — “Synapse-snap”
Colored pencil on Strathmore toned black paper.

Eyes feature in my work often. Most of the time they are boldly and beautifully rendered on the face of a fairy, an elf, or occasionally Sarah Brightman. Her eyes are just wonderful to draw!

Sometimes, the eyes I draw are alone, separated from the face and encased in a cage or some sort of glass container with wires and coils around them.

One of my favorite reasons for drawing is to explore the mind. Our inner thoughts as people, my inner thoughts as an artist - what does it mean to be human and have all this analytical power in our brains, this great ability to imagine and change ourselves, and yet suffer so many faults and failings?

Can we ever break out of ourselves? Or is our control over our lives and our world just an illusion, and in fact our psyche - or maybe psychosis - is the only reality…

You’re invited! This August I will be the featured artist at the Lodi Community Art Center. You may remember my last featured show from May of 2019, where I displayed several vividly colored portraits and figure pieces. This time, I will be displaying both new works and several pieces that have been in my portfolio for some time, but have never been publicly displayed. Among them is one of my favorites, “Illuminate.” You can read more about its history here, but as a brief backstory, it is the first piece I completed after many years of not drawing at all, and I regard it as a sort of guardian of my art - hence its presence on my business cards, website, Facebook page, and basically all platforms where I display, discuss, and promote my work.

“Illuminate” Oil pastel on illustration board.

Recently I pulled this piece out of its safely stored place, spruced it up a bit, and rephotographed it. The restored image is above. I am very happy to see it a bit brighter, clearer, and at its most magical. This month I will finally get it framed!

My August show opens Friday, August 6th; opening reception 5:30-6:30pm. The show will be up through the month.

In addition to “Illuminate,” which is over a decade old and has never been publicly displayed, I will also be showing new works done in pen and colored pencil as well as never before displayed works from my portfolio in oil pastel, chalk pastel, and of course, my favorite - colored pencil.

The pieces I’ve selected for this show explore the psyche - what makes us think, feel, and why? What will we find when we dare to be our most introspective? How deep does our consciousness go?

Clockwise from top left: “Epiphany” pen and colored pencil; “Eyeris” colored pencil; “Tree Woman” chalk pastel; “Balance” pen and colored pencil.

Come out to Lodi on August 6th and see the whole show!

Lodi Community Art Center

110 W Pine Street, Downtown Lodi CA