About the work
I've always been fascinated by flying machines, mechanical drawing, science fiction, comic books, and animals. I love Art Nouveau and the Edwardian Age, so all of that influences my work. I hope my art conveys some compositional motion, some humor and some darker feelings I have in mind when I create them. I don't write long descriptions of my pieces because I have an aversion to the lofty blather artists use to describe their work. There's meaning for me behind every piece but I'm more interested in what, if anything, the work says to the viewer.
Having said that, here's some blather:
My process involves a little computer work and a lot of drawing in pen & ink.
I start with a basic layout I design on the computer. I print that out and lay a velum sheet on top of it then draw draw draw. I scan the drawing into my computer, add color and there you have it,a Happy Machine to delight & terrify the kids!
Obsessing on an image:
Years ago I pictured a bombardier in the nose of a weird aircraft. I think it was influenced by this Mayan engraving they used in the goofball science movie Chariots of the Gods which I saw as a kid. The figure's position was like a cyclist and it was suspended by a multi-armed machine. Also, I imagined spiraling and radiating girders and a sort of ship's prow bombsight. I kept drawing it over the years and it became a robotic Pennyfarthing and then a piece I call Control, third row. I continued the idea by taking the figure out and creating variations on the composition seen in Self-sustaining Machine and Dangerous Machine, fourth row. Then I'm looking over this web page and I decide I have yet another version in my head – Autopilot, fifth row. On it goes.
Here are four examples of another image I obsess on: the broken sphere.
Like when christmas balls break, they shatter in a squared-off pattern and reveal a silvery inside. I find that compelling.
