A few of the artists I like

I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks now... sorry for the delay. There are a couple of artists that I really admire and wanted to share their sites with you all.

Jeremy Lipking - http://www.lipking.com/gallery.htm

Jacob Collins - http://www.jacobcollinspaintings.com/index.html

Christopher Still - http://www.christopherstill.com/christopher_still_paintings.htm

Coral Gardening - how cool is this?

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have a 92 gallon salt water aquarium. But check out this:

Coral Gardening.
An amazing pilot project in Fiji that is bringing damaged coral reefs back to life. http://vimeo.com/5712168

Setting up the display tent for the first time

Whew! Took me a few hours but I finally got the display tent set up for the first time. Next step: set it up with some of my paintings and then start looking for shows.

SOLD!

I decided to sell one of the water barrels I'd painted as I really only needed the one for my reef aquarium RO water set up. Sold the day I posted it to the reef forum online.

Working on a few new paintings

Here are a few of the paintings I am working on now. All are in various stages - some are almost finished, others I've just started. Let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for following!

Eric

Some of the pieces I'm currently working on...

Here are a few of the oil paintings I am currently working on. The Palm Trees is on canvas, 30" w x 24" h and the Lilly Pads are on canvas, 24"w x 36" h.

Check back soon for more updates on current works! Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/ericsdodds or connect with me on facebook: www.facebook.com/ericsdodds.

Pictures of the 92 Gallon Reef Tank

I meant to post these along with yesterday's blog on the Water Barrels. Here are 2 recent pictures of my 92 gallon salt water reef tank.

Thanks for reading!

Follow me on www.twitter.com/ericsdodds

Visit http://www.esdodds.com/

My love of reef tanks led me to painting water barrels

What started as a solution to a problem has turned into a new venture for me. I have a 92 gallon corner reef tank and I decided it was easier and less expensive to make my own RO water for the tank - instead of buying it from a petstore every few days. Found a guy online that sold huge barrels left over from the foodservice industry that others into fish & reef tanks had also been cleaning & converting for their water storage. I bought two - one for fresh water and one for salt water.

Talk about a process. These used to hold gallons of peppers. It took quite a few days of rinsing and bleaching the inside of the barrels out before I felt they were sterile enough for what I needed them for. I still get a whiff of peppers now and then.

Because these barrels were going to take up an entire corner in my garage, I wanted them to look nice. I painted them both blue and started with a giant sea turtle on one. Next came a couple of dolphins, a shark, then a few fish. Once I finished the first one, I started on the next with some tangs, a clarkii clown and an anenome.

They are both done now - plumbed and officially making water. I think the next one I'll do will be to capture and store rainwater outside. Let me know if you are interested in one!

Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/ericsdodds and of course, my website is http://www.esdodds.com/

Thanks for reading!

My art on digital billboards in the Tampa Bay area!

A great opportunity presented itself to me in the way of FREE advertising on Clear Channel digital billboards in the Tampa Bay area. Starting Monday 5/25/09, local artists - myself included - had 3 images featured on the billboards. You can also visit the website below for more information on the artists, including short bio's. Locations of the boards include:

In Pinellas county, Ulmerton RD & 49th St, Tyrone Blvd & Park St, Pasadena Ave & Shore Dr, US 19 & 150th Ave N and US 19 & Alderman Rd.

Hillsborough county, 580 & Memorial Hwy, Dale Mabry & Waters Ave, Brandon Blvd & Kings Ave, Veterans & Courtney Campbell Cswy.

http://artonbillboards.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-05-22T09%3A30%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

I want to specifically thank Ryan Frazier for posting the call to artists on brandtampa.com

You can visit my website at www.ESDodds.com
Follow me at www.twitter.com/ericsdodds

Thanks for your support!