Recent paintings

Well I have been super super busy lately with different requests for art and design work. These are two pet portraits I have done recently on canvas.

This is Dexter...The Puggle

This is Dexters homie Osmo...The Boxer

I love when I can capture a dogs personality in a painting. Some of my artwork that I did for Mandi at Vintage Revivals was featured on the Nate Berkus show. It was a small little plug, but I was super stoked to be on the show. I have received a ton of exposure from Mandi and I don't think she will ever know how grateful I am for the opportunity she gave me. She has no clue how talented she is and she is so humble about it. Check her work out here: vintagerevivals.blogspot.com. If your not tempted to do one of her ideas on her blog you are crazy! I have received e mails from all around the country wanting custom artwork for peoples homes. It has been an awesome ride and I have loved every minute of being able to paint and do what I love.

Commissioned Pet Portrait times 2

I know that I have said this before on this blog, but I LOVE doing pet portraits! I think it makes me feel a little more normal because of how obsessed I am with my dog Duke. Anyone that will hang a large portrait of their pet in their home has a special place in my art. These dogs were fun to paint. The images that the client sent me were absolutely perfect! Perfect lighting, good poses, and you can tell that the picture captures the personality of the dog. These paintings were both done on 20 x 30 stretched canvas. I have been getting a lot of questions about the size that I like to do pet portraits on. Well 20 x 30 is a perfect size. The bigger the better in my eyes!

I am going to start personalizing my art blog a little bit so customers can start learning a little bit more about me. I am 24 years old and married to my best friend. We have a 20 month old little boy named Charlie that is my whole world. He is my little buddy and I love that he always wants to be doing what I am doing. From helping me paint to fixing things around our house, he is always right behind me watching what I am doing. Duke is our two and a half year old Great Dane. We got him when he was four weeks old and bottle fed him until he was eight weeks old. He is the best dog and my second shadow. I work full time at a medical company and take 18 credits a semester to be a Respiratory Therapist. All of the rest of my time is given to my family. When I get home I spend time with Krysten, Charlie, and Duke. After I get my studying done I finally get time to paint and work on my art. By the time I get to start painting its about midnight. I paint from midnight till about three AM then start all over again the next day. I love this picture of my little man and I. I want to get him started early!!!

This is another thing I get a lot of questions about......my signature. Yes......It has a Frowny face in it.....Yes it quicj and unique..........and No I am not a doctor. HA

Tree Mural

I just wrapped up another wall mural that turned out pretty awesome. If there is one thing I love it's when I get a chance to paint on a big empty wall. This mural came from an awesome lady that decided that she wanted a big tree in her bathroom. This is not a normal bathroom though. Her house is incredible. It was built to resemble an old farmhouse. The details in this home are incredible. From the natural wood and multiple fireplaces to the clawfoot tubs and bright white mouldings, this house is one of the coolest places I have ever got to paint. OK back to the painting. It took some serious time to paint all of these leaves. There are eight different shades of green to give the piece some color and depth. The trunk is done with an airbrush ( which is one of my favorite art tools to use.)

This is an awesome piece that client added to the piece. It fits in perfectly.

This was another mural that I really enjoyed painting. It is so rewarding to to be able to change a space with a painting.

Tandem Bicycle Painting

I was so excited when I got a call from Mandi at Vintage Revivals to do a painting for her. I was even more excited when she told me what she wanted. I have said this before, but I will say it again. I love when a person trusts me enough to give me an idea and let me do my thing. She told me she wanted a an old vintage style bike that can seat two people. There is no such thing as an old vintage bike with a tank and fenders so I got to design it from scratch. Sent Mandi the rough draft and took it from there.

We decided to do the painting on an 8 by 4 foot piece of veneered plywood. I stained it a blonde stain and started painting.

The contrast with the natural wood and Cobalt Blue color of the bike really worked. I was happy that we decided to cut the piece in to fifths to give it more texture and contrast to the room.

Mandi is crazy talented so her space was amazing as always. The piece ended up fitting in perfectly into her entryway. If you have not checked out Vintage Revivals go get lost in her blog now!!! you can find her at vintagerevivals.blogspot.com

Commissioned mural

This has to be one of my favorite murals I have ever done. It was so fun for the client to be able to customize an entire wall in her home. The first thing I did was had her lay out everything that she wanted to include on her wall. I loved that she chose her kids artwork from elementary school and other miscellaneous items that had meaning to her to fill up her space. This mural spanned from her bedroom to her sitting room upstairs. She lives in an incredible victorian style farmhouse that is authentic from the bright white casings and baseboards to the clawfoot tubs that are in every bathroom. This mural was done with a paintbrush and a sharpie marker. Its incredible what you can create with as little resources as I used.

I ended up buying around twenty frames and mirrors at the DI for around a buck a piece and refinished them to put on the wall. Spraypaint and glaze can easily change an old tattered frame into a high quality frame. This added a ton of dimension to the wall. 

The client chose a few sayings with custom artwork that she wanted included in the wall. They ended up really adding to the final piece.

These silhouettes were a last second addition that i loved adding to the wall. She wanted to incorporate her dogs in some way and I thought this would be a great way to do it. This is her boxer Ozmo.

And her Puggle Dexter.

I decided to fill up the final space on the wall with the first initial of all the kids in the family.

One of the most gratifying things about doing this mural was that the client told me she wakes up every day with an extra hop in her step because the mural puts a smile on her face when she gets out of bed. This is such an awesome way to personilize a mural and I hope I get the chance to do another one like it. ( who am I kidding......... my wife has already told me she wants this done in our home ).

Mint Clothing

Well this is my new project I have been working on for awhile. I don't have the time right now that is needed to get this off the ground, but I am happy with the designs and aesthetic I have come up with so far. I have a huge addiction to t shirts and I have always loved the look of old vintage items so I decided to combine the two to come up with my designs for Mint clothing. Instead of the traditional stiff silkscreen application I have chosen to use an ink based product so the graphic feels like it is part of the shirt. All of my apparel  is printed on a high quality slim fit soft cotton t shirt. Ten percent of all sales of these shirts goes to the A.S.P.C.A. ( The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ) to help rehabilitate animals that have been abused. All of my pictures were taken by Natalie Bennion at Natalie Photography. Her work can be found at http://bennionlovin.blogspot.com/ She is one of the most creative, down to earth people I know and she takes incredible pictures at super affordable prices. Here are some of the designs that I have created.

My gorgeous wife rockin the Vintage Movie Camera shirt in plum.

Phonograph

Vintage Movie Camera

The Cupcake

High Wheel Bicycle

The Caged Bird

Elvis Spray Paint

I was so excited when I got the call to do this painting. I have been listening to Elvis since I was about eight years old. I used to listen to Frank Sinatra and Elvis in my grandpa Calvins car all growing up. What excited me even more is when they told me that they wanted a spray painted portrait of Elvis and I could use whatever picture I wanted. This is also the first video I had ever done for this type of painting. I get asked all the time how I create these paintings so I decided I would do a video to show the process behind it all. First I ask what colors the client wants or what colors are used on the walls and in the room where the painting is going. In this case they were hanging this in their home in a room with soft colors so I decided to use a tan and brown pallet. Once I selected the photo to use I separated the photo into the darkest colors (black), all the way up to the highlight colors (white). I then draw them out to the size of canvas I am using and cut out the negatice space of the stencil. When I am spraying I always start with the lightest color and build up to black. When I lay the stencil down I put bolts on the edges so the stencil doesnt come up while spraying. This ensures nice clean lines in your painting. It is a fun process to watch because you dont see it come together until the final stencils.

Elvis Portrait speed painting from Jonathan Olson on Vimeo.

This is the finished product. Spraypaint on canvas.