Looking at “face plant” today, I see it as a special timestamp in my art career. I have had creative moments that turned into important forward steps in my practice, and I consider face plant to be not just a forward step but a momentous space launch that impacted the entire trajectory of my mission as an artist! With this piece began the Crazy Stuffed Animals series and thus my foray into conceptual freedom as an artist. On the canvas that would eventually become face plant I began incorporating the modeled realism of my stuffed animals with abstract forms… thus was born this wonderful chimeric character.

Some of my favorite little visual elements in the piece are the ones that happened completely in-the-moment and I absolutely love the uniqueness that grants them. The curious arch of the green eyebrow that floats above a peeking black-and-white eyeball; the loose blurring white strokes of the waving gloved hand as it juxtaposes with the other, more solid hand jutting out into space; the row of Skittle-esque teeth; and, especially, the gaping pink, blue, and purple expression of a mouth. These are the elements that I simply could not have planned ahead and in that lies their magical power. All the parts of the painting came together to create something more than just a sum of its parts… and is not That what art is all about!? :)