Art is a big part of my life. My favorite artists are Frida Kahlo, Hieronymus Bosch, and Salvador Dalí. I love Surrealists such as René Magritte, Max Ernst, and Yves Tanguy, as well as their predecessors like Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Giorgio de Chirico. In terms of modern art, my favorite is Stanley Donwood (mostly of Radiohead fame, although I like all his work!).
Art is a great hobby. My own ventures in art range from giant paintings to miniature piano sculptures, clay replicas of famous artworks to wood burning and digital art. Here you will find some examples of what I've done. In addition to arts, crafts are a hobby. This includes decorating furniture with interesting paint designs, sewing costumes and clothes, and other things that pop into my head to do. (Side note: I am not the fantasy artist Amy Brown. I used to get her fan mail a lot!)
First are two ink drawings: one of a vampire cat, the other of Frida Kahlo. I painted two variations on the Kahlo drawing on my computer; those are off to the side. Next are a couple of quickly executed paintings that were basically to realize ideas I had, and a few drawings I did. Last is a huge replica of Frida Kahlo's "The Frame"; however, I have so much Frida around my house, I decided to put my face in this one instead!
The next three pictures were made on paper with Cray-Pas oil pastels. I did these in college while studying Dada and Surrealism. A friend and I did these drawings together simultaneously. The third one was cut into long strips and then randomly rearranged. I've always thought that the result strangely gives the impression of a heart.
I created this large colored pencil drawing while in college. It shows scenes from The Neverending Story, as well as some fantasy illustrations. I've included several closeups. I carefully sketched the Auryn, Falcor, the Southern Oracle, the Ivory Tower, and Atreyu riding his horse Artax, all while watching the movie.
This is a group I did in art classes in junior high. First is an acrylic painting of flowers that my parents have in their house. In the second painting, the water lilies were painted on paper, which was then covered with ink, which was then scraped off in places. Then there is a charcoal drawing of a unicorn, based on an illustration. The cat painting was based on a photograph. I liked the underpainting so I left it in black and white. Finally is some yarn art at the end.
Here's a group of mixed-media sculptures I've made. First is an assemblage I did in college inspired by the Hole song "Doll Parts". I used a lot of my old dolls, in addition to creating some weird creatures with doll parts I bought. Next is a zombie bear I created. Next is a miniature nicho. I painted it and created the scene inside out of wood, clay, and fabric. The picture includes a penny to show the scale. Last are some figurines I made of clay. They are inspired by figures in artwork I love. Mostly paintings, and one animated film. There are more detailed images of these off to the side.
I so love Les Nereïdes jewelry, yet it is so expensive, that I decided to make some knockoffs of one of their N2 lines for myself. In the process, I discovered a hobby of making jewelry. Specifically, Radiohead jewelry. I made a The King of Limbs necklace and bracelet set. The necklace broke at a Radiohead concert, and I became discouraged and stopped making jewelry for the time being.
I collect miniature pianos, and I also have made several over the past few years. I have made pianos from fabric, cardboard, foil, paper, toothpicks, and even pasta! To see more of my mini piano collection, visit my website MiniPianos.com. I'll start with my mini harpsichord: the body, lid, soundboard, keyboard, and legs are all made out of toothpicks; the only other things used are cardboard underneath the soundboard for sturdiness and then gold thread as the strings. The black keys are etched into the toothpicks with a knife and the white keys are individually painted on.
In addition to the harpsichord, the next two I consider my finest creations: the piano fountain and the transverse piano. They are inspired by Salvador Dalí paintings entitled "Musical Tempest (Red Orchestra)", which depicts a decrepit white piano with a fountain flowing in it, and "Atmospheric Skull Sodomizing a Grand Piano", which depicts a piano with a keyboard along the side instead of the front. Additional inspiration for the piano fountain was taken from "Sentimental Colloquy", which shows a similar piano in blue. The piano bodies are made of cardboard and the legs of wooden beads. For the piano fountain, I distressed the surface using paint and charcoal and painted the large cracks to look three-dimensional. The water basin was achieved using layer upon layer upon layer of blue cling wrap. You will notice that I made the transverse piano exactly in as in the painting, with the suggestive opening the naughty skull is probing! Maybe I'll make the skull someday.
This next group of mini pianos are made of paper. The first one is made out of sheet music. Connoisseurs might recognize this piece as a Chopin nocturne. Even the keyboard is made out of the sheet music: I cut and taped together pieces from the music staff to be the white keys, and the black keys are painstakingly cut from the music bars! After that you'll see the first mini piano I ever made; it was for a theatrical design class in college. It was part of a scale model of my living room and, as such, is meant to represent my real piano. The third piano is made out of wadded up pieces of paper encased in a wrap of clear tape. The tape has yellowed quite a bit over the years.
Next we have some pianos made from metals. The first one I made out of gutter wire, cut and then sewn together using wire thread. The keyboard is a photograph of my real piano's keyboard. Then there's a piano simply made of aluminum foil. The following piano is made of floral wire, which I bent into the piano shape. Lastly are a trio made from metallic pipe cleaners.
This next group of pianos are made from fabric. The white one is a prototype made from fabric I had lying around; the keyboard is drawn on with pencil and I sewed in some gold thread as the piano's strings. I made two from black plush fabric. The larger one has a white ribbon as a keyboard, with the keys marked on with a black pen. I made a second one like this with keyboard-patterned ribbon as a present for Tori Amos. The last example is made of cardboard and wrapped with white string. I got the idea from a publicity photo of Tori Amos that featured her playing a mummy-wrapped piano.
This last piano is one of the more unusual. It pays homage to my favorite TV show, Seinfeld. It was inspired by the episode where Kramer makes a little statue of Jerry out of fusilli pasta. I used tri-colored radiatore pasta.
From time to time I like to use my wood burning tool on plain wood items I buy. There is a plaque I made with a quote and photo from the movie The Piano; portraits of pets; and a sun and moon.
Here is a series of variations I made on a photo I took of myself. All I did was alter the color pattern for each variation. The original photo is shown first. I used a similar technique on a picture of my cat and made a collage.
Next are a couple photos from the Star Wars prequels that I put myself in. The characters are both bounty hunters: Aurra Sing and Zam Wesell, from Episodes I and II respectively. These involved lots of work, but it was rewarding. I had to find photos of my face that were compatible with the ones in the original pictures, and then I "grafted" my face onto the movie pictures. For Aurra, I did the makeup for real and took a photo, then integrated it with a picture of the character portrayed by a model. What is really cool is that I was contacted by someone who had worked on creating the character for ILM, and he said: "Nice blending job. Your face works well for the character. You could possiblly double for her. Do you do this for a living?" Wow! Last is a photo that didn't fit anywhere else; it's my face put on a photo of Janis Joplin (well, several photos actually).
Here is cartoon image I made of myself. Ever wonder what you would look like if you were made into a cartoon? It's kinda freaky! I also gave my cartoon the Warhol treatment and made a collage.
I've made a variety of pictures using the Paint and Photoshop tools on my computer. There's a smudged Mona Lisa, as well as some abstract creations I made for website backgrounds.
Here are some scans I made of myself, along with a colorful creation from one of the scans. It's very difficult to do scanner portraiture: the slightest movement results in a blurred or distorted image. Fortunately, I am good at being very still.
