WonderlandSF

This Friday, I will be showing this new painting at WonderlandSF's 3 Year Anniversary show.  A few serendipitous events over the last week and a half got me into this show.  It's a bit of old meets new in this one and is my interpretation of "Wonderland," at least my interpretation in less than a week.  I'm really stoked with this and I hope it shows well on Friday.  If anyone is reading this that is in the Bay Area, you should go check it out along with the other amazing pieces that will be up:

Friday, May 17 6-10PM
Wonderland SF
2929 24th Street., (Between Alabama and Florida)

Zion

A couple weeks ago, I reunited with some college friends in Zion National Park.  It's a trip that has been on our minds for a long time and a break that all of us were eagerly looking forward to.  Located in southern Utah, Zion is a desert landscape with huge rock formations, terraces, canyons and about a billion wild sage bushes.  Here's our trip in a nut shell.  

The above picture is Angels Landing, a rock formation measuring 1,488 ft and about a mile above sea level.  This was the first hike we did. 

I took a bunch of pictures on the way up, but most of them were just less impressive versions of this shot, taken near the top.  Even though I knew I had already gotten good shots of this, it was hard to stop myself from taking so many pictures.  It was unbelievably magnificent.

This landscape definitely was new to me with all the rust, mustard, brown and pale greens pitted against the almost turquoise blue sky.  

This is a look from the top on the other side of Angels Landing.   Being pretty uncomfortable with heights, I was tempted and challenged with all the great sights below and the intense vantage point.  But I feel like I overcame some of my fear on this trip, willingly getting close to edges to see what was below.

Here is an almost complete group shot at the top. You can probably tell by now that we had some pretty nice weather.

Here is Casey at the top.  I always find it hard to get a spacial feel in photos like this, but the tiny little trees on the rocks across gives you some perspective.  

Angels Landing, along with most of the other well visited sights of the park is located on the east side.  We rented a house on the west side of the park atop a terrace, where very few people visit.  We were lucky to be so isolated and have a lot of the park to ourselves. 

Here is a shot of a rock formation right outside our house.  It is literally a 15 minute hike away and probably another 10 minutes to a very cool lookout. 

From our lookout, you can see where the terrance ends and drops off.  You can also see another rock formation very close to our house.

From where I took the last picture, if you turn left, you can see the landscape below the terrace.  Almost every evening one group went to this lookout for the sunset.  I think contemplative, peaceful and humbling are words that can start to describe the feeling of being up there. 

This is our friend Nico, the daredevil whose threshold for fear baffled us all, looking over the edge of a rock that he jumped across to get to.  We were all temped to join him, but realized there wasn't a clear way of getting down.

Last shot from the lookout at dusk.   

About a mile north of our house were rocks with caves!  

You can see the entrance to one of the caves we explored on the left.

Here is a look up from the entrance of that same cave.  It's a short, narrow path through rocks to get to the cave, which has a small opening inside to the sky.

To really appreciate the cave, you have to climb up a short, somewhat steep incline to get a nice view.  There was probably a good amount more of the cave we didn't see as that climb was a bit beyond our capabilities.

The second cave we saw was a trip to past.

THIS is a cave drawing in the second cave.  Hank, the owner of the property we were staying on, told us that these were probably drawn over 800 years ago.  800!  It is hard for me to wrap my head around that much time.

Here are some shots of the ceiling of that cave.

This looks like a horizontal shot, but it's actually looking straight up.  To the left is the entrance of the cave with some reflected light on the right.  The colors were amazing.

This is another shot looking straight up.  All of the black you see is carbon from the years of fires that warmed these ancient people in the cave.  

I think the thing that most captured me in Zion was the light.  Near dusk, you could look at a rockface and see it change with the moving light, exposing new features and creating new colors.  The sky, with its fluffy clouds, changed shape and color constantly.

On one day in particular, the light that entered the house was too perfect.  It felt like we were on a highly stylized movie set.

This is Richmond, finding some dramatic light while enjoying a cold one.

 Here is a shot from our house, looking across to all of these amazing rocks and their layers.

You can't really tell from what I've said here that we all had a ton of fun.  We were adventurous, free, silly and relaxed; the perfect combination for a reunion of friends.

Continuing with my current infatuation with birds of prey, I've painted a couple more.  I'm super stoked with both of these and happy to say that they both had some viewing time with the public.

Norhter Goshawk, 24" x 36", oil on canvas.  Recently, I had a few of my paintings hanging at the Ian Ross Gallery as part of their group show for Keep Tahoe Blue.  This was the last one I painted before they got on the walls.

Osprey.  28" x 36", oil on canvas.  This one was a commission and probably one of my favorites.  

Speaking of birds, I saw this crow the other day hanging out on the landing of my neighbors stairs.  I caught this show right before I scared it off, trying to get a cool in-flight shot.  Didn't get that one..

More Birds!

Two Saturdays ago I had a small art showing at Darwin Cafe.  It was pretty well attended and a great opportunity to show the new paintings I've been working on.  I don't know how I managed to do this, but I didn't take one photo of the night and have yet to find one.  But I have witnesses that can attest to the event happening.  Anyhow, it was really great exposure and they are still up until Friday.  

Here are a few new paintings that are on the walls now.

 American Kestrel, 25" x 20" oil on canvas.

 Puffin, 8" x 19.5" oil on canvas

Great Horned Owl, 36" x 36" oil on canvas.

It was really nice getting such immediate feedback on the new work.  The Puffin was hands down the favorite.

BIRDS!

During the last week of last year and the first week of this year, my muse paid me a visit and I did some painting.  It felt good having some momentum and I'm still riding it.  Here are the fruits of my labor.  More to surely come soon!

Black Shouldered Kite, 40" x 30"

Grey Gryfalcon, 30" x 40"

Snow Owl (horrible picture, but you get the jist) 40" x 38"

Flowers

I did a few paintings recently for a holiday commission.  They were a lot of fun to work on, especially since time was limited and I had to paint fast.  It had been a while since I painted for hours at a time and it was nice to get back into it.  I got a chance to do a few paintings this past week and will post soon.  

Catch Up

The past few months has been so busy and here is my weak attempt to catch up.  

Over the Thanksgiving break, I went home to see my cousin (first of my generation) get married.  I didn't bring my camera, but the ceremony was great.  It was full of emotion, laughs and a bunch of inappropriate jokes.  

Most of my time home was spent surfing and eating, but on one of the days, I went on a little photo excursion in Kaneohe.  It was nice to spend some time on that side as that's where I grew up.

We got up at the but crack of dawn and headed to Kaneohe bay.   I was super stoked on the pictures I took there, but this one I like.

After the bay, we headed to Ho'omaluhia for some nature shots.  Originally, I really just wanted to get pictures of the Ko'olaus, the mountain range that separates Kaneohe from town, but I got a lot better shots of things close up.

I think the best part about walking around the park was getting to see things so familiar and beautiful from my perspective of being removed.  A few years ago, I probably would have just walked past this magnificent tree trapped with vines.

Hibiscus.   It's the state flower for a reason and in bloom all year.

 I'm lucky to have gotten this shot.  With a little help from Lightroom (Thanks Mom!) this one came out better than I had hoped.

We also went to the Japanese temple and Valley of the Temple. I was, as usual, more interested in the wild life.

Koi of all sizes and colors.   They are definitely conditioned to swarm when they see someone standing on the edge as they sell food to feed the fish.  I wonder if they think we are god, feeding them abundantly...

Here's a little pigeon, hoping for some of the fish food to miss the water.  

Black swan.  I got really lucky on this one too, with the depth of the water and the strong angular light.

Later that night, Mom had a few tricks to teach me with my camera.  Every Friday, the Hilton sets off fire works, which you can see perfectly from Magic Island.  

I took so many that is was hard to find a favorite, but I this one is up there.  I can't wait for new years to use what I learned again.

Here is a shot of Waikiki from the harbor.  Fun note, to the right of this scene is a surf spot named Bowls, which is where I learned to surf and was stubbornly loyal to, until everyone else got a board.

Last shot of home.  This is a view from Mom's apartment.  I think I might just find it a nice pictures because it looks a lot like something one of my favorite artists would paint.  Kim Cogan - look him up!

Of course, the last few months were filled with live music.  It always seems like fall is when all the bands come to San Francisco.  I didn't always have a camera on me, or at least not my good one, so here are a few.

Blasted Canyons played at Bay Brewed, an awesome music and beer festival put on my the amazing Bay Bridged.  

This is the guitarist from Bloc Party.  Not much to see, but it was cool to get this calm shot with the heavy music they were playing.

Bear in Heaven.  They played the Bay Brewed as well.  I love their music and am a huge fan, but the guy kind of creeps me out.