super saturated kitten power

I was asked to paint something for a cat theme show and at first I thought I was going to take some photos of friends or neighbors cats but it didn't pan out, I'm not the best photographer, so I went to the internet for inspiration instead. I started searching for kittens, cute, painting, etc and picked my favorite image to emulate and do my own version of. I went for the most intense colors I could manage, it's two layers of thick opaque painterly acrylic establishing the overall composition and then a rich oil glaze layer to boost the color saturation to the max. I had an old frame that I'd never used and was taking up space in my garage so I cut it down to fit this canvas, I think it's a perfect super-saturated addition to a cute-juice concentrate painting... mixed media on canvas, 22 by 28

live painting at the mezz

Last night I was at the Mezz inside the Alexandria Hotel in downtown Los Angeles painting 20 minute portraits for an event called Clusterfunk. I found four folks willing to put up with my nonsense, had a nice crowd of people watching and lots of fans. I used acrylic on these which is it's own challenge but the upside is they were dry by the end of the night. actually the difference between acrylic and oil, when painting alla prima and very impasto, is very slight... it's the same bicycle! acrylic on panel, 12 by 9

jumbo's clown room

I was at Jumbo's for a birthday party and brought my sketchbook so of course I had to doodle. You can't have cameras in there so this is a composite of drawings with digitally painted lighting. I drew the interior of the bar on one page, and then filled another page with gestures of the girls dancing knowing I could add the best one in photoshop later. It was challenging to get a sketch that made any sense of the girls in motion. Hey, they said Delacroix could draw someone falling from a third story building before they hit the ground, so anything is possible! It's a nice moody piece, I like how it came out!

random

I've been doing a lot of random things lately, and some drawing, I thought I'd post a few things for the internet to see... I'm trying to get my drawing a little more in my painting... chocolate in my peanut butter! I want to do a series of paintings of burning buildings for some reason, so here's a start to that. Also I'm in a cat theme show so that explains the kitties!

the napoleon house

this rainy weather has got me getting caught up with painting to do in the studio... here's how the painting of the Napoleon House in New Orleans turned out. It's been cropped down a few inches from the original canvas I brought to the bar and started on, but I think the composition is improved because of it! it has a nice cool key that is markedly different from the Columns or Antoine's. oil on canvas, 16 by 28

the columns

I've been painting away on the piece from the Columns Hotel in New Orleans, adding a density of paint, some figures, I'm really pleased how it's come out! It's a very low-key painting, I've never used so much burnt umber and burnt sienna before but it's in a rembrandt-y key so it works. It makes it a bit tough to photograph but it the color comes across ok... I like the warm, quiet mood. oil on canvas, 24 by 20