I've been making art ever since I could remember. Art was always my favorite class in school, from elementary up until college. I majored in art at USC (Univ. of South Carolina) with a BFA degree in Art Studio, majoring in Ceramics in 1995. I'm no longer able to make ceramic art, though I miss the medium, so now I paint my funky characters on canvas, paper or anything else I can get my hands on in my bright green studio. People always ask me, where do you come up with your ideas? Ideas come to me sometimes in my dreams... [
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I've been making art ever since I could remember. Art was always my favorite class in school, from elementary up until college. I majored in art at USC (Univ. of South Carolina) with a BFA degree in Art Studio, majoring in Ceramics in 1995. I'm no longer able to make ceramic art, though I miss the medium, so now I paint my funky characters on canvas, paper or anything else I can get my hands on in my bright green studio. People always ask me, where do you come up with your ideas? Ideas come to me sometimes in my dreams... inspiration comes from daily life things, remembering things from my childhood, watching cartoons, playing with toys, and being a big kid at heart!
"Tickles Goldfish" is my signature character that I started drawing in 1998. He's based on a real goldfish that I owned for 2 years named Tickles. I decided to make a character after him and also my dog, that has since passed, Brantley Boo... Tickles started a bunch of other characters that live in "Poptoonville". The name "Poptoon" is a combination of my love for Pop Art and Cartoons... Tickles' girlfriend is Baby Dumpling, and there's other characters such as Toby Mushroom and Pippy Longdog.
The "Minipop" series of paintings, are on canvases that are 6"x6" up to 12"x12" inches. Those started around 1998 when buyers wanted smaller paintings. At the time, I was only making larger paintings, so minipops came from the love of "Pop Art" and small paintings. The "Poptoon" series came about several years back when I combined the idea of Pop Art imagery with my cartoon characters. I also do another more dark series, called "Nightmare" which is based off my own dreams.
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