Landscape extravaganza

Victoria Beach looking north with the tower relatively close.

Victoria Beach looking north, again, with the tower farther away.

This is from Moss Beach, looking south.

The cave at Thousand Steps Beach.

Victoria Beach as seen from the Montage Hotel.

A photo composite painting of Moss Beach.

Cliff Beach looking South towards Main Beach.

Cliff Beach looking North towards New Port.

Power Tools

I got into the idea of craftsmanship as a worthwhile subject for art so I painted these two paintings of tools and panels I made.

These are some master copies I've done:

This is one of Rembrandt's many self-portraits:

Girl with the pearl earring:
The Milk Maid:
A DaVinci dopy although I forget the name of this one:
This is a Van Dyke copy and the first painting I did in Lance Richlin's alla prima technique:

More still...

This was one of my large 2 foot by 4 foot senior port paintings for the 7 degrees show titles Shame.
My third painting of Santa Monica Pier in recent memory. Although of the pier, this one is really about the iconic life guard towers.

After doing the earlier version of this painting I decided to come back and redo it under brighter lighting.

Wow, I guess my blogging habits are not gonna get any better. Oh well.

Here is a taste of some of what I've been painting in the last 60+ days:

This was my first painting of Santa Monica Pier in recent years that I did shortly after returning to Los Angeles. It was around 4 PM and had been cloudy all day.

As much as I love LA it's beaches are wide and sandy, not really ideal for seascapes. So instead of painting near Santa Monica and took the 534 metro bus up the coast to paint what was left of an old pier opposite the Getty Villa. This one took about 3 hours to do in total.
This was the 4th and final of my larger series for the 7 degrees show, titled "Other People's Relationships."

Looking for other interesting places to paint in Los Angeles I headed down to LAX. I was worried that the security might get upset with me for being there but all the employees and police who happened by were very friendly.

This was done at the far end of LAX looking back up the middle of the "U" shape that LAX makes.

Waiting for the blinds

I'm sorry loyal blog for I have neglected you terribly!

As you can see the painting is all but done. The blinds and the open book in the lower left corner are all that is really left. 

I would have made more progress in the last 8 days but I've been busy working out the next painting too, not to mention my capstone. I guess I can't complain about the academics though, without them I wouldn't get my CalGrant either. 

Crazy Patterned Couch

Filling in the couch and the rest of the far right side of the painting. 

Laying in the background and the 2nd figure

I like keeping the background very loose and will probably blend out the chairs behind her as well, to a certain extent. 

I can't wait to see what happens when I paint in the brighter lights on the rest of the couch and cushions. 

Moving right along

As I continue to lay things in it is becoming obvious that the banister behind her is too much like the color of her skin and needs to be cooled down and lightened a little. Today I hope to fill in the rest of the background behind the couch and the rest of the male figure as well as better resolve things that have already been painted.

New Painting for the 7 Degrees Show

This is the start of the 2nd painting for the 7 Degrees show this May. The piece is part of a larger series that is trying to address nudity, body image, and views on nudity. While my first painting, (coming soon,) was trying to desexualize nudity this painting instead is about how being nude is not always a state of vulnerability, because it puts those around us at a disadvantage as well. 

The painting is started with a complete outline transfered from a large print out of the reference. Starting with just the head, a mixture of clove and safflower oil is spread on to the canvas to slow drying and to help the paint go on more easily. 
The face is first laid in using very bright color because after the highlights are later added the colors will by noticeably dulled. 

Seeing that the face was too warm I started painting in the cool window behind her to help me gage the colors. 

With the head mostly resolved I start moving on down the figure.

Seascape Paintings of Laguna Beach

These are some landscape paintings I did last Summer. I got a call from Phoenix Arizona asking about them so I thought I would post them up here.  This first one was selected by the Coldwell Banker in Laguna Beach for the calender.

1/3 life sculpture of Elizabeth

The 4 latest installments from the work on the Liz sculpture.

Sketchbook scans:

90 minute Color Study

The model did not show for Sergio's class so instead I did this color study of one of his paintings that he brought in. I wanted to keep working but he was leaving since so had everyone else at that point. I tried using his method which puts drawing at the bottom and color at the top in terms of importance. 

He does not have the original up on his website but THIS is sort of what they look like on his website. 

Portrait of Liz

I've been working on this on and off since last June mostly just for fun but also as an exercise to teach myself how to sculpt. While the likeness of this is not at the level of precision I would like I'm calling it done. After all, no matter how well I sculpt this a severed head with the lips slightly parted, staring up with all the muscles relaxed has trouble looking anything other than lifeless. The next one I do of Liz will definitely have her smiling. 

Better Pic of Liz.

That other photo of this is not really that good at all. Since I was retaking pictures of a bunch of things I'm stuff on anyways I thought it best to post this up here. 

I was retaking pictures of artwork I've done in the first place on account of Industry Open House at LCAD, should be fun.

Liz Sketch

I painted this sketch of Elizabeth McGhee using a modified version of the technique I normally use. Basically, I just used a lot more medium through out the painting. I started with transparent colors like Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, and Ultra Marine, before working into the light areas with Lead White and the cadmiums. The image I transfered from a photo I had taken of her for a sculpture I was doing of her onto an 8 inch by 10 inch canvas.