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.

Split + Growing

I've been wrestling my way through the new body of work I am making 

to show at the Bureau of General Services: Queer Division in late April.

I have taken a lot of time to consider how what I make and what I enjoy 

and strive toward need to get a lot closer.

In preparing for this show, which opens April 20th, I wrote a lot 

and meditated on the intricacy, personality, and whole worlds I need to

capture in my work as I move forward.

This new show is going to be something different, hopefully more personal,

and certainly a next step in my process of growth as an illustrative artist.

New Phase Mirror Paintings Available Now In the Art Store

http://ketchwehr.bigcartel.com

After a number of inquiries about the mirror moon paintings featured in my recent show

at the Leslie Lohman Museum, I have decided to produce a limited edition of 12

one-of-a-kind phase mirror paintings. 

These paintings are 8" by 6," made with a durable glass acrylic on hexagonal

mirrors, and are priced affordably for handmade art. 

They are definitely looking popular for the winter holiday season 

(you know, Krampus, Ursul, what have you) so go ahead and buy yours today.

If you want one in a particular phase or color, just e-mail me (furfaceart at gmail.com)!

I'm still cooking up a few more, so I am very open to custom orders 

at no extra charge.

Interview with Posture Magazine

My recent interview with Posture Magazine just went up - I think it was a lot of fun!

Big thanks to Winter Mendelson, Oscar Lopez, and Manu Gupta for their work 

on this piece, they make a remarkable team.

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)

Sarojini Naidu from Emblems of Things to Come

Sarojini Naidu (1879 – 1949) 

“The Nightingale of India, was a child prodigy, 

Indian independence activist and poet. 

Naidu was one of the formers of the Indian Constitution.  

Naidu was the first Indian woman to become 

the President of the Indian National Congress… 

Her birthday is celebrated as women's day all over India.”  (Wikipedia)

Above is another sneak peek at the show, which opens tonight!

Emblems of Things to Come Coundown

It is just shy of 36 hours until the reception for Emblems of Things to Come.

Big thanks to the team at the Leslie Lohman Museum for such a warm welcome

and promotional help. 

 Here are a few snapshot sneak previews of the mirror paintings

and a wood portrait detail.

Show Info - Reception this Friday

You can get all the details on my upcoming reception at the 

Leslie-Lohman Museum here on their website.

Emblems of Things to Come will be opening on October 18th from 6 - 8 pm.  

You can also check out the details on the Facebook Event Page.

Here is another work-in-progress flashback sneak preview of the show 

as it was wrapping up last week:

You can read all about Sarojini Naidu in many places, 

but her Wikipedia page is a fine place to start.

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.

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.

DIY Philly Poster - In Progress

This is a detail snapshot of the poster I am completing illustrating tonight for my friends on the DIY PHL team.   

In their own words, "DIYPHL is a show and event listing for Philadelphia and surrounding areas... 

to promote and support a music and arts community..."  

I have been thinking so much lately about the blight of white nose syndrome on bats, 

how we are watching the great Chiroptera order dissolve at a rapid pace. 

The entire poster is bat-themed, though not all about species of Philadelphia because 

that would be too narrow a scope and because I love those brown long-eared bats 

from the UK (pictured above). 

While this has been a subject dear to my heart and that of many of my friends and other conservationists,

 it sprung back to the front of my brain after reading about the debate over the Bracken Bat Cave, 

the largest bat cave in the United States, which is currently threatened by development. 

While we are on the subject, this is a shot of a painting I made 

of a vampire bat for a Bat Sanctuary benefit a year or two ago - 

it is acrylic glass paint on mirror and I am so sad that I don't have 

a final photograph of it any longer.