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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.