onion - 8x8

calm seascape - 36x36

This is a painting I did for a good friend and her husband as a wedding gift. They wanted something subtle for their new home.

tom brown's art class - spring 2010

This past spring I took an oil painting class from Tom Brown at the Irvine Art Center. Tom was an excellent teacher with lots of experience to share.

Check out his work:
http://tombrownfineart.blogspot.com/

angel's baseball team logo mural

My cousin has three little boys and they're crazy about baseball, especially the Angels! I painted this logo in their play room to complete the baseball theme. She said if she'd had a girl, this logo would've never gone up!

levi the labradoodle - 18x24

This is my dog Levi. He's a labradoodle, is as scruffy as they come and is still very much a puppy! For this one, I thought it'd be fun to show the process.

1. First I had to get a decent picture of my dog, not as easy as it sounds:


WINNER!


2. Map out the painting:


3. Mix the colors (You betcha I held up my pallet to my dog to make sure the colors matched):


4. Slab on the colors with a pallet knife (quickly covers a lot of surface):


5. Levi's approval, very important


6. Choose a background color


7. Fill the background and flesh out the other colors


8. Add the detail and contrasting colors

rubik's cube series - each 8x8

Learning to solve one of things is a real challenge! For my company's 3rd annual art show, I wanted to paint another series and love the idea of painting rubik's cubes. There's something so simple yet complex about them. One wrong twist could mess the whole block up. My series goes through the emotions of solving a cube. The first is "intimidation", the second, "perseverance", and the third is a feeling of "victory".

The first of the series won me 2nd place. The prize was an entire case of wine and I couldn't have been happier!

calm landscape - 48x60

This painting was a gift to my parents and hangs in their living room. The two dogs in the background were our pets growing up and the dog in the foreground is our current dog, Levi.

blackburn wedding invite

My best friend let me help out with designing her wedding invite. She had the ideas, I presented the options. It was really fun collaborating with her! And boy oh boy what a beautiful wedding!

scotch lover - 12x12

Fun remake of a vintage french print with acrylic paint. Did I mention I like Scotch?

'a few of my favorite foods' series - each 8x8

Brie

Avocados

Cracked egg

Pomegranate


For my company's 2nd annual art show, I created this food series and the avocados won me 2nd place!

portrait of maggie - 12x16

Portrait of my friend Maggie. I made it wild, and almost rock-star like. I guess you could say it portrays her pretty well:) I really like the chunky hair and accents of the muted, primary colors.

jungle nursery mural

This nursery is for my cousin's third son, Matthew. We found these cartoon-like characters online and added our own twist. It turned out really cute! However, I still get some grief from the oldest son for not painting the rest of the elephant's body in the closet:)

pop art portrait - 12x12

I had fun with this one. It's a portrait of my friend Kristy, who's got a loud personality, so I only though it appropriate to stylize this as a pop-art portrait.

the next horizon - 11x14

SOLD - "The Next Horizon"
For my company's first art show, I wanted to paint something fresh since I hadn't done anything for awhile. Verizon is one of our biggest clients, so I thought it'd be fun to create an ideal situation for them, juxtaposed with their industry competitors. Inspired by my all-time favorite, Salvador Dali's persistence of memory.

This painting now hangs in the office of the VP of Marketing at Verizon in NY:)

borelli sister's portrait - 24x36

SOLD
Commissioned painting of the three Borelli sisters of San Diego.

hawaiian wave

This painting was a wedding gift for my dear friend Chloe and her husband Dan. They'd requested a barrel wave with Hawaii in the distance because of their love for the island and surfing. During my recent visit, Chloe photographed the painting for me. She's an awesome photographer, mainly photographs weddings. Check out her work here: www.mikelarson.com/chloe

florence, italy sketches - 5x7

SOLD
These drawings were commissioned by the mother of one of my friends who I studied abroad with in Florence.

colored blocks still life painting - 30x40

still life painting exercise for a college art class

portrait of siblings - 24x36

SOLD
This was a commissioned oil painting done in memory of the son who'd passed away the year before.

trompe l'oeil mural

SOLD
This was commissioned work done for a home in San Luis Obispo.