The blue kitchen

the blue kitchen, 5x7, oil on paper

This was a quick sketch I did a few weeks ago. I thought it was a decent composition, even if the painting itself didn't land where I wanted it to. Daily painting has allowed me embrace the bad with the good, and learn to enjoy the whole experience of painting more. You can learn just as much from your less successful paintings if you are willing to let them go.

Fruity Group

Here are some happy little fruits, 6x6 oil on paper. I thought this trifecta was so vibrant and yummy I just had to paint them together.The colors are very strong and make from a powerful thumbnail in this arrangement. Painting small forces the artist to be loose and to concentrate on values. It takes a long time to learn that details are not as important as the larger constructions and the value relationships of the composition.

LudumDare 38

le petite isle

Ludum Dare is a game jam that takes place every four months. A game jam is competition where contestants, either in teams or solo, create a video game by a deadline. The Ludum Dare game jam is perhaps the most famous of these. Its free online for anyone to participate and you get three days to make a game based on a supplied theme.

The theme for this game jam was A Small World. I used the Godot Game engine and the animation tool Aseprite, bfxr.net for sound effects, and Fruity Loops for the soundtrack. It was an intense weekend of coding to finish on time. I had to work as well, which made for some added challenge. This was my second LudumDare.

You can view all the submissions, and there's a LOT, over at ldjam.com.

African Violets and Orange Slices

African Violets and Orange Slices, 6x6, oil on paper

My wife brought these beautiful little violets home to grow on our window sill. Of course I had to paint them, and with a lovely compliment of orange they really sing don't they?  

coke bottles

Coke Bottles. 6x6, oil on canvas

I keep a couple of these old glass coke bottles around in case I feel like indulging my inner pop artist. Andy Warhol references aside, These symbols of consumerist frenzy worked quite well in this colorful still life, Composition is probably the area that I've struggled with the most over the years, so its nice when I get a set up that really sings to me. Let there be color! 

Fruity

Fruity. 6x6, oil on paper

The still life train never stops. I've got about a dozen of these guys fresh off the easel. As you can see, I'm still working on loosing up my brushwork and painting with clean, simple shapes. The orange could use some work, but the pear and the apples are okay. 

Glitch art from The Cartesian.

This is a screenshot from my game The Cartesian. In truth, its less of a game and more of a glitch art making tool, but you glitch images by playing this little character (the little orange square in the center). This image was created by first loading a small jpg into the program and then wondering about with the little guy who I named the Cartesian (after Descartes the Cartesian coordinate system). You can download this game for free here.

Gaspard

I created this small game for the Indie Bits game job. Indie Bits in a festival for South Eastern game developers. Game development is a hobby I picked up a few years ago and have been steadily working on. Gaspard is a 2d side-scroller about a swashbuckling hero seeking revenge. It was a lot of fun to make this project and I learned quite a bit in process. I'd say my animation skills went up a notch or two. The download is free if you're interested in playing it. Take up your father's sword and fight!

Island_8

Island_8, 5x7, acrylic monotype

This piece is from my island series I created last fall. The textures really lend themselves to a watery type of atmosphere, which in me evokes a certain sense of calm or serendipitous environment. In a word, its meditative. And of course a blue and grey palette is one of my favorites.  

The Cartesian

So this is something different. Some readers may already know this, but on top of fine art I also like dabble in other areas like music, design, and computer programming. The Cartesian in a small project I created last fall as a way of furthering my skills at the Processing programming language. In the game, the player must provide an image to serve as the background and level generation guide. Players can then explore the created world and create glitch art in the process.

Floral Violet

Floral violet. 6x6, acrylic monotype

I loved the play of texture in this monotype. It really shows the fun variety that can be achieved with the gelatin plate. I've had my plate for about six months now. It cost me about twelve dollars to make. Its not problem to buy one, but they're so cheap and the ingredients are common so why not DIY?