Tomato & Persimmon

Tomato & Persimmon

10 1/8" x 7 1/2"

Oil, Latex Paint, Marker on Masonite Panel

Contemporary Portraiture Class

Hi everyone, I'm excited to announce I'll be teaching a class that covers methods in contemporary portraiture at Minneapolis College of Art and Design through their Continuous Education department.  This class is open to the public and you can sign up by clicking here.

Lemon Plums

Lemon Plums

8" x 10"

Oil, Latex Paint on Masonite Panel

With this painting, I wanted to experiment with contemporary shapes with a classical still life. How the two converge in one picture plane. 

Thank you for stopping by and viewing my painting!

VOTE!

Siempre En Movimiento

2017

Acrylic, Latex Paint, Color Pencil, Marker and Oil on Canvas

30 x 40 inches

Hi everyone, I have been very busy, per usual, in getting ready for shows and completing commissions. My painting Siempre En Movimiento has been accepted into the XL Catlin Art Competition and will travel part of the show to San Francisco Art Institute, then to Chicago at the Linda Warren Projects Gallery, and finishing at the New York Academy of Art. You can get more information about the competition and show by clicking here.  

My painting, Siempre En Movimiento, is currently up for an audience aware on their Instagram page. All you have to do is like the painting. If you have Instagram go to @xlcatlinartprize and my painting should show up as their latest post. You can only like the painting between today8/16 and tomorrow 8/17. I appreciate all your help. Spread the work if you can, the more the better!

Thank you, everyone! 

Classical Still Life

Still Life

2018

Oil on Masonite

24 x 18 in

I've just completed a still life commission for a local interior design firm. It was such a great experience working with them. They gave me this beautiful frame to fill in, even before I started the painting. I felt a little pressure in making the painting as good looking as the frame is. As soon as I got the panel cut to size, I finished the painting with the frame attached to it. This was normal for 19-century painters to do, they could see how the finished painting would appear within the frame. I can say it helped a lot when determining if I was done or not. 

I hope everyone enjoyed this one, thank you for stopping by!

June Portrait Challenge

Hello everyone! Its been a while since I last posted, a million apologies for neglecting this platform. A lot of things have happened since my last post. I've graduated from graduate school (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and have my MFA in visual studies in painting and drawing. It's been a whirlwind since graduating which is the reason why I've been absent from posting so much. 

After graduating I was burned out from all the hard work with my thesis (I will post my thesis paintings on the next one). I hadn't drawn much through my thesis and only painted for the most part. I wanted to get back to drawing and was thinking of ways to do it other than just doodling in my sketchbook. I decided to set a challenge for myself, one that I didn't think would be possible, to draw thirty portraits in the month of June all done in ballpoint pen. Essentially drawing one portrait a day, no matter how bad it was by the end of the day I had to be done and ready to post it. I asked all my followers from my social media community to submit their pictures, from there I was able to start the challenge. I wanted to get to know my online community better and see how this challenge brought us closer. It's a step in the right direction post-thesis work, I want to see how far I can push this idea of an online community and how we can know each other better rather than just clicking a thumbs up button. Still a work in progress but I have the wheels turning and that's important.

The drawings you see in this post is from all the portraits I completed in the month of June. Again completed only using a ballpoint pen in sketchbook paper. This challenge has taught me so much, I challenge everyone who reads this to push yourself with your work. Create challenges to make you feel uncomfortable, it's a very good thing to not feel sure what the hell you're doing. I can go on and on and on about everything I learned and why you should set goals for yourself, I think the work speaks for itself. 

Thanks for stopping by and viewing my work!

Studio Sweet Potato

Studio Sweet Potato

2017

Oil on Masonite

10 1/8 x 7 1/2 in

Hello everyone! It has been a really, really, really, really long time since I have done an alla prima painting. I used to do these on a daily basis, I decided to get back on the wagon again last night and went straight for it, 8 hours later I was done! I'm paying for it today being so tired but it was totally worth it. There is something about challenging yourself to finish a painting in one session. You have to consider the surface area you're working on, how oils react to the smooth surface and how you have to manipulate it to come out looking the way you intended it to. There are a lot of bumps along the way but in the end, there is a satisfying feeling that you reached your goal. The other reason I enjoy alla prima painting, it forces you to really pay close attention to your methods of painting. I'm constantly revising the way I paint certain sections and if it works well then I apply it to other areas, due to time constraints it's trial by error and I enjoy the errors. 

This sweet potato I intended to paint many months ago. Initially, I was attracted to it due to the curvy snake-like body, I have never seen one like it. After not painting it for quite some time, roots sprouted from the tip. I kept looking at it every day when I would go to the studio, I knew at some point I would paint it and that point was last night. Usually, after I paint a vegetable or fruit I eat it, this time I decided to bring the sweet potato back to the studio and keep it there. I enjoy having it there while I paint away, I'm intrigued to know how many roots will sprout and how long will they get.  

I went to home depot and got 56 masonite panels cut in various sizes, I felt like a kid on Christmas day, and the best part it was all under 7 dollars (Home Depot cuts wood for free). I gessoed the canvas and sanded it down to a smooth finish, I repeated this about four times until it was right. After letting it dry for a day, I tinted the gessoed masonite board with raw umber and mineral spirits. I let this dry for a day as well.

I started by drawing with raw umber and no mediums. I did not use any mediums throughout the entirety of the painting. It was a minimal amount of paint sort of like a dry brush technique. After the drawing was complete, I started lightly painting it the sprouted roots. I make sure to not put a lot of paint on the brush, the idea is to build up to your key values. Think of it as drawing with a pencil, the amount of sensitivity you have to it determines the value you'll create.

Once the sprouted roots were complete, I moved onto the body of the sweet potato. This was challenging in its own way. I started with the darks and build up to the lights. Again it is important to stress I do not start with a lot of paint on the brush, I build up to the value and texture I am going for.

After the body was completed and I stepped away from it for a bit, I thought I was actually going to bed because I was so tired and it was already 2:30 in the morning, I decided to complete the painting and start on the wooden board.  Pushing through it was great, I am very happy I was able to conjure up some energy to complete the painting.

This was a lot of fun to complete in such a short period of time. I hope you enjoyed this painting and the journey I took to complete it. Thanks for stopping by!

Leonardo

Leonardo

2018

Ball Point Pen on Paper

4" x 5"

Hi everyone! I've been super busy with being a new dad and a second/final year of graduate school. It's been a wild ride but one that I've enjoyed more than I would have expected. I have been posting more on Instagram, you can follow my account by clicking here. I have this ballpoint pen drawing up for sale. You can bid on it by leaving a comment on the post. Bidding will end on 2/22 at 5pm CST.  You guys can also see new paintings I have been working on that talks about identity and the Latin community.  

Thanks for stopping by!