in the last few years before i went on hiatus, i started doing stencil paintings, mostly on canvas but occasionally on wood or random objects. many used my already established stencil designs and spray paint, layering stencils and creating textures with the paint, sometimes augmenting with paint pens, brush work or even glitter. i started working on a series of portraits of dyke icons (dykons) right before i went on hiatus; the first in the series was rachel maddow and the second was frida kahlo. (there are many more to go.)

my most successful foray into canvas painting came during the 2008 presidential election cycle, with my stencil portrait of then-presidential-candidate barack obama. after producing stencil and silkscreen t-shirts, paper prints, stickers, and bicycle spoke cards, i was invited to participate in a national exhibit in washington d.c. during obama’s presidential inauguration in january 2009, entitled manifest hope. two of my obama paintings were exhibited (and sold!), and one of them appears in the coffee table obama art book art for obama: designing manifest hope and the campaign for change.