Mulder, It's Me.

"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only in contradiction to what we know of it." 

- Dana Scully

 Dear lord, what couldn't she do, except believe? 

A critical mind and clear wit, nothing got past her. As a sceptic and atheist in a world that hides magic from us every day, I did not understand her nearly as well when I was younger. 

I love her all the more now.

Fox Mulder made so much more sense to me when I was younger, and now I feel the ever-present pull between the struggle to realize something more exceptional than ordinary life and my own skepticism.   I love that Mulder will always strive towards the unnatural and unlikely at any possible moment.  He is a time capsule of my lost faith in the supernatural. 

What more is there to say about this one? 

"Dear Diary: Today my heart leapt when Agent Scully suggested spontaneous human combustion."

I made this pair of Mulder & Scully gouache paintings for fun -

 you can buy prints of them in my store now!

Gay City News Show Feature

The handsome devils over at the Gay City News interviewed me,

 and here is the writeup of my show!

Heaps of big thanks to Michael Shirey and Paul Schindler

for their time, interest, and the beautiful article. 

More Split + Growing Work

Big thanks to all who made it out to this past weekend's reception 

at the Bureau.  We had a great turnout and your presence was 

so appreciated.  For everyone who was not able to attend, I will keep

posting a few pieces throughout the week to share this new show.

Split + Growing will be up at BGSQD until May 25th, so get over there! 

Sneak Preview

These are two of the 13 new pieces included in my most recent show,

which opens on Sunday at BGSQD.

I cannot stress how important, however, it is to see this show in person.

Much of the show happened even after framing, and the pieces clawed over

the mats and didn't stop.

Come see what I mean for yourself tomorrow, April 20th, from 6 - 9 pm.

My Gay Banjo Art

This is the original graphic that I produced for My Gay Banjo’s newest album.  

We tweaked it and then their designer took it from there, 

I was happy with it all of the different ways it went.   

The original pictured here is mostly in gouache with a little bit of watercolor 

on a nice, cold-pressed Arches paper. 

You can find out info on their new record and tour here!

Meditations on Wildness

I am currently working on a selection of options for a friend's upcoming book's cover.

He and I spend a good amount of time thinking about and pursuing our own wildness,

trying to pull apart where that need comes from, and considering what that even means.

As a hyperactive, borderline feral kid, it very often felt like I had to learn to be a human.  

Sometimes people who meet me in a more formal situation have a hard time

imagining that I was a kid up a tree with matted hair and no ability to control 

the volume of my voice or most of the things that came out of my mouth.

I am always on the opposite end of that reality, 

forgetting that I have lost (or forfeited) so much of my sharp and feral ways. 

I know that this is crucial to my survival, but it still comes with an enormous amount of sadness. 

When you are young, especially a young kid with raging ADHD and few social skills,

 you eventually learn how to check every impulse, you eventually stop cutting off your hair in chunks

without any reason that you can understand or remember, you start figuring out how to sit still.

You find something you can focus on, and you draw.

 

Illustration Project

This is one of the many pet portraits that I worked on recently for the holiday season.

Selection of Work from Emblems of Things to Come

This is a collection of images of half of the work currently on exhibit

at the window gallery of the Leslie-Lohman Museum.

  

The reception was a great success, and I owe a great deal of gratitude

to the team at the Museum and to the people in my life who made so much of this possible,

particularly my partner, my family, and my longtime friends.

 This show took a lot of time and research.
It seems like I have just begun down a path where

I challenge myself to do much more than I have accomplished before.

Whenever I make a new show, it's difficult to avoid that fear
that your concept and actual work are in conflict,
and this is a show where put in a lot of time to

challenge my own expectations and not to get too comfortable.  

I'm very proud of this collection of paintings and intend to just
keep going on from here, collecting stories and histories for a long time.

Anne Bonney (1700 – 1722?) “The most famous of all women pirates, 

of Anne’s various activities… reporters are loathe to tell about her lesbianism.   

Anne is reported to have quipped during her final fray, 

“Dogs! In insteady of these weaklings I only had some women with me!” 

(The Encyclopedia of Amazons, Jessica A. Salmonson)

­Boudica (d. c. AD 61) “Derived from the Celtic word for ‘Victorious.’ 

Warrior-queen of the Iceni of Norfolk.  She led a rebellion in A.D. 61, 

sacking numerous [occupying] Roman settlements… [and] temporarily liberated her people

 from the Roman yoke.  The Roman army was urged on with the observation

 that the Celtic queen’s forces included “more women than warriors.” 

(The Encyclopedia of Amazons, Jessica A. Salmonson) 

Hypatia  (c. AD 350–370; d 415) “was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer – 

at the time of her death, she was the foremost in her field in the West, 

and probably in the entire world.  

…Religious and secular tensions in Alexandria led to her murder.” 

(“Missed in History: Hypatia,” Tracey V. Wilson)

Illustration Completed - Eagle Variants

This pair of ink to digital to hand-painted illustrations was for a private client who wanted to see their colleague's electric violin bow incorporated with a golden eagle.  

I always enjoy a sizable raptor like a golden eagle, they are formidable and striking birds that I have

 been fortunate enough to see many times throughout the northern United States.

If you'd like to know more about Golden Eagles, there are a lot of exceptional 

birding guides, but to start you off, I'd recommend this easy to navigate online resource: 

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Sleep is overrated // Mirah show poster!

 I just started and finished this poster for the upcoming  

Mirah & Tender Forever & Lillie Ruth Bussey show in Philadelphia.

This lineup of these three bands / performers is a recurring set that is always well worth it.  

It is one of those minutes when I really miss living in Philly, even though

I am so glad to have moved to New York and taken change on in a big way.

Still, if anyone is able to make it to this show, go!

This piece is mostly gouache, though there is also some ink and watercolor.

I really enjoy collecting unusual pigments at the Dick Blick and A.I. Friedman when I 

end up by one.  Gouache comes in really fun hues, I'm glad that it only takes a

little to work with, or I'd never get my collection to expand.

It's all part of my Agent Dale Cooper plan.

When it isn't paint, it is almost always.  Always.  Coffee.

Lil Bub's Lil Book

I am so happy to be prominently featured in Lil Bub's new literary adventure,

 Lil Bub's Lil Book!

 

Lil Bub does so much awesome work raising awareness around 

animal rescues and welfare as well as deep space exploration.

You should check out her book, which you can purchase in many local bookstores.

She will even be visiting the Strand next week - I hope to see you there!

Work on Work on Work

This illustration is part of an ongoing commission that I have been collaborating on 

with a repeat private client.

It is always so much fun to work on creative projects like album art or posters,
staying up late drinking coffee and tearing through podcast after podcast after podcast while I
paint / draw / trim / line every little hair and shadow and edge.
Adventure Time also serves for great 10-minute mental breaks when
the lines are starting to bleed together or when watercolor layers need to dry.

I love illustrating commissions & I am always looking for more of them.

Feel free to contact me if you ever want to talk about one of these projects, 

I always take new commissions!

E-mail me at FurFaceArt at gmail dot com.

Leeway Project Continues

As the summer heats up I am not only taking on my new body of work for the 

upcoming show at Leslie Lohman, but I am pushing forward with
 my Leeway Grant project. 

You can read all about the project HERE, and if you want to contribute your

story to the collection, please get in touch at: KetchWehr at gmail.com

I love taking in more stories of LGBTIQQ resilience and coming of age - share yours!

Saturday Comics: "Exactly What We Did in Rome."

Wherein we meet Grendel's mother and shoot fireworks out of our eyes.

I'm not here to make sense, I'm just having lots and lots of fun

 drawing comics every. Day. 

More to come!!!!  

Check back often, I'm scanning a lot of pages and 

cranking out a lot of weird stuff.