This practice extends into my observational drawing in my sketchbook and while I travel, slices-of-life stories in my comics and cartoons, and human-centric moments in my commercial work. I’m inspired by the traditional painting practice of en plein air (“painting outdoors”) as a way to make portraiture out of landscapes, by the teetering edge of cartoon and realism in cartons, and particularly by the mid 20th century illustrator Robert Weaver, who helped pioneer an approach of “visual journalism” to editorial illustration by directly drawing real life subject matter for his commercial assignments. Drawing loose and fast helps to capture each subject’s gesture – somewhere between expressionism and representationalism – adapts to changing weather or light, and shows movement and personality while still centering on a moment in time.

The mural is serendipitously painted on Destination Ann Arbor’s western office wall.

A2 COLLAGE: Using a mix of representation, graphic, and abstract elements, I created a collage of different topics that are uniquely representative to Washtenaw County: outdoor recreation, arts + culture, dining + nightlife, shopping + retail.  These topics are split into their own quadrants in the overall composition, guided by the existing X bracing beams in front of the wall.  The bright and bold color palette is based off of Destination Ann Arbor’s branding colors.