Oceanic Tendrils

 

My latest Substack is up and has everything to do with the process of creating the scratchboard piece. You can check it out HERE. 

Blue & White Invitational At The Holland Museum

 

Oceanic Tendrils

9x12

scratchboard/clayboard and watercolor

I will have a piece in the Blue & White Invitational at the Holland Museum. The exhibit starts this Friday and runs through October. You can get all the details HERE. 

This is my second gallery show of the year (there will be a third) and my first ever at a museum, so that's exciting. 

The show is inspired by the Delft collection at the museum, so anything blue and white was fair game. Of course, I went weird. Weird, you say? Pshaw, it's normal where I operate. Tentacles, sharks and gulper eels... I hang with only the best creatures.

So, make sure to tell your friends and if you find yourself on the west side of the state of Michigan, then check it out. It's a cool museum and city, as well.

Robots, Aliens, Heroes, and Villains...

And a lizard, too. 

My latest Substack is up and is all about some watercolor pop culture images that I did some time ago and forgot about. You can click HERE to check them out.

Recent Scratchboards With Color

 

Bumblebee

5x7

scratchboard/clayboard and watercolor

Gentoo

5x7

scratchboard/clayboard and watercolor 

I just added a bit of color to each piece. 

Edgar Allan Poe - SOLD!

 

6x9

watercolor on watercolor paper

Just a bit of shameless self-promotion here, but at Saturday's Meet The Artists event at the River's Edge Gallery, I found that my portrait of Edgar Allan poe has sold. 

I'm not sure how long the current art will be up, but you can see more of my watercolors if you hurry.

I just love seeing that red sticker!

Beach Party At The River's Edge Gallery

 

George Herriman

6x9

watercolor on Arches watercolor paper

Starting tomorrow, January 18th and running sometime through February, the River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte MI will be having their annual Beach P-ART-y exhibit. You know, an anti-cold type extravaganza. 

The exhibit will feature some works from their stable of artists (including me!) along with some newer talent. On the second floor, some of my watercolor portraits will be on display, including the George Herriman (creator of Krazy Kat) shown above. Recently, the gallery sold my Diego Rivera/Frida Kahlo watercolor, so here is your chance to see and maybe purchase a portrait from this series. Support local art!

Unfortunately, I cannot be there for the opening and will probably stop in during the next week, or so, and I will probably be there for the closing in February. But, don't let that stop you (pshaw!), go check out the show. I'm sure that there will be a whole shoreline of great artwork. See what I did there? 

Sugar Skull Gar

5.25x7.25 framed

ink and watercolor

This here sugar skull gar (among a few others) is now available on my Etsy store for purchase

Click here to take you there. 

 

Frida and Diego

 

I just sold this watercolor yesterday through the River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, MI. Glad to see this painting of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from 2019 finally found a home. I will have more available with them soon. 

Giant Pacific Octopus Tank Design

 

Since the unveiling of the octopus tank at the Belle Isle Aquarium is now official, I can now show the design that I did for it over a year and a half ago. After I submitted my design, it was sent off to a company in Arizona who made it and installed it. It then took awhile to procure the octopus and get it acclimated. I was able to see the cephalopod a few weeks ago and have been itching to share the news. I have yet to see the view of the tank from the front, as I have only seen it from above, behind the scenes, but it even has the same color scheme. I'll have pics soon, for sure!

A Red Tailed Turquoise Killifish Sketch

 

5x8

mixed media in sketchbook

This week's #SundayFishSketch theme are fish that have a short life span, so here is a red-tailed turquoise killifish, which are known to live only about a year, or so. 

Opah Sketch

 

5x8

watercolor in sketchbook

Today's #SundayFishSketch theme are Opah fish. These suckers are big!

Sockeye Salmon Sketch

 

5x8

watercolor and ink in sketchbook

This week's #SundayFishSketch them are fish found in Canadian waters. A sockeye salmon.

The Lost Fishes Art Challenge

 

9x12

watercolor on Arches paper

Over the summer when I started to do the #SundayFishSketch over on Twitter, I was contacted by the fine peeps at the Shoal Conservation about submitting a piece for their Lost Fishes Art Challenge. Sounds great! There are ten fishes on the list and all are still considered to be there, but have not been seen in decades. Apparently, the signs are there that they still do exist, but like I said, they have not been seen in some time. Most, if not all of these fishes inhabit only a certain spot across the globe.

I have chosen the Syr Darya Shovelnose Sturgeon (from an earlier sketch), which is (hopefully) still alive in the Syr Darya River which flows through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The sturgeon was last seen in the 1960's. You can see all of the ten fishes here. 

Good luck to all who entered and I look forward to seeing everyone's fishes!

I used Dr, Martin's watercolors on this one and just loved the feel of it as I was painting. The watercolor set used to belong to Jon Buechel, who was the longtime illustrator at the Detroit Free Press. Sadly, he passed away in 2010. I was able to purchase some of his art supplies at an estate sale and was very happy to pick up these watercolors. Maybe, just maybe, he helped a little on this piece. 

Cleaner Wrasse Sketch

 

5x8

watercolor and ink sketch

Today's #SundayFishSketch fish has to do with Labor Day here in the U.S. Fish that build, work, use tools, etc. The Cleaner Wrasse is a laborious fish in that it has a job in cleaning parasites and other such small creatures from the mouths and bodies of various fish. And from what I've learned, a structured process at times. 

Greenland Basking Shark

 

9x12

watercolor on paper

I was very tempted to stick with an ink sketch for this week's #SundayFishSketch, but had to give another go with the watercolors, just for the sake of the cool colors that a Greenland Basking Shark can give off. The theme, you ask, is large mouthed fish. Basking sharks are getting a lot of love across the inter webs today and rightfully so. They have to have the biggest mouths. I guess I can relate at times...

Seahorse

 

Seahorse

9x12

watercolor on watercolor paper

So, over on Twitter, there is a thing called #sundayfishsketch started by an ichthyologist, who also happens to be an artist. I've been wanting to do up something for this for awhile, so today I did a fish thing. I was going to go with a deep sea dweller, but saw that there was a suggestion of doing fish where the male is known for parenting skills. You know, for Father's Day. So, not only do the male seahorses get pregnant, they also keep the newborns in a pouch for safe keeping. 

Fireflies

The fireflies seem to be using jet fuel around these parts, lately.

Watercolor Portraits At Rainy Day

For those that might find themselves in the vicinity of Rainy Day Art Supplies in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI, some of my watercolor portraits from the Facets of Inspiration show that was on display at the River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte will now be available to be seen and purchased there. The River's Edge still has some of the portraits, so one can always head over there, as well.

Thanks to Kelly and Rainy Day for being so accommodating! All of your art and framing needs can be met there, as well, so head on over! 

A Talk With Bruce At The River's Edge Gallery

Gallery Director Jeremy Hansen, Owner Patt Slack and Gallery Dog Duchess.

Tomorrow from 3-5pm I will be at the River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, MI to have an informal talk/Q&A type thing about my show of watercolor paintings. It's open to the public and you can check out the details on the Facebook event page. I do believe that this is the closing of the show, as well, so there will be pizza and beverages. 

Facets Of Inspiration Gallery Show and Talk

My show of watercolor portraits has been extended until June 8th at the River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, MI, on which day I will also be doing a live chat with Gallery Director Jeremy Hansen. Should be interesting and the public is invited.