“Are you ready?”
Freddy Krueger twisted portrait - 18x24” acrylic on Masonite.
Ghost Skull
Acrylic on canvas, 8x16”. Painted in May of 2010. Original available for purchase.
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Portrait of a Monster
Acrylic on canvas. 8x10”. Completed August, 2007.
A monster? Perhaps, according to some. Monster or man, he is confused, angry, lonely, hurting, frustrated, and ultimately lost, in every possible way. He is nameless, and he is hated for merely existing. Wouldn’t you be a monster too?
The painting that saved my career. I had been so busy with “Real life” and working on getting Barbella Studios off the ground, that 10 years had come and gone since my last painting before this one. A friend of mine had come in to a ton of canvas, and gave me some. Soon after, my Grandfather had given me an easel, and as he always said, “Don’t take it, if you ain’t gonna use it.” I had moved into a new place about that time. I was home alone, bored and broke. So I pulled out a canvas and began to work. at the end of the night, I left it about 98% finished, and called it done, hanging it on a thumbtack on my wall, just to get it out of the way.
A few months down the road, another friend asked me to be a part of a local art show. She was asking for 3 or 4 pieces from each artist, and I said, “Yeah, I got that.” When really, this was the only one, and it wasn’t show ready. But I got to work on two more, in an effort to make it look like a series. I painted portraits of the Wolfman, and the Creature. I then customized the frames to go with each character.
About the style: I have always been a cartoonist at heart, and it’s pretty evident, I think. As a kid, I drew a lot of monsters, but this one most often, I’m guessing. Heavy brows and lantern jaws seem to be reoccurring elements in my work. I’ love portraits. Rembrandt’s work is a huge influence on both my traditional and digital work. I tend to favor small, flat brushes. I mix most of my colors, and very often on the canvas.
Incidentally, this is the first piece to feature “VF” as a signature, as it was soon after I decided to change my last name.
