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!

Art show!

I have 12 paintings up and showing at a local coffee shop it's a nice venue to show art especially for this weekend coming up with the huge art festival right down the street!


-- Post From My iPhone

2 and half hour painting!

I'm having fun with this one already!  I should of taken the picture without the cast shadows on the painting.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Day 1 of Landscape

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

This is the first day of this painting, it went pretty quick.  I've been working on several landscapes for a show coming up! I will post them soon!

Portrait

This is a portrait I've been working for an upcoming show!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Apples

Then I oil in the darks in the woven basket and inside the basket and also

touch up the background and make the tones relate more to each other.  

I am pleased with the result and the time it took me, this is the end of day 5.

I then oil in the background and see how my darks really look against the

lights.  I also got the frame and put the painting in the frame, so I can see

the end result.  This marks the end of day 4.

Then I started painting the apple and the apple peeler.  I start seeing the

painting come together.  Its a good idea to section off the painting in 

different areas to a finish, thats how Anthony Van Dyke painted.  Once you are 

done you move on to the next and take it to a finish.  When its done as a whole 

you can judge what needs improvement, its more of an efficient way to get a 

painting done, rather than just painting all over the place and not having a 

plan of execution.

  

I then took a break and painted the apples and lemon.  My darks were already

starting to sink in, but I will oil them in later.  Its a good idea to oil in your darks

though before you paint around them, it makes you see the darks better and you

can judge how high or low in chroma you wanna go.  When I am done painting this area I

am done with day 3.

Then I started painting the woven basket.  Getting those intricate areas was not

as difficult as I thought it would.  It was more generalizing the shapes.  At times

details are not so important.

I then started blocking in the wood area and started giving the background some

lighter tones.  I do this because when I start painting the apples in the middle 

ground the background and wood would be dry by then and I can alter any area

I want without worrying about the paint not being dry.  When I covered these areas 

it was the end of day 2.

This painting was done very quick, I had about five days to paint it... so I started

with the background which was the most broad area, I usually leave the background

till later (Which is not right) but I guess everyone has their own way of painting.  This

is the end of day 1.

Pen & ink and also some watercolors!

This is another pen and ink sketch I did of Steve Jobs.  These are fun

to do when you wanna take a break from painting all day long.

These are some watercolors I did the other day, I don't do watercolor

much, but I wanna start dabbing into it more.  They are a lot of fun to

do, challenging but fun.  

Greg and Di painting!

This painting was done for a very close friend, it was his 60th Birthday, and

I told his wife which is in the picture that I would paint him.  She loved

the idea, the thing she did not know that I was going to paint her in it!  First 

it was a surprise for him, and also a surprise for her since she didn't know

she was going to be in it.  It was so nice to see their reactions to the painting!

The pics I had to go off from was very difficult to judge the skin tone, since

it was taken at night and with a flash photo which flushes out the true

skin tones.  But I am somewhat happy with the results, if I had to do it

again, I would of gotten them posed for me and pic the right lighting

situation.  But it was for a surprise so it served its purpose!

The shirt was so much fun too paint!  it was so loose and expressive.  So was

his forehead.  Anyways enjoy and take care!!