Grand Bastard Studios

paintings based on observation

2011-11-26T23:29:00.001-08:00

la pinata, 2011 (24x30" oil on linen)

la muneca, 2011 (18x24" oil on canvas)

paintings based on found images

2011-11-26T23:09:00.001-08:00

head of state, 2011 (30.5x38" oil on canvas)


body of ashes, 2011 (8x10" oil on canvas mounted on board)

war party, 2011 (8x10" oil on yupo paper)


missing persons no.1, 2011 (3x5" oil on canvas)

self portrait toasted, 2011 (5x5" oil on canvas)

relations, 2011 (8x10" oil on canvas)

enhanced, 2011 (diptych, 24x36", oil on canvas)

sketchdump: michelle edition

2011-11-26T13:35:00.001-08:00

this isn't scary. not scary at all.

watercolor/gouache

sketch dump, yet again

2011-11-26T13:17:00.001-08:00

pretty self explanatory:

thug lyfe: cartel style

threesome

failed grand bastard portrait

mas puto

medicine cabinet

squinting

charles

watercolor/gouache

i suggest adding my flikr to your rss if you're interested in keeping up with new sketchbook work. additionally, if you're into sketchbooks, i recommend checking out the shared sketchbook project, mindmeld, i had going on with a few friends. i hope to get started doing that again.

abandoned and/or destroyed

2011-11-26T13:03:00.001-08:00

i've spent a lot of time experimenting. of course, that comes with a lot of false starts, failures, and interesting disasters. here are some that survived in digital form.

mother and child 2


la llorana


lake

child's horse

landscape

what have you been missing?

2011-11-25T23:14:00.001-08:00

not following my tumblr? here's a recap of what you've missed.

1. my tumblr became rather popular despite a lack of tattoos, hot bitches, and reblogs. i consider it a curatorial practice, with a smattering of personal shit: hijaktaffairs.tumblr

2. recently, i did a short interview with proxart about life after art-school, art criticism and my work as an admissions counselor. they found me through tumblr which was a neat surprise.

3. went to NY for the first time and saw the following:

allison schulnik at zieher smith
michael borremans at david zwirner
neo rauch at david zwirner
alex kanevsky at j. cacciola
julio reyes at arcadia gallery
lucian freud at the MET

3. bought tickets to go to spain and italy with michelle!!! i leave in a month!!!

4. i'm back on a reading schedule and eating my way through books goodreads

5. 2/3rds vegetarian, -35 lbs, back to my weight at 23

6. currently working with the people at think tank gallery in LA for a group show i'm curating for spring 2012.

7. in response to the whiny little art-school owl meme comes elitist prick art student owl who doesn't have time for your pussy-footin'

that's the short list. obviously, there's a lot left out of here, but if you're interested in keeping up to date i recommend you rss my tumblr and flikr.

my final pic dumps to follow.

social media, a sweet name for self-indulgence-importance-actualization

2011-05-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

ok, so i did it again. i'm slacking.

but not really this time. i've just been really busy. i'm making another promise to return and stick around. i know baby, i've let you down time and time again. however, this time i will be expanding this blog to not only document my painting practice at grand bastard studios, but as an online journal as well. not necessarily a personal-life blog (of course it will be impossible to separate the two, nor is it my intention to), but one where i can discuss things on my mind at greater length. before i started painting seriously, i used to write often. i hope to return to that slowly here.

rewind a bit. yes, very busy. yes. rather than go over it all over again, here's the update from my tumblr:

a need to get things in order, so i’ll do that here. i’ve taken almost three weeks off from the studio after about three months of putting in all my free time into the work. a culmination of stress, obsessive ruminations on politics, war, disaster and cults, a lack of vitamin d and fresh air, a toxic diet of coffee, whiskey and pot, a drought of sexual diversions all leading to a near mental collapse demanded that i take some time off.

now that i am ready to begin year of the beast: phase two

i’ve been working on a number of paintings based on media imagery. a few of the slightly larger works are near completion but i find myself in need of more paintings to compare and contrast, to give them some visual context. the subject matter is interesting enough to retain my interest, something i find difficult when i’m working from photo reference. the fact that these paintings intentionally refer to their digital counterparts helps alleviate the boredom that comes from working from photographic imagery. the original images only serve as a launching pad.

that being said, i still find immense joy painting from direct observation. it is a very meditative activity, and probably my only form of spiritual practice. i will continue to work from life on various side projects unrelated (maybe related in the future) to the body of media related imagery.

the goal is to paint steadily through the summer. website by the fall divided into two sections: media based paintings and miscellaneous work (this may change, we will see). travel season will resume in the late august, and there is much to accomplish until then.

additionally, i have decided to start using my twitter for a semi-productive reason. once again, from my tumblr:

twitter: hijaktaffairs; brain-leakage in 140 characters or less

much like the love/hate relationship i had with tumblr, i’ve gone through a similar breakup/reconciliation with both twitter and facebook. i had a tumblr account previous to this one. at the time, the site was new, and like the majority of users, i spent most of my time reblogging my friends and generally using it as a procrastination tool. i burned out quickly and abandoned the site. when i returned i created some parameters for myself; primarily an art tumblr curated by myself only, lots of original content, very minimal reblogging, links/information/hi rez images for every post, promotion for my work and that of my friends, as well as some personal opinions and musings.
with that in mind, i’ve decided to start using my twitter again. i will not be posting images of my meals. no pictures of my cat windsor. i won’t be tagging myself at any locations. no gpoy. i have facebook and a tumblr, as well as a blog for those sorts of things. instead, i will be posting what i consider amusing, interesting, bullshit thoughts and random bits. i’m always jotting shit down, my brain leaking here and there, unorganized and usually lost after a few weeks. with these basic parameters, and the limit of 140 characters, hopefully, twitter will allow me to edit and document these mental clippings, and perhaps by some miracle find some kind of reason.
perhaps some of you will find it interesting enough to follow. if not, i don’t really care because i’m really arrogant and i’m mainly doing this to amuse myself; so i can sit back in my chair and feel really clever.

thanks for sticking around. hopefully i can make it worth your time.

inspiration and modifications (expanded)

2011-01-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

second post within the same month. not bad.

pike's place

been traveling for work. recently came back from seattle, portland, and san francisco. the west coast is big for us, so i traveled with coworkers (really friends) and had a blast. as fun, it was exhausting and i am looking forward to getting a lot more consistent painting time now that the travel season has ended.


seattle to portland

a couple weeks back i came across some stretcher bars taking home what i could. i stretched them and gessoed them, enjoying the hands-on process. unfortunately, i used some cheap-shit gesso. oil and spirits soaked through and so i had to redo a couple. some canvas spent, but lessons learned. don't buy cheap-shit gesso.

re-stretching.

on a good note, the nigel cooke show was immensely uplifting, providing me with some much needed inspiration. (this is ripped directly from my tumblr, which i will be plugging again later) overall, i was very impressed by the show. i’m not as familiar with his work as i would like to be. i’ve read a few interviews and some essays, including those in his paintings 01-06 book, but i haven’t experienced his paintings in person until now. from what i can tell, these pieces are an evolution in his work as well as a slight departure. it could also be that they aren’t necessarily so much an evolution or departure but more of a magnified view of an aspect of his oeuvre. the show primarily dealing with single iconic images in what appears to be a loosely connected narrative in contrast to the shallow depth of field/still life paintings that i’m more familiar with. manetesque portraits of the same cast of few characters. simple still lifes, most of which were presented as sculptures. one of my favorites, a book titled crap, simply executed with stains and a few key passes of opaque paint. both a beautiful image and gorgeous object. prior to seeing the show, i ran into friend/artist jeff peters who had already made the la trek. he shared his opinion that the paintings reflected more of cooke’s inner psyche, an opinion i can’t disagree with. if it’s true i think he’s channeling a bit of a jester’s goya. fuckin delightful.

for a more eloquent, informed and developed write up i refer you to my tumblr post.

as noted, i have a tumblr. i will be using it for quick notes, and updates that don't make it here in addition to whoring out myself, my friends and sharing some influences.

the grand bastard

things to come:

just started a series of new paintings. going to be auditing a digital painting course. james miller will be doing a huge website update, fully revamped including an illustration section. justin mortimer will be showing this spring at nicodem gallery in la.

two thousand eleven

2011-01-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

it's been another year and after looking back at my "oh ten " post i'm feeling really optimistic. in an april post i made a rather harsh (intoxicated?) evaluation of those goals i set forth. i'm not sure if it was premature in its frustration and disappointment, or if it was a necessary assault; a public assault, as small as the audience may be, might carry more weight than a simple self-reprimanding in private (eventually succumbing to the same vices anyways). i don't necessarily think there is any point in determining which is the case, but it is interesting to note the change in mood during those early months.


self portrait witnessing the birth of baby jesus, 2010

i started the year in a mood very similar to the one i find myself in now; determined; confident in the progress of my work; life in order, for the most part-

by april i was disgusted with myself.

it's easy to lose sight of the big picture. we hear this all the time (cliche, fuck you!). i'm lucky though. i tend to be really good at big pictures. looking back at that post from a year ago, i wrote about bukowski's womb, that ugly but comfortable lower middle class existence where he plied at his craft. i reflected on that womb by the sea that i had built for myself. i fell in mad-love with my craft again. i wallowed. i romanticized. come april and more acromelodramatics. disgusted. repulsed. ashamed of the braggadocious start to the new year. but...looking at the big picture, i am as equally amused by this arrogant, spiteful, reproach as i am by the melodramatic almost naive declarations of my 2010 new years resolutions.

sign by jason nam

the fact is that even though i do find myself feeling very much the same as i did last year at this point, i am very much in a better place. the year was very difficult but also very productive, both in and out of the studio. i moved to a much larger apartment in santa ana with enough space to work separately from my living space; grand bastard studios. it's what you might call ghetto adjacent, but it is nice to be living in a real city. i finally got a new car, much needed after a decade with my cavalier. but, most importantly, my summer was a watershed moment for my studio practice, leading into a decently productive fall and winter considering it is the busiest time for me at work with the heavy recruitment travel schedule. while i am not at all content with the volume of work, i am very heartened by the trajectory. the new studio and painting table have also made it much easier to get to work more consistently. my sketchbook practice has never been better nor as enjoyable (oh fuck how i love my a3 and a4 moleskin sketchbooks!). i look forward to the following months when things slow down after january. the regular schedule will allow for more consistent painting.


grand bastard studios, santa ana ca


presents christmas 2010

this christmas i finally did something i have been meaning to do for a long time. i gave out work. each one either created or chosen specifically for family members. some of them were done during the summer, and a few of them in the weeks leading up to the holidays. they include studies, paintings, and sketches. some of them i have already posted, but those that i have not will be posted as soon as i get adequate photos. all i have for now is the above group shot. in the mean time, here are a few random pieces from the summer that i haven't posted:


infant son, 2010

king of carrot flowers, 2010

mother and child, 2010

torso study, 2010

2010's big picture, it doesn't look too bad. i didn't exactly accomplish all that i set forth to do, but i did move forward in many ways that i had not anticipated. in fact, 2011 looks great. so, while i go in confident and headstrong, i do so cautiously knowing that the road is always difficult but very rewarding when you're on the right path.

seeing as this is a new years post, i might as well participate in the human desire to organize useless information like best-of lists, here's my contribution in brief.

top ten favorite* albums of 2010:

brothers-the black keys
halycon digest- deerhunter
total life forever- foals
the way out-the books
swim- caribou
the fool-warpaint
transit transit- autolux
the age of adz- sufjan stevens
everything in between-no age
the suburbs- arcade fire

top ten favorite* movies of 2010:

true grit
social network
black swan
the fighter
the radiant child
exit through the gift shop
inception
valhalla rising
greenberg
restrepo

favorite book i read** in 2010:

the stranger by albert camus

*there were a lot of movies that i really wanted to catch, including enter the void, trash humpers, somewhere and biutiful, that i feel may have altered this list quite dramatically.

**i don't think i read any books written in 2010 during the year.

and one more piece from a few days ago, a sketch i did in a sketchbook being shared with with sammy macias, james miller and my amazing boss and friend mike rivas. i also have one going with some other friends. i'll post updates on that in the coming weeks.

SKY WARRIORS, 2010

thanks for the love and support to all my family, friends, fellow artists and... fans??. may 2011 be a rewarding and successful year, however you choose to define that.

much love to you all.

christian ramirez, 2011.

brief set of friend updates

2010-12-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

my best friend Jaimeryan Heintz made another music video. fuckin awesome work.

THE DRUNKK MACHINE from jaime ryan heintz on Vimeo.

Jason Nam started a blog with some new work: Total Nothing

Joe Gibson AKA Jophenstein has been continuing to work and recently had a successful show in Pomona and is currently at Art Basel Miami.

Orion Fisher has a new website with updated work and some interesting updates in his blog.

Jordan Minardi created Orion's website and is currently working on James Miller's new website.

Dan Catalano has been doing well after graduating LCAD's MFA program last spring. his new work is pretty amazing.

Phillip Womack has been consistently showing and recently had an excellent show at the Hurley store in Laguna Beach.

and one more. i didn't realize Matt Dickson has a blog.

solace in my sketchbooks

2010-11-27T18:03:00.000-08:00

so here's another sketch dump. for a while now i have been struggling with the direction of my work. i've been pressing hard to find ideas that interest me both aesthetically as well as intellectually. for the most part, i think i've made it much more difficult than it ought to be. right? no, that can't be right.

anyways, i'll address those thoughts in my next post. back to the entry at hand. as convoluted as things have been lately (both in and out of the studio), the one thing that has kept me sane is my sketchbook. my commitment to working in it has really begun to pay off and the practice has allowed some of my pre-art school creative instincts to start to shine. hopefully this freedom allows me to approach my more serious work with a different perspective.

thanks for showing up.

ed emberley

2010-10-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

4th grade inspiration. they were intensely popular at my workman elementary school and the library only carried one copy of each. needless to say, i worked diligently when i had a chance to check them out.

call it nostalgia. i ordered a 1981 used copy (they've since changed the covers on newer printings) of my favorite one, the purple one.

"their finest art"

2010-10-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

because sometimes those complex things are summarized so simply.

another sketch dump.

2010-10-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

new painting table

2010-09-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

something resembling a step forward

2010-08-30T15:03:00.000-07:00

no new work, but more of an update and Flikr plug. i've just relocated to Santa Ana to an apartment about three times as big as my previous place. not only do i have a place to eat and cook, but i also have enough space to set up a studio separate from my sleeping quarters. i've installed lighting. i've organized my materials. i've even started a few more paintings that i hope to post soon. things have moved pretty slowly over the last year, and i don't anticipate having as much time to paint as i'd like immediately (work travel season starts in September). but, now that many components have settled, i feel confident that focusing will be much easier now.

that being said, i've also begun to use my Flikr account. i've uploaded and organized a bunch of work i've created over the last few years (edited of course), in addition to photos i take for fun (primarily with my iphone until i fix up some older cameras i am in possession of). my Flikr account will serve to document, organize and share work in a much more effective manner than this blog.

of course, i will continue to update this blog as well. hopefully, more often...if you care...even if you don't.

from the past, present and future

2010-06-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

it's been a while since i've posted any actual paintings. there are a few reasons for that, primarily because i've been working on a commission that has taken me way too long. i've also been working on small experiments; some of which have found their ways into the trash, others have been painted over, and others are ideas that i might be interested in pursuing further.

however, i have finally finished the commission. i've also remembered that i forgot to document and post another painting i completed last year. it's a painting i did of an acquaintance i met on the road for work. i used one of her photos as inspiration for a quick larger portrait.

minnesota flashdance
oil on canvas 30x40"
2009

the commission posed to be very difficult and i basically ended up painting the entire thing twice. i will admit, the baby in the portrait is now a year old, but i did take a long hiatus a few months into it. the primary reason i had to repaint it was because i had not dealt with the background from the beginning. after starting it, i had decided that i didn't want a blank white wall behind her, so i introduced the blanket. this threw off the entire key of the painting, forcing me to have to either eliminate the blanket or repaint the figure. i chose the latter and i am much happier for it.

study

maggie & odessa
30x40"
oil on canvas
2010

detail

with this painting behind me, i hope to move forward with new work at a quicker pace. my day job still takes up a lot of my time, and i'm still dealing with some changes in my life, but things are looking much better.

and one more.

the yellow chair
6x8"
oil on canvas mounted on board
2010

hopefully a peek at things to come.

five contemporary painters

2010-05-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

i've been struggling. i know, we've all been struggling. more specifically, i've been searching, almost blindly, but not without walls to feel around. i stumble on rocks and debris. my feet are heavy, soaked and caked with mud. occasionally, the walls give way, leaving me to fend without any sense of direction. from what i can tell, i am still moving. sometimes, more often than i'd like to admit, i find these hideously gaudy neon signs (think dive-bar not bruce nauman) and they lead me momentarily astray. like a moth, i am drawn to their bright snake-like charm flicker. try as they may, i am still aware of these ironic self-aware phantoms of substance.

there are however, those who have found their path and bound along in full stride. they speak the truth. lately, have been spending a lot of my time looking at a lot of work by these contemporary painters who i admire. in addition to looking at the work (unfortunately, mainly in print rather than in person), i have been reading significantly more and taking time to absorb as much as i can. i just wanted to take some time to reflect on five artists who i have have been studying more closely as of late.

Neo Rauch

‘For me, painting means the continuation of dreaming by other means’, says Rauch and thereby gives the decisive nod towards the world of dreams. In dreams we can recognise props from reality, but we cannot simply read the dream like a written page because of its scrambling. It demands interpretation and sabotages every interpretation by its artful ambiguity. Only so can every dream, even nightmares, appear as the ‘guardian of sleep’ (Sigmund Freud). The dream of painting plays with the irrationality of reality.

- excerpt from online essay by Jan Thorn-Prikker found here

Adrian Ghenie

In "Berlin Chronicle" (1932), Walter Benjamin equates the act of remembering with archaeology: Both involve digging to recover a buried past. The motifs favored by Romanian artist Adrian Ghenie are almost without exception oppressively hermetic interior spaces, subterranean realms whose architecture and contents are characterized by anachronism. His paintings allow us glimpses into the depths of evocative sites in which nebulous images from Eastern European history grip the viewer with uncanny force.

-excerpt from ArtForum, april 2008

Justin Mortimer

...there is a narrative there. The narrative...is quite simply a lack of interaction between people. This is between the people in the pictures and the people in the landscape. There is an alienation from each other and their surroundings. With the gesture of the hands they are often reaching out and it is never reciprocated by the other people in the picture, you as the viewer, or the protagonist etc. I was trying to make pictures with a constant frustration; I try to heighten that by fragmenting the picture as well. So in a way the picture almost fails, like the narrative is about failure...I think its helps to express that sense of impotence and lack of connection that the people populating my pictures are experiencing.

-excerpt from interview with David Yu at ArtSlant

Matthias Weischer

That happens almost unconsciously. It has mostly to do with the decisions I make about the form. I don't make any decisions about content. If you throw some objects together, of course there is a relationship between them. there's the painting on the wall, furniture, a sculpture. But I tend to play with the possibilities, instead. I accept the painting, and the result, as a new reality. I am not engaged in an intellectual game with the elements or their meanings. Rather I attempt to liberate these onbects from meaning and place them in relationship to each other in a living room or another space-not with the intention of creating a new meaning, but simply to show them as they are.

- excerpt from an interview with Jean-Christophe Ammann, 2006

Nigel Cooke

I'm interested in the history of painting as a kind of dictionary of ideals that I'm trying to ransack as completely as possible. I want all the characteristics of painting, from the retarded to the sophisticated, to be simultaneously represented, as though the whole past lives of the medium were flashing before its eyes. So it becomes kind of ahistorical. It's a kind of parody of the doomed 'last paintings' that some artists tried to engineer in the 20th century -- a death of painting played out as one big, bloated painting project.

-excerpt from a really great and concise interview with Craig Garrett: mud in a vehicle

now, what can i conclude from this? what can i contribute besides this grab-bag of images, links and quotes? of course, i've only selected a handful of contemporary painters i am currently looking at. but, i have chosen those that i find myself most fascinated by at the moment. those who compel me to look and think. most obviously, i can easily say that i am still interested in representation in the traditional sense; for the most part, some form of modern figuration. then there is the further interest in craft. these are by no means paintings concerned with the anti-art agenda of aesthetic negation. nor are they part of the new academic school of atelier style figuration. they are engaged in this rich on-going dialogue regarding painting, and in many regards make no distinction between what Rauch describes as the false dualism between abstract and representational painting. of course, there is no escaping the post-modern, and among the five of them they embrace the entire cannon of painting's long past. you can see elements of the grand tradition of history painting reinvented (Rauch, Ghenie), new modes of surrealism (all of the above), abstraction (Rauch, Ghenie, Weischer, Mortimer) non objective color fields and tromp l'oeil effects (Weischer, Cooke), pop art (Rauch), urban graffiti (Cooke), and commercial illustration (Cooke, Rauch). this list can go on and on.

there is also a certain amount of freedom in terms of their studio practice and process. it is my opinion that painting is really about a thought process of discovery recorded in the plastic object. this is something these five painters share in their own individual working methods, whether it be Rauch's almost magical approach (out of the floor of my studio as if it was a witches circle and were made without any preconceptions) relying completely on the memory of his dreams, or Mortimer's digital photoshopped collages which he problem solves on the canvas, or Weischer's adamant denial of digital devices but rather working from a combination of direct observation and memory. there is no formulaic approach, but instead an emphasis on questions and discovery.

in the end, their work speaks to something beyond the simple object on a wall. i won't elaborate on this. this is for the individual viewer to discover themselves. from the personal to the universal, these artists work both within and outside the tradition of painting. because of this, they are pushing the medium forward. a few of them are fairly young in terms of their careers and the rest are only now entering their mature period. i look forward to watching their work evolve as i myself try to find my own path. they represent something to strive for. in them i find stimulation and inspiration.

to myself.

2010-04-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

i find you, two years out of art-school. emerging from the dust of the collapsed Sanctuary. you've made promises. and you've neglected them. you treat resolutions like prayers; selfish and worthless. the last time you were here, you were so confident. so strong. huffing and puffing with self determination. you can build yourself up with words, but words are like prayers and soon they too are hollow.

trying to remind myself...

2010-01-18T15:46:00.001-08:00

inspiration is for amatuers, the rest of us show up and work.

-chuck close

breathe

2010-01-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

oh ten

2010-01-03T00:39:00.000-08:00

the cliche goes, misery loves company. i suppose this is why i love painting.

it's just a few days past new years eve, and i'm sitting here in my new apartment, in my boxers, on my sister's fuckin futon, with my neck tweaked just enough to be annoying but not so much as to make me adjust (that or i'm just that lazy; ie stoned.) and i'm here, in my new city, like i said, just a few days past new years eve. i've just taken a shower. got my hair cut short today. trimmed my facial hair. cleaned the restroom and kitchen. you know, the kind of shit you do when you start a new year. a few minutes ago i'm eating a sandwich, cuz i'm hungry, i ate sushi for a late lunch, and i'm looking at myself in the mirror naked. that's what you do after you take a shower you committed yourself to hours ago. and i've got these hairy legs, and a half eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich and it hits me like a mini-epiphani.

skip forward but looking back, 2009 was a tough one. looking at the present, i've come out mostly unscathed. now, with everything slowing down at work for at least a few months, with the new apartment and workspace situated, with a new year ahead, i've decided to give in and set some new years resolutions. most of them do not concern this post, those that do can be categorized under a renewed commitment to my real work. in addition to committing myself to a more rigorous and disciplined studio practice, i will be writing in this blog more often. bullshitting mostly, but hopefully giving me a forum to reflect, analyze, formulate, develop and think more critically about my work.

therefor, i will be writing about painting, painting about living, and living like i'm painting.

this new years resolution came from that peanut-butter induced mini-epiphani (that or i'm just stoned. ie more perceptive and open) as a solution to a couple of creative problems i have been having. i have alluded to them but i won't go into detail now. but, i will say that i've been missing something. something i had for much of my time as a student. that fuel besides the desire to be seen, heard, loved and laid. the solution is the resolution. and those kinds of resolutions are always the best, because it's not all about the goal. it's really about the solution.

bukowski lived for writing. he understood. he found that womb, as terrible as it was, and he wrote. i have my womb. not nearly as terrible, nestled in the cradle of the great pacific mother. now i must find that discipline and live for painting. mad for painting. because if there's one thing besides my mother that i am convinced that i love, it's this. as painful as it can be at times. as excruciatingly ego crushing. it is passionate always. as much so when it's perfect and bliss.

THIS is that company i seek. it's joy and it's misery.

calavera
for my brother
graphite on reeves bfk

streamlining.

2009-12-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

i have no more twitter. i have no more tumblr. i have no more facebook.

i have email and i have this blog.

most importantly, i have my sanity.

"Romancing the Looky-Loos"

2009-12-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

It is a cloudy spring night in the mid nineteen seventies. Waylon Jennings and I are sitting in the shotgun seats at the front of his bus, slouched down with our heels up on the chrome rail, watching the oncoming highway between the toes of our boots. We are leaving Atlanta after a tumultuous concert, about two weeks into Waylon’s breakout concert tour. I am along to write a piece for a magazine about Waylon’s ongoing transformation into a pop star–although, at this point in the tour, Waylon himself is somewhat less than sanguine about his rising status. Not that he’s doing anything to deter it. He’s just not particularly enjoying it.

“They think you just get up there and sing your songs,” he is saying, addressing the highway. “They think it’s just a one-way deal, but it’s not like that at all. Because you start out playing for people who are just like you. That’s the only place you can. You play for people who come from where you come from. They seek you out in little clubs because they understand what you’re doing, so you feel like you’re doing it for them. And if you go wrong in these clubs, you know it immediately. And maybe you want to go wrong. That’s your option, but you know it when you do it. Then one day, you’re not playing for people like you anymore. You look our there, like I did tonight, and realize that you’re playing for people who want to be like you, and you can’t trust these people. Because to them, whatever you do, that’s you, and that’s cool. Which would be okay except!— even though all these people want to be like you, you don’t know who you are
anymore, because it was the people in those little clubs that gave you that understanding in the first place. God knows where they are tonight. Sitting at home, probably. Pissed off at me. Listening to Willie Nelson records.

“So what do you do?” I ask.

Waylon shrugs and grins. “Right now, hoss,” he says, “it’s completely out of my hands. I’m looking at those people out there, but I don’t know what I’m seeing. And they’re watching me, too. But they don’t know what they’re looking at. My best guess is that they’ll keep on loving me till they start hating me, or their Waylon duds wear out. Because they already hate me a little, just because I’m me and they’re them. That’s why they always go on about how talented you are. Because they hate you. Because if they had this talent, they would be you. The fact that you’ve
worked like a dog, lived like a horse thief, and broke your mama’s heart to do what-ever you do, that don’t mean diddly-squat. To them, it’s talent. Supposedly, you got it, and, supposedly, they don’t. So eventually you’re bound to disappoint them.

Excerpt from the essay "Romancing the Looky-Loos" from Dave Hickey's Air Guitar

Online Portfolio

2009-11-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

quick update. i am keeping an online portfolio until i've got enough work to warrant an actual website. you can see it here:

christian ramirez art

thanks for your time.

lots of new work coming in the next couple of months.

update & an obsession with Antonio Lopez Garcia

2009-11-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

i haven't really been posting as many updates as i would like, but i've just gotten over the peak of my travel season for work. i did manage to visit the Art Institute of Chicago, the second largest art museum in the United States, while on the road. it was an amazing collection and three hours was not nearly enough time. i did take some photos, unfortunately i only had my iphone with me. here's a slideshow, but you're probably better off going to: Art Institute of Chicago

i haven't had the opportunity to put as much time as i'd like to in the studio lately, but with work slowing down a bit i hope to invest more time painting in the coming weeks. in the meantime, i've been doing a lot drawing, sketches and studies that i hope to evolve into a new body of work. the gestation has been slow and i've been filtering through a lot of new influences and ideas, but i hope to commit to some serious work soon.

by chance i ran into this excellent and concise write up on my favorite living painter Antonio Lopez Garcia. it is thoroughly well written and perfectly captures his work. here it is in it's entirety (the odd spelling is directly from the source, no idea why and i'm not going through and correcting it. i included this not only to share but to archive it for myself).

LONDON - An early highlight of this evening’s auction was Madrid desde Torres Blancas by Antonio Lopez (b. 1936) which sold for Ј1,385,250 / $2,760,803 / €1,744,030, becoming the most expensive work by a living Spanish artist sold at auction.

Created over a period of six years between 1976-82, Madrid desde Torres Blancas is one of Antonio Lуpez Garcнa's finest urban views. This vast, imposing vista is a product of the painter's devotion to the world of sense and feeling, and his almost obsessional focus on the objects within it. Like many Spanish artists who came of age during the Franco era, Lуpez Garcнa is not widely known outside Spain, where his penetrating approach, as well as his exceptional skill, has singled him out as one of the country's most revered painters. The reason for his limited exposure to the international art world lies in his painstaking painterly process -- he can often take years, even decades, to capture his impressions of reality and the irredeemable passing of time. Madrid desde Torres Blancas is one such labour of love, a magnificent, sprawling panorama of Madrid that uses reality as the starting point for a celebration of the visual side of existence.

As a boy growing up in Tomelloso, a town south of Madrid, Lуpez Garcнa displayed a precocious ability to paint and draw which his uncle, a committed artist, recognized and encouraged. At the age of thirteen, in 1949, Lуpez Garcнa's parents sent him to Madrid to study fine arts, and for much of his adult life the city has remained his home and his muse. Drawing his inspiration from painters such as Velбzquez and Vermeer, Lуpez Garcнa's studies of his home, his studio and the city that surrounds him underscore his dedicated interest in emphatically prosaic subject matter, to which he lends an immense gravity that encourages the viewer to re-examine the presence of ordinary objects. Lуpez Garcнa is keenly aware of the artistic lineage of which he is a part, and has continually aspired to the humanism and haunting realism of the Spanish old masters in particular: 'The measure of Greek art is the gods; that of the art of Velбzquez, men. With Greek art elevated concepts interfere.... In the great Spanish art--in Velбzquez, Cervantes, Goya--nothing interferes. They give you realism with a purity, with a tuning to reality not merely physical but psychological. One finds this in no other art' (cited in J. E. Kauffman, 'The Timeless Realism of Antonio Lуpez Garcнa,' The World & I, Dec. 1991, pp. 235).

Lуpez Garcнa began to paint views of Madrid around 1960, a project that became progressively more ambitious in their macrocosmic perspectives and physical scale, culminating in the vast urban landscape that is Madrid desde Torres Blancas. For this work, Lуpez Garcнa returned to paint the aerial vista above one of Madrid's busiest roads, the Avenida de Amйrica, over different months and seasons, creating a pictorial palimpsest of atmospheric change. Delighting in every shade and nuance of light as it falls at different times of the day and year, the painter confuses the solitude of the streets in August with a bright June sky, whilst also noting an evening hour on a clock in the foreground. By compressing time into a single image, Lуpez Garcнa does not try to cage a particular moment as photography might, but acknowledges the ever-changing conditions of existence and his own unique vision of external reality. Despite the absence of sentimentality, Lуpez nonetheless conveys an intriguing empathy with his subject. Without aggrandizing or exaggerating what lies before him, Lуpez enhances our experience of this ordinary scene, penetrating beneath the surface of the time and place in which he lives to create an image that transcends regional boundaries in its emotional appeal. 'I try to transmit this deeper, intimate feeling through my art,' he explains of his ability to transfigure the ordinary. 'It's not just showing things. It can be a mystery, this process of expressing that deepness, that inner feeling' (cited in G. Edgers, 'A Slow, Steady Hand', The Boston Globe, 6 April 2008, on www.boston.com).

Exhibited extensively since it's completion, Madrid desde Torres Blancas formed a centrepiece of Lуpez Garcнa's celebrated 1986 retrospective at the Marlborough Gallery in New York and London, for which Robert Hughes declared him to be the “greatest realist artist alive”. In a review of the show, Hughes went on to praise the painter's panorama of Madrid: 'Muted and austere, almost palpably grimy and smoggy, it sets forth miles of the dull high-rise architecture of Franco's economic boom with a dedication to truth that surpasses Canaletto's' (R. Hughes, 'The Truth in the Details', Time, 21 April, 1986). Despite his fastidious attention to the truth of what he sees, Lуpez Garcнa's painting technique is not enslaved to a meticulous attention to detail. In Madrid desde Torres Blancas, the painter creates the illusion of perfection through abstract passages of mosaic-like intricacy and broad brush marks that merely approximate the forms they are depicting. In this way, Lуpez Garcнa transcribes what he sees without denying the fiction of the painting's construction, which is unavoidably ruled by his own prejudices and preferences. The inherent subjectivity of the artist's process is further enhanced by the painting's many handwritten notes on the use of colour, the evolution of the light and the dates upon which he worked, thereby creating a visual diary that examines the relationship between art, reality and the psychology of perception. The quietude of the image suggests the experience of isolation in the great mass of the city, with the cluttered hive of human habitation offset against the wide smog inflected sky creating an image of melancholic beauty that testifies to the artist's lifelong appreciation of the sublime in the everyday.

- Cite Source

and so.

my life has gone through some major changes in the last few months. need to screw this head on straight and march forward. with urgency and strength. yes.

reignite.

mythological creatures cont.

2009-10-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

mythological creatures

2009-10-14T00:28:00.000-07:00

Long Pose Portrait Drawing Workshop with Hope Railey

2009-10-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Artist and friend Hope Railey will be having a Winter '10 Long Pose Drawing Workshop at her private studio in LA. I highly encourage anyone who can to sign up and attend. She is an excellent artist and instructor. I have recommended her to many friends and students and they are all very happy to have had her as a mentor and instructor. The details can be found below (click them to enlarge). You can visit her site here: Hope Railey

martyrs.

2009-09-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

now that there are no priests or philosophers left artists are the most important people in the world.

Gerhard Richter

in loving memory of our sanctuary that once was...

2009-09-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

the work of the art student is no light matter. few have the courage and stamina to see it through. you have to make up your mind to be alone in many ways. we like sympathy and we like company. it is easier than going it alone. but alone one gets acquainted with himself, grows up and on, not stopping with the crowd. it costs to do this.

Robert Henri

RUSTY KNIFE

2009-09-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

been working on some initial studies for a new (and hopefully drastically different) series of paintings. these are not related to those paintings. these are for fun.

"And with his mouth closed purely for the thrill of opening it"

2009-09-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

steal steal steal

2009-09-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

updated my art links to the right. more to come.

the greatest love letter ever written

2009-09-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

i just wanted to share my friend Jaime Ryan Heintz's short film, the greatest love letter ever written. i art directed the project so there are a few pieces borrowed from Orion Fisher, Jason Nam, and Sammy Macias.

enjoy.

the greatest love letter ever written from jaime ryan heintz on Vimeo.

inspiration and such

2009-09-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

tumblr

"Chet Baker Sings"

2009-09-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

american art and cultural critic Dave Hickey on jazz musician Chet Baker's impact on modern music from the essay A Life in the Arts:

the song plays the music and the music plays the player and that, consequently, the song, as played, is not the showcase for the player's originality, but a momentary acoustic community in which the players breathe and think together in real time, adding to the song's history, without detracting from its integrity, leaving it intact to be played again. "the thing you learn," Lou Reed told me in an interview, "is that popular music is easy. the song will play itself. so all you need to do is make it sing a little, make it human, and not fucking it up."

here's to not fucking it up.

such reflections

2009-09-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

my image of the "ghost", including everything conventional about its appearance as well as its blind submission to certain contingencies of time and place, is particularly significant for me as the finite representation of a torment that may be eternal. perhaps my life is nothing but an image of this kind; perhaps i am doomed to retrace my steps under the illusion that i am exploring, doomed to try and learn what i should simply recognise, learning a mere fraction of what i have forgotten.

-Nadja
Andre Breton

Candice Bohannon & Julio Reyes

2009-09-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

one of the biggest deciding factors when a student is looking at art schools is the quality of the student work. this was crucial to my decision to attend LCAD 5 years ago. the work of Candice and Julio convinced me that this was the school for me. since then, i have become acquainted with them and cannot fully express how unique and amazing they both are. true artists in any sense of the word. not only do they produce excellent work, but the honesty in their approach, from the initial stages in preparing the materials and studies, through their final product is something to seek to attain for oneself. i am always inspired by their hard work and the dedication they put into everything they do.

i am happy to share that they have both started blogs. so far they are already very informative and insightful. i hope they continue to update often.

Candice Bohannon

Julio Reyes

disembowellment

2009-09-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

audio.video.link.photo.quote.brain spillage.

the complacency of role playing

2009-09-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

sometimes we get too comfortable, complacent in our routine. we are confident in our own smug roles. our consummation. i am constantly trying to push myself forward in my work, but even then i get wrapped up in easy successes. and so comes the slow and difficult process of purging those things.

my friend and amazing artist Shay Bredimus contacted me to participate in a Vanitas show that he is curating for a gallery in Phoenix for their First Friday Art Walk of September. i'm not sure of the name of the gallery yet, but apparently this is one of the larger art walks in the states. the show will be up for 2 months and Shay seems to be very happy with the body of work he's collected from other friends, including Sammy Macias, James Miller, Brendan Sharkey, Orion Fisher, and many other great painters. I will post more information as it comes.

in the meantime here is the painting in its stages. sorry, i documented with an iphone so a few of them are blurry. i was very short on time due to life's compulsive need to interrupt, taking higher quality photos wasn't an option. the final image is hi rez though.

i can't help but love a vanitas painting. it's just such an appealing subject. the imagery, the mood, the symbolism, the connotations, all awesome.

i've been fooling around with the idea of approaching a vanitas painting in a more unconventional way. a still life lent itself very well to a little experimentation, and a skull painting is fully loaded to begin with allowing me to deal with more formal issues in painting.

the added use of the mirrors not only allowed me to experiment with application but also gave the work a little more substance dealing with issues of illusion and depth of space.

purge 2009,
12x12" oil on canvas

it is not good to settle into a set of opinions. it is a mistake to put forth effort and obtain some understanding and then stop at that. at first putting forth great effort to be sure that you have grasped the basics, then practicing so that they may come to fruition is something that will never stop for your whole lifetime. do not rely on following the degree of understanding that you have discovered, but simply think, "this is not enough".

one should search throughout his whole life how best to follow the Way. and he should study, setting his mind to work without putting things off. within this is the Way.

-Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai
Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 1659-1719

e.p.c.d.t studios

2009-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

james miller and i are currently renting a work studio in the canyon, just up the canyon from LCAD and two lots further up from the MFA building. the place is fantastic. plenty of light and room to work with. James is an ideal studiomate, bringing both his dedication and fresh ideas to the mix. for this, i am thankful.

we've decided to start a blog to document our shared time there and just for s&g. you can visit it here: e.p.c.d.t studios

ty.

moving forward

2009-08-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

step back. evaluate. evolve.

many updates to come shortly

photo inspired by Phil Hale's The End of Fidelity

Steven Assael Cassandra Demo

2009-07-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

sorry, at the request of Steven Assael I have removed the demo images.

Sean Cheetham Demo at LCAD: Updated with Slide Show

2009-07-29T10:38:00.000-07:00

back in early december 2008 artist and instructor Sean Cheetham came by LCAD for a demo. he spent at least 2/3rds of the demo nailing the drawing and the shadow masses, measuring those transparent temperature shifts. working with a pretty simple palette, he moved into the half tones (this is where Sargent claimed all portraits were ultimately 'painted') working with a nice array of neutral colors, shifting subtly in temperature, color and value. only in the final minutes did he move into the lightest masses and highlights. unfortunately, the final photo does not do the demo justice.

and just in case you missed the Steven Assael Demo...

Antonio Lopez Garcia Boston 2008 Show

2009-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

almost exactly a year from today the Boston Museum of Fine Arts commenced its retrospective show featuring Antonio Lopez Garcia (in my opinion, the greatest living painter). my friends Brendan Sharkey and Philip Womack managed to make it, and Sharkey took some really nice detail shots of the work. i posted a few of them way back in May of 08, and finally here are the rest.

"to believe, one must have lost god; to paint, one must have lost art"

2009-07-21T15:58:00.000-07:00

1024 Farben in 4 Permutationen

"there is no excuse whatever for uncritically accepting what one takes over from others. for no thing is good or bad in itself, only as it relates to specific circumstances and to our own intentions. this fact means that there is nothing guaranteed or absolute about conventions: it gives us the daily responsibility of distinguishing good from bad."

-Gerhard Richter

The Daily Practice of Painting: Writings 1962-1993

3 hours, booze and friends.

2009-07-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

a few of us got together over at Sammy's new place. we hired his model from an earlier class. Sam provided some wine, beer, cheese and homemade quesadillas. Stephen charged through a nice portrait painting. James G, Hope, Jessica, Alex and Kate all worked out some nice drawings. James M. knocked out a couple of quick paintings. I managed to wrangle out a drawing i'm pretty happy with. all in all a very good night.

From Nine to One

2009-07-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

i started this painting over a year ago. i was still in my senior studio space when i set this up and started at it. as you can see from the first picture, it's changed quite a bit. of course, it had to. i didn't get to put as much time into it before i had to move out of the studio. at that point, i put it away and only picked it up again two months ago. i had to rethink the painting with a new location. i fucked up the composition by eliminating the palette knife, and tried to compensate with the hammer. still not sure if that was entirely successful. of course, as with every painting, there are things that i am still unsatisfied with, but there is plenty to be happy with.

From Nine to One
oil on linen 12x24

hope you enjoy. and thanks.

Making Lines

2009-06-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

my talented friend Rebecca had to do a project for class, and i don't know if she ran out of ideas or what, but she managed to make an awesome documentary about my work. i am really happy with how it came out. i especially love that i don't sound like a complete ass. i really couldn't be happier with it. thanks both to Rebecca and Jaimeryan.

check it!

Making Lines from Rebecca Ramage on Vimeo.

the style of no style

2009-06-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

some of my friends know that for the last few years i've found inspiration and guidance in the writings of the martial arts. there is a kinship between the philosophies found in martial arts and in painting. when approached correctly, it is my strong opinion that the martial arts are perhaps the greatest form of art, not only requiring a great deal of knowledge, but physical and spiritual strength as well.

Bruce Lee was (and is) probably the most well known and most important proponent of these philosophies. after watching Enter the Dragon today, i committed another couple of hours listening to him extol the virtues of his art. it's fantastic to be reminded about how great our potential is. i wish he was still around today. oh, the things you could have taught us!

empty your mind. be formless. shapeless. like water. now, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. put water in a bowl, and it becomes the bowl. put water in a tea cup, and it becomes a tea cup. now water can flow, and it can crash. be water my friend.

here are a couple of recommended short and easy reads:

Sword and Brush: The Spirit of the Martial Arts by David Lowry

Moving Toward Stillness by David Lowry

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo

I'm going to have to pick up Tao of Jeet Kune Do by Mr. Lee very soon!

oh, and just for fun...

man's true profession...

2009-06-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

and what are you now, Siddhartha?

i do not know; i know as little as you. i am on the way. i was a rich man, but i am no longer and what i will be tomorrow i do not know.

have you lost your riches?

i have lost them, or they have lost me-i am not sure. the wheel of appearances revolves quickly, Govinda. where is Siddhartha the brahmin, where is Siddhartha the samana, where is Siddhartha the rich man? The transitory soon changes, Govinda. you know that.

-Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

you just move your hands upon the clock

2009-05-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

in the film El Sol del Membrillo director Victor Erice documents the Spanish artist Antonio Lopez Garcia's attempt to capture the effect of Madrid's autumn light filtering through a quince tree in his modest backyard. the documentary runs at just over two hours but follows Mr. Garcia over the course of three months. it begins with the ritual-like hand preparation of his materials. then he meticulously prepares his easel; driving stakes into the ground to mark his position, dropping plum lines, and marking the placement of branches and fruit with slight indications. he begins to record, transcribing what he observes, chasing the autumn light. eventually, the effect is gone, that time of year has passed and he has failed to finish the painting.

for the most part, the film has been lauded by artists, critics and film lovers alike. but, it has also been criticized as overly long, boring, mundane, a waste of time, pretentious, devoid of enjoyment, etcetera. ultimately, and overtly in some cases, this is a criticism of both the work of Mr. Erice and Mr. Lopez himself. the complaints i've noticed usually derive from the preconceptions people have about art making, the act of painting in this case. because Mr. Lopez fails to complete a painting over the course of the film these critics consider the film a failure; lack of climax/resolution, hence, making Mr. Lopez a failure in his own right (anyone with any actual knowledge of this well respected artist would scoff at that idea.)

so i guess this brings me to my point, these preconceived notions. the general public has all of this baggage they attach to art and artists, criteria. but this film is a perfect reflection of Mr. Lopez's work and the process of painting itself. ritual. process. observation. meditation. experience. life. this is what art is about. you can dress it with narrative, themes, social issues. you can make it shocking, absurd, ironic, sentimental, sexy but ultimately, the act of painting is something unique. it is experience, process and time transcribed through our human condition.

if you can't answer this simple question, you have no business making art in the first place:

why paint it?

ps. i now possess this film.

and in case you are wondering, i ask myself this question all the time.

sketch dump

2009-05-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

water color & gauoche study

Marker (Phil Hale composition study)

Marker (Phil Hale composition study)

struggle

2009-05-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

Listen, Kamala, when you throw a stone into the water, it finds the quickest way to the bottom of the water. It is the same when Siddhartha does nothing: he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he goes through the affairs of the world like a stone through water., without doing anything, without bestirring himself; he is drawn and lets himself fall. He is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons; there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goal, if he can think, wait and fast.

-Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Draw the Figure

2009-05-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

friend, artist, instructor Hope Railey has started a wonderful blog that she describes as a figure drawing blog where I'll post in-progress drawings and technical tips. Check it out Draw the Figure.

Untitled, by Hope Railey

as for myself...well, i've got quite a few paintings i'm going to press on and try to finish over the next two months...we will see...

epiphany!

2009-04-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

high noon art peek

2009-04-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

during lunch i managed to run over to the Laguna Art Museum to check out their current exhibition Roger Kuntz: The Shadow Between Representation and Abstraction. i've been hearing many good things about the show, so i was pretty revved up to see the work. it was definitely worth it.

recently, i've been looking at a lot of work that most would consider a huge departure from my previous interests. i'm not going to go into detail here, but my interests have always been pretty eclectic (i know, such a cliche). i didn't go to school to learn to paint so that i can replicate crap ad nauseum. i wanted to learn to paint well, so that i wouldn't be limited by lack of skill. of course, representation is still a huge part of who i am as an artist, but i do not intend to create work as a mere exercise in facility. as a student or young artist in the world of representational painting, there's an unspoken pressure to prove or show off your technical abilities. with the resurgence in the popularity of representational art and an atelier or classical approach, we run the risk of becoming the academic school of Paris circa 1900. there is a lot to learn from all the schools of painting, shit, a lot to learn from all forms of art...in fact, let's make that life!

With all that said, Kuntz's Freeway Series was by far some of the best work i've ever seen in the museum. A sweet spot, somewhere between realism and abstraction with a heavy dose of pop . if you're in the area, i highly recommend stopping in for a long look.

oh, and if you're looking for some music check out crystal castles. good stuffs.

a refresher course

2009-04-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

LCAD is hosting a free sight-size workshop (for LCAD students) with Matthew Riggs. i will be attending. you can never get too much practice or instruction. looking forward to this.

brain scraping

2009-04-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

like i said in my previous post, i am renting a very nice studio space in the canyon here. i'm only renting it temporarily from Jeff Peters who is currently taking a stab at the big apple. he will be back soon, so i have little time. must make it worth it. i'm hoping to, at the very least, finish a couple of commissions i've started. if i can get through those quickly, i plan to throw myself violently into a new direction, a direction that is hinted at in this post. very discretely though. more to come soon. for now, enjoy.

preliminary sketch for minnesota flashdance

who am i looking at? david schnell, jerome witkin, gerhard richter, robert rauschenberg, peter joel witkin, matthias weischer, and egypt. ssshhhhhh...

werkchoppn

2009-04-06T09:38:00.001-07:00

for the most part, i've been keeping up with our regular Saturday Morning Workshop at LCAD. working on my life drawing chops, trying to implement everything i've learned and picked up along the way and digest it all. in addition to that, i split my time assisting prospective students who are working on developing their skills and portfolios. pretty enriching stuff for a saturday morning in the canyon...oh, yeah...picked up a studio space just up the canyon for a couple of months, hopefully longer. pictures soon to come...

now for some work.

women painting women

2009-03-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

i've become aware of a new blog that i am very interested in. go check em out and let's hope they continue to post excellent artists...

women painting women

artist Thomasin Dewhurst

leaves hidden in shadows

2009-03-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

i read slowly. partially because i read many books at once. one of the books i am currently reading is Hagakure, described as "a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction in the philosophy and code of behaviour that foster the true spirit of Bushido-the Way of the Warrior." these writings are drawn from Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a samurai retainer to the Nabeshima Clan, who, in 1700 became a Buddhist monk after tsuifuku (suicide of a retainer after the death of his lord) was deemed illegal. during his seven year period of seclusion he was visited by a younger samurai, Tsuramato Tashiro who transcribed their conversations.

for myself, the book acts as a philosophical treatise on leading a full and virtuous life. after each section i have taken some time for quiet reflection, something i have not had much time to do as of late. and so i share:

a certain swordsman in his declining years said the following:
in one's life, there are levels in the pursuit of study. in the lowest
level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that
both he and others are unskillful. at this point he is worthless. in
the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own
insufficiencies of others. in a higher level he has pride
concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and
laments the lack of ability in his fellows. this man has worth. in
the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.

these are the levels in general. but there is one transcending level,
and this is the most excellent of all. this person is aware of the
endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way and never
thinks of himself as having finished. he truly knows his own
insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he
succeeded. he has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement
knows the Way to the end. it is said that Master Yagyu once
remarked, "i do not know the way to defeat others, but the way
to defeat myself."

throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful
than yesterday, more skillful than today. this is
never-ending.

now...quiet reflection...

the birth of a universe in cosmic catastrophe...

2009-03-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Work has been rather busy lately but, I have managed to keep up with my art (not as much as I would like) as well as local shows and events. I was very happy to attend Bo Bartlett's lecture at LCAD this past Monday, March 9th. His lecture was very informative, tending to focus more on his influences, life experience, and general themes in his work. This is a nice departure from the technique based lectures that many figurative representational artists tend to focus on. Mr. Bartlett is a very well respected and successful artist and his current show at the Forum Gallery in LA is definitely worth a look. I hope to get out there this weekend.

In addition to the Bo Barlett show, I'd also like to stop by John Asaro's show at the Bergamot Station: Track 16 Gallery (#c-1). The show, Bella Donna, will include 60 new life sized figurative oils.

Like I said, I have managed to keep working on my own projects. I have several paintings in the works (comp and study stages), including a commission that I am very excited about. Here is a portrait study for that painting. It's an early sketch and there will be many more before I jump into the real painting.

And then there is my sketchbook. More to come soon...

practice. it's important.

2009-02-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

here are some studies. most were done at the Saturday Morning Workshop at LCAD. I've put them in chronological order, starting from the newest.

The Grand Bastard

2009-01-27T16:44:00.000-08:00

The Grand Bastard
oil on canvas
30"x40"

it's been a while but, here's my first official post graduation painting. as you can see it's my favorite subject again, but it's a little more ambitious, it's bigger (and that's better, right?) and my palette has opened up a bit; brighter colors, bolder brush strokes. basically, it's my debutante piece. haha. essentially, it's a statement about my commitment to a life as a painter. Hope you like. Click it to embiggen.

The Hidden Place

2009-01-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

here's a great painting blog i thought notable enough to recommend. i know, i know, the arrogance. anyway, here you go:

The Hidden Place

here's a sample of an artist new to me.

Diarmuid Kelly

among many other great artists including Jefferey Hein, El Joven, Ann Gale, ect...

making lines...

2009-01-05T16:00:00.001-08:00

words from another mind...

2008-12-21T19:00:00.001-08:00

"Paintings require the long look. It is a physical object, with its own scale and density as a thing in the world. its images do not pass. they can be contemplated, returned to, examined in the light of their own history. the work of art is layered and webbed with references to the inner and the outer worlds that are not merely iconic. it can acquire a spiritual aspect, which rises from its power to evoke contemplation. it is infinitely more than an array of social signs awaiting deconstruction."

robert hughes

New studio...

2008-11-29T19:53:00.001-08:00

new work...

digging the pony...more sketches...

2008-11-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

update. sketches, yes, more of them. new paintings soon to come...

quick 15min sketch from photo just for fun

quick 40min Portrait Study for new painting

Gauche color study for new painting.

Wyeth study (above) quick sketch for fun

New Painting....

2008-09-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

well, like i said, i am still painting. and to prove it, here it is, in progress obviously. i hope to have it done for a september 30 deadline. i definitely don't want to rush it, which means i'll have to double my effort to be more disciplined. it's still got a ways to go, but i'm happy to have it all laid in to my satisfaction. i'll talk more about the obstacles and pain that naturally comes with painting...for now, here it is...

Growth 36"x24"

RADIOHEAD

2008-08-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

be jealous. VERY jealous.

last night i saw thom yorke and company at the hollywood bowl. needless to say, it was brilliant, mesmerizing, mind blowing; an auditory retina explosion inducing experience.

a vast three-dimensional presentation of light, music and sound. these hanging leds, four times the height of a man, pulsating and glowing in sinc with the kintetic beats, throbbing lows, walls of sound, distorted explosions and quiet lulls. truly a magnificent display of performance art.

They powerhoused their entire performance. Going through In Rainbows in its entirety, as well as a large spattering of work from previous albums. the tracks off The Bends sounded as fresh as ever. thom and johnny did a very lovely rendition of a neil young song. if asked to name some outstanding moments, i'd be hard pressed. i will say that The Gloaming, with its neon green assault, throbbing low end and silhoetted thom yorke hyper dancing was memorable, as was wait...if i start this, i'll end up detailing every song.

Here's the setlist, taken from At Ease.

Setlist:

01. Reckoner
02. Optimistic
03. There There
04. 15 Step
05. All I Need
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. Videotape
10. Talk Show Host
11. Faust Arp
12. Tell Me Why (Neil Young Cover)
13. No Surprises
14. Jigsaw
15. Bends
16. The National Anthem
17. Nude
18. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1
19. House of Cards
20. Planet Telex
21. Go Slowly
22. Fake Plastic Trees
23. True Love Waits Intro/Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 2
24. Cymbal Rush
25. Karma Police
26. Idioteque

ahhhh. ok. breathe.

The Bastard Patron

2008-08-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

so i haven't updated lately. i'm working on a few pieces right now...but more importantly, i have acquired a rad little piece from a friend at school, Jason Nam.

you can check out his blog at stumbphy

I will be updating soon with more work...until then...

Senior Series

2008-05-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the four paintings from my Senior series. While they aren't perfect and there are plenty of things I would have done differently, I am happy with what they are. I painted all of them from life, using no photographic aid. Truly and honestly, I did them to the best of my ability in the time I had. Just my attempt at honest representation. Thank you.

Bastard Self Portrait No. 4 in the Studio
30x24 oil on linen Available

A Brief History
24x18 oil on linen Available

First and Myrtle
20x16 oil on linen Available

Four Years
18x36 oil on canvas SOLD

I am working out some comps for more paintings in the same vein as well as more ambitious narrative figurative work. We shall see...

Senior Fine Arts Show

2008-05-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

As many of you know (as if many people even stop by here), April 30th was Laguna College's Senior Fine Arts Show. It was held across the street at 7degrees Gallery. In my opinion (and in the opinion of many others), the show was very successful. There was a variety of work from a diverse and strong group of student artists. Of course, most of these pictures are all about me and my work. haha.

The day before and we discuss the nuanced beauty of Nick Evendolsons work. (I know I butchered his last name)

Finishing touches, and ready to hang.

My family showed up fashionably early.

And of course, my beautiful girlfriend...

and her posse.

Cute stashes

I had five paintings in the show, four of which were part of my senior portfolio series. Here's the left side of my installation.

This is a shot of the right side of the installation. It is very strange to see other people studying/admiring/hating your work.

The homies. Of course the third didn't show up in any pictures, but to make up for it, there's Randall Cabe in the background as well as Adrien Stein, Josh and Thomas Stubbs.

One of my dual guest appearances in Michael Harnish's ambitious and beautiful painting.

K-palm represent!

Overall, I was very happy with the reception of my work. Some 'important' people really took a liking to the paintings, and I made some dough.

Needless to say, the night fell into ego drunken' revelry...

(Thanks to JH and MW for some of the photos.)

El Maestro!

2008-05-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

Seriously, my favorite contemporary artist is Senor Antonio Lopez Garcia. No Doubt. Here are some shots my friend Brendan Sharkey took during his visit to Boston.

Garcia currently has a very rare exhibition at the MFA Boston going on, I think only his second in the states over his long career. You must click to embiggen! Enjoy.

I can declare with the utmost confidence that he has no match.

I've only posted images from one painting, including closeups Brendan took.

These images reveal what normally can only be seen in person (obviously with lesser quality) and I don't think I've seen anything like them on the internet. To see, up close, how he works to transcribe what he sees, and then the overall effect is amazing. I am seriously blown away. God damn.

Steven Assael Demo

2008-05-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

sorry, at the request of Steven Assael I have removed the demo images.

A teaser...

2008-04-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

for those who care for a sneak peak...

here's the initial lay in for a still life that will be included in the student show.

more to come.

More drawings...

2008-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

one week before the show... and in the meantime...

this first one is a sketch from my moleskin sketchbook of Meredith. it's a study for an etching i'm doing this week. im rather happy with the sketch, although i don't think i was even close to capturing her true beauty.

this next one is an in class study for a more refined drawing that i did. the model was great, almost like he was taken directly off the street. he was actually naked, but before dropping completely nude, he stood there in a pair of grey underwear that had the phrase 'Fit 4 Life' on the elastic and a pair of socks. i decided to include them. he also had a small tattoo of a crudely drawn cross with the word 'mom' underneath it. perfect.

This is a drawing of another model, Jules. I like the drawing for a few reasons. unfortunately, the likeness is off quite a bit. another case where the drawing doesn't do the model justice.

you can click the images to get a closer look. sorry about the second two. theyre oversized so i had to double scan. tacky, i know.

Sketchbooks!

2008-04-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

i haven't updated in terms of work here, but rest assured, it is coming. i've got about 4 weeks until the senior show where i will be showing 4 paintings, perhaps a drawing and maaaaybe some etchings. we will have to see. the paintings are well on their way to being done in time, and then when all the chaos blows over, i'll be posting them here too.

in the meantime, i took some scans from sketchbooks, old and new... click images for a closer look...

Those two were from pretty far back, good ol' tutoring days.

That's Serj and Sharkey, sketchin away at the Gypsy Den in Santa Ana. Maybe a year ago.
That's my friend Joe aka. Jophen Stein. You should check out his work. Snootson Family Showcase.

That's a ball point pen drawing for a painting I will be doing of Meredith.

Thom Yorke upside down with a fat head and this really creepy, but soothing guru guy. Oh, and Mary JB.

i like to browse the internet and bookmark websites with photography libraries of interesting people and places around the world. These were done from a photo library of American vagabonds, and vintage photos of African Americans from the eary 1910s-1980s.

i always encourage fellow artists and students to keep a sketchbook. it's advice given to me that i try to pass on to others. i think they're a great way for an artist to keep honing their observational skills, techniques, and it allows them a quite a place to just draw without the pressure of an audience. it's really the only place where you are free to do whatever you want without having to impress and sell yourself. the drawings should never be taken too seriously. sketchbooks should not attempt to be pretty.

to be honest, i have to try hard to remind myself to work in it, cuz i don't nearly as much as i should. i am getting better, and i know soon it'll be a habit.

"To make art lifelike, this is my objective"

2008-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

"I studied the art of the ancients and that of the moderns using no systematized approach and without preconceived ideas. I no more wanted to imitate the former that I sought to copy the later. Neither did I strive toward the futile objective called ’art for art’s sake’. No! Quite simply, I wanted to draw from the entire body of tradition a rational, independent sense of my own individuality. To know in order to create-this was my purpose. To be able to interpret the customs, ideas, and point of view of my time according to my frame of reference; in a word, to make art lifelike, this is my objective."

Gustave Courbet

thoughts...

2008-03-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

i enjoy listening to intelligent, thoughtful and compassionate people speak. not because I fancy myself one, but because it humbles me.

Buddha Head Still Life Study

2008-01-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

this is my final semester at LCAD as many of you know (i say many as if many people even read this thing), and i am in Sergio Sanchez's figure painting class. as great of an artist as he is, i specifically wanted to take his class for his knowledge in color theory and application. he is known for lighting his models with extreme color gels in order to achieve heightened effects. Check out his website here, Sergio Sanchez and most notably his Figure Painting Demos: 3-5 Hours.

as part of his class, he assigns homework every week, due the following lesson. each week, we are to paint a quick still life, landscape, or figure painting under different lighting conditions. this week i painted this buddha head statue we have and under-lit it with a candle. i left the head floating (it is actually mounted on a thin black bar) mainly because it was simpler and it looked neat. haha. anyways, here's my 3 hour still life, oil on board, 8x10".

Floating Buddha

you can click on the image for hi-rez. i apologise for the glare at the bottom and the slight out of foucs. i need to learn how to take better photos of my work.

ps. oh yeah, painting on board is a pain.

And the Holy Roman Empire!

2008-01-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

JaimeRyan, my brother Charles, and I started what is perhaps the earliest incarnation of a band now known as the And the Holy Roman Empire many years ago. Since that early experiment into noise control, the band has gone through many lineups and many names. At some point, Charles came back, this time as the drummer, and I have left to pursue other artistic ventures. Now, finally, after the long journey, And the Holy Roman Empire will be performing on February 9th, at the Viper Room. Check out their myspace here: And the Holy Roman Empire, then check em out live!

LA Trippin

2008-01-22T20:49:00.001-08:00

It's Martin Luther's, 10 am and we're meeting at the off campus studios for our class trip. Our trip was to the MOCA for this guy's show at the Geffen. You may of heard of him. His name is Takashi Murakami and he's basically a god in Japan. The show was interesting to say the least. I have no photos of this part of the trip, they didn't allow photography, but if you're interested in more of his work, just google him.

This is where the blog really begins....

Like I said, class trip at the MOCA Geffen, and now Chris Hill, Michael Harnish, Russel Becker and I are leaving the MOCA to eat some lunch in Little Tokyo.

Korean BBQ. Mmmmmm.

I know, go to Little Tokyo and we eat Korean food. But, goddamnit it's good!

Just ask Russel.

After lunch we decided to make a day of it and settled on going to the LACMA. Down the 10, up the 405, and we finally get there.

After some coffee, we took some time to watch a performance artist named Llyn Foulkes and His Machine. Ummm, I don't really know how to describe it, but here's a picture of his Music Machine, and if you watch the video, you can see him perform. I think we all decided that it was definitely enjoyable.

We continued on into the the modern art gallery...

Lost in Modernity

(part deux)

The Treachery of Images

After a nauseating round through modern art we headed to see some Rembrandts, a great Ribera, a Corot and a number of other wonderful representational painting.

And we discovered a nice little gem by a man named Narcisse-Virgilio Diaz de la Pena.

Stormy Landscape, 18-something

After making our rounds through the American section, we decided our trip was over.

The trip home was made spectacular by mother nature herself.

goodnight

tick...tock...

2007-12-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

thanks to all those friends of mine who visited me at the Laguna Art Walk. it went well, i think. but, i definitely won't shed any tears if i never show in laguna again. haha

as for painting...

here's an all prima painting i did of my friend Chris Hill. one session, 3hrs, north light.

Come Visit Me

2007-12-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

Come visit me this Thursday, at the Laguna Art Walk. I'll be at Townley Fine Art. Nothing fancy. They pair up senior students with galleries and call it a mentoring program. I'll have two paintings up, including the "Teeth" painting. There might be wine and other goodies. Here's the website for the gallery.

Townley Fine Art

Thanks. If you don't show up, it's cool. Just don't expect me to remember you when I'm famous.

What am i doing?

2007-11-26T09:26:00.001-08:00

FINALLY.

ok. i realise it's been a while. buuut, i have been busy working... well, most of the time... ok, some of the time.

i finished another painting. it's probably the painting i am most proud of. the only painting i've done that i consider anything close to an actual work of art. (yeah, remember those? kinda like relics these days)

i was experimenting with a lot of aspects in the art of picture making. working with edges, shapes, composition, texture, surface quality, paint application, balancing warms and cools, all while trying to abstract a little and still coax some sort of emotional reaction. meanwhile, Randall Cabe (a professor and brilliant person) continually tries to mind-fuck me. why paint? why render at all? what is my voice in the historical dialog of picture making? do i have a place? is it relevant in the media world of today? does anyone care? does it matter whether anyone cares to notice? wait, why do i paint again?

what am i doing?
i'm trying to save latin goddamn it!

Pulling Teeth: A Self Portrait

There it is.

(ps. oh, and an eight year old child at my work just said it was "fascinating". that's a compliment!)

not that anyone actually cares...

2007-10-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

but i will be updating soon. i've been very busy with work (and some halo...hee hee) and i have plenty to update.

ok. soon.

alla prima week 4: model unknown

2007-08-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

this week i was much more happy with my painting than the previous two. i am pleased with the drawing and overall feel of the portrait even if the likeness is not very accurate. the biggest problem was revealed to me upon leaving the dark studio, too warm. it looks cooled off in the photo, but the reality is that it's too warm. too much oxide red.

in other news, i'm still working on the first of two portraits of Meredith. it's coming along fairly well, and hopefully i'll soon be very happy with it. i'm also hard at work developing some ideas for my senior portfolio (sketches, thumbnails, reference, materials, drafts, color studies, ect...), my business cards, and upcoming website. senior year, finally. feels good. real good.

alla prima week 3: heather

2007-08-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

ok, so i missed one of the alla prima weeks. i did a drawing instead, which i might post later with a series of other drawings. this week though, heather. i mangled her ear and had some color problems (not as many as week two's painting). overall, i'm happier with this one. hopefully i'm back on track after the last derailment.

in other news. i've started a painting of Meredith, that will be followed up by a larger painting of her. i've almost completed a painting of my grandfather that i am very happy with. i sold Bastard Self Portrait No. 3 With Mouth Open, which was a nice surprise. all in all, things are working out well. i'm excited to start school again in a couple of weeks.

Bastard Self Portrait No. 3 With Mouth Open

2007-07-27T16:31:00.001-07:00

ok. some people (wink wink) might say i'm 'on a roll' but i just think i haven't been as lazy.

here's my third Bastard Self Portrait. as you can see in the progression, it changed quite drastically, most notably at stage 4 in this series of pictures. it was mainly the decision to paint that blue in the background that saved the piece. it started off strong, but by stage 3 the drawing fell completely apart and i was having trouble keeping the light mass from getting chalky.

anyways, i am happy with the painting, to say the least. it's already been sold to a good friend and patron to up and coming artists. haha.

Bastard Self Portrait No. 3 With Mouth Open
(oil on canvas 20x16)

sketchbooks

2007-07-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

a few random sketches from my sketchbooks

mental nourishment

2007-07-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

currently reading:

Velazquez*
by Dawson W. Carr

The Art Spirit
by Robert Henri

The Will to Believe; Human Immortality*
by William James

recently read:

Ways of Seeing
by John Berger

Odd Nerdrum: Themes*
by Odd Nerdrum and Li BjOrn

Life Lessons: The Art of Jerome Witkin*
by Sherry Chayat

Freud at Work: Lucian Freud in Conversation with Sebastian Smee
by Bruce Bernard and David Dawson

will soon be reading:

John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882; Complete Paintings: Volume IV*
by Richard Ormond, Elaine Kilmurray and Warren Adelson

The Rembrandt Book*
by Gary Schwartz

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K Rowling

*thanks to those who generously purchased these titles for me for my birthday

life is good.

2007-07-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

yard sale: got some new toys. both in working condition. one word: sweet.

Kodak Pony 135

Sekonic Zoom 8 Simplomat

front balcony: god affirming sunsets. almost. ok, not so much but beautiful nonetheless.

my girlfriend takes amazing pictures

garden: produces organic treats. no pesticides. no hormones. all natural mother nature ass kickery.

not only does she take rad pictures, she can maintain
a garden and still fight evil. you should check out her
blog. right here: De Lux

Finished. (Finally! part 2)

2007-07-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

about a month ago (almost exactly) i posted the preliminary drawing for a painting i was doing for my brother. he wanted a painting made for the cover for his upcoming self released, solo experimental metal album Improvisational Recording (Vol.1). you can check out his myspace music page here: The Armed Wing of Alethinos.

well, a month later, i finally finished it (kinda) and here is the painting process as promised.

i'm not entirely finished with it, nor am i very happy with it. i think i just burned out; my reference was bad, the concept wasn't stimulating me enough and i moved ahead on the painting when the lay in wasn't satisfactory. all my fault. as the (double) cliche goes you win some, you lose some.

i'm not sweatin it though. i've got a couple other paintings that're reminding me "i can paint".

ps. sorry about the nose, i really butchered that.

alla prima week two: melissa

2007-07-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

ok. so this week i bombed, but i'll post anyway. in my own defense, it's very hard to paint a portrait very far away. mistake number one. moving on from excuses and time to focus on the problems; the breasts are flattened out, the likeness is not very accurate, i had trouble with my light masses, proportions are off, an overall weirdness of color temperatures, ect... (i can go on)

regardless, here it is, melissa.

i encourage anyone who is interested in attending, to come. the workshops run from 9am to 12pm on saturdays at Laguna College of Art and Design. They are open to anyone. free for LCAD students, 10$ for drop ins.

a trip to the MOCA

2007-07-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

pablo, sammy, sharkey and i all went on a small trip to the museum of contemporary arts. the day started with a 9.30 am breakfast at sammy's place. sharkey was already there, looking good and red. sammy's a pretty good breakfast cook, i have to admit. so 12 comes around and we head out to pablo's house in east la.

i think he was still changing on his way down. his neighborhood was really great. i love these old run down areas in major cities, especially in LA.

i was born...in east la.

we decided to go through little tokyo to have some lunch. the city loomed large on our way there, covered in tonka trucks.

seen it.

yeah, we went to little tokyo and had korean food

the eats were good. and the restrooms were dirty enough. but, you can find some weird shit in little tokyo. stomachs full, we had to huff it up a few miles to the moca, not good when you got two fat guys and a half complaining all the way up.

wears his heart on his sleeve.

so, through little tokyo, up bunker hill and past the phil harmonic, we finally reach the museum. turns out, the permanent collection is closed off and they only have two rooms open. of course, they didnt tell us this at the ticket booth. to say the least, it was a big disappointment. the work they did have up was pretty second rate. third rate probably. anyways, we did get to go to the geffen moca with our tickets. that was all the way back down the hill, but they had a pretty good show featuring work from the feminist movement.

statue of an arrogant bastard

tres cabrones

we drove back to pablo's, hung out in his back yard for a bit and then we all went back to our respective homes. all in all, it was a good day.

bring me back to my baby...

alla prima week one: mary

2007-06-30T16:01:00.001-07:00

i'm currently helping sammy run the saturday morning workshops at laguna college. im happy about this for a number of reasons, but most of all, because i get to improve my alla prima painting (overall painting for that matter) and drawing skills. i don't have very much experience doing single sitting paintings, so i believe this will be a very valuable experience.

i'm going to try and post all of my alla prima portraits over the summer here to track my progress. because the workshop alternates every other week, long pose one week then short poses the following week, i'll be posting the work every other week. obviously.

here's week one, mary.

the workshops run from 9am to 12pm on saturdays, and are open to anyone. free for LCAD students, 10$ for drop ins.