tkDesigns

Like most people, I liked to color and draw when I was a kid. What kid doesn't? The only difference is that, after much debate, I chose to pursue and make "coloring and drawing" my craft. I received a few awards while in high school including: the grand prize for the NAHMA poster contest, Santa Ana Valley High School Bronze Medal for Visual Arts, and an honorable mention at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach.
My preferred style would be realistic portraiture using chalk pastels. I learned how to do this in my high school art class. "Drawing on the Right hand side of the Brain" was the method taught by my teacher, Ms. Denny Carlisle, and I am convinced, using this method, anyone can be taught how to draw from photographs. The concept is to learn how to “see” and, from there, translate what you see onto the canvas/paper. It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. I can explain it if you really want to know. Just ask.
Anyway, after graduating from high school, I continued on with my education, with a determined intention to NOT pursue a career in art. The constant jargon of "starving artist" and "success only after death" just weren't making me real excited about declaring art as my major. But with no other idea of what I wanted to do, I grudgingly declared it as my major anyway. But, instead of attending an “art” school, I obtained my degree from a Private Liberal Arts University on the East Coast. Why? I dont know. I didn't want to major in art in the first place, so I wasn't too picky about schools. But if I could go back, RISD, Otis Parsons, and the Art Institute of Chicago would have been nice alternatives.
From 1993-1998, I collaborated w/ Nick Norris (TK/Norris), and combined portraiture, illustration, and short text phrases to create custom designed t-shirts. During the summer of 1997, I was introduced to Artist, Jackson Collins at Venice Beach. He introduced me to Acrylic painting and encouraged me to focus on one style. I was all over the place as far as style is concerned and, really, I still am today. For about five weekends (that's all I could take), from dawn to dusk, I painted on the beach. It was a great experience to paint as people walked by and to hear their comments and feed back. Even more exciting, was people actually wanting to buy my work. It was an exhausting, yet thrilling, experience, that gave birth to my first paintings on canvas: "Natural", "Before Venice", and "Passion" (which was inspired by a red monochromatic painting of Collins’). These new works were the first demonstration of my non-portraiture, freehand art skills.
Currently, I've been doing commissions including, but not limited to, custom portraits, tshirts, sneakers, business logos and photography. I also sell my own original artwork. Whenever possible, I participate in small informal art shows featuring my work.
In most recent events, I was given the honor of donating artwork to be included in a silent auction benefitting Howard University's School of Communications. This auction was held in conjunction with the 1st Annual Global Visionary Awards, honoring communications legend, Sheila Johnson.