A New Painting.

"Snake Nest Earth Mass (tentative title)" 15 X 13, gouache on paper, 2012.

my desk with image references. 

I've been hard at it, folks.  The hard work has paid off and I just completed my 8th piece for the 2012 season.  Phew.  I think I may even have enough time to squeeze in one more painting before the end of the Mayan calendar.

The photo isn't totally true to color but I wanted you guys to get the idea of what the new piece looks like.  When I take it to "my guy" for a photo shoot I'll post the new one. 

This Friday I will be traveling to Omaha to meet with Joel Damon of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art.  Joel invited me and a few other artists to have an exhibit at the Bemis Underground.  It's scheduled for February, 2013.  I'm completely honored and humbled by the invitation...once again, hard work pays off in the end. 

On Nebraska....

Rachel and I woke up in Laramie, Wyoming with the intention of making it to Peoria, Illinois by 1am.  It was supposed to be an "easy" 14 hour drive but ubiquitous road construction made it impossible to move quickly.  Man, it's tough to drive through Nebraska.  It felt like we were stuck in an endless loop of boredom.  We knew that making it to Illinois by 1am wasn't going to happen and decided to stop in Omaha, Nebraska to get a hotel and some grub. 

However, we did see a few cool things on the drive.

1.  a pronghorn antelope.
2.  another pronghorn antelope
3.  two more pronghorn antelope.

I love pronghorn, they're a unique species.  Pronghorn have been clocked running 53 mph,  they're the second fasted land mammal in the world.  It's always a pleasure spotting them on roadsides.  Pronghorn have inspired me to make art and have showed up in many of my paintings and prints (like the woodcut featured above). 

It took awhile but we finally made it to Omaha and checked into a nice/cheap/clean hotel. Google told us that Goldbergs, Burgers, Beer, and Bloody Mary's was the place to be with their consistently good reviews. That place was DELICIOUS!  The Ruben was to die for, the burger was cooked medium rare and was juicy and delicious.  When we finished eating it was time for bed...tomorrow was going to be a big, beautiful day.