Monroe Monroe Monroe Your Boat

My original idea for this one was Marilyn Monroe, but then as I was getting my paints & canvas ready I remembered President Monroe... fantastic! I like this SO much better, because three pictures of an early American President on a pink and green striped background is SO much funnier than the same painting with Marilyn Monroe.

Monroe Monroe Monroe Your Boat

8" x 16"

Available

Dalicatessen

This is the biggest piece I've done so far, except for the Handy Warhol panels. It was one of the most detailed, intricate and painstaking pieces as well.  If someone asked me which of my pieces I'd consider my "masterpiece", I'd have to say this one. Okay, masterpiece is a little too grand, but you know what I mean :)

Dalicatessen

24" x 36"

SOLD

Miro Miro Miro Your Boat

Miro Miro Miro Your Boat... gently down the stream...

Miro Miro Miro Your Boat

8" x 16"

There are two of these paintings-

One SOLD

One is Available

Red Haring

This idea was born during a dinner conversation with my dad... I told him about my idea for a Haring character to be holding a red herring fish. He shrugged, and said it was an okay idea, and we kept eating... then he said, what if the character was colored red, and you get rid of the fish? I shrugged and kept eating... Then I realized there was another way you can make something "red" besides painting the color-- communist! yes! A Red Haring. I love this pun!

Red Haring

8" x 10"

SOLD

8" x 10" Version #2
Available

Frozen Custer

Didn't know they had cryogenics back in the 19th century, did you?

Frozen Custer

10" x 20" x 2"

SOLD

Candy Warhol

Before you know it I'll need a blog just for my Andy Warhol spoofs... here's the most recent in my Warhol series, Candy Warhol-

Candy Warhol

12" x 12"

SOLD

20" x 20"

SOLD

8" x 8"
Available

Big Ben

It's true; Ben Franklin stands like a giant over the city of Brotherly Love. I've been there; I've seen him. Seriously!

Big Ben

10" x 20"

Available

Ballet Lugosi

A combination of two of my favorite things: Bela Lugosi and ballet dancing. Doesn't he look graceful?

Ballet Lugosi

11" x 14"

Available

Patton Leather

Shrinking another bully down to size... and then framing him.

Patton Leather

13" x 15"

Available

Moodigliani

Please tell me you know who Moodigliani is... please? He's one of my favorite artists; I adore the way he painted! Unfortunately, he has a name that's very hard to pun-ify. Moodigliani is my first attempt, though my dad thinks MoDOGliani would be better. Personally I prefer MOO, what do you think?

Moodigliani

12" x 12"

SOLD

Plastic Monet

Plastic Monet

20" x 24"

SOLD

20" x 24" Embellished print
Available

Ernst Borgnine

Max Ernst + Ernest Borgnine = Ernst Borgnine.

Ernst Borgnine

11" x 14"

SOLD

Astaireing Contest

Oh, I adore Fred Astaire. You can read my post about him on my other blog, Silents and Talkies, here.

I've done three versions of Astaireing Contest, luckily I have photos of all of them:

Astaireing Contest

10" x 14"

SOLD

Astaireing Contest

18" x 24"

SOLD

Astaireing Contest

11" x 14"

SOLD


*I also have an 11x14 version with a light blue background that is AVAILABLE*

Stalin Grad

Another one in my "shrinking the bullies down to size and then framing them" series. I like the idea of making fun of oppressive leaders so that people view them as silly, absurd idiots. One of my favorite films is Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" which succeeds in making Hitler look like a power-hungry buffoon. Sometimes humor isn't the best medicine; it's the best poison.

Stalin Grad

8" x 10"

Available

The Man Ray Who Came to Dinner

It seems like my favorites are always the ones that nobody else likes or understands... or the ones where the joke is so obscure that you have to be a fan of three or four random obscure things in order to get it. In this case, you need to be a fan of surrealist photographer Man Ray, and the 1941 film The Man Who Came to Dinner. And you need to REALLY be a fan of the film to figure out what in this painting is taken from the film!

But I think it's one that, assuming you DO know about the artist & the movie, will give you a good chuckle :)

The Man Ray Who Came to Dinner

11" x 14"

SOLD

The Kiss

I really love this one -- I've done quite a few versions of this, too... like with some of my other paintings, I didn't get to photograph all of them. Here are three of the five I've painted.

The Kiss

18" x 24"

22 kt. gold

SOLD

The Kiss

11" x 14"

SOLD

The Kiss

18" x 24"

12 kt. gold

SOLD

Johns

Jasper Johns is one of my favorite artists, and I often fell asleep trying to come up with some kind of a pun for him. The only one I could think of was more of a family thing... my cat growing up was named Jasper.

Needless to say, I didn't end up doing a target/flag/encaustic wax portrait of my cat Jasper. Instead I went with long "Johns" - also, I couldn't afford to buy all of the encaustic equipment necessary for just one piece of artwork, so I instead used artists acrylic medium, and a lot of improvisation to get the encaustic texture I wanted.

Johns

24" x 36" x 2"

Available

How Green Was My Valli

Okay, this is my favorite. Nobody in the world ever gets it, but I just adore it, because the pun is really good if you know your film history! Valli was a very famous Italian actress, most known for her performance in Carol Reed's The Third Man. How Green Was My Valley was a great John Ford film from the 1940's. Valli's face is green in the painting... How Green Was My Valli... get it? Gosh, I love the pun!!

How Green Was My Valli

12" x 12"

Available

The Degas the Earth Stood Still

This is a spoof of the original film. You couldn't drag me to see the new one if you gave me a million dollars. Really good films shouldn't be remade. Period.

The Degas the Earth Stood Still

9" x 12"

SOLD

Pugcasso Puppies

And of course, there had to be puppies..

The orange background one is my favorite, I think he looks drunk :)

Pugcasso

For the dog lovers, too...

Pugcasso

16" x 20"

SOLD

16" x 20" Version #2
AVAILABLE

Pugcasso

16" x 20"

SOLD

Pugcasso

18" x 24"

Available

Que Seurat Seurat

I love Doris Day films... they are the perfect medicine when you need cheering up! My favorites are her films with Rock Hudson. I treated myself to their box set last year, and I've watched them a few times each since then. I think I love "Send Me No Flowers" the best, in which Rock Hudson plays a hypochondriac who tries to pick out a new husband for his wife because he's convinced he's dying.

But Doris Day didn't just make great movies-- she made great music. She was actually a band singer before she ever started making films. I used my favorite Doris Day album as a reference for this painting.

Que Seurat Seurat

12" x 12"

SOLD

Chagall About Eve

I think I'm the only one in the world who likes this one :)

Chagall About Eve

11" x 14"

Available

Chipmunchs

How cute would it be to actually hear these guys scream?

Chipmunchs

11" x 14"

Available

Leotardo da Vinci

It's about time someone covered up that Vitruvius Man... 

Leotardo da Vinci

8" x 10"

Available

Munchkins

I know a lot of people pronounce Munch differently-- (munch or munk) -- but I've got that covered. If you like saying it with the "ch" sound on the end, than Munchkins is an awfully funny pun. But if you like saying it with the hard "k" sound at the end, than Chipmunchs is more your style.

Of course, it also depends which pop culture phenomenon is more up your alley... are you a Wizard of Oz kinda person or a Chipmunks kinda person? Decisions, decisions....

Munchkins

11" x 14"

Available

Grass Hopper

This is another one that a lot of people don't get. I think it's because while Edward Hopper's paintings are iconic, like the one I spoofed here (Nighthawks) his name is not well known. 

I think that's unfortunate, because he is one of my favorite painters and deserves to be as famous as Picasso or Dali.

Grass Hopper

11" x 14"

Available

Handy Warhol

This is one of those ones that still makes me giggle when I think about it.. 

After I painted the first one, a gallery asked me to do a much larger, four panel version, which is pictured under the first one. These are about 2" x 4' per panel. They didn't sell at the gallery, so I have them now and they are too big to bring to my shows. I'm now trying to figure out what to do with them!

Handy Warhol

20" x 10" (I think)

SOLD

Handy Warhol

4 Panels, approx. 2' x 4' each

Available

(will sell as a set or individually)

Toulouse LauTrek

It's funny, everyone likes the first version of this painting better and I really prefer the latter...

Oh well, live long and prosper!

Toulouse LauTrek

11" x 14"

SOLD

Toulouse LauTrek

11" x 14"

SOLD

Pollock

This painting was my dad's idea... he came up to me one day grinning, and said "Pollock" then looked at me like "get it? Pollock?" Then handed me a piece of paper he had printed from the computer with a picture of a fish on it.  Being a vegetarian and not much of a fish enthusiast, I had no clue what he was talking about.

After he explained it, I resisted the idea for a while before finally caving in and painting it as a surprise for him one day. Much to my surprise, I liked how it came out. 

But because of my initial resistance, it is now an inside joke. Whenever I sell a Pollock print at a show, I just glance at my dad, who more often than not will have a very smug, confident grin on his face.

Pollock

11" x 14"

SOLD

El Gecko

This is another one that is often confusing... so, a clarification:

This is NOT the Geico Gecko. 

This is a spoof of the painter El Greco.

El Gecko

9" x 12"

SOLD

Neapolitan Napoleon

This might be my favorite of all... It started my little "making fun of famous leaders" series, or as my dad likes to call it "shrinking the bullies down to size, and then framing them" series.

When I get an idea for a funny art piece, a lot of the time I scribble it down and go back to it later. But with this one, I was just giddy over the idea! I had to paint it right away. I still own this one, and, to be honest, when it finally sells it will probably be very bittersweet for me. Even though I don't hang up my art in the house, and it's just sitting in storage, I'll still miss it when it's gone.

Neapolitan Napoleon

16" x 20"

SOLD

11" x 14"
AVAILABLE

Escher Sketch

This is one of my favorites...

Escher Sketch

16" x 20"

Available

Hello, Dali!

I think this one is fun :)

This is the only painting I've ever done where I asked the photographer to include the frame in the photo; I just think the painting looks complete this way; and it also helps give it the feel of a Broadway lobby card.

Hello, Dali!

18" x 24"

SOLD

11" x 14"
AVAILABLE

Picatsso Kittens

And then there were 35...

I love the idea of affordable artwork. Not just prints, but original paintings that someone on a budget can afford. That's how I got the idea for Picatsso Kittens. These are about 5" x 5" each (or 3" x 5" for the few non-square ones) and they come pre-framed at $50. 

To see each of them individually, you can look at my Flickr Picatsso Kitten set here. I haven't posted which ones are available, and which ones aren't yet, but I'm planning on putting the available Kittens for sale on etsy in the next week or so.

Picatsso

By far my best selling artwork is Picatsso... I don't think it's the funniest pun in the batch or anything, but I do understand its appeal -- I live with two cats. There, that explains it! When I go to art festivals, I always buy "karma art," art from another artist at the show. I can't even tell you how many times I've come home with cat art. It's like a magnet-- if you have cats, cat art will suck you in like a vacuum. It's inevitable!

I've painted five big Picatsso paintings, but I only have three pictured. I really do need to photograph the other two when I get a chance- when I do, I'll post the pictures here. 

Picatsso

16" x 20"

SOLD

Picatsso

20" x 20"

SOLD

Picatsso

20" x 20"

Available

Andes Warhol

This was the very first funny art piece I ever sold. Up until Dali Llama, I didn't have any idea what I was doing. Really, I'd paint pictures of flowers or landscapes, often copying them from the Lowes or Home Depot circulars. I didn't have a style or any kind of theme to my art, it was almost like high school practice work. Then I found my niche-- the funny art. I can't even describe the feeling of elation when I found out that someone was interested in buying Andes Warhol.

It was at the New Hope Arts & Crafts Show in 2006, and I had gone on a little run to Starbucks for some snacks when my cell phone rang. My mom had someone at my booth who wanted to buy Andes Warhol. I practically squealed with glee, skipped the snacks, and hurried back to my booth. The person who purchased the painting asked if they could leave it at my booth until they were ready to leave, and with the biggest smile on my face ever I scribbled SOLD on the back of a business card and pinned it next to my painting. Sheer bliss.

Andes Warhol

18" x 18" (I think)

SOLD

The Matisse Falcon

This is one of my favorites, mostly because I love classic films so much.

The Matisse Falcon

11" x 14"

Available