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.

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.

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.

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.