Apples in a glass

30" X 40" oil on gallery canvas.


















One of the coolest things about being in this gallery is that those drawings just to the right of frame are original Salvador-Dali $22,000 works of art. I'm honored to be in the same space.

Michael Jackson RIP

I'd been working on a life sized sculpture of Michael Jackson and was actually filming the process for a youtube clip that I was going to show on one of the MJ fan club websites.

When I had the facial features a little further along I was going to splice the head onto the torso and finish that out with buckles and shoulder epaulets. Once finished I intended to cast it as a bronze statue (bronze sculpture) of Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson's magnetism, dance moves and artistic charisma have changed the musical landscape forever. One of the most widely beloved and influential artists of all-time.



RIP~

In the Gallery

I have work in a Portland Pearl district gallery this Summer. Shown here are two 30" X 40" oils.

Little violinist

I've been very busy with other things but I'm finally back to painting.
16" X 20" oil on canvas

Claymation history exhibit

Coming to the Oregon historical society next week (Thursday the 14th) through September of 09. Will Vinton gave a talk to a couple hundred people on RSVP night and has presented lots of images, props and artwork that he's saved and tracked down from over the years. They're running ten small monitors and one huge monitor with various DVD animation compilations of films, TV specials and commercials as well as the creative process from the 70's through the 90's and there's fifteen sections with four thousand square feet of exhibit space. I was asked to come in for a couple of weeks to clean up and repair characters as well as "Recreate" my old workspace from the 1980's, so that's been quite a walk down memory lane. I'll try to post some pictures later but it's a pretty cool exhibit and something worth seeing in person at http://www.ohs.org/

Gibson ES 335 painting

This is my latest work in progress. A 1958 to 1961 es 335 dot neck electric guitar. The world's first commercial semi hollow body guitar.

30" X 40" oil on museum canvas.

Dinosaur bronze sculpture

I'll have to put together a small shipping box for this Raptor sculpture due to a recent sale. There's ten left in this edition and it measures 12" tall and 14" long. It's part of a prehistoric bronze series that I was working on several years ago.

Cello oil painting (work in progress)

30" X 40" oil on museum canvas.

Stradivarius violin 1700's

1700's Stradivarius violin oil painting 30" X 40".

Shipping out artwork

This is a bronze that I did a couple of years ago called "Preserving the legends" and there's only a few left in the addition. I recently got an order for this one so I have it boxed up and almost ready to ship out to the customer. This has a polychrome patina which basically means more color than a traditional bronze finish. In this case I used hard brown wax so I could sculpt fine detail in the beadwork and feathers.

29" tall X 23" long.
















Original wax sculpture.

More Coraline artwork/sculpts

This is a very early version of Wybie done in the traditional Claymation type Van Aken clay. I did a lot of early exploratory head sculptures searching for what the director wanted to see out of this character. This is the only one I actually remembered to take a picture of.








"Other dad", rear view.

This was kind of a difficult pose to sculpt. The angle of the arms, legs and back all had to be accurate and the body had to have the correct sense of weight.






















I don't know if this character actually made it into the film, maybe in the background somewhere. It was a fun sculpt to do and it came together very quickly.

























Baby in a pouch.

As far as I know this little guy was in the movie.

















Bobinsky's chicken




Yes it appears to be a simple sculpt but it had to be done using the shape language that the director wanted.

More Coraline art

Another scrappy Rat from Coraline.









These are more drawings that I did during the production to get a handle on the style of the movie and to think of the characters in terms of clay sculpts.

These drawings (or sketches) are my interpretation of original character design created by the concept artists on Coraline.

Coraline (the artwork)

These are a few of the sculpts that I did. I'll be posting more later.































"Other" dad.



































All images (c) Laika, Inc. 2008. All Rights Reserved. It is forbidden to download, copy, distribute and/or reproduce any of these images or text without prior permission of Laika, Inc.. Thank you and enjoy.

Coraline (The movie)

On February 6Th the movie will be released in theaters. I worked as a character sculptor on this film and as I get permission I will post the artwork.

Stay tuned.

Big Stratocatser Guitar

This is another one of my 30" X 40" oil paintings in a series to be shown at a gallery in Portland Oregon.


30" X 40" oil on canvas with 1-1/2 gallery edge.

If "Slash" Sal Hudson Lead guitarist for "Guns and Roses" would ever return my phone call I'd make him a great deal on this piece! He's the original guitar hero.

30" X 40" oils

30 X 40" oil on canvas.

30" X 40" oil on canvas














30" X 40" oil on canvas

30" X 40" oil on canvas

Santa Claus oil painting

This is the 22 X 28 oil painting. I adjusted the eye line and added some glasses to Santa.

The snapshot

This was a sentimental study of various family memorabilia that I found in my attic. War letters, old photos, a diary and a postcard.

This is way more photographic detail than I like to paint but it was a great exercise.

Artist William Harnett might have appreciated this trompe l'oeil style painting.

18 X 24 Oil on canvas

Three bears

I'm still painting for the kids at the children's hospital.

16 X 20 oil on board.

Pinocchio

I'm painting daily but not finishing one every day since I'm back to work full time, and painting larger more detailed pictures.

Oil on board 11X14

Rocking horse

I donated this painting to Doernbecher's children's hospital.


When I was asked if I had any paintings that might relate to children AND if I would consider donating them to help cheer up the kids they didn't have to ask twice.


24" X 28" Oil on canvas.

Red roses

Oil on board 11 X 14

Blue vase with roses

11 X 14 oil on board

Silver Tea pot

I'm still doing a painting a day but they're mostly digital paintings for Laika's new movie. Sorry but I can't post any of those images until the movie is released.


This is an oil painting that I was able to work on during lunch and over the weekend.

In memory of ~ Gary Bialke

Our friend and colleague passed away on Sunday March 2nd.
Gary was a really good airbrush artist and when I first started at Will Vinton studios (now Laika) I helped him move into his apartment and to show his appreciation he painted a tee shirt for me with the California raisins on it. I got lots of compliments on that shirt because it was one of a kind and all done free hand. He was a good character designer as well and did lots of the designs that were used on the Moonlighting episode staring Bruce Willis as a Claymation frog and Cybill Shepherd as a witch that Gary also animated. Gary did lots of the character designs that were used in the Michael Jackson Speed demon video that we did at Will Vinton studios back in the 1980’s. Gary was one of those artists that could draw, paint, animate and sculpt and had a very distinctive style. When he sculpted a character even the shoes had attitude, feeling and personality in them. I remember he’d always sit really low in his chair while he was working, reclined backwards like he was about to slip out of his seat but this was so he could get in really close to work on his characters. His sculpting technique was a bit unconventional and he used primarily one tool to do everything from faces to shoes. He could sculpt clothing really well and could do it with one or two strokes of that flat stick while the rest of us used five or six different tools. We sometime made fun of his armature choices. When he was in his "zone" sculpting he'd use anything and everything for an armature. I've seen sculpts of his that had ball point pens, toothpicks and paper clips inside of them but when he was sculpting we wanted to let him flow and not get in the way of his creativity. Gary had a great imagination and could create likeable and interesting characters out of anything from a pretzel to a stick of broccoli. He sculpted many of the characters that you see in the you-tube videos that I have posted below. He must have had super sharp vision as well because some of the fine detail he got in his sculpts and his illustrations were amazing. Sometimes I still study his drawings with a magnifying lens to appreciate all the fine detail that you can’t really see with the naked eye. His medium of choice for drawing was colored pencils and he could get some really cool effects. I remember Gary getting a tattoo back in the 80's and it blew everybody’s mind at the studio because back then you’d rarely see a tatt on someone. He got a tattoo before they were common and before they were considered “cool”. He felt like it was a piece of fine art that should be kept out of direct sunlight much like you would a fine painting and to him it was just another expression of his artistic nature.The first one he got was a Chinese pattern or dragon symbol and we used to tease him about being a ninja but he’d just tell us to bug off. He was well liked, easy to talk with and had a very calming personality. If you asked him a question or his opinion on something he'd often have a relaxed and humorous answer for you. He would certainly have a funny comment about this article that I've written. He rode his bicycle to work every day, rain or shine, summer or winter, ten miles each way. He was in good shape and a pretty robust guy in his day. Gary had two or three dogs and cared for them dearly. His dogs were an inspiration for a lot of his animal and character designs. He really liked music and listened mostly to classic rock, alternative rock, and guitar solos. He never played an instrument that I know of but he loved seeing live music whenever he got the chance. He also liked creating artwork for friends and family especially cards for special occasions and birthdays. We’ll never know what Gary was going through in his life but we all wish we could have helped. Gary was a great guy and we’ll miss him, but never forget him.

California raisins commercials

I was going through some of my old paperwork, Michael Jackson drawings, Raisin storyboard notes and Raisin clay formulations from back in the 80's when I sculpted and animated California Raisins all day long. Thought I'd post these commercials for your viewing pleasure.

Lincoln

Abe Lincoln oil on canvas 18" X 24"









Abraham Lincoln oil painting.

Mysteries of the heart

Various views of Surreal artwork for a project that I've nearly completed.

Santa Claus

I took time out to do an oil painting of Santa Claus.

18" X 24" oil on canvas.

Hands are interesting. In this case they had to look tough enough to pull the reins on a sleigh and skilled enough to detail the finest toys.

Barbie and bee

Work in progress

SOLD