"Semblance" Art Opening

(Putting the finishing touches a couple minutes before the opening)

This past weekend was the opening of "Semblance" my first solo art show at the Fox Tax Gallery. It was such an amazing time to have so many people come out and see the work I have been producing.  A special thank you to Fox Tax Gallery for giving me the opportunity in showing at their beautiful gallery and thank you to everyone that came out and made that evening a special one to remember.

With this show I wanted to push my paintings in a new direction. I wanted to explore the boundaries of modern art that is influenced by colors and patterns and see if it can sustain with a classical/neo classical figure. The figures were kept in a classical pose with patterns and bold colors intersecting through out the body and background. I was definitely not in familiar territory when producing these paintings which also made it more exciting to create. I think as artist we must always evolve and see how far we can challenge ourselves. For me the challenge was going outside my comfort zone of painting still life's and figures and try to produce a body of work that is unique, original and speaks to me.

The other half of the show was dedicated to ball point pen drawings. They are unique in their own right and thought having them with my paintings was only a natural thing to do. I wanted to draw people with beards for the most part, I have a fascination of interesting faces with cool mustaches or crazy looking beards. Either way its destined to produce an interesting drawing...hopefully.  Ball point pen drawings have always been a form of practice for me, I can't always carry a brush and paint everywhere I go so drawing with a pen has been the closest thing.  I never really thought of showing these in the past until my wife saw them and thought it would be a good idea to start showing them.  These drawings I made for the show were a lot of fun as some of these models were found locally at shops or people I ran into in the streets. The drawings were as fun to produce as the paintings were.

(This night before the opening.)

As you can see from the picture above, I mixed the drawings with the paintings as far as set up goes. This gave a good flow from one drawing to one painting. The following pictures are in order how it was set up in the show.

"The Bearded Lady"

Ball Point Pen

"Darling"

Oil on Linen

"Ultra Man"

Ball Point Pen

"Logic & Belief"

Oil on Linen

"Curly"

Ball Point Pen

"Catching Light"

Oil on Linen

"Seiler"

Ball Point Pen

"Ivan Kramskoy Study"

Ball Point Pen

"Lady Sublime"

Oil on Linen

"Ruben & Ribera Study"

Ball Point Pen

"Technicolor"

Oil on Linen

"Prismatic Repose"

Oil on linen

"Ruffles"

Ball Point Pen

"Hypnos"

Oil on Linen

"Old Sport"

Ball Point Pen

I wanted to say a special thank you to my beautiful wife. The person who helped me with my work in improving them with her sharp eye and constructive critiques, I can not imagine the results without her.  The person who made sure I didn't have to worry about anything else other than getting ready for the show.  She is truly the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am really blessed to have her by my side. Thank you!

Back on Etsy

Sold

My paintings are back on Etsy, I have done a horrible job on putting them up for sale. Take a browse by clicking here, its free to browse.  I am working on a lot of projects right now and will be able to share shortly what I have been up to. Till then happy painting!

Bouquet Peonies

Sold

"Bouquet Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Art Show

"The Gypsy Life"

36 x 48 in

Oil on Canvas

There was a great show this past weekend that I was lucky to be a part of. I showed two new pieces and four older ones. I collaborated with three new pieces as well. It was a lot of work getting ready for this show but worth every moment of it. Here is a great video showcasing opening night of the show and artworks from the other participating artist.

This painting I hold very dear to my heart. I have been wanting to execute this one for about 9 years. Its a story I came up with when living in Florence, Italy. Narrative paintings have always been a direction I wanted to go with. Telling a story and connecting with the viewer with my paintings is something I am getting into and very excited about. 

Closer view of the "The Gypsy Life"

"Eve"

35 x 25 

Oil on Linen

Sorry for the bad picture of this one and of "The Gypsy Life", I am in process of getting these professionally shot. 

The space the event was held at is called "Architectural Antiques". Great venue with so much rich history with every antique item. There was also a band playing while the show was going on. These pictures were taken the day after the opening, I did not have time to take photos of the show on opening night due to how busy it was.

My ball point pen drawings.

This was the space leading to the other side where the bar was and more art work was embedded with surrounding antiques.

Entrance to the show.

One of the main rooms with a couple pieces from Peter Geyen. 

This was one of the collaboration pieces Peter Geyen and I worked on. I did the painting and Peter completed the sculptures on top. Always great to work with Peter on these projects. 

"Cutting Board"

16 x 20 in

Oil on Canvas

I painted this one about a year ago and finally got it framed. Was excited to show it with the frame for the show.

Another piece Peter and I worked on together. I drew the portrait in oil pastels and Peter completed the rest.

This one was another piece Peter and I completed. I completed the drawing in charcoal on MDF board. What I enjoy about working with Peter is always trying different mediums and different ideas that push me as an artist. 

The show was so much fun to be a part of, by the end of opening night I had no voice and extremely exhausted. Thank you to everyone that made it out and made it such a great event. I am looking forward to many more.

Cheers!

Art Show Opening

Ball point pen gestures in my sketchbook.

Its been a long time since I posted. I have been very busy with prepping for a big show coming up. I will be participating in a great show with three other artist in Minneapolis. The show is on May 9, 2015 from 5 - 10 pm. You can find out more details on http://www.neartshowcase.com/ . I am very excited for two new paintings I have produced for this show. I am showing a total of 6 pieces and 4 - 5 collaboration paintings. I have been experimenting a new approach to painting with the new direction I am going for. I have wanted to do narrative paintings for a long time and have finally dove into it. Doing this has slowed down my production with daily paintings, but it is something I needed to do in order to progress my artistic voice. I will go into depth more of the technique I have been exploring with and the reasoning why once I upload photos of the paintings after the show. The paintings for now are under wraps until the show. For now I sharing my gesture drawings from my figure drawing class I teach and some gestures I have done in my sketchbook.

Gesture demo's for my figure drawing class. These were done in graphite.

Drawing of the model while she was on a break between poses.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you at the show. Here is the info again,  http://www.neartshowcase.com/ 

Etsy Shop

Click here to purchase through my Etsy store

"Dusk"

4 x 6 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

Hi everyone, I am back and wanted to let everyone know I have posted new paintings at my Etsy shop. There are a couple landscapes as well. I hope to start producing more alls prima paintings when I am done getting ready for a show in a couple weeks. I will share more information of my first curated show in the next post!

Cheers!

"Adam"

"Adam"

11 x 14 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I did this painting of a good buddy of mine. I painted his portrait in the beginning in the manner of dutch painters, starting with a monochromatic underpainting. To do an underpainting in this manner is beneficial, it lets you work out the tonality of the painting before worrying about color. Essentially all you have to worry about is color when the underpainting is complete. As you can see I changed the background to a lighter color than just using black. This approach is not for everyone but its something to try out at least a couple times to see if you like it. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Collaboration Artshow

For the past two years I've collaborated with local artist Peter Geyen.  This is not only a collaboration with him but with a whole group of artist as well. There is so much that goes into making just one piece of art. The only contribution I have obviously are the paintings.  I have two large paintings as well as five smaller ones.  All paintings are landscapes and have their own theme.  

These paintings are completely different than what I usually do and I enjoy that the most.  To be taken out of my comfort zone and try a different direction is always beneficial.  I always learn something new when I do these type of paintings. They also can be extremely stressful. 

All these pieces can be seen at the IDS building in downtown Minneapolis from October 25 to November 10, 2013.

Oil on Fiber Glass

7 x 5 ft

Oil on Fiber Glass

6 x 5 ft

Oil on Canvases

The rest of the pieces are spectacular in their own right. The imagination with beautiful design is worth seeing in person.  I'm proud to collaborate with these guys and excited to see what the future brings.  Hope everyone can see these wonderful pieces of art in person.