Irony

There is something ironic about Coca Cola using a polar bear as their mascot. We all know Coke products use plastic bottles for a lot of their beverages. We also know that Coca Cola is a multi billion dollar corporation. In the U.S. only about 30 to 40 percent of plastic is recycled and that’s up from years prior. But that means 60% likely goes into land fills or litters our streets and parks.  

Polar Bears are one of the animals that are in danger of becoming extinct due to their home literally melting. It has made them use more energy since they need to be swimming more and produce more heat for their bodies. With a loss of food, they also have a harder time eating.  

Plastic is a big pollutant due to the manufacturing process. So when it is not recycled more needs to be produced. Coca Cola is contributing to the destruction of their mascot’s natural habitat which I see as sadly ironic. 

Could Coke’s mascot eventually become extinct? It would be like having a dinosaur as a mascot but if we all witnessed the dinosaurs going extinct.  

There are too many problems to have only one answer, but recycling your plastics is a start. And Coke, well every other bottle manufacturer also,  please make your kids recyclable as well dammit! 

“Refreshments” 

2017 (48”x60”) acrylic on canvas

20,000 hours

“Wow, how long did that take?” 

Artists, I’m sure, get this question a lot and I know because, well, I’m an artist and I get that question a lot. The answer is simple but really unmeasurable. 

The painting took me 30, 40, 50 hours from start to finish, maybe longer. The truth is there is a lot that goes into a painting, but there’s so much more that goes into art.  

I have spent countless hours developing ideas, a style, or perfecting techniques, but if you’d like to put a number to it, I’d estimate close to 20,000 hours so far. So how much time is that? It’s over two years straight, though the time has been spread out over about a decade, so I’m not even counting the hours I spent as a young child drawing.  

So to answer the question correctly... How long did that take?  

It took 18,545 hours to complete this painting because without those first 18,500 hours I would not have been able to create this painting.  

There ya’ go, there’s the answer, at least the sweetened and condensed version 😁

Shot of me working in my studio 🎨 

American Dream

The American Dream carries with it a connotation of hope, maybe nestalgia for some, but some people have argued that the American Dream no longer exists. 

Elephants for a long time have been looked at as a commodity, at least by some. The people who poach them for their ivory horns look at elephants, and rhinos as well, and see dollar signs. Much like people from all over the world see America... the land of opportunity. 

The domestication and efforts to save animals is somewhat interesting to me because we are saving animals from ourselves. Though it stems from different individuals, people are generalized and put into one broad category. So even though we try to save animals from our direct poaching, we forget that the house we live it, the streets we drive on, the food and resources we consume all have effected animals in the areas we inhabit. The relationship we have with our surrounding nature and the constant building, developing, expanding, etc is a growing issue that seems to go unnoticed in comparison.  

 “The American Dream”

2017 (48”x60”)      Acrylic on canvas

Scribe for my Subconcious

Painting is almost like a meditation. Thoughts leave my mind and my hand becomes a scribe for my subconscious. Even though I am the one creating the painting, it almost seems as if I am not entirely aware of what I am doing. The mixing and application of paint becomes almost mindless. Though technique can be learned and taught, it seems the art that comes from something deeper is not teachable, but something that needs to be discovered. My thoughts about my subjects are translated into images because words can not describe the thoughts as effortlessly. 

When artists paint I think there has to be a reason to create a painting, whatever that may be. Painting has its own language which is why we as viewers have to interpret it and why artists need to learn to speak it.

A piece of me, my soul, spirit, mind is put into every piece. In a way every painting I create is a part of me, but in the essence, like if a thought could be seen in the same plain that we exist. 

Working in the studio

Work in progress (Feb. 2018)