Kreativ Blogger Award!!!

What an honor - I got home from a long day at work with my eyes shriveled, ready to turn into dust thanks to my laptop monitor, and I find the Kreativ Blogger award waiting for me. I want to thank Julie Davis, one of my favorite blogging co-artists, for gifting me such a fun award. Of course, it's just an honor to be nominated :) I understand that I must do a couple of things:
1 - name 7 things for which you are grateful, and
2- link back to 7 artists of your choice to whom you would like to grant this same award.

Things for which I am grateful:
1. My God
2. My Health
3. My Wife
4. My Talents
5. My Country
6. My Education
7. My Two Cats

Seven Artists to whom I give this award

1. Youqing Wang
2. Alida Thorpe
3. Lisa Gloria
4. Michael Naples
5. Tommy Kane
6. Pierre Raby
7. Sara Winters

My Wife's New Blog!!

I am very excited to announce that my wife is now a blogger!!!! I write this post to entice you to visit her new budding blog. Cailin has always been an artist in her own right and she has always had a knack for crafting but recently she has taken the leap to blogging. I have been blogging for a few years now and I kept telling


her that it's easy as pie (like the kinda pie you just ask for at the fast food window, not the kind you have to actually put together and throw in the oven). Well, she's got her blog up and running. It's called Made by Cailin and it showcases her wonderful purse organizers. She made one of these in the recent past to be a simple help to herself. The frustration she had (and I suspect that 99.9% of women in the world have) is that she always had to spend more time than she wanted moving several (and by several I mean thousands) of individual items, essential items she assures me, from one purse to another when the occasion (or whim) requires her to change purses. To solve this frustration and to make her life much easier she threw together this convenient little organizer, as shown above. She just loads the pockets of the organizer with her essential items and she can then wrap, fold, or bundle her purse-inizer to any handbag she desires without wasting time looking for loose change and other items. She has dozens of patterns and is making dozens more. Check out her website by clicking on the logo or pictures. And while your there become one of her followers - it's looking a little measly at the moment. - Jared

Another Charity Event

Rocking Chair for Charity

Here's another fun piece that I recently finished for a local charity which helps protect abused children. I knew right away when I received the unfinished wooden rocker that I wanted to do something that would impress all who view it. This meant that I would have to abandon the common "charity chair" color scheme which consists of every bold color on an artist's palette.

I have grown more enamored with patterns over the years and this was a great opportunity to put them to use. I selected several patterns with high contrast and placed them all over the chair. Since my chair was child sized, I used dimensional paints for the header board at the top of the chair. I posted a couple shots of this so that you can see the cool texture which it left. I thought this would be a fun additive, especially for children.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that my chair pulls the highest bid at the auction. - Jared

New Caricature Commission

Super Dan, pen and ink on Bristol board, approx 8x12"

I received a phone call from a dear friend of the family and a great advocate for the arts, Cathy Wright, asking me if I would be interested in doing a caricature for a member of the Alabama Board of Education. Dan was often referred to "Super Dan" because of his amazing ability to get results when it came to his work at the Board. I dug up some Superman images to get started (note to reader: don't Google "Superman undressing"!) and superimposed Dan's face over the super body. It came out as good as expected and the reception was a hit.

After a Long Sabbatical....

Made You Smile, painted sheet metal cut-out

Well it's been a terribly long break from posting! Since my last post (about 6 months ago) I have been involved with several side jobs, namely filling in as a long-term visual art substitute at a local arts middle school. Baldwin Magnet Middle School was actually the school that I attended when I was in Jr. High. The art teacher at Baldwin went on Maternity leave early due to complications with her pregnancy so I was able to teach art in a public school setting for the first time in my life. I was there from January 6th until April 13th. It was actually more awesome than I had anticipated. I will post several images of my time there in the near future.

This flower painting was a piece that I did for the American Red Cross here in Montgomery, AL. They hold a charity auction each year and invite local artists to paint garden accessories made of sheet metal. This year I was invited and I was given this large flower to decorate. I thought it came out fairly well. My inspiration for the piece was a mix between Anne Geddes and cabbage patch kids. The execution of this initial idea produced unexpected results. The child's face was a little too realistic, pushing the painting too close to a portrait - and who wants a portrait of a random child in their garden?! So I decorated the petals to the maximum in order to pull the viewer's attention from the face. I considered writing "I Have a Stamen!" in the petals but then decided that "Made You Smile" might be a little more safe. Overall I am pleased with the outcome and can't wait to see how well it does in the auction.

New Graphite Portrait

Lucy, graphite, 11x14", private commission

Here is my latest graphite portrait. It wasn't exactly a year ago when I was first asked to do one of these graphite child portraits and now I am having trouble counting how many I've drawn. This particular portrait is of one of my wife's co-workers who had purchased one of my portrait certificates at a Christmas fundraiser for the private school at which I teach. She (the co-worker AKA Lucy) is not 8 years old, of course, but picked out this school picture because her mother loves it and Lucy wanted to give her mother something sentimental and extra special this Christmas. I love the curls in her hair and had fun erasing to get those hair highlights. Erasing strands of hair in portraits makes the whole process unbelievably easier. Also, I really tried to frame her little face but enhancing the shadows in her hair, especially around her cheeks. Doing this also helped to unify the dark shade of her eyes which was made using a 8B pencil. Let me know what you think and remember - this would make a great gift for a friend or loved one anytime. Contact me if you are interested! - Jared

American Gothic Meets Captiol Ward Fall Festival

Fall Festival 2008 Backdrop, 8x6', acrylic on paper dropcloth

Every year my church holds a Fall Festival as a safe alternative to the traditional trick-or-treatin' which has in the past been door to door in dimly lit neighborhoods. It's really a lot of fun with plenty of food, prizes, treats, and awards. It's also a good central location to see all your church friends and their very creative costumes! After the party gets started in the cultural hall it's on to the Sunday School class rooms where familes hand out candy to guys and ghouls. My wife made cute severed hands out of plastic gloves filled with candy corn and popcorn. We both dressed as Legos made from large cardboard boxes with plastic containers glued on one side. It was a great time and I am looking forward to next year. - Jared

Sunflower Farm

Sunflower Farm, oil on Masonite, 24x12" (diptych), $300

Well I am working on another abstract. Though it is still in the works, I kinda enjoy letting you all see the intermittent stages of each piece. I hope to start posting videos soon and I think that will be even better. Like I mentioned earlier, these abstracts are out of my comfort zone so after a while I have to do something traditional, like this landscape taken from my last trip to Kentucky to visit my wife's family (with my wife of course). Her in-laws are growing sunflowers now for ethanol. Though I missed the peak of the flower blooms, I did manage to find a few. This was a fun "breather" for me amid the chaotic abstracts that are flying off the easel. - Jared

Almofadhina Petulante

O Castigo do Almofadhina Petulante, scratch board, 5x7, private collection

This is the second book cover for a Brazilian client of mine. It is part of a larger series of books that will be published in Brazil, each influenced by the historical "cordel" style literature of Brazil. These are very clever stories, as far as what I can understand with my Spanish background. I have had immense fun in creating these. I have two more to complete and hope to have them on this blog soon. Please check out the first book of the series again if you'd like. - Jared

Final Rendering - Doctors Finley

Doctors Finley , acrylic on canvas, 40x30", commission
Here's a look at the final rendering of this most recent portrait commission. I love the addition of the stained glass though I won't lie - I loathed the process of adding it! Both doctors have spent their lives working in genetics and specializing in pediatrics. All of this is evident in the imagery. I especially like the symbolism in the stained glass in that it alludes to genetics being the building blocks for life; individual pieces, such as cells, that combine to create a larger entity. This painting will be presented on the 23rd in Birmingham, Alabama. Feel free to opine - Jared K.