"Opening" graphite, watercolor. 15 hours. (18 x 14 inches)
I created this piece to capture the movement and expression that hands hold. I chose the simple act of opening and closing a hand, and tried to get a full range of dimensions and angles. Bright colors in the background create emphasis on the movement, with the most powerful color, red, on the two central positions of the hand, when it is the most open. The most difficult part of this piece was getting the shading on the fingernails to be accurate, and keeping the hands the correct size in relation to each other. The easiest part was doing the background colors.

Opening (Progress)

Works in progress for "Opening", graphite (and eventually watercolor), 13 1/2 hours at this point.

Serengeti Royale

"Serengeti Royale" colored pencil. (16 in x 10 in)

This piece was created to be a competition piece for the SRQ art competition. I wanted to capture the powerfulness and the wildness of the wildlife that inhabits Africa. I chose an elephant as my center because of its strong, powerful connotation, and it's ability to fill the page. The rhino and the zebra were chosen because they fit the greyscale color scheme of the animals. The background is yellow to evoke images of their natural habitat. The zebra is the most successful part of this piece, whereas if I were to redo it, I would improve the anatomy of the elephant, specifically on its tusk and trunks.