Recent Sales from the Abend Holiday Show

Hey there! I’m very happy to say that two out of my three new paintings for the Holiday Miniatures Show at Abend Gallery have been sold! I spent countless hours on all three of these paintings so it is hugely rewarding to see that two of them are going a home where they will be enjoyed by a collector. I’m really happy to see so many paintings being sold through this show and look forward to doing another show with Abend in April.

My final new painting that is available from the show is “Witness to the Unknown”. Use the button below to view it in the gallery shop.

Recent Sales!

Hello my friends, I’m really happy to say that over the past couple of weeks the following paintings have been sold through Abend Gallery: “Last Glimmer” , “Above Tree Line” , “Fortis Avis” , “Diminutive” and “Giving Light”. I am so very fortunate for this recent batch of sales and greatly appreciate your support of social media! Click the button below to see what paintings are still available!

 
 

5x5 Project XI | Abend Gallery in Cherry Creek

Hello everyone! Here are three brand new 5x5s that I had for 5x5 Project XI with Abend Gallery for their Cherry Creek location grand opening! I had a great time at the opening and look forward to seeing more shows in this beautiful space. Click the button below to view the whole show.

"Above Tree Line" | 5"x5" Framed | $525

 
 

"Wide Open" | 5"x5" Framed | $525

 
 

"Fortis Avis" | 5"x5" Framed | SOLD

 
 

Terra Human | Six New Paintings!

Hi all! In case you missed it, I’ve compiled all of my new paintings from my solo show with Abend Gallery right here in this blog post! I worked INCREDIBLY hard on this show and it would mean the world to me if you checked out all of these paintings either here or on the Abend website. These six paintings took over six months to produce and each one has a special place in my heart. If you click on the full image of each painting you can view that piece on the Abend website and purchase it if you wish. Also prints of all of these paintings are available directly from me. All you have to do is click the button below to view them in my shop!

One Hundred Years

This painting explores a single moment expanded over a century . This woman has searched far and wide to find the perfect natural setting for her to sit and search for answers to her deepest questions. In her first few years sitting in this exact spot, she learns about herself, thinking about her uniqueness as an individual and coping with and later resolving past traumas that she let define her for so many years. 

While sitting a little longer, she is able to open her mind beyond herself, recognizing the people that she has hurt and the people she has loved, forgiving herself for past mistakes and accepting who she is at her core. After this step she begins to feel every rock and every blade of grass that surrounds her as they begin to grow up her form and embrace her stillness. After several more years of sitting she begins to feel the presences of every single life form around her. Every insect, bird, mouse and rabbit emits a pulse of life that gives her energy and a sense of belonging. After many more years, the concept of time begins to lose its meaning and the straight line from beginning to end starts to connect end to end forming a circle. After sitting for 100 years her past and future fade away and she finds the moment.

herself.Original Piece Size: 10”x15”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

Citadel

As she looks towards the setting sun, she thinks of the many people who tried to remove her from this exact spot. Their words trying to convince her that she was undeserving of love and too vulnerable to achieve her ambitions. She thinks of the many sacrifices that she made in order to forge her own path in a world trying to push her into mediocrity. No matter how much doubt manifested in her head and no matter how much negativity she received from others, she chose to hold her ground believing in her abilities. Poised and willing to grow, she learned from the cliffs around her to be confident and decisive while learning from the wild grass to flexible and move with the wind. As the ocean breeze blows through her hair and the waves embrace her feet, she reflects on the end of another day and she takes pride in trusting

herself.Original Piece Size: 14”x20”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

Coherence

This painting provides a visualization of the dichotomy between how we see ourselves and how others see us. When we do the intense work of learning about ourselves and consciously choose to grow we can feel lost and fragmented. Just like plants, as we grow our branches might split in order to reach in new facets of ourselves but they are still rooted to the same source. In our eyes this growing and splitting can make us feel fractured and undefined, lost because we are looking for purpose. But in the eyes of those who love us, they can step back and see us as a beautiful collage of intertwining and complex branches, growing towards the light of self-knowledge. When they look into our eyes they see all of our new and old facets defining us and guiding us to our true identity.

Original Piece Size: 12”x16”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

Light After Dark

This piece illustrates the morning after a prolonged darkness of pain and helplessness. When we hurt for the world we feel an unrelenting sadness to our core and it can be unbelievably difficult to see how the sun will rise again. There are so many aspects of this world that can make us feel powerless, to the point when we may even feel that have lost autonomy over our own bodies and minds. But on this particular morning, the sun rose with incredible power, casting warmth and light on all those people who try to do good in this world. The sunbeams illuminate these individuals showing their love and empathy and as you open your eyes you can see their drive to change our world for the better. Even knowing that the darkness will inevitably take over again, the intense light gives us a renewed sense of agency to fight for others and to fight for a better world.

Original Piece Size: 10”x15”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

Sower of Seeds

This painting shows a man in complete harmony with the nature that surrounds him. But this harmony hasn’t always existed, in the distant past this being thought  himself superior to the natural world and chose to exploit it for personal gain.  He completely lost his identity and his relationship with nature in the pursuit for power. Eventually this conflict reached a breaking point and the man was forced to confront his misdoings and reshape his relationship with the fading life that sounded him. This man spent years working to reverse his mistreatments to our world while closely studying how the smallest lifeforms live in cooperative harmony. Across these many years he has also done the work of self-reflection and personal growth to find a balance in his soul that gave him a renewed respect for nature. And once he found this balance and drastically changed his actions, the grass and trees around him began to feel safe to embrace him once again even while knowing his dark and selfish past. Even after all of the wrong he did, the most vulnerable life forms in our world embraced him with forgiveness and acceptance. This being who used to be a destroyer and conqueror has now became a true nurturer of life, serving as a protector of the planet that gave him everything he knows.

Original Piece Size: 10”x14”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

Protected Spirit

As we grow from children to adults our harsh and structured world does its best to conform us, placing us in categorized boxes of adulthood to keep our world organized. The first thing to be lost in this process is our childlike creativity that brings joy, wonder and excitement into our lives. The hands in this painting are protecting this pure and creative spirit even while the outside world attempts to extinguish it. This energetic spirit longs to dance, create with colors, sing songs and construct stories as a way to bring life into a sometimes colorless world. These hands are choosing to foster this spirit in order to encourage love and empathy in a world that needs it now more than ever.

Original Piece Size: 9”x12”

Medium: Oil on Panel (Framed)

5X5 Project Opens Today!

I’m very honored to be featured in the 5x5 Project, a show with Abend Gallery! I have created three band new paintings for this show and I’m really excited to share them with you! All three of these paintings are officially available for purchase now. To purchase you can click the button below each painting image to take you to the Abend website or feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.

If you would like to view the paintings with their respective descriptions click the button below!

 
 

"Behind Our Eyes" | 5"x5" Framed | $350

"Guiding Light" | 5"x5" Framed | $350

"Momentary Breath" | 5"x5" Framed | $300

"Dreaming Together" My Newest Commission

For this commission I was contacted by someone who was hoping I could create this beautiful scene as a wedding present for his son and soon to be daughter-in-law. This exact spot on Dream Lake is where the couple got engaged and so he thought this would make for a very meaningful painting for them as they started their lifelong journey together.

 
Me and Dreaming Together smaller.jpg
 

I feel so fortunate that I was contacted about this project and that I was trusted to create this special piece on a tight timeline. I hope that this painting will bring joy to the happy couple as it hangs in their home for years to come.

Dream Lake Commission Progress Pic.jpg
Dreaming Together Side 1.jpg
Dreaming Together Side 2.jpg

5X5 Project with Abend Gallery

I’m really happy to announce that I will be participating in the 5x5 Project a show by Abend Gallery in Denver! This group show will only feature paintings that are 5”x5” but there will be plenty of them!

This show will run from June 26th to July 24th and will be available to view online as well as in person with reservations at the gallery. I will be showing three brand new paintings in this show so be sure to follow me on social media to get more frequent updates!

Use the button below to view the Abend Gallery website

 
 

Complete Process video for "Through the Leaves"

I hope you enjoy this process video for my painting “Through the Leaves” this piece not only required a lot of technical skill but also a lot of thought and reflection. This original painting is currently available from Abend Gallery in Denver if you are interested! You can click the button below to view this piece on the gallery website.

EVE Print Release!

EVE prints will be available soon! Please read!

This Monday October 19th will be the long awaited print release of "EVE"! All prints ordered during the week of release will have a special limited time discount!

There will be ONLY 50 limited edition prints created and each is the actual size of the original painting (18"x24")

All prints will be available through Like Minded Productions

Click the button below to visit my store on their website!

Painting Up for Auction for Charity!

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be donating my original painting "Cascade" to Connected Through HeArt who will be auctioning it off at the end of September! All proceeds will be going to the Humane Society!

Connected Through HeArt was started in May of this year by two precocious Colorado girls who wanted to help their community through art and I'm very happy to be working with them as their first featured guest artist! Use this link to visit their website!

https://sites.google.com/.../con.../featured-guest-artist...

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

New Figure Painting!


I've been meaning to share this figure painting that I made a few weeks ago so here it is! This piece served as a study for an upcoming Terra Human painting that I'm working on right now!
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in this lovely piece, I worked very hard on the lighting and intricate color relationships 

 
 

This piece is currently available for purchase! Contact me or check my online shop for purchase!

"Flowers and Thorns" Has Been Sold!

I am both humbled and excited to say that my painting "Flowers and Thorns" has been sold!
This piece is incredibly special to me so I really happy to see it going to a forever home of a new collector! I had the pleasure to speaking to this buyer on the phone and I have to say that it's really reassuring to know that this piece will be going to a loving home that really appreciates its beauty. The buyer said that she simply could not get the image out of her head for sever days and needed to buy the original piece!

As always, I'm greatly appreciative of this sale and so happy that something I created will be hanging in someones else's home!

A Very Special Painting

About a month ago my father-in-law lost his dad and my wife had the idea to paint this beautiful photo of their hands during his final hours. Losing a loved one is incredibly hard, but I think it’s especially difficult to lose a parent. I asked my father-in-law about the significance of his and his father’s hands and this is what he said.

“Our hands represent our ability to work, to create, to hug, to wave, to congratulate. They hint at how hard our life was and how fragile we really are.  My dad’s hands are a window into how he lived his life. He was a tireless hard worker and used his hands to build and create many a building, out of bricks, blocks, glass, and wood. The scars and callouses on his hands also give a glimpse that he did not live in fear and was tough enough to do anything he put his mind to. In his final hours, his hands were still strong and yet soft. I will miss dad and his hands.”
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant…”
I chose to name this piece "When Our Work is Done" because Levi was a worker and a problem solver all of his life and now he finally gets to rest.
Levi will be greatly missed and never forgotten.

3 Of My Abstract Landscape Paintings Sold to a Single Collector!

I'm really happy to announce the sale of not one, not two but THREE of my abstract landscape paintings from several years ago to a single collector! While I haven't painted in this style for a while now, I'm so thankful that this buyer sees the beauty and value in these paintings and decided that she wanted them in her home! I'm always appreciative of art buyers but I'm especially thankful that many people are still seeing the value of art in these uncertain times.

My Newest Terra Human Painting!

I'm really proud to bring you my newest Terra Human painting "Flowers and Thorns"
This piece was a huge challenge but a joy to work on throughout! From beginning to end I was able to just let me eye for detail run wild and enjoy soaking up all of the colors, textures, twigs and flowers that this image had to offer. I'm really proud of what I was able to accomplish in this piece and I hope you enjoy it!

 
Flowers and Thorns Print.jpg
 

Here is a full description of the piece!

✍🏻This piece is a tribute to my love for beauty, in all of its forms.Ever since I can remember, I have sought after beauty. Whether I was admiring a landscape, performing a dance, or painting a picture, my motive has always been to find things that are awe-inspiring and share them.
In a way I think that my search for beauty is my filter for the world and how I perceive it. As I’ve gotten older, I’m realizing that it is almost impossible to perceive something without any sort of bias and since childhood I have always perceived the world as inherently beautiful in its imperfection.
This brings me to the painting you see before you. For all of my life, I have had no issue with saying when I found someone attractive—no matter their gender. I wanted to paint this man because his face tells a story. I feel that his eyes seem to capture an interesting combination of sadness and optimism. He is intertwined with weeds, thorns, flowers, and grass to show that beauty can be found in unexpected places if you are prepared to look.
I believe that beauty can inspire good in the world and the more beauty we can learn to see the better our world will become.

Flowers and Thorns Side 1 .jpg
Flowers and Thorns Side 2 .jpg

Recent Throwback Thursday Posts!

Hi friends, my throwback Thursday posts have continued on my Facebook and Instagram pages so I thought I would share some of the recent ones! These posts have been a great opportunity to reflect back on old work and so how my theme, techniques and concepts have changed and developed over the years. Enjoy!

 
 

Painting for my girlfriend vs Painting for my wife! Haha I thought this weeks TBT would be a fun opportunity to look way back at a painting I made for my girlfriend of just 3months who would eventually become my wife. In the summer after my freshman year of college I was extremely motivated to impress the new girl in my life with a personalized original oil painting! I was clearly still learning but was determined to make her something special. I decided to paint a view of Pikes Peak (a defining feature of her hometown, Colorado Springs) with some colorful and fluffy clouds which we both love.
Flash forward a few years to 2016 when I spent several months painting this enormous 4'x6' landscape painting of Crested Butte in my basement bedroom/studio so that she could hang it in her new home as her very own painting.
Now in 2020 I'm incredibly fortunate to be married to that girl and have this piece hanging in our home as a symbol of our dedication to one another. Just like art, our relationships take patience, dedication and a little bit of luck.

 
 

Here is a great Throwback Thursday comparing the initial sketch to the final product of "As One"!
It's no secret that this piece is one of my best paintings to date and I owe its success as well as many others to proper planning. This comparison of the sketch to the final product makes me think of how much I've come to rely on proper planning and prep for a piece so that I can fully create the image that captures the proper concept and mood.
I never used to plan out paintings very much and while this works great for other artists, I started to find that the more accuracy I could capture in my image, the more it would blend reality with a dream. So as the years have progressed I've done a lot more sketching, photoshop rendering and gridding of my paintings so that I can capture the image properly and then choose to deviate from it if I want. •
Overall the most beneficial preparation tool for me has been doing small painting studies before a final piece. If you follow my process you will see that before each Terra Human piece I will typically do a painting study of the landscape as well as the figure before attempting the final piece. This planning process helps me work out colors, shapes and proportions so that the final product can be beautiful and thought provoking.
I hope you enjoyed my reflections on this sketch to final product comparison!

 
 

When I posted this hand and tree sketch in 2018, it had gotten the MOST social media engagement that I had ever had at the time. And this shocked me because it wasn't even a painting! But I think it shows the strength in simplicity and the significance of a strong concept coming to life.
The hand and tree oil painting was a great achievement for me in understanding lights and shadows influence colors. I'm really proud of the realism I was able to obtain in this painting and I think it really helps the concept shine through.

"Hidden Meadow" | New Terra Human Painting!

Happy Friday everyone! I would like to introduce you to my newest Terra Human painting titled "Hidden Meadow"

I’ve spent this past month in quarantine painting this beauty! I’m not going to lie it was difficult at times to be working on such a daunting project while the there has been so much uncertainty in our world during this global pandemic. I definitely experienced days when I felt like it was all too much and I felt powerless and small. And something that brought me out of this darkness was knowing that small things done right really add up and I should focus on the things that were in my control. I could control how much time I painted/ worked and I could also control how much time I relaxed and took a moment for myself and my mental wellbeing. It has really been beneficial for me to look at my goals as marathons instead of sprints. I sometime's get so excited about the final result that I just want to run towards it as fast as I can, but I’ve learned that if I pace myself I will stay balanced and in control. Meaningful things take time and patience and that’s what I kept reminding myself while I was painting this piece.

So this painting is the result of over 50hours of patient work and planning. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to read the description below.

 
 

This painting is about the places we go in times of distress in order to find peace and reassurance. These imaginary worlds can be made up of memories, images and emotions that bring us joy and comfort when we need it the most. We all have these types of locations in our memory and we retreat to them when the outside world can be too much for us to handle and we need to sit with our thoughts and emotions.

This painting illustrates what it looks like when we travel to this perfect spot in our mind, fall down into the soft trees and rest our eyes. Our bodies become one with our surroundings and the plants and animals grow and live in harmony with us without fear. We blend into the environment that we hold so dear to our heart and find a rejuvenated strength underneath the mountains. This strength allows us to stand back up despite the fear that is waiting for us on the other side and depart this comforting world with a level head and an accepting heart. 

I really hope you enjoy this new piece in my Terra Human series. This original painting is available for purchase! Click here if you would like to view this painting in my shop!

Terra Human | "Imprint"

My newest Terra Human painting “Imprint” is finished and available! This piece expresses how an environment can leave a lasting impact on us, bonding with us on a spiritual level in a way that allows us to learn something new about ourselves.

We often strongly identify with our surroundings growing up and this can influence what places bring us the most joy and introspection later in life. But we can also find a deep appreciate for new environments where significant moments take place. There are times when every aspect of a moment is perfect and this amount of bliss creates a strong tie to what surrounds you. Everything from what you see, to what you smell, to what you touch gets imprinted into your memory and this place is now a part of who you are. This location has now been saturated with incredibly strong emotions and it is almost impossible to separate the two. The joy you feel when you remember a perfect moment in a perfect place is almost intoxicating and it inspires you to explore and seek out more moments of bliss and perfection.

This piece is available to purchase in my online shop for $500. Click here to view this painting in the shop!

 
 

I really enjoyed creating this piece and the part I loved most about it was the colors. I love working with warm colors and was really nice to see how they create a mood. The intense sunlight made a variety of yellows, oranges and reds that really contributed to the overall look of the piece. My favorite detail of this piece has to be the light coming through her hair. From the initial stages of this piece I was really excited to paint her sunlit hair so when I finally painted this section I had a great time and it really made the lighting convincing.

Terra Human | "Between Light and Shadow"

My newest Terra Human painting is finally done! After weeks of tweaking, reworking and obsessing over minute details she is finally done! I really hope you enjoy this piece and please read the full description!

 
IMG_7115.JPG
 

Process: I started this painting by using a grid on my reference image and then drawing the same grid onto my panel so I could accurately lay out my composition. After that I started to immediately paint the face because I knew it would take the longest and require the most accuracy. As you can see by the process images below I reworked the face several times and painted several layers in order to obtain the realism that I wanted.

As you can see in some of the later images, I experimented with many different abstractions in order to get the right look for the painting. There were several instances when I would paint a section like the window or her arm in a particular way and the next day I would changed it because I didn’t like how it looked. Overall I found this piece much more approachable by painting it in sections. I would mix up my color palette for a particular part of the piece and then only focus on that area for almost the whole day.

 
 

This original painting is available to purchase in my shop! CLICK HERE TO VIEW IT IN MY SHOP!

Between Light and Shadow Side 1.jpg

Description: “Between Light and Shadow” The concept of this painting is strongly linked into the techniques I employed to create it. The biggest hurdle I needed to overcome in this particular piece was how to properly observe and render this figure which has so many complex and nuanced shadows. And when I identified this issue I couldn’t help but see the parallel to the shadows in our lives. It is no secret that many of us feel shaded by experiences in our lives that we just cannot seem to brighten. These experiences may even define us for a certain amount of time and control our behaviors because they affected us so deeply. I even felt this way when I started painting the figure’s face and couldn’t seem to see any end in sight. I felt a bit lost in these darker values and couldn’t see the distinct differences between colors. It seemed like colors and values were getting muddled in the shadows making me think there was no beginning or end to my brush strokes.
But as I progressed with this painting and persevered to give it a chance to develop I started to discover that with time and effort these shadows presented rare opportunities. I began to see the subtle colors that can be found in shadows because of reflected light. I started to understand that theses shadows created an amazing contrast that made the highlights even brighter. The figure I was painting was no longer defined by the shadows that used to haunt her rather now her character was enhanced and clarified by the this darkness. The shadows now seemed to server as a backdrop for all of the light that is embracing her.
We all experience shadowing in our lives but as we grow we learn to create our own definitions of ourselves and we can choose the path that allow us to see the most light.
Thank you for reading!