Please check out this video that was aired on CNN's NANCY GRACE show on April 21st, 2008. I'm a finalist in her EXTRAORDINARY PARENT contest, for my work with OUR CHILDREN: Honor With Art. Go to: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/NancyGraceExtraordinaryPare
ntContestFinalists/index.html
then click on SHAWN'S STORY
Listen to my interview on ZNE here:
ZNE - MUSINGS WITH CHEL at BlogTalkRadio
I am a self-representing artist and proud, award-winning and juried member of the online art community EBSQ. Click RIGHT HERE - AND I MEAN RIGHT HERE to view my portfolio. I'm also the author of a couple short stories and some poetry that you can find in my blog - just click the link above. Thanks to Colin White for his wonderful illustrations.
All images are copyright protected and remain with the artist - please don't use them without permission.
From 2006: "Ruth's Garden" , 24 x 30", Golden acrylics, photo images, silver leaf, embroidery floss, silver & rhinestone brooch, vintage magazine clippings, and magic on canvas board
My latest finished piece: "Somewhere Between the Outback and a Dream" , 9 x 12", Golden acrylics, photo images, and magic on canvas board
Another recent work "In Her Land of Solemn Secrets" , 24 x 30", Golden acrylics, photo images, image transfers, silver leaf, and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
A work in progress: "untitled" , 24 x 30", Golden acrylics and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
and more: "The Quiet of the Night's Descent" , 16 x 16", Golden acrylics, photo images, image transfer, silver leaf, and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
And a piece inspired by the mysteries of life: "Serefina's Dream" , 24 x 30", Golden acrylics, photo images, image transfer, silver leaf, vintage earrings, and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
Here is a piece inspired by Jon Woode's song of the same title: "The Beauty and The Tenderness" , 8 x 10", Golden acrylics, photo images, and magic on canvas board.
Tornado anyone? How about this one: "The Storm Chasers" , 8 x 10", Golden acrylics, photo images, and magic on canvas board.
My largest painting to date: "People Tell Stories" , 30 x 30", Golden acrylics, vintage greeting card, silver leaf, photo images and magic on canvas board.
Recently finished: To The Wisdom Of Youth , 8 x 10", Golden acrylics, image transfer, photo images and magic on canvas board.
And two more recent pieces - The Temptress at Twilight , 24 x 30", Golden acrylics, image transfer, silver leaf, photo images and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
And: Calling Heaven , 24 x 24", Golden acrylics, image transfer, silver leaf, photo images and magic on gallery-wrapped canvas.
For prints and other goodies go to:
Imagekind or Cafepress To find out how you can help missing and exploited children click on: or go to www.honorwithart.com
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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT DATING GODOT, THE BAND I WAS IN WHEN I LIVED IN NEW ZEALAND. *****************************************************
A LITTLE HISTORY
I am fortunate to have been brought into the world by two very creative parents so it was inevitable that I would have an interest in art. Most of what I know is self-taught, although I did spend one school year totally immersed in art classes at the City College of San Francisco from 1993 to 1994. Afterwards I spent the next several years traveling throughout New Zealand, Australia, and the U.K. In the interim I had my daughter, Ella, my current muse.
I create images that are emotive and tantalizing - impressions representing the core of my imagination, from transient thoughts and deep-rooted memories to endured tribulations. I am fascinated by dreams and the haunting images the mind conjures up while we're asleep. Most of my work is as spontaneous as these unconsious images and I tend to work directly on the canvas, rather than drawing a preliminary study or mixing paints separately on a palette.
I am also interested in spiritualism - not necessarily in the sense that the living communicate with the dead, but more in the sense that I question where our energy goes after we die. In the wonderment of these questions I create dreamy landscapes that represent the state of passing from present life into the next state of being. They are both light and dark, depicting both joy and melancholy, often with the focal point being a window of light or an ethereal, winged being on a path into the unknown. I sometimes incorporate copies of vintage photos into these landscapes - visages of unknown people who have passed on, in order to give them a purpose and to honor those lives that are long forgotten.
I am a perpetual student of art and art history and I continue to study the work of masters, past and present. I am inspired by many great artists and it is my talented uncle, Mark Esper, who gave me my very first drawing lesson and whose own work has been instrumental in fueling my desire to persevere in this challenging career.
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