ABSTROTICA

Click here to see my entire collection of work.

~JEL

18x24 inches. Oil on wood panel. "Regan Maddux" of Super Cult. 2007. Private Collection.

18x24 inches. Oil on wood panel. "Keyana Azari" 2006. Private Collection.

18x24 inches. Oil on canvas. "Nic" of the Suicide Girls. 2006. Private Collection.

18x24 inches. Oil & acrylic on canvas. "Maya" 2006.

"The RZA" about 16x20 inches. Gouche & acrylic on cold press illustration board. 2006.

close up. Oil on canvas. 2007. Private Collection.

The paintings you see here are done in a style I came up with and started designing nearly ten years ago, before I had an formal art training, mixing abstract and erotic elements together, creating the term Abstrotica. Playing with the spacial relationships of graphic shapes of colors and layering realism of the beautiful female form. This is my way of inventing a new kind of portrait, in hopes of creating something that goes against what we have already seen, creating an aesthetic beauty that captivates the viewers attention and imagination in a fresh way.

These paintings are all done in oil on wood or canvas, and range from 3x4 feet and smaller. Most of the figures are about life size in scale. When I get a bit more time I'll upload many more paintings, including the entire series of "Abstrotica 9" which is six separate paintings that connect to make one larger design measuring 7x3 feet. I was happy with the composition of this series, but not the overall color palette, for the hues are too ambiguous in relation with no dominant color family....but sometimes this can be a good thing. This is just the beginning.

I have spent the last two years painting outdoors nearly every single day to further develop my color harmony and alla prima skills, and now, the fall of 2009, I am ready to dive back into new designs and large scale paintings. All the images below are from the last two years. I will be sure to update my current progression of new paintings for the year of 2010.

the beginning stages, light acrylic washes on canvas and wood panels...

the rough line drawing drawn with marker and light acrylic washes

the first few layers of oil paint

24x24 inches. Oil on canvas. The beautiful Keyana Azari of the "Abstrotica 9" series. 2007. Private Collection.

The lovely Amber Du Bois of the "Abstrotica 9" series. 2x2 feet. Oil on wood. 2007. Private Collection.

12x24 inches. about half way done, acrylic washes and oil on top, ready to glaze more intense colors

12x24 inches. Oil on canvas. Can you see her wings?

24x36 inches. Oil on canvas. Private Collection. The lovely models Minna & Tala

close up of Minna

rough close up of Tala

Alessandra, 24x12 inches. oil on canvas.

close up, oil on wood.

The "Abstrotica 9" series, oil on 6 seperate panels and canvas. 7x3 feet. 2008. Private Collection.

Standing beside owner and creator of the Wicked Garden, Tim Roush(left) and myself(right) at my first solo show of just my Abstrotica paintings and portraits @ the Wicked Garden's "Fairy Tales" party in Dana Point,CA. April 24th 2008.

On display at Chateau 305 @ Hollywood Squares June 5th 2008

30x20 inches. Charcoal on watercolor paper. Drawn of Amber at the Chateau 305 art show.

This first design here was drawn digitally with a wacom tablet using Painter 9 then later adding the solid black shapes to distort the composition. It can take weeks or months to create the finished painting, but this first step here is the most important. I sometimes think about a design and keep changing it up for months before I feel it's ready to be painted. All though the image below is about complete, once i start painting it (and this one will be BIG) I like to make spontaneous decisions on canvas, making it a more fun and inventive process.