Painting & Sculpting 2023

A Very Busy Studio Year...
Usually I consider myself a sculptor. But I also like constant challenges, to up my game in the creative world of my head and its outward expression into the world.


For maybe 25 years I was sculpting in clay almost exclusively, and then in 2008 I began to add copper work. Being a carpenter it was probably inevitable I would then find a way to add wood to my sculpture. 

Painting was next. About 8 years ago I began painting regularly on small smooth pieces of wood. It was just for fun, but a few sold and I felt encourged to keep practicing.

Later as I went deeper into porcelain sculpting, I wanted to paint my porcelain works but with permanent pigment. China painting was the solution. It's not that I hadn't made sculpture before with surface treatments on them, its just that I realized I didn't really like acrylics, oils or glazing.

China painting is an odd choice considering that it's a lot of work mixing, layering, firing and troubleshooting. Perfect if you like challenges.
I took regular classic china painting courses and even a doll painting class (unlike classic china painting, they use a water based china paint process). But it was my constant painting and home work that accelerated the learning curve. Classic porcelain painting taught some medium and technique, but I felt it was very restrictive to where I wanted to go. And certainly china painting on sculpted pieces wasn't covered in class!
My home approach is loose, unstructured and often just plain intuitive. I have an absurd amount of colors (over 86) and crafted my own oil blends to fit my personal style. It's been so much fun!

So this year, 2023,  I wanted to both sculpt & paint and to do it in separate and combo series.
I thought can I do a 2d painting series?... maybe use it to approach new galleries?... and then switch back to sculpture and maybe even throw in a series that does both?

• Spring: More Mushrooms!
• June: The Flower/Forest Underworld series,
• Fall: The Corvidae series (crows and ravens),
• All Year:  Wild Orchids continued...

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warming up for the corvidea show in fall.....forest wren and hummingbird in bisque