Baby Animals - These were two portraits I did as a private commission a little while back. The client wanted two giant (around 10x10") portraits of some baby animals for her newborn daughter's room, which would have an animal theme.

Since it was up to me to select which animals, I picked two that are at their most cutest when young--cows and pigs. It was actually more freeing working on cut-paper pictures for such a large canvas. Being used to cutting out a thousand confetti-sized pieces, it was a breeze getting all these elements together.

I used bright, happy background colors. and was pretty happy with the final results. The client was too, she got them framed, and now they hang above her daughter's crib. Cool.

Peeps - This started out as a goofy request from my art gallery guy Jim; apparently where he is in Michigan is the site of some poultry/chicken festival and he wanted all of his artists who have work up in his gallery submit a "chicken piece" to commemorate this event, which is in July 2003.

After doing a little work on it, I decided on the idea of putting the features of a chick (or "peep" as I like to call them) in a sea of yellow. While not a chicken per se, I liked the idea enough to move forward.

After showing the piece to my darlin' Tracy, she reported to me that she thought it was amazing. Now she is normally very appreciative of my work, but the vehemence of the her response told me this was different. I soon decided, gee, if she loves it that much, she should have it (she let me know that if the piece didn't sell in the gallery, she would be glad to take it off my hands) to go on her wall.

I've since done more of these, and she loves each one I do. Simple colors, simple concept, and how can you not love a peep?

Elephant - I did this as a birthday gift for a beautiful, sweet little girl named Grainne, who is one of two children of Gerry and Fiona Buckley, good friends of my parents. Last year they moved to Ireland, and my parents visit them regularly. Her birthday is the day before mine, and she really likes elephants. What more motivation did I need?

Unlike most of my animal pieces, I wanted no hard borders, just nice, soft, rounded edges. To ramp up the Cuteness Factor even more, I decided to do a baby elephant, and even made him/her smiling a tad. This piece fell together very quickly, and since I knew I had to get in the mail quickly (so my birthday card could make the trek across the Atlantic), I didn't second-guess myself much. Once it gave me the feel I was looking for, off it went!

Moo - I had done this cow piece as part of a birthday present for Tracy in 2005, and as much as she loved the whole thing, it was this cow she really fell in love with. So much so, she wanted me to make a t-shirt out of it, as well.

I decided to add the "Future Farmers" tag, an addition Tracy loved. She even really liked the font, and she's real picky about her fonts.

Giraffe - I always try and capture the singular, most defining characteristic of any animal. When doing a giraffe, it was obvious...

Despite that, I think this works pretty well, seeing only the top part of the giraffe, not really knowing how much more is down there!

Golden - I love all kinds of dogs; and I've found Golden Retrievers to be especially lovable.

I got this idea from many of the dogs I've known---who hasn't felt a dogs eyes peering at you, from elbow-level, wondering when/if there might be some crumbs left over from dinner?

Gorilla - I had worried this idea would prove more frightening than comforting--the stern gorilla staring straight into your eyes.

But I wanted to try and get as close as you could possibly get, and maybe get a chance to behold the wonder of these remarkable creatures.

Manatee - I've always found underwater creatures to be especially fascinating--living in a world that is so vast, yet we know so little about it.

I liked this approach--as if you're a swimmer and happen to come across one of the beautiful manatees. Nothing bad is happening here; you're looking at him, he's looking at you.

Mulder - My sister Susan was to curious as to why, with all the animal art I've been doing, that the fine breed Bassetus Houndus (Latin for "one whose ears drip into the water bowl one is drinking from") was not represented. Fair enough question, so I took some pics of Susan's fine example of the breed, Mulder, and sat down to work.

I worked up a perfectly good, standard portrait of Mulder, setting him on a nice pastel green background. Just to goof around, I thought why not try the exact opposite type-background, one totally incongruous to the dour face that belongs to all Bassets? To that end, I just went as gaudy and noisy as I could--crazy, strobe-light-esque rays of color, pimped-out font, and even a "lens flare" effect to give it that "Mulder--SUPERSTAR!" feel. I hear music when I see this piece, Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" or perhaps Outkast's "Hey Ya."

Penguin - I regarded this as a design piece as much an illustration, with the ice floe cutting across the picture in a very abstract way.

I also wanted, with this picture at least, to play with the shape we traditionally think of when thinking of penguins--making this one rounder and squatter, coming partly out at the viewer.

Polar Bear - This is probably my all-time favorite animal piece, it has the movement and excitement that I was going for. I was hoping to also convey the sheer power and majesty these beautiful animals have.

Added bonus--the paint streaks seen on the background I think make it look the the polar bear is bravely bearing (sorry) a harsh winter tundra!

Roo - This was a present I did for a friend named Nikki, who will be having a baby boy any time now!

They're naming the kid Joseph, and in preparing for the kids room they asked me to do some animal art. Since baby kangaroos are also called "Joeys", they wanted something like that.

Since giving some one a digital printout ain't that exciting, I did this one the old-fashioned way, with paper and glue and lots of patience. Since Trace won't let me spray glue in the house(plus Johnny sticks her nose in the spray and risks getting a blast of glue on her shnoot), I had to take all the pieces outside and spray.

That turned out to be more challenging than any artistic part of this piece, since the wind kept blowing the pieces around, flipping them over so I ended up with glue on the wrong side. All I could think was, I love computers!

But after some trial and a lot of error I got them all properly sticky, and put them all together, and when I did--hey! There's a baby kangaroo! I think this turned out to be one of my better animal portraits and it was nice to know I still had the chops to do it like I did in the old days.

More importantly, Nikki loved it and it'll be hanging in her baby boy's room any day now. As Joey grows he'll see it all the time, hopefully guaranteeing me a future generation of clients.

Scotty - One of my parents dogs, Scotty is a great little guy. He's quiet, understated, and is most content sitting on his recliner. But when he's on the hunt, whether for dinner, a bowl of milk, or a squrirel who dared enter the yard, he comes the Great Hunter. Other than the recliner, his favorite pasttime is to sit outside on a sunny day and catch some rays.

Because he's so stoic at times, it's harder to get to know him as well as some other dogs. This piece I thought got across how regal his is, and also, at times, how unknowable.

Scotty left us in April 2004 after a long illness. Mindful of not having him spend endless months in veterinary hospitals, our family always tried to get him well but with an eye towards what was, ultimately, best for him. After a major operation, Scotty got to spend one last night at home before slipping away.

The last time I saw him alive, he was blissfully asleep on his beloved recliner. I rubbed his belly, and told him what a good boy he was. He was a wonderul, sweet little dog, and our family will always miss him.

Turtle - For this piece on turtles, I wanted to get down to their level. I've found turtles a little scary looking (they always seem to be frowning), but I was fascinated at the various tones and detail on their skin.

I went for relaxed earth tones, and found this very satisfying while working on it.