Previous Portrait...

This is a portrait I previously posted, I have been practicing with this portrait for the past couple of days. I still do not think this is a good photo but for now it'll do.  Its fun experimenting with different techniques with this painting, and will still be hacking away at it!

Adam's Portrait...

I started this quick portrait sketch of my friend Adam with charcoal to get the proportions right.

Once I got the sketch right I start with the wash in with a raw umber, I model my forms in a monochromatic way with raw umber.

Once I feel the shapes are modeled right and it has the feel that I want I went in and covered the background in Ivory black.  The mediums I used was Linseed Oil and Dammar Varnish, which I will next time just use a little of Linseed instead of using both Dammar and Linseed.

When the background is done I went in and started playing with colors on the portrait, which is the fun part.

I used very little Linseed Oil and primarily did this in two sessions.  Hope you enjoyed!

"Pear"

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"Pear"

9 x 12 inches

Oil on Panel

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Daily Painting in 5 hours

   This is a Daily Painting of mine that took 5 hours to paint in total.  I started with the drawing/painting in burnt umber, then I go into the darks .  I first worry about the big form enthen rough in the correct color pallete.  After the big shapes are turning right I then move into the smaller shapes.  In a nutshell thats what went in the making of this quick painting.

3 hour portrait painting...

This is a painting I did in 3 hours, the night before I drank a lot of Coca-Cola and could not sleep well.  I usually don't drink soda but when I go out with friends I wanna stay up so coke does the trick for me.  I woke up and just decided that I just wanna paint and be as loose as I can be, it was a lot of fun to do, but very tiring when you start seeing the sun come up.

Ball point pen drawing!

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"Presidents"

7 x 10 in

Ball Point Pen

This is a ball point pen drawing that I did for a buddy of mine that really likes these guys.  They're names are starting with the obvious George Washington, Henry Knox, and Nathaneal Greene.  It was a challenge doing this drawing, first I have never done more than one portrait on a page.  Getting their likenesses was also a little challenging, my process with ballpoint pen to continue with the other post, is that I just dive into the drawing without doing any prep work, I start with really light lines or guidelines to show me the right measurements.  Once that's layed out I go into the darks, or at times I just concentrate on sections of the drawing bringing to an almost finish look enthen move onto the next.  Once I have the whole drawing harmonized and the tones are right, I go in and blend what needs further blending and bring it to a finish. Doing ball point pen is very challenging, I view it as doing charcoal drawings. If you have the right control then it becomes much easier to manipulate the tones.  Hope you enjoy!

Murals in Washington D.C.

Beginning stages of the "Ponte Vecchio" mural...

Finished details of the "Ponte Vecchio"

This is the other side of the restaurant, where I did the second mural...

These are photos of two murals I did in Washington D.C. for a restaurant that's opening in Febraury, 2010.  The whole idea behind the murals in relation to the restaurant, is to bring the customers back to Florence, Italy.  On one side of the restaurant you'll be looking outside and see the "ponte vecchio" and on the other side you will see a normal street in Florence that has the two original restaurants that the owners opened in Florence, and also a regular apartment door that you'll find in Italy.  The wall also has the two street names, in which the restaurants are located in.  This mural was a lot of fun to do, I  have not done anything with spray paints in a really long time, so in the beginning it was a little nerve racking, but after ten minutes it came back too me.  I occasionally used a brush for the really small details, so when I finished the mural I went back and sealed it with a varnish.  I had the owner of the restaurant there for the majority of the process and he gave me good ideas along the way in which improved the mural.  I thank him for helping me and giving me the opportunity to do such a fun project! hope you enjoy!

The process...

This is a ball point pen drawing that I am currently working on, I wanted too share with you guys the beginnig process. I basically start with the darks, enthen move onto the midtones and slowly move into the lighter tones.

Van Dyke

Pen and ink

My Friend painting and me painting him!

I am currently in Boston at my friends, we just had a great gallery opening! This is me painting my friend while he's painting a landscape. These types of paintings I love doing because of their fluid gesture strokes! I hope to be getting more into these types of paintings

Art show opening on the 15th of October!

Hi Everyone!  sorry for the long absence...I have been in Europe traveling and seeing the wonderful museums and paintings!  Its very hard to be back home when I just wanna be in Paris right now! soon enough!  I wanted to let you guys know that I am having a show with a friend of mine in Providence, RI.  We are having our show at the www.royalgalleryri.com/ If anyone wants to come by the directions are on their website.  Here are my paintings that'll be in the show.  Enjoy!

"Tangerines"

This is another daily painting that I did of two tangerines.  It was a lot of fun to do and how quick it came out too.  I can not wait to take better pics of this with a better camera, hopefully you can somewhat make out the true colors.  I will be traveling for a bit I am gonna try to put new works while I travel, but not guaranteeing anything.  I am running a marathon this Sunday in Berlin, Germany.  So I am really excited about that and prepping hard for it!  Till then, take care!

"Morning Midst"

This is another of my daily paintings that I am starting to do more and more.  They are so much fun to do.  Its great practice in so many ways.  I have also done another little video to go along with it (you can view the video on the sidebar of the blog).  I am pushing myself to do more and more of daily paintings, I think its a great thing to do, and one can learn so much of it.  This painting was also done here in Zug, Switzerland.  Its a pretty muted palette but at the same time there are many colors that are being harmonized, its a pretty tricky painting to execute but a lot of fun to do and learning.  The picture does not show to much of the colors that are in the right of the foreground, kind of looks all dark with little subtleties but it has light greenish blues and some yellows too.  Enjoy!!!

Beyond the Hills

This painting was a lot of fun to do, first I made a little video to go with it (you can view the video on the side bar of this blog) Which was fun to do never done that before. The scenary is just beautiful here in Switzerland, the mountains and the clouds have so much character too them. The colors here are also so vibrant. I tried keeping this painting looser than what I usually do, keeping the juicy gesture strokes that I usually blend away (bad habit).  I plan to take a better pic when I get back home... Enjoy!!!

Still Life

I did this still life a while ago but it's nice to see it in person again. I just arrived in Switzerland, Zug to be exact. The city is just an amazing, every where looks like a painting I can not wait to start painting these landscapes and sharing it with you guys!

Sketches at the airport...

Ted Kennedy R.I.P.

I have posted this pen and ink before, I find it fitting to re-post it.  May he rest in peace...

Still life

This painting is part of a whole new series of still lifes I'm doing for an upcoming show I'm doing with a good friend of mine.

New pen and ink...

This is in the very early stages!

The paintings at the show

These are just some of the paintings at the show in Minneapolis. With this show I was going for something different in regards to technique and also doing new types of paintings such plein air paintings. Plein air is such a delight to do, I truly enjoyed diving into it. Enjoy!