In Process

Still lots to do on both of these paintings.  The house is approximately 34"x56". The landscape is a view from the road through the Alabama Hills to Mt. Whitney.  It's 42"x60". I'm having fun/going crazy painting the sagebrush.  

Experiments, studies, sketches, and general craziness

Many thanks to those of you who made it to open studios. It's always so great to meet new people and get feedback on my work. After all the craziness of finishing the paintings, cleaning the studio, and opening it to the public, I am ready for a vacation, though.  I usually take a day or two off and then give myself a week to just play with paint.  Above, you can see the results of this week's play (plus an earlier experiment - the rocks).

Fall Open Studios

Please join me this weekend for Fall Open Studios in the Mission. I'll have lots of new paintings, prints, and experiments on view alongside Jon McNeal's excellent photography, and the building is full of other super talented artists. Details below. Hope to see you there.

1890 Bryant (btwn. 17th and Mariposa), Studio 212
Friday, October 26 6-9PM
Saturday, October 27 11AM-6PM
Sunday, October 28 11AM-6PM

Territories

I am so excited to announce the opening of my new show, Territories, at Artzone 461 Gallery this Saturday, September 8. This is a two person show comprised of my paintings and Jon McNeal's photography, and it's been 17 years in the making (though the work in the show is all recent). Almost since we met in architecture school, Jon and I have been venturing out to investigate and photograph the landscape that surrounds us. Our current work strives to document and understand the beauty, humor, and absurdity we find in the territories we inhabit. Details below. Hope to see you there!

Territories
September 8-October 14
Artzone 461 Gallery
461 Valencia (btwn. 15th and 16th), San Francisco, CA

Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Sunday, noon-6PM
and by appointment

Artist Reception
Saturday, September 8, 5-8PM

What we do

Jon and me in Oregon hard at work on images for our upcoming two person show at Artzone.  Stay tuned for more details.

The Big Painting

A few progress shots.  Can you tell the difference?  The bottom image gives a sense of the scale of this thing.

Something Different

Monoprints from my press.  I love how the images change with the different colors and infinite ways of inking the plate.

Work in progress

Some work in progress.  The bottom painting is brand new.  Just started it this afternoon.  It's 63"x79" on linen.  Very exciting.  I painted the top seascape over an old refinery painting.  The next one below, the plants, used to be a seascape.

My Studio

Here's a photo of my studio looking mostly like it does when I'm working.  I usually work on one or two paintings (one on each easel) at a time and up to four or five in one day.  All those other paintings stay on the walls - I am quickly and sadly running out of space.  My process is a little scattered.  Most of the time, I'll plan to work on a particular painting and end up mixing a color that's exactly right for another one.  The first painting is quickly forgotten.  Only very rarely do I spend an entire day on one painting, but that does occasionally happen when I'm in the mood to revisit a particular place.  I don't necessarily work in series, though something that happens in one painting will inspire further exploration, and before I know it, I have three seascapes or a bunch of oil tanks.  Lately the paintings have been getting bigger and bigger.  It's hard to switch back and forth between small and large, but I'm happy to say that canvases that seemed immense earlier on now feel very manageable.

 I am in the studio working from 8:30 or 9AM until 6PM weekdays. The studio space itself is about 15'x20' in a larger space which I share with five other wonderfully talented artists.  It's housed in a former Best Foods mayonnaise bottling factory in the Mission district and is full of other dedicated artists.

Photography Interview

Jon has a really nice interview on the Dickerman Prints Photo Lab Blog in which he talks about process and future projects.  I shoot most of my images while he's driving between the places he where he shoots, so some of it may look familiar.  Here he is in action:

Lots of new work in progress

Varying stages of progress from just started to pretty much done.  I'm having lots of fun experimenting with the houses and industrial stuff.