2008

blond woman commissioned portrait in acrylic

fine art portrait painted directly on a canvas tote

portrait on a bag, painting by Gwenn Seemel

fine art portrait of a little blond girl

Brittany spaniel painted on a canvas pouch

portrait of a woman, painted by Oregon artist Gwenn Seeme;

woman with curly red hair, painted in acrylic

handsome bearded man painted on a canvas bag

In February 2008 I started my blog about the process of making my work and all things related to art and portraiture. This new outlet changed both my life and my art practice, making me a more thoughtful person as well a more confident one. Furthermore, it lead me down a path towards radical sharing that ultimately took me to Geneva six years later for this TEDx talk.

Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard with street performer Kirk Reeves at City Hall — photo by David Vanadia

A month after I started the blog, I was involved in a group show at City Hall called Keep Portland Weird. PDX49 interviewed me about my contributions to the exhibit, which included two older pieces—my portraits of City Commissioner Randy Leonard and former news anchor Paul Linnman—as well as a brand new painting of the street performer and comedian Kirk Reeves. I had approached Kirk in 2007 specifically because I wanted to paint him for this show.

political artist Gwenn Seemel at work in her studio — photo by David Vanadia

More than anything else though, the one thing that consumed me in 2008 was creating and launching my conceptual series, Apple Pie.

Apple Pie, the book — *Apple Pie*, the digital book

For that series, I published my first book. It includes all the images from Apple Pie, statements by the subjects which explore what it means to be an American from their unique perspectives, and a foreword by Inara Verzemnieks.

The print version of this catalog is sold out, but the downloadable digital version is still available.