Neil deGrasse Tyson

charcoal/digital

Neil deGrasse Tyson is simply one of my favorite human beings. The joy, passion and eloquence with which he discusses (and defends) science and astrophysics makes me grateful we share stardust. I've had this charcoal drawing floating around for a bit and decided I needed to toss some pixels onto it and share.

I am so so SO excited for his sequel to Carl Sagan's Cosmos next year:

(if you don't get chills watching this, we can't be friends)

Flux

"Flux"
6 x 6 oil on panel 

Another quickie oil sketch that I ended up liking. Maybe she wants more work, maybe she doesn't. But no matter how she ends up, sometimes those "in between" moments are fun to linger on.

I am working to get to a place of confidence where I can bring in some more of that "in betwee-ness" to my finished work. I think many realist painters end up going through something similar. I love the way it looks when done right- it brings an "alive-ness" to the piece and creates more of a dialogue with the viewer. Artists Like Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Rick Berry, Greg Manchess and Jeremy Mann do it beautifully.

I tell my students: Good art is as much about what you can leave out as what you can put in. And the first one is much, much harder to do well I think.