The Junk Ranch is my latest project, It's the showcase for my achievements in art of many disciplines, it's a venue for communicating my varied ideas and perhaps most importantly, a marketplace for the wares i produce.
I'm a Self Taught (" ") artist and craftsman of varying degrees in very varied areas. I love all things creative and try my hand at anything i see fit.
Some Highlights of my work / project history:
When I'm not helping take care of our now 1 yr old son, Eli, I produce drawings and paintings, sell them on this site as well as Etsy.com, my blog and at art shows and local craft malls, work as a freelance graphic designer,
act as junk broker on ebay and serve as a handy-man locally. It's a
nice, busy life.
In 2003 and 2004 I was apprentice to luthier St. Wishnevsky and built 12 of my own electric guitars and basses which I sold across the country using this ebay thing. Neat. 
In late 2003 I was the secondary driver
along an 11,000 mile tour of the United States in a 42' long Vegetable Oil powered
GMC coach bus. we bought a retired bus and Jason Mecum, mechanical wizard , as well as being primary driver and sole mechanic, designed a grease system and
converted her to run on waste vegetable oil in which we collected along
the way. 14 people made up the passenger list and comprised 15
different variety acts which performed
along the tour. The 42'
bus would be our everything on the 2 month journey. We made bunks for
15, the upper bunks were made from over head storage and the lowers
were custom 2x4 and plywood w/storage beneath. Frank Eaton filmed and
made a documentary of the trip. In 2001 I wrote a bunch of songs and formed a band with the woman that would become my wife. we became finks and have recorded 4 albums.
Beginning in 1999, I lived and worked with a small arts community in
Winston Salem, NC renovating the18,000 sq ft Swift meat packing
facility built in 1917. The building is now a thrivings arts hub to
the downtown area and provides 17 studio apts, 2 community performance
spaces, 36 track recording studio, coffee roasting facility w/coffee
bar, 4000 sq ft arts gallery w/ community studio space.
1997
to 2000 I worked for DSL Global Event Marketing. My job was to teach
kids how to play Pokemon the trading card game! Duties included flying
weekly to event location, unload and set up of property at 12:00am on
friday, perform 50 or so demonstrations on saturday and sunday then
break-down and load out come 6:00pm sunday. The event could process
twenty thousand kids in a two day period! Occasionally I would drive
the property from event to event.
After a year of constant touring I was promoted to Design and Production Manager
where i was in charge of designing property for the touring events,
managing the production of materials, researching new technologies
which could be implemented, as well as overseeing set-up and tear-down
at special events. I
did a lot of conceptual renderings of promotional properties for
existing and prospective clients, worked with production vendors
insuring quality control and client approval of property construction.
During this time some clients I assisted were:
Sony
managed re-design of mobile mavica exhibit
Wizards of the Coast
designed and managed construction of all event property for the wildly successful Pokemon Trading Card Game
Nintendo of America
designed and managed construction of all event property for the phenomenally successfull Pokemon game boy tour
SAP
managed the design of multi-vehicle mobile event
'95 through '98 I mostly did paintings for local art shows, painting dozens of pieces and selling at local haunts, building a base of collectors and refining painting styles. I also did alot of
freelance color separations for screen printing. And I again worked
for my buddies at Action Premiums. I learned how to color match, mixing custom ink colors which helped my painting.
In '95 I began an
apprenticeship with renowned muralist Armand T. DeNavarre. I assisted
him on 8 murals, the largest of which measures 22 X 40 feet and can be
viewed at Grandover resorts in greensboro, NC. This one is at the Hidden Crystal Inn in Hiddenite, NC. 
In 1994 I designed over 120 custom animated LIGHT DISPLAYS for a company called EAST BAY. Some were installed at Tanglewood
Park for their festival of lights and are in use to this day, the
others were used in a Light Park in Garner, NC. I learned to animate in order to
program the Logic Controllers. I also learned to MIG weld and use the
PLASMA torch and sculpt in clay and make silicon molds and urethane
castings and fiber optic lighting effects. I designed the performance
riser at the CAROLINA OPRY
in N Myrtle Beach, which when fully loaded weighs 44,000 lbs and rides
on a cushion of air 1/8th of an inch thick! In
important moments during the performance, 2 stage-hands push the stage
forwards while the central staircase(also on air casters) rotates to
reveal a pianist playing a baby-grand piano in a "secret" compartment.
On a separate occasion I designed the stage for The Dixie
Jubilee also in N. Myrtle beach.
also In '94 I worked at the ART SUPPLY! That place was so cool. They had
Everything! It was in this huge old house with every room crammed full
of arty stuff. I got good discounts and learned a TON about technique
and materials.
'92 and '93 I worked at Baker signs...I painted signs. I learned to
operate the vinyl cutting plotter and the deadly POUNCE board and the
delicate quill. So of course I start painting signs on the side all over town. Here is one of the first from Ziggy's Tavern in good 'ol wsnc. There are dozens of signs I've painted over the years but few pictures. Good fun.
in '91 I started airbrushing clothing for stores at the Local mall. Hey! I remember that band! This was actually in the late eighties. Cool huh? 
I worked at Action Premiums in '91 and '92...it was my first real design job. I was designer for anything they could screen print. I had
the top of the line graphic computer from Texas Instruments with a 40
meg HD! whoooo!
In 1989 I airbrushed stuff outside of Koenig art Emporium at Hanes Mall ...It was AWESOME! During this time I began airbrushing trucks and vans and motorcycles too.
Some clients and how I helped them:
project:design logo for nation Green Living mall tour
Velvet Glove Kabarret
project: oversee Rush production of 5 theatrical back-drops
3dot design
project: design and construct doughnut replica for Guiness book worlds largest doughnut cake.
Spevco
project: conceptual renderings for specialty event vehicles
Krankies coffee bar
projects: design and implement entrance mural
custom paint for espresso/coffee cart
design and construct custom lavatory stalls
design flyers for events
Domicle INC
project: design and execute mural for gallery lavatory
Peter May Music
project: design and provide art direction for cd packaging, T-shirts and Posters
And virtually THOUSANDS of other happy people!
∑:•)