You're lookin at the finished product. "Invitation to Temptation" will be on my friend's wall for her Thanksgiving feast.

As you can see I made some progress on the oven and dog recently. I sank my teeth into the oven and all of it's chrome reflections. I probably have 20 hours invested in that oven and all the subtle color variations. By contrast I painted the dog in about 45 minutes... no kidding. Soon I will start working my way into the female figure, the pie, the background and start tying it all in together. I keep thinking this is probably turning into my "American Gothic". Not that it at all compares to the popularity or the original masterpiece, but there are elements within American Gothic that tie the entire composition together. And I feel a lot of that going on within this painting. I can explain later when it's finished.

Guess what?! We're proud to announce we finished the mural Wednesday night for VAST Enterprises! What an exhilarating feeling. We would like to thank the guys at VAST for hiring us and being so accommodating during the entire process. And they truly have a great new product, you should really check out their link. The mural ended up being 15 days of hard work day and night. But it was definitely worth it in the end. As you can see they've added on a nice patio with pergola on the house. And they'll be adding a continuation of the driveway and a sidewalk between. I can't wait to see it all complete at the projected open house next month. And last but not least, I would like to thank Shawn for asking me to collaborate with him on a such a fun project and great opportunity. It was our first time working together and I believe there will definitely be more McCann collaborations in the near future. Stay tuned!

Here's an example of the masking I was doing through out the process of the driveway panel. All of this masking is only for the vertical lines on the herringbone design driveway panel. I believe I went through about 4 rolls of tape on the driveway alone.

This is an in-progress detail of the driveway before most of the lines were painted in.

These images depict the tedious process of mapping out the driveway using a grid of pavers to create the illusion they are receding back into space on the mural. I am trying to illustrate 18 feet of pavers using a space on the mural 8 feet wide by only 28 inches tall. I designed the 18 foot pattern on photoshop and I am using it to help transfer the pattern to the mural. Then I can begin to paint each brick one by one... stay tuned on this one. (see more info about the mural on the previous posting below)

My good friend and fellow artist, Shawn McCann, asked me to collaborate and co-pilot with him on this 12' x 25' mural project for a local company's new showroom featuring their Eco-friendly pavers. http://vast-enterprises.com The project needs to be completed by June 20. We have made great progress thus far.

Thanks for stopping by. April was a crazy month with family, traveling, and such. Warmer weather is upon us! I also managed to make progress on a few projects. Displayed is the updated 50's Housewife painting. (strange looking I know) I have more of the base paints down and will start shading flesh tones, and providing visual depth with reflections and shadows soon.

I hope to have photos of my latest interior painting & stenciling project up next week. I'm loving it!

I'm in the process of mixing and laying down the colors on the 1950's Housewife. I would say that most of my time is spent in the mixing of the paint. I am continuously mixing the paint as I work from one area of the canvas to another. It's the ongoing process of trying to perfect each hue and making them work cohesively as a group on the canvas. The process is a very enjoyable zen like experience for me as I work through the various colors and shapes. I am very patient, yet the anticipation for the final product keeps me focused.

I'm now in the process of sketching the image on canvas and tying it all in together with two point perspective, which is elaborating upon what the digital composite provided. There's a lot more math and draftsmanship involved than meets the eye.

This photo is a rough sketch I compiled with several different images in photoshop for a commission portrait. My good friend had this super fun idea to be painted as a 1950's housewife holding a steaming cherry pie. And she agreed to pose for it. Bonus! We've had a blast researching this project! The finished canvas will measure 40" x 32" and will be entered into the 2007 Minnesota State Fair.