Greetings everyone,

It's two days before Christmas and nine days before the start of 2012. May all who read this have a joyous Christmas and Happy New Year!...

In mid November, I traveled to Pasadena, CA for my MFA in Illustration program through the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. As before, it was a delight to see my fellow graduate students again. We were able to have the honor of meeting in person local professional illustrators and viewing their work. Some illustrators of note were Gary Meyer, Scott Anderson, Joan Charles, Dan Quarnstrom, Kenton Nelson, Paul Rogers and Bill Robles. All of these people produce wonderful work and I recommend anyone to check out their websites. As an assignment for the trip, I created a portrait of tennis star John McEnroe on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but done in the style of illustrator Robert Cunningham whom was mentioned in Murray Tinkelman's class last July. I chose Cunningham because I really admire his application of strong, bold colors and dynamic compositions. Below is the assignment I created:

In late November, it was a real pleasure that I received an assignment from the art director at Christianity Today in Brazil. It was for an article about how people read the Bible in different ways. The illustration will be published in the February issue of the magazine.  Here is the final illustration:

This past Fall, I taught an Oil Painting class at the long-established Edina Art Center.  It went really well. All the students were cooperative and eager to learn from me the methods and techniques of painting in oils. Looking forward to teaching the next class at Bloomington Art Center starting in January. The course will cover children's book illustration.

That's it for now. Talk to you in 2012!