And So It Begins (2010)



 Just good clean fun with some family photos and a good software app.

Inner Glow (1997)

Inner Glow

A dawdling, insipid rush of sadness is steadily stealing away the very soul of the subject in Inner Glow.  She’s dying, and will actually be so (dead, I mean) soon.  Typical story, I’m afraid: beautiful young girl decides marriage (in lieu of college? her father asked) is the best choice for her; finds out shortly after the exchanged vows that the guy’s just another common bum (I warned you, didn’t I! Mom recalls); two kids who barely know their father’s frame substantiate the claim.

She’s nauseated all at once—My God, but she’s trapped, recognizing no reassurances coming to her rescue, concluding that it’s too late to turn back to anything, or anyone, now.  So bravely she weathered the storm that never ends, ever hopeful that one day soon the sky would clear…ever aware that hope can be dashed incessantly against the cliffs by an angry sea…a body full of sour whiskey and cold, gray waves of hard crashing fists.  Amen, and A Man.

Can you imagine an ironing board crouching close at hand, or that she’s just finished the evening’s dishes?  She’s so attractive, the envy of the neighborhood women, object of lust for the men.  But she’s too far gone to care about either situation, and the marriage is surely on the rocks.  The tinkling of ice rises in the living room.  Just moments and he’ll be heading in here for more.  Her hands begin to tremble.  TV blares, drowning out the cries of her youngest.  Thankfully, for her, tonight will be like no other.  She’s got that inner glow again, but, in a little while, all the lights go down.

Langri-Sha (2005)

Langri-Sha

Wet Whistler (2010)

Wet Whistler

Jungle Fred (2009)

Jungle Fred

Alien Wash (2009)

Alien Wash

Look...See (2010)

This is just some charcoal doodling I was about to throw away, then decided to play around with it in Corel and Adobe.  Great friends those two apps.



Sailing On Mars (1997)

Sailing on Mars

This is a large poster size airbrush I did back in 1997 with the intent of using it as a sample of similar work I could do for catamaran sailors who my wife, heavy into the sailing scene at the time, was steadily introducing me to.  She gave me the sage advice that I should take the time to really study the boats, and the rigging, and the whole freaking system, as it were.  I promptly chose to ignore that wisdom.  Looking back, I was a fool.  The picture was set up on an easel during an awards event.  The sailors all studied the composition intently, paying particularly close attention to the blatantly incorrect details.  No sales were made, valuable lessons were learned, and a good time was had by all.  (The colors, of course, were inverted to produce this other-worldly effect.  The original was done in all the natural hues one would encounter on any blissful day of sailing in the Gulf of Mexico).

Arctic Space (Late 1990s)

This was a mural I was working on as part of the spare bedroom's decor in a rental house my wife and I had lived in years ago.  Before we left, of course, I had to white wash over the whole thing.  Kind of tough, but I knew it was an inevitable event from the outset.  Fortunately, I snapped a photo or two before the big brush came in and wiped it all clean.  I also painted an African landscape, an underwater scene, and a big tiger in the same room.  Lots of fun! (although probably not the kind of artistic enthusiasm a landlord wants to encounter very often).  Think of your walls as great big canvases and you too can take part in this kind of frivolous frivolity (resale values notwithstanding).

Lake Mermaid (2010)

Lake Mermaid

Turbulent Black (2010)

Lazy Tommy shuffled home from middle school one day

Only to find his little house had up and moved away

The family car could not be found the mailbox vanished too

He stood there quiet in mental count his options arriving at few

A crumpled hand scrawled note he found pinned careless to the lawn

The steady penmanship confessed his family had all gone

Yes Mama said he would be thought of though really not that much

Since attitudes were poor these days and woefully out of touch

The faded note lamented things that Dad and Sissie missed

Where’s their Tommy where'd he go 'cause this one can't be kissed

An invitation teetered low by the paper's very edge

Someone might be welcomed back but first they'd need his pledge

Tommy stood there nervously the sun dipping toward his road

With mercury falling quickly too he shook with the newfound load

Tears were blurring his shameful view and the light growing ever dim

His world was reeling with turbulent black and little Thomas couldn’t swim

He pondered the vacuous empty where a warm tidy home once stood

Remembering Mama's admonishments Oh Tommy, can’t you just try to be good

But his body was already melting away and the concrete was turning to sand

His efforts were noble as he reached to the right but to his left there came a dark hand

Lil Shoes (2010)

DesertScape (1999)

DesertScape

Sophie & Bear (2010)

Sophie & Bear (work in progress)



Wanted to share with you what a work in progress looks like.  This one got off to a strong start but never made it all the way to the finish line.  Sometimes that just happens.  I have found that if I don't complete a work, either in the same session that I started it in, or, at the latest, by the end of the next day, it's highly likely that I won't go back to it...ever.  What I think is important to share is that, when the muse visits you, better take advantage of it while you can.

One good thing that came out of the attempt was a nice little poem I wrote (it's the scribbling on the picture above that did make it to the finish line).

Sophie & Bear

Sweet Sophie Baby and her best friend Bear

Went floating down the Milky Way with nary a care

A couple of peas in a pod they were tucked in nice and tight

The iddy space they shared between them seemed just about right

It was a tiny teacup saucer and a shiny porcelain cup

That kept the precious darling craziness from going belly up

A great big moon so full of wonder it was just about to blow

Provided shelter from the darkness for two adventurers below

Hugging Big Brown Bear the tighter Sophie nodded off to sleep

As he smiled toward the Heavens a Sentry’s watch that bear did keep

And they rolled on…

Messianic



I thought Messianic kind of went well with Blue Veneer, so I added them both.  Can't remember when I did this one, but it was several years ago, at least.

Blue Veneer (2010)

Blue Veneer

Beguiled Fox (2010)

 

Beguiled Fox

I scribbled some marks on a piece of paper and this is what developed.  The idea of parallel universes popped into my head, though I'm not sure why.  The fox tail is present on a body that otherwise appears mostly human.  The possibility that Mr. Fox had been up to no good in an alternate reality, and, hoping to pull off some stunt in another, found himself outdone by his own smartness.  The figure is holding a small baby and, judging by the expression contained solely in the eyebrows, does not appear to be happy with this outcome.  The orbs in the background serve to lend an air of other worldliness to the overall composition.

Imminent Danger (2010)

The Bathtub (2001)

The Bathtub (2010)
 Illustration comes nearly ten years after poem was created.

The world was flat when I was born

And edgy on every side

Explorers attempted to make her round

Yet failed each time they tried

Something was glowing down underneath

When they peered o’er the rugged rim

Pulsating as might a wonderful sphere

Though the light was far off and dim

They speculated with all their might

On how it might be obtained

This longed-for orb in the firmament

Where all their hopes remained

We want our ships to disappear

As we near a far-off distance

We want to sail west to reach somewhere east

Was their uttermost insistence

So I, as their king, financed their dream

And hinting toward the outer realm

Appointed cartographer, navigator, cook

And lastly the one at the helm

Good luck I said and Godspeed to all

As they leapt off the precipice then

With parachutes strapped to their brave, sturdy backs

To guide these adventurers in

How quickly they faded into the inky black

Precariously gliding away

Singing their songs of untamed oceans

While holding the unknown at bay

I kept on waving and smiling until

They drifted out of our sight

Convinced of the wisdom of my royal decision

As that disk lit up our night

I settled into eating grapes

Reposing there on my chaise

A look of glib authority

Residing on my face

The village united in opposing views

Though nobody really much cared

Only a few shared the seeking heart

While most were most comfortable scared

I alone was cognizant

Of what the fate would be

Of those few men who placed their stock

In decisions arrived at by me

I’d already been where they’d yet to go

And knew that the light was round

But there was no life on that little rock

That fact had already been found

Twas gently whispered in my listening ear

On the day of my kingly birth

When I fluttered down from the Heavens above

And took up my post on Earth

So off they searched, this bothersome bunch

Good riddance was all I could think

I knew my own boundaries I knew my own place

In this bathtub that just doesn’t sink

Owlness (Before and After) 2007

Wanted you to see how nicely some of your graffitti can clean up to become a wonderful piece of pop art, if you just give it half a chance (some would say the pop art is actually the version on the left, but...to each her own).

Dudley the Dragon (2007)

Dudley, like so many of my illustrations, was found laying around in nature, or, at least in my surroundings.  In this particular case, I discovered him hiding in one of the travertine tiles that cover a lot of my home's floor area.  Travertine is just riddled through and through with irresistible images such as this one.  All one has to do is look with a bit of imagination, and the dragons will start popping out at you.

Friend or Foe (2009)

Conjoined Fins (2006)

Use the voice of Bruce (the shark from Nemo) to get the full impact (snicker).

Do You Feel Pretty? (2006)

Oh, why not?  Sure it's spectacularly goofy...who cares.  Having small children brings out that side of parents, sometimes.  It's a good thing.  Roll with it.

Chinese Coffee Mugs (2005)

Nothing less complicated than a coffee mug

Yet how complex it truly is

I know nothing of its beginnings

How it was made

How it can be so smooth

Or how it got so white

And those beautiful designs placed on that same smooth white surface

What are all those colors made of

What gives them their majestic brilliance

What’s the substance of any of it and where did it come from anyway

It was simply placed in my hands

I never really have much choice

Only know that I’ve used it and many others like it

Never anything more…and never anything less

Nothing less complicated than a coffee mug

If I can’t understand that…well how can I possibly know the world

Someone whispers in my ear –

It was made in China

Oh well that’s a start I say

What do we know about China and her people I ask

Someone whispers that they drink a lot of tea

Oh I say I think somehow I knew that

Yes but they’re steadily switching over to coffee

Really I gasp and how do we know that

Because they’re making a lot of these mugs

Hmmm I say tasting my coffee

Nothing’s as simple as all that I suppose

In the end the Chinese may turn out to be the coffee baron’s biggest customer

Amazing I say truly astounding

I continue to sip my coffee in my Chinese mug

Someone whispers I believe the stool you’re sitting on is made in China too

All of a sudden I’m nervous and it’s not just the caffeine

Nothing more complicated than the Chinese I say

Feeling as though the only one astonished in the room is myself

Why do I know nothing of their beginnings

Or how they got so white

Or what gives them their majestic brilliance

Or how we became so Oriental in the first place

The stamp is on the bottom the voice whispers again

Hmmm I say turning the smooth white mug upside down

The coffee spills all over the table but the stamp is indeed clearly visible

The voice chuckles as someone tosses me a rag

I make a grab for it but a yellow finger is pointing at a little snippet of white sewn to one corner

I choose not to read it

When we turn everything upside down there we’ll find the Chinese

I stare at the coffee mug and those colors still so vibrant

The voice whispers one last time

The coffee is also Chinese

(© 2005 Gary Gunter)

Horse on the Run (2009)

Thoughts Become Things (2010)

Backstage Fashion (2009)

Excerpt from this piece's description:

I’m old enough to believe that I will remain ever amazed by the digital nature of so much that surrounds us now, artwork being no exception.  To know that such imagery resides within the pixels, like a statue resides within the prison of the marble slab….well, for me, it all dwells just this side of magic.  The only force lacking when all these things are there—waiting to be brought out from hiding—is the creative energy of one human being to grant their freedom.

...Something to consider - So here's a scene conveying the idea of hurried and frenetic activity that must go on backstage, behind the showcase that is the runway.  Yet, to keep the psyche somewhat guessing, the question as to where the other dolls might be hiding is posed to the viewer.  Perhaps she’s not a super model at all, but, rather, some eccentric worldly type playing dress up in one of her many “off the main corridor” playhouses waiting anxiously for her jet set husband to close his latest deal.  Boredom, loneliness, and prescriptions drugs simply do not make good bedfellows.

Adolescence (2006)

Adolescence...an awkward and confusing time for young boys.

County Fair Chick (2009)

I've always wanted to go to the County Fair and bring me home a good lookin' chick like this one.

Just a Trickle Now (2010)

Not much to tell on this one.  Just another example of what happens when the pen and paper start flirting with one another.  It's an ongoing love affair.

Fountain of Youth (2010)

This pen & ink is based on a photograph I took of my daughter over the summer. I added some enhancements through Photoshop. I'm pleased at how it turned out for the short time I invested in it (2-3 hours).

Turning Away from Authority (2010)

Assignment 3 (2010)

Assignment 3

Created this little fella just a few nights ago. Started out with a doodle and continued on until he emerged. He has a professorial look about him, hence the title. Let me know what you think. G2