Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Koa

As I mentioned on the last post, I just finished a painting. Here it is:

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!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Thanksgiving

This past month has just flown by and I can hardly believe its December already. Time for a little catch up.

Thanksgiving was definitely a highlight. We started the day off having a little brunch at Ryans house.
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.

Leaving their place, satisfied but not stuffed (we knew better than that!), and on our way home, we came across a huge moving box full of CDs. It was a jackpot for the musicheads that we are. We spent a good 10 minutes going through the box and claiming our picks. After we were satisfied musically, we went back and started cooking our contribution of the huge feast ahead.

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.

Just before Thanksgiving, I finished a painting for a new found friend. He had bought one of my paintings earlier this year and asked me to do a painting of his daughter for her birthday.

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!

I've also just finished another painting, but have to wait to post a picture for it since I haven't given it to them yet.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

22-Fillmore

A while back I sold my 5-Fulton painting and was totally stoked on it. Recently, friends of the couple who bought that painting saw it and inquired about making a painting in the same vein. The story is pretty endearing, so I hope if you're reading this, you don't mind me sharing.

They have a 20 month old son who loves buses. Every time he sees a bus, he yells out "Bus! Bus!" In later conversations, I found out that his favorite part of the day is when he walks to daycare and can see the buses go by. The couple also just celebrated their 4 year anniversary, and instead of going out for a big evening, they commissioned me to do a painting that would remind them of this time and their young son.

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.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

GIANTS!!


San Francisco GIANTS

2010 World Series Champions!!!!!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

One More For The Show

In November, I will be part of the Artist Xchange's Realism show. The three drawings I posted a bit earlier will be joining this one.


So. If you're in town and stumble by the Mission, go check it out. The opening reception is November 5th from 7-10 and they will be up for the rest of the month.

Artist Xchange Gallery
3169 16th Street @ Guerrero
San Francisco

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Treasure Island 2010

Treasure Island Music Festival happened again this past weekend. There was a bunch of great bands playing in a ton of cold weather. Having enjoyed 80+ degree weather in the city earlier in the week, it was a bit painful at time to endure the coldness during the festival. But, the bands were totally forth it and needless to say, I had an amazing weekend.


Thanks to the hardworking Noise Pop interns, the festival went on without a hitch. Here's intern Jaime, intern Casey and intern Allison in the back.


The highlight of the festival, for me, was Monotonix, a band from Tel Aviv who is practically banded from all the venues in Israel. Knowing they put on insane shows, Casey and I dug our way through the crowd the get face to face with the band in the middle of crowd.

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.

Seeing everyone up on the crowd, Casey decided she should be up there too.

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!

The thing about this festival is that the crowd noticeably grows throughout the day. By the last four bands, the island is packed.

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.

Now its time for work. I've got a bunch of things Im working on and will be posting soon.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Weighted Hibernation

I've been working for a while on this new painting. It seems like my busyness is sinusoidal and this past month (and looking forward to next month) are the peak of the wave. If it is sinusoidal though, at least I can look forward to a little break after November.

Anyway, here is my new piece, Weighted Hibernation.

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.

As it turns out, I've got another month at Tango Gelato, so if you're in the area, go and check it out in person. It really is a piece I think benefits from seeing in real life.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Drawings

A couple months ago I was in between ideas with painting and did a few drawings to get the art itch out and to just draw again. I sometimes forget how much I used to draw before I started paintings, so it was nice to spend a few hours on these and just get into the details. Click on the pictures to see the details.

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.


Thursday, September 16, 2010

The New

It's be a while since my last post. This was party due to some secrecy regarding the second painting of this post, and partly due to just spending more time on paintings.

Here's the newest one. I'm calling it Static Introspection and its a bit larger than some of my recent work. I had a bunch of Blick Art Supply coupons and used the opportunity to invest in working a bit larger. At 38 x 40 in., it's not huge, but comfortable for now.

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.

And here is the not-so-secret-anymore painting. Guess who's birthday gift it was.

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.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

What? No Figures?

I recently finished a couple of paintings and they are up for all to see at Tango Gelato. Its a bit of a departure from usual subject matter and style, but I'm digging this new direction and really enjoyed working on these. Hopefully the titles will help to explain what the pieces are about.

Train, 24x30 in. oil on canvas.


Tangent, 30x24 in. oil on canvas

The idea behind both of these new ones stems from the past four "movement" paintings. They all play with a restless mind and the interaction and resistance that goes on inside out heads when we try to calm it.

I enjoyed not using figures in these, but I feel myself being drawn back to painting some, so in the new few they might pop back in.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Commissioned

In addition to the paintings I did for myself last month, I also worked on a couple of pieces for friends and family. Now that everyone has their paintings and there are no more surprises, I can post about them.

This one was done for my friend/former housemate Shain. He just moved in with his girlfriend and wanted me to do this fantastical painting as a surprise birthday present for her. I had a ton of fun working on this one.

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.

This one was done for my cousin Sarah. Its a portrait of her dog Paulette and I actually did this this past week and not in July. I kept thinking and judging that I was making her too adorable, but after many photo references, I realized that this is actually how cute the dog is.

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.


Monday, August 2, 2010

Seconds at Tango Gelato

This past month has been a busy one for me. I've been painting a bunch, getting ready for a second showing at Tango Gelato, the Pacific Heights Cafe I was at a couple months ago. I'm super stoked on the work I've made and feel somewhat of a relief hanging it on the walls today. Here's the new works that will be joining the last two paintings I've posted, as well as a couple of city paintings I did in May.

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.

If you're in the city, please go and see the work in person. Its at Tango Gelato, 2015 Fillmore Street at Pine St. I thought it was only for the month of August, but after hanging the work, the owner told me I'll be having the work up until the end of September. Thanks Ziv! With the added month, I'll definitely be doing more work to put up.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

In Progress

Here's my latest going along the same theme as my last piece. This one is still to be determined finish, but its at a resting state where I can share it. Can you guess who my model was? She looks a lot different now with her new hair cut.

It is 24 x 24 in., just like the last one.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Colorado

I spent the beginning of July in Colorado, visiting Casey's family and seeing what all the fuss was about. Now I'm spreading the fuss. Colorado is beautiful and I'm glad we were there to experience the warm and the rain.

We got in on the 29th and spent the day with a driving tour of downtown Denver and indulging in some good Thai and Indian food. The following day, we drove out to visit Casey's grandparents and continued on to Morrison, where the Red Rocks live.

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 following day, Casey and I drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to go camping and to see the Rockies. We camped out for a night, taking a few day hikes and toughing out thunderstorms.

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.

After exploring the city, we met up with the family for an awesome baseball game - my first professional game (at least that I can remember). SF Giants vs The Rockies. I subtly cheered for the Giants, not being much of a baseball fan, where as Casey's sister and her boyfriend boastfully relished in the Giants win, 11-8.

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.

After the game, being the day before the 4th of July, there was an awesome fireworks show. It really was an experience to see fireworks in a stadium, almost 50,000 full, celebrating independence day.

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.

We spent our last day checking out some last sights and having a picnic in the park.

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.

Just as a closing, if you ever visit Denver, there is an awesome ice cream show on the corner of Ohio and University called Bonnie Brea. Needless to say, we had more than a couple visits.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Work in Progress

It's been a while since my last post. This was due in part to my camera breaking and not being able to get any pictures up. I got a new one though and it is an amazing piece of technology. I'm still getting a grasp on using it (I'm not used to having so much control over my point-and-shoot) and will definitely have some good pictures up soon. The other part for not posting was that I was spending a good amount of time brainstorming on ideas to develop into a body of work, a part of my process that I'm learning takes up a good amount of time and head space. Things are a bit clearer now and I'm just about finished with my first piece.

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.

Tomorrow Casey and I are going to Colorado! Time for some warmth, some mountains and some chill time. I'm definitely going to put my cameras to the test.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Artist Xchange June Show

I'm part of the Artist Xchange's June show! The last two pieces I've posted (the bus and the building) are up along with a bunch of really talented artists' take on the city. If you're around the Mission, check out the work! It's up until the end of the month.

The Artist Xchange
3169 16th Street (at Gurrerro)
Open daily: 1-7 PM

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

5-Fulton

Since I've moved to San Francisco, I've used public transportation more than I ever have. And the bus I use the most is hands down the 5, which drops me off conveniently two blocks away from my house. Continuing with images from the city, and this particular image taken by Casey, here's my latest.

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.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Busy May

The first half of this month has been a busy one. First off, Tango Gelato has been a great spot for my art. I've sold a couple paintings already, one of which is:

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.

During the weekdays, I've been working on new paintings for a group show in June at the Artist Xchange. More on that towards the end of this entry though. I've also been busy painting my buddy Shain's new apartment, making some dough while catching up on music listening. The past couple weekends have been pretty exciting, and also very cheap!

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.

This past weekend was Bay to Breakers, an annual seven mile run from one end of the city to the other aka from the Bay to the ocean, where the waves break..ers. Anyway, it is partly that, but mostly just another reason for everyone to party in the city. People dress up, or dress down, build floats, throw house parties and consume a ton of alcoholic beverages for this thing, bright and early on a Sunday. And I thought nothing could get city dwellers up on a Sunday morning.

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.

We quickly went home and changed into normal clothes. Then hopped on a bus, missed our stop, walked uphill in Potrero for about 8 blocks before hitch hiking to a free Port O'Brian show. This one, like the Dodos, greeted us with free coffee and a Verizon advertisement.

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.

As I said earlier, I've been working on some new stuff. New, both because I'm doing it right now, and also due to the subject matter. The theme for the show is San Francisco. The folks at the Artist Xchange invited me back for this group show if I had work that reflected the theme. Being that I never painting buildings, I didn't have work just yet, so I decided to make some. Here is my first finished one:

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.