This painting will be a Christmas gift for the dogs owners. The painting is named Koa, after the dog who is named after the native Hawaiian wood for the gorgeous color of her coat. Its been a while since I've painted an animal and it was really fun getting into this gal's scrunchy face. I hope the Christmas surprise goes well!
Here's Ryan and Joel cooking us some delicious breakfast food while Casey and I watched and drank our mimosas. There were never skinnier jeans in the kitchen before this moment.
Dinner was at my house with friends and family of the house. Here's Casey with her sister and her boyfriend in my room. Oh, and the day was as sunny as San Francisco can get. It was almost hot!
Lots of preparing. This is my housemate Andrea tossing a salad and adding some fresh to dinner. 
Dinner was happily eating in the living room, with folks overflowing to the couches behind. In all, I think there were about 25 of us for dinner, and more for dessert. It was such a nice day and probably one of the few times I really enjoyed a holiday for the aspect of having a day off. 
Here it is and I can finally post it. It was a bit challenging since I don't usually work from multiple photos when I'm painting in this style. But I'm really happy with it and was happy to do it. Thanks Mathieu!
Here's my new painting for them. Its called 22-Fillmore because thats the line that they see when they walk to daycare. The scene is located, hopefully, towards the end of their little commute and I hope it will remind them of the city when they leave. 
Here is the lead singer, sitting on a stool that a few guys were holding up while beating on a drum a few other guys were holding. At one point, he had his foot on my stomach while I held up held his body weight with another guy. 
The guitarist got up there too, but he was a bit more subdued and just enjoyed the new vantage point. I haven't been to a show like this for a very long time. 
Here's Casey riding the crowd for the first time. She was up there for a good amount of time and got down like a champ. 
The best part about being on Treasure Island is the view of San Francisco. It's easy to forget what you actually live in when you don't see it, but we were all in awe when we looked across the bay to see our city. Go Giants!
Here is the crowd during Deadmau5's set. He a DJ with an awesome aesthetic and a very entertaining, and technically impressive, performance. Throughout his whole set, he wears a helmet in the shape of a mouse head (basically Mickey Mouse) that turned out to be electronic. He had a digital/animated face on the front synced to the lyrics. Pretty cool!
This is Belle & Sebastian, who headlined the festival and closed Sunday. I wish I had more pictures of the bands, but I was usually too far away or they just weren't interesting. All together, I saw a good part of 21 bands this past weekend. Not too shabby. 
It is 38x40 in., oil on canvas. I have plans to make it one of two pieces that compliment and complete each other. Hopefully I can get that painting going soon. 
The images I drew from come from a book I bought in Colorado on the works of an American photographer named Wayne F. Miller. Photographs 1940-1958 show images of life, American and foreign, during war and postwar time.
There is sometime that seems more real and genuine back then. Something that seems more based in the world and the tangible. Or maybe its just the way Miller shot. He seems to have this ability to capture people and their thoughts in amazing exactness.
Im planning on doing a few more of these in the next few weeks.
I also enjoyed allowing this painting to evolve through the process of making it and I'm stoked with the outcome, aesthetically and conceptually. It's going up at Tango Gelato in the next couple of days, even though I'll only be in that space for two more weeks. 
It was a bit hard doing this painting in secrecy, especially when I see Casey every day and usually had paint on myself without any new paintings to show for it. In any case, it's exactly how I picture it and is in the private collection of one of my biggest patrons and supporters. 
When I gave it to Shain, he just laughed every time he looked at it, to the point of tears. I'm taking that as sign of approval. We had a lot of fun and spent a good amount of time talking about this painting and with all the images that went through my head, I'm happy with how this one came out.
I'm starting to play around with this abstracted background. I'm really enjoying the pure aesthetic freedom I have with abstracting the background and like the physicality that I get with my process. It will probably pop up in upcoming works. 
Red Cave, 24x24 in. oil on canvas. This one was based on the lead singer of Yeasayer, Chris Keating.
Drain, 24x24 in. oil on canvas. A bit of a self portrait here.
Between Stops, 24x36 in. oil on canvas. Ironically, this one is based on a night in San Francisco after a Yeasayer show. Casey and I missed the last BART out of the city and got stuck in San Francisco until 4:30 AM, when BART started running again. Quite a memorable night at Denny's.
It is 24 x 24 in., just like the last one.
Gigantic red rocks sporadically jut out of the ground. A famous music venue, appropriately named Red Rocks, was built in a natural amphitheater made by these giants. We toured the area before walking around for a closer look.
The first hike we took followed a fast flowing river for the majority of the trail. Playing with my new camera, I took advantage of leaving the shutter open a bit.
Unfortunately, I failed at the "face detect" self timer. The function is supposed to recognize when a new person enters the scene and looks up. I guess the camera was more interested in the beautiful scenery.
On our second day, we hiked to a few lakes. This one was earlier in the morning and we got some really good light. The things we saw were so spectacular and breathtaking. It really is the best way to see Colorado.
Another lake, this time with a guy fishing. I think Bob Ross would be proud of this scene. The camping trip was awesome. We made a fire with only six matches. It still counts, even though the thunderstorm put it out half an hour later. We saw nature's best and enjoyed being free of buildings and cars.
Speaking of which, Denver is a really cool city. The architecture is a cool mix of close-to-hyper-modern and, what I think is, late 19th century detail. I enjoyed walking around and seeing the old and the new, well integrated.
For some reason, this alleyway/breezeway really caught my attention. It looks better in real life. If you ever see this, you just near the corner where The Tattered Cover is, a cool, independent bookstore and local favorite.
Another iconic spot in Denver is this guy. I think its pretty cool and would like nothing more than to never see this actually happen with live animals.
We saw a double rainbow too. Something I'm somewhat familiar with and didn't expect to see in Colorado. It was an amazing sight.
Luckily my camera also has a fireworks setting. I got some good ones.
Thanks for the game Brad and Carol!
The fourth was somewhat mellow. The kids got food together for a family get-together to celebrate Casey's parents anniversary and so the family could all see each other. All night time activities got thunder stormed out. But the following day was nice and sunny, perfect for an outdoor family lunch.
One of those sights was the old rubber factory. It is such a cool, industrial sight and I needed to get some pictures of it before I left. After that we went to Washington park and ate some sandwiches, followed by a walk around the lake.
And in it.
Ironically, we saw more wildlife here than we did in the Rockies. That's not saying that there wasn't as much in the Rockies, they just probably weren't as willing to show themselves.
Squirrels! Such weird creatures.
I'm going to be a bit closed mouthed with the idea for a while, but I'm pretty happy with how this one is turning out. I'm not quite done, but its almost there. Sorry for the grainy quality. Its still a bit wet and I couldn't get it without glare marks in normal lighting. 
It may seem like an homage to MUNI, the public transportation company in SF, but I'm actually trying to not use it anymore. They've hikyed up their prices, cut services, and have become increasingly hard to know when they will be at my stop. So, its time to buy a bike.
Thanks to Michael and his wife for buying this one (and leaving a cool note on my last entry letting me know its in safe hands) The other painting that I sold was actually the painting I did for this spot, Madame S. Sialis. Crazy enough, someone bought the painting four days after I put it up, which makes less than a week after I started it. That is officially the shortest amount of time I've had with a piece. Thanks also to Ziv, the owner of Tango Gelato, for helping me with the sales.
Here is Yeasayer performing up around Fisherman's Wharf at a free concert we found. Microsoft put on the show to promote their new phone, and from the production of the whole thing, it definitely showed its corporate strings. Ironically enough, I overheard about this show while leaving another free show I attended earlier in the day. It was the Dodos, a local SF band and one of my favorites. That one was put on by Verizon and a coffee shop. Nothing like French pressed coffee, doughnuts, and the Dodos for FREE on a Saturday.
TONS of people. Originally, I didn't really dress up. I put on a poncho and moccasins, just to have some type of theme, and called it day. Then I entered this and realized how lame I was.
Completely ridiculous by normal standards, but somewhat modest for Bay to Breakers. Casey and I met up with our friends Ryan and Thomas and had a great time. We stopped by different areas with music, enjoyed the sun showing its face, were overwhelmed by the crowd and ended our day in Golden Gate Park.
I just thought this was hilarious. Please note the passed out people in the background. Let's just say they're sunbathing. 
The show as great. They ended the show with everyone standing up, some on the stage, and yelling out a common chord progression as loud as we could several times. I love show that do that.
I was stoked how it came out. Being new to painting buildings, I was a bit nervous. It actually took me several sessions to do this one, mainly because of the anxiety of painting something with actual perspective to take into account. But I'm so happy with how it came out and hopefully it will do well in June.
