Giclee Fine Art Reproduction

Just so everyone understands. Giclee reproductions are museum quality prints. It's the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. These prints mirror the original so much it becomes hard to tell them apart. The process also uses archival inks so that the print becomes fade-resistant and can stand the test of time.

I offer some of my work through this process, If you are interested in purchasing one of my paintings or sketches let me know. Many thanks and enjoy the site.

Cockpit Negative

Watercolor with gouache, Arches HP, 23.5x30 in.

Thought this would be fun. I turned my original scan of this into a negative. It is very interesting to see the flip. A lot of hidden colors begin to shine through. I would like to see this on a transparency but to actual size.

If any one is interested in purchasing this on transparency or matted paper please contact me. This also goes for the original color scheme. I can have a Giclee print made, but that is going to be rather expensive and would require advance notice.

Anatomical Pose

Monica, Graphite on paper/velum 11x14 in.

Over the summer I started going back and working into my old gesture drawings. This one was particularly fun to do. As a gesture the drawing doesn't stand that well but combined with the inlaid skeleton it really brings it all together.

This was originally done on white sketch paper with graphite. I put a sheet of velum on top of the drawing and traced it over again to strengthen the lines. Also putting velum on top allows for my hand to leave imprints all over the surface due to the graphite on the side of my palm. This shows through only once I have scanned the drawing and turned it into a negative.

I plan on making a series of these types of drawings in the near future. So be on the look out for them.

Better Scans

I have some higher resolution scans to put on here. I should have them up in a week. The colors really pop on the new ones. Who's excited, I'm excited!

I have some bad news about the updated scans. For some reason they just don't want to upload. I'm still working on it so hopefully they will be up some time soon.

Ostridge

Watercolor with Gouache. 15x11 in.

This is one I really want to do more with. The Ostridge design was a one of my favorite. I am hoping to do another one here soon with it deserted on a island rusting away. This was meant to be a submersible transport. I personally feel like this painting requires alot more work and it is indeed unfinished but its one of those I have been thinking and looking at for so long I don't want to touch it. So time will tell where I go with this one, but for now it is what it is.

Swordfish

Watercolor with Inks: Dr. Martin's. 15x11 in.

Watercolor with ink. 15x11 in.

This was the first time I started to use watercolor inks with my watercolor. I did these two about 4 months ago and ever sense then I have been stuck on those inks. The colors blend so well and keep there vigor even after they dry. These two where before the one below. I want to do more like the bottom one here - ship yard.

Most of my paintings are meant to convey a sense of purpose. They should display the reason for this creatures creation. Which in this case is carrying supplies across the ocean such as a cargo ship or oil tanker. The top painting was the first of this series of Swordfish. It is meant to be a preliminary painting to lay down the full shape and color of the subject. The bottom one is unfinished. The blank spot in the upper right corner is bothering me, so sooner or later something is filling that space in along with other details.

More Aardvark

Watercolor with Gouache. 15x11 in.

This was the second one I ever did in my continuing project. There are still touch ups to be made but as of right now it stands on its own. This was to demonstrate just how versatile the Aardvark robot can be. Here is it displaying its intended roll which is to carry goods over rough terrain.

Aardvark Cockpit- In Progress

Watercolor with gouache, Arches HP, 23.5x30 in.

I had a lot of fun on this one even though it has taken me forever to get this far. As you can already tell this is a quarter view of a cockpit. It's incomplete at the moment. This is just as far as I have gotten and I couldn't keep it off of here any longer. This was intended to be the head of the Aardvark but it changed alittle bit. There is still a long way to go before it gets the OK but it looks good now. As for the little image in the bottom right, that will be coupled with a few others giving little details to how this thing works and operates as a control source.

Swordfish/Dark water

Watercolor and gauche, Arches HP, 23x15 in.

This painting was alot of fun in the making of it. Just to clarify that black goo is "Dark water" from the "Pirates of Dark Water" if any of you watched that back in the 90's. This is one of the latest I have made of this Tuckerbot- what the machines are called at this point. I have two other paintings done of it that I will try to get on here with in the next week. The time laps photos are a nice touch that I have started on some of my other paintings and will try to load them on here soon.
I have a large painting im working now that I have been taking pictures of scense I started it so that should make a nice post.

Aardvark

So this is the first work I made in the series. Lot of time went into this one. This is called the Aardvark if you can't already guess its based off one. The original design is a quarter view which I intend to make some time soon. The land scape is meant to be a garbage dump of machines like its self. Its main design is for long distance transport through mountains or rough terrain on land. The size of the water color is 12x15 on HP arches watercolor paper. The ultimate desire for this piece was to be blown up so I consider the larger 26x34 the finished work. This goes for alot of my work. The goal is to have them enlarged with out deterioration.

26x34 on fine art paper.

Lithodes

Finally I get some color on this site. This is one of my most recent creations. The Lithodes was based off a Stone Crab mixed with a lobster hence the tail. The name stands for lithodes couesi the Scarlet King Crab. This is the first three view painting I have done even though a lot of my sketches and diagrams consist of the same set up. I want the viewer to build a 3D image of what is in front of them. A quarter view doesn't aways give this effect. The geometric charts on the sides are not just there to look pretty. They show the extent of movement in the joints. The middle one gives the range of how far the tail can move up and down showing each segment. The bottom right a side view of the front left arm. The bottom left is the limitations of the legs.

35x55 on fine art paper

Working drawings/ sketches

These are some of the original drawings I started with when I began this project. All of these were done at the Field Museum in Chicago. The Blueprints that are posted below come directly from these sketches. This is where the hard information comes from. I see these as more of a separate piece of work more related to my love for medical illustration. Regardless of what there original purpose was for, they now serve as a template for most of my work.This study shows the arm of a Whaleses along with a few side views of some pelvis. The dash marks listed on the bones that will appear in most of my studies are not just for aesthetic reasons. They list the joints of the ligaments. This is on 90 lb watercolor paper 12x18.

Rib cage study from a collective of early mammals. With overlay of tracing paper outlining schematic for Ostrich ship based off the Andalgalornis bird skeleton. 90 lb watercolor paper 12x18Front leg studies mixed with sea otter skeleton and sturgeon. This is the beginning of the mechanics behind much of the flexibility and rotation to the appendages of my creations. 90 lb watercolor paper 12x18

This study is more informational than the others. This is where alot of the ideas came from for the legs and arms of much of the robots I have made so far comes from. The aardvark mech gained alot from these. Crucial information on this would be the distance between the legs in the bottom right. This played a large part in how I saw my creatures move and really gave them a more life like feel versus something just made up.

That's another thing I want to make clear through my work. Is that all of the mechanical creatures I make are ment to function as real machines. They are modeled from real animals and mimic there movements through mechanized means. Cybernetic creatures mirroring nature. I enjoy the idea of having it all presented as one piece, but I have trouble with the idea of what works depend on others such as these versus my finished paintings.

Diagrams / Blueprints

Over layering of three velum sheets, on transparency 8x11in.
Swordfish port diagram, cross section of compartment doors and body segments. Velum 11x14in.
Stone Crab scematic. Designed for underwater salvage and retrieval. Velum, 11x14in.

Swan/Bird of Prey submersible for commercial transport as well as Public.Velum, 11x14in.

Aardvark carrier scematic quarter view. Velum, 11x14in.

These are part of a series in a on going project of mine. I start out with sketches of skeletons and work over them on velum slowly building up a design that suites my intentions for what i feel the animal would best be utilized for. As of right now all of the ones above are used for transport and salvage. Most of these have been realized in finished paintings depicting them in scenes of how they move and interact with there environment. I will post more images of them as soon as i can scan them at the moment that is the only thing keeping them off this blog.