life drawing

I have such a gigantic stack of life drawings that these days I measure it by the pound. I love drawing from life... it's a record of my life, a present witness of the people and places I've looked at and been to. Here's a few recent picks randomly pulled from the pile under my coffee table. If I could find a market for these works, I'd be a millionaire! Even if I only sold them for a few hundred bucks a pop. AHAHAHA!

the little Sacred Heart landscapes were a big hit at the show that the school held on Thursday Mar 29th... red dots all the way, I was told they sold before they were hung and the CAC told me I must raise my prices! Cool beans. ^_^

I've been working on pieces for a May deadline of a show themed around the San Gabriel Valley... I'll certainly enter the Descanso Gardens painting and there's the painting of Santa Anita Racetrack that's coming along (see here). Along that same line I've started some sketches of bars around the racetrack for a nice interior. Today I visited three bars on Huntington Drive, the Drinkers Hall of Fame (great name!), the First Cabin, and 100 to 1. I liked 100 to 1 the best and will try to make a painting about that bar. Check for future posts. In the meantime here's a sketch of a different bar called Bar 107 (aka 'Old Style')

sacred heart

Today I painted to 6" by 8" oils at a California Art Club sponsored 'paint-out' at the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. It's really a beautiful campus at the top of the mountain with 360 degree views of the San Gabriel Valley and amazing architecture! In the morning it was overcast so the light and key was subdued and then in the afternoon the sun broke through the clouds. I like the varying light of the two paintings. But I must say that after working large lately, usually around 2 by 4 feet, working 6 by 8 inches felt like I was painting a postage stamp! Still, working that size has it's advantages as you don't have to worry about detail.

cherry trees 2

I was back on location at 9am at Descanso Gardens today and managed to paint this picture. It was overcast all day but it didn't matter, the scene was gorgeous. I pulled out all the stops and was painting with sea sponges, shaving brushes, crumpled wads of paper towel and of course painting brushes too!

cherry trees

I went to Descanso Gardens March 7th and did a drawing of the Japanese tea house and environs: the flora, the orange bridge, the stream. At that time the cherry trees were budding but hadn't blossomed. When one of the gardeners walked by I asked when he thought they might bloom and he said within 2 to 3 weeks. Well, I went by today and they are bursting forth! I already have a canvas prepared and am going to go first thing tomorrow and paint it! Tuesday there is rain expected so it's a must to go Monday. I tell you spring has me at full speed...

Avon St. 2 (work in progress)

This morning I went back to the corner of Avon and Baxter with the mobile acrylic painting kit and a 36 by 24 canvas with the drawing already layed in, like Vincent would have done, and had a blast slapping color all over the place.... I like how it's turned out... I really tried to get that back-lit sunny feeling and I think it came off pretty good. A little noodling here and there and the piece is done... ...today is Monday. I've updated the picture since I've worked on it a little putting in some details. Trying to make it look effortless (which sometimes actually takes a lot of time!) related link: click here

nathan rules

Here's a drawing from yesterday at the Hive gallery. Nathan, proprietor, invited the permanent artists to hang out all day during the art walk and do their thing, meet and greet, hand out cards, drink beer, socialize, etc. It was a great time and a neat opportunity to interface with the collecting public! So here's Nathan at work at the computer during a quiet moment at 2pm in the afternoon. Good to see you tonight; love what you do Nathan!

art shows

Two art shows this weekend I wanted to let everyone know about:

I'm in a small group art show in conjunction with a play titled the Empty Bed at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theater. The reception for the art show is Friday, March 9th from 6:30pm to 8pm. Their address is 5636 Melrose Ave. 90038 (1/2 block east of Larchmont Bl.) The theme of the play, which is very heavy and dark, is appropriate for some of my work from a few years back which was very solitary and dense. I'm showing pieces from the motel and stripper series. goto www.paduaplaywrights.net for more info about the play...

Then on Saturday, March 10th I'm in a big group show themed "Where is LA?" at the downtown gallery Hangar1018 (www.hangar1018.com). The reception goes from 8pm to midnight and their address is 1018 Santa Fe Ave. 90021 . These events get really packed and are always fun. I'll be showing two or three urban landscapes at this one, see the picture for those pieces...

dirty sanchez

Here's model Marissa Gomez dressed up as Annie Oakley at the Friday painting workshop at Art Center (BTW the wikipedia article about Annie is great... what a life and what a woman!! It's a recommended read). The painting is 36 by 18 and acrylic, the painting medium of champions; if you ever want any secrets or tips, e-mail me and I'd be happy to point the way. I read an article in the New York Times recently about the restoration of contemporary art over the past 60 years and they have found that thick solid acrylic paint layers are lasting the test of time very well! Even better than oil paint layers over the same period of time. And if you're an impressionist at heart like me, who cares about the medium?? It's all about the value and color and their arrangement on canvas!!

Funny thing about this painting, over the long break when I was out of the room, the model painted a green "dirty sanchez" moustache and goatee on the painting. But when I came back from the break I was so absorbed in resolving the lower half of the painting, which was only barely sketched in, that I didn't even notice the big green moustache on the painting until a good ten or fifteen minutes into the sitting. I was wondering why Marissa was chuckling during the pose but then all a sudden "DUH!!" I noticed the vandalism and I painted it out in two seconds. That was FUNNY!!! We collaborated and the painting turned out fine! AHAHAAHAHAH!!!

Avon St

I went tramping around Echo Park today and found the corner of Avon and Baxter. On the google map link, I'm looking southwest. The light at 10am is great with the sun right behind the mountain and the grasses backlit and really bright green with lots of deep shadows and strong contrast. That's how I plan to paint the color, but this is the line drawing which I did this afternoon so it's all about the placement. I like this alot and plan to paint it 48 by 30. related link: click here