Absence

"Master Copy From Anthony Van Dyck"

2016

Oil on Canvas Panel

11 x 14 inches

I have to start out this post by apologizing, I have neglected blogging for so long. There has been to much time between my last post and now.  So much has happened between now and then, not sure where to start?  I am currently enrolled at MCAD pursuing my MFA in painting/drawing. Going back to school has been challenging after being away for so long. Challenging in a good way, my colleagues and professors push me to get better every day. I am constantly around so many artist who all have different practices and not one is alike, this diversity brings fresh perspectives. I started in late August and can not believe the first semester is almost complete. The duration of the MFA program is two years, excited to see how this experience will influence my work during this journey. 

Since I have given you snippet of what I've been doing I also want to mention that I will attempt to get back into doing daily paintings. I do not expect to produce one every day but attempt to one or two minimum per week. I wanted to get back into having my paintings accessible through ebay as well, which is why I am selling this painting. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and hope you enjoyed the painting.

"Peony"

10 x 8 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I enjoy painting peonies, from their beautiful colors to gestural pedals. Instead of doing a whole arrangement of peonies, I decided to keep it simple and just paint one. The colors as mentioned before is one of the beauties of this plant, its always fun trying to match the radiant colors it gives. Painting the pedals can be challenging as each of them are different. Overall it is a fun plant to paint and a beauty to always come across in the flower store

Thank you for stopping by and viewing. Cheers!

"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!

Single Peony

"Single Peony"

10 x 8 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/ 

Fuchsia Peonies

Sold

"Fuchsia Peonies"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I am well aware Peonies are out of season, These peonies I bought for my wife a while ago and loved how they looked. I took a picture and always said "I will paint that one day" well that day finally came.  The texture and movement within these flowers are spectacular, I tried so hard to portray that in my painting. Fuchsia Peonies are always fun to paint due to the purples, blues and reds that are hidden within each pedal. The movement from one petal to the other has a beautiful gestural quality to it. It is a challenging flower to paint but always rewarding in the end.

Thanks for stopping by, cheers!

Green Heirloom Tomato

Sold

"Green Heirloom Tomato"

5 x 7 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I have not painted these little gems in a while. The color of this heirloom caught my eye right away. They have such intense pure colors. What I enjoy most is the subtle values between the colors from one area to the other, painting that is challenging and rewarding once it's achieved. Painting light wrapping around this form is challenging but very educational to try. After painting this tomato my wife added it to our dinner which was as delicious as it looked. 

I started with the drawing stage by just using a bit of raw umber on the brush. Thinking of it as one would draw with a pencil. The pressure you apply to the brush it effects the value and intensity your marking will be. Once the drawing stage is complete I add local colors to the whole painting. This allows me to see how the painting will look in the completed stage with the colors I am thinking of. The next stage I then start to fill in the middle to darker values to all the objects in the painting, from the wooden board to the heirloom tomato. Then I add the lighter value forms to tie everything together. With this technique, especially being in alla prima, one has to has to be careful with the amount of paint being applied from the initial stages. Remember fat over lean, you want to start thin and get progressively thicker towards the finishing. I am also conscious of how many pressure I apply to the brush, as stated before I think of it as drawing with a pen or pencil. The lighter the pressure the lighter the value will be, the harder the value the darker the value will be. This also allows you to control smoother transitions. 

Thank you for stopping by and viewing. Cheers!

Sheep

Click here to purchase through my Etsy store

"Sheep"

9 x 12 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I came across this awesome skull with horns. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to paint it. I really like the design within the skull and how the horns wrap out from the skull. Keeping the background white gives it a stronger design. Keeping the values compressed was a challenge especially for a painting done in one session.

I started with a dry brush approach with the drawing stage. I make sure the drawing is complete with the proportion working right, I am not drawing every single detail in just the general shapes. Then I painted in the skull by applying its local colors in a thin manner and also applying big form modeling. At this stage all I am worried about is how the light wraps around the form, no details are put in, I like to keep everything soft with each edge. I also do not put my darkest darks or my lightest lights in this stage, I keep it in the middle value stage for the most part.

Once big form modeling is complete I start painting middle to darker value forms. Still keeping the edges soft where they need to be. I do the same with middle to lighter value forms. These two value forms were not as difficult to paint in because the big form modeling stage was worked out from the beginning. If the big form modeling stage is worked out from the beginning then the smaller forms become easier to paint in (theoretically).

Once the skull was complete I then painted the horns in. For the base I applied a thin coat of raw umber. Then I painted in middle to darker values.

After the middle to darker value forms were painted I then applied middle to lighter value forms. Applying this brought the painting to a finish. I really enjoyed painting something different and at a different angle as well. As mentioned before keeping the values compressed was a challenge, but I learned a lot how to try to get a handle on it. 

Thank you for stopping by, cheers!

Still LIfe Paintings on my Etsy Store

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy store

"Cheese Board"

16 x 20 in

Oil on Canvas

Click here to purchase this painting at my Etsy store

"Evening Tea"

14 x 18 in

Oil on Linen

I have created a section to sell my still life paintings at my Etsy store. The prices are a little different than my alla prima paintings, of course these take more time to complete with many levels of paint. 

Enjoy!