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.

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.

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.