After months of research, construction and painting…it’s complete!  “TUSKEGEE“ is the largest resin painting I’ve done to date:  6′ wide, 3′ high and 2″ of thick clear resin.  It is also a piece completely based on photographs instead of comic book imagery (so I’ve opened the door to any photographic conversions into paintings).  I created this piece for submission to the largest art competition in the Southeast: Artfields.  Final selection process ends in January, so stay tuned for updates.  Artworks are not brought to Artfields until, March, 2016, so I may try to show this work at other venues until then.  Until you can see it in person, get out your 3D glasses and take a look at a couple of close-ups:

Tuskegee- Center Close-Up

Tuskegee – Right Soldier – Close-Up

Tuskegee – Pilot Close-Up

Thanks to all at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh for a wonderful show these past few weeks!  Brandon and the rest of the crew did an awesome job with this one.  Photographs of the show are located on Flickr HERE  The Treasure Ship (on the left part of the image) looks great in the space.  Also: thanks to the judge: David Terry, Director of Programs and Curator, New York Foundation for the Arts. for choosing my work!

I’ve been busy creating the latest piece, Tuskegee, to submit for ARTFIELDS 2016!  I always have many questions from gallery patrons about my process: “How did you come up with that?” is usually the one I get the most.  I want to show you some of the “behind the scenes” of what it takes to construct my resin pieces.(really, wood shop came in handy, students!)   First, I have to build the resin mold.  It’s has to be pretty “tight” not to let any of that resin leak out.  Besides, I want to use as much resin as possible for this artwork…IT’S HUGE!

Taking a well needed break and giving you some perspective on size…yep, I’m BEAT!

Next, it’s off to more dirty and messy work: Resin Pouring.  Since this one is really large, I had to make several pours of resin to get the correct thickness and coverage of the mold. The heat gun removes all the tiny bubbles that come from the combination of chemicals…safety goggles were on previously when mixing and pouring, but not for the heat-gun stage. Gloves and a Respirator, a must.  Thank you to my son, Grant, for taking good “direction” and great photographs while I was working!

So, to get you up to date, I’ve started my first layer:  Blue and Teal.  Here, one of the Red Tail “Mustangs” are starting to appear.

The Tuskegee Airmen:  The name evokes thoughts of courageous men, now coined by Tom Brokaw as “The Greatest Generation”.  Their title is also synonymous with words like: honor, fearless and undaunted (Kids these days may think of the “Divergent Movie/Book Series with the group “Dauntless”.)  I can appreciate the sacrifices they made during World War II.  As was the war, they fought a war of two fronts: The overseas physical battle against the Nazi machine in Europe and a battle against the bigotry and a mentality of their own country’s deep seeded segregated social policies.

So how does a middle aged white guy get involved, let alone interested, with the first, all African-American military aviator group in the US?  Answer: George Lucas, of course.  I’ve always been interested about what “good ‘ol Uncle George” was going to do after his “retirement” from the Star Wars franchise.  I heard rumblings that he was going to do Avante-Garde / Experimental films that “would only be seen in small, unknown theaters.”  (Heck, he may be doing that right now.  If he is, I wish him luck.  Drop me a line so I can see one of them, ok George?) Then, I started hearing more about a WWII film about aviators… an all black unit…a movie titled: RED TAILS.  I had to see it.  What was all the fuss about?  Why were these guys so important?

The film stuck with me (but got panned by critics. Sorry, George.) It reminded me that men…wait PEOPLE, no matter what the color, really know what’s important when all is placed on the line. I guess that made me realize about how important these guys were; not only to African-Americans, but also to America as a country.  They truly are an American story: the underdogs, the “come from behind” heroes…winners! So, for Artfields 2016, I decided to do a piece with them in mind.

I started researching images on the internet and found that the Library of Congress had several really cool pictures: Pilots by planes, Pilots at a briefing… then something caught my eye…

THREE MEN ON A RUNWAY

Maybe it was the pose, the angle of the shot, I don’t know.  These guys were different.  They weren’t the notable aviators, but the ground crew…mechanics.  These were the guys who kept the Red Tails flying. Without them, there wouldn’t be any Red Tails.  I thought it would be great to have them as the subject of an art piece.  They really were the “underdogs behind the underdogs”!  They reminded me of my dad, who was a mechanic too.  He saved my “bacon” plenty of times, by keeping our old cars running when I was a teenager.  I guess I could appreciate the ground crew of the Tuskegee Airmen: because they were just a tough and gritty as those pilots.  They should be recognized as heroes too…I want people to know (and my students as well) that these guys were just as cool (and as important) as those Red Tails in the sky!

So, it’s off to Artfields we go! I’ll let you know how the piece is progressing…I think it may be the biggest one I’ve ever created…a “monster-piece”!  Tune in for updates…

N.E.W. Show @ Visual Art Exchange – Raleigh, North Carolina 9-4-15 / “The Treasure Ship”

What a night at Visual Art Exchange!  So many people out in the West Martin Street area.  “The Treasure Ship” looks wonderful in the gallery, all lit up. My family met up with our friends: Tristen, Bryton and Matthew for a tour of the C.A.M. as well as the V.A.E. Just before that, we had some delicious “Hot Truck”: Chicken Tacos and a “Porchetta” sandwich (MMMMMMM!)   It was a meeting of the VANS before the tour (no, I don’t receive any commission for that plug!)  Can you guess who had which shoes on?  What type of Vans will I have at the next Gallery opening…find out next month when we’ll stop by the Durham Art Guild.

We also saw some great kinetic sculptures by Kevin Duval at 311 West Martin Street Galleries. After speaking with the artist, he told me that several of his fabricated metal sculptures were created from reclaimed metals as well as “found” ones.  All in all, a GREAT FIRST FRIDAY in Raleigh!

It’s always a good time to shift gears and try out different media.  I really enjoy seeing a thunderstorm’s power and how quickly the weather conditions change.  Photographing lightning is a passion of mine and I always enjoy sharing my images with the local news station: WNCN NBC-17.  Wes Hohenstein showed his viewers these images last night during the 11pm newscast…Thanks, Wes!  ALWAYS BE CAREFUL when taking photographs of lightning.  Make sure that you are NOT out near an open field and that you are nearby good cover (not a tree!) If the lightning is too close (hitting around you or within a mile or two…use the “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” count to determine that), you should head inside for safety.  Check out the internet for tips on how to set up your camera and best strategies! Always, SAFETY FIRST!

Lightning in South Garner

Lightning in South Garner

Here’s the one I took over 4 years ago, from about that same vantage point.  That’s pretty close!

My underwater themed painting, “The Treasure Ship” will get it’s public debut at Raleigh’s Visual Art Exchange.  Starting September 4th (during Raleigh’s “First Friday”) this 3D resin painting will compete for awards during the N.E.W. (Never Exhibited Work) Show.  Come show your support by stopping by and taking a look at the painting as well as the other great artworks exhibited there.

“The Treasure Ship”

I also just completed a new painting: “Pulp, please…”

“Pulp, please…”

This painting is a nod to the pulp novel covers of the 60’s and the “grindhouse” films of the 70’s. A dynamic, 2′ x 3′ solid resin artwork!  Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction was definitely on my mind while painting…it’s a classic film.  I was imagining the set-up storyline for the artwork would be something like this:  Three women try to pull a fast one on a “high roller” socialite type…and the tables get turned.  Will the cops get there first…or will the paid mercenary?  Grime, Crime, Girls, Guns and Cops…what else screams “Pulp, please!” more than that?  FRANKY

“Millions of Miles from Earth” 2015 FRANKY

I’ve had this sketch sitting on the back burner since last summer and wanted to try out a different technique on “Millions of Miles from Earth”.  Instead of using the typical white as background, I chose black instead.  A couple of interesting things happened:  Colors really pop on this background, but the black creates a lot of reflections (while photographing). It was difficult to shoot this one.  I should take a picture of my at home photo studio “set up” for next time…I look forward to the use of a REAL art studio to create and shoot in the future.  The black turns out to be semi-transparent (if light is behind the painting) which gives it a different effect then any of my previous paintings.  This 24″ x 36″ painting is available for sale as well as prints on “Fine Art America” (as well as my other sale sites).

2001: A Space Odyssey, Intersteller and the soon to be released film The Martian all have influenced the production of this painting. The adventure really is based on space exploration past the moon…and to Mars.  I was thinking of placing the title “40,000,000 Miles to Mars”, but I thought that the story could be to an exploration of planets beyond Mars (hoping that sometime in my lifetime, we’ll get people to the red planet).  What would you do if placed in this situation?  Help save one at the risk to all?  Who makes those calls to the crew to make that life or death choice?  The death of Spock scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn comes to mind.

FRANKY at Visual Art Exhange: “WERD” Show

It was great to stop by the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh last week to see my two artworks: Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century and Deep 6 Danger on display.  Lots of other great artwork on display as well (very cool photo of the local Krispy Kreem Doughnut shop-love to see HDR Photographs!)  I also met Jamie and Daunta Tyler; local photographers, who stopped in for the show.  Check out their web site and photography at http://www.jaityler.com/

Next projects and shows:  Applying to Raleigh Sparkcon (Artwork displayed at The Morning Times coffee shop in downtown Raleigh) and N.E.W. show (Never Exhibited Works) at Visual Art Exchange.  Starting a new painting that is based in the Pulp genre.

Summer is QUICKLY escaping me…off the computer and on to PAINTING!!!!

Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century

“Deep Six Danger”

FRANKY artwork on display in JULY.  The Visual Art Exchange (VAE) in Raleigh is hosting an exhibit called “Werd”: where artist “should consider text or words in some way” with their creations.  Perfect venue for the public debut of “Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century” and “Deep Six Danger”.  Plenty of 3D Glasses will be available for you to take home.  Opening night: Friday, July 3rd. 6-10pm.  SPECIAL BONUS:  it’s a FIRST FRIDAY event night, so there will be many of Raleigh’s other galleries open to the public at that time.  Great chance to see: VAE, the CAM (Contemporary Art Museum), Artspace and many more.  The VAE show runs from July 3rd – July 30th.  For directions, hours and other info, here’s the link:  VISUAL ART EXCHANGE, RALEIGH, NC.

FRANKY

Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century

Nice to get the latest 3D resin painting done: Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century.  I’ve changed a few of my painting strategies and techniques on this one.  It was a lot to learn and experiment with:  creating the mold and release for the resin, the different paints and brushes to the different colors of enamels.  I’ve come to realize that the more details I place in…the bigger the piece should be!  Painting with toothpicks was an good try…need to find a use for that.  The most interesting part (about the process) was the complete removal of the canvass itself. No canvass in this one.  It’s really thick too (about 2″ of resin) so it’s real heavy.  I’d guess about 40lbs.  I tried to have larger distances between color planes to have an increased “side to side” motion effect, which seems to work. There is a “painting season” for me.  March was too cold to pour resin and the proper temperature should be above 78 degrees.  April to October seem to be the right window. The piece actually rests one inch off the wall on 3 resin cast “blocks”.  It’s been a success on all levels and I’m encouraged that this artwork “test” was a complete success!

Coming soon to an art gallery…near me 😉  and maybe in the future, to a wall in your home!

FRANKY

It’s finally done.  After 3 long months of sweating it out…”Sir Walter Raleigh in the 21st Century” is done.  I should have more images up after showing at West Johnston High School’s Visual Art Show (in the Auditorium 6-8pm today, tomorrow and ends FRIDAY, JUNE 5th).  Really excited to give away some more Glasses and see what the students think of my art!