Glacier Lagoon

Started this painting last week. It's approximately 36"x42". These icebergs come from a giant glacier behind the viewpoint here, float through a lagoon filled with seals, and drift down this channel out to sea. Some of them wash back up on the beach where they look like ghostly ice relics as they melt on the black sand.

This week

In the studio

This past week Robert Lopez, a photography student here in town, came by the studio to work do an assignment phtographing someone at work. Thankfully the studio was cleaner than usual because of open studios. I think his photos look great! You can find more of Robert's work here.

More glaciers

Here's a new painting I've been working on this week.  It's 34"x56". Still a lot to do...

Also, a big thank you to everyone who came out for open studios. It is so inspiring to talk about the work with people who are so interested and engaged!

Upcoming Events

Time again for Mission Open Studios.  Please join me this coming weekend. I'll have lots of new work to show, and I promise the studio will be cleaner than in the photo above. Details below. Please note that the preview has been moved to Thursday night and that the studio will be closed Friday.

1890 Bryant (btwn 17th and Mariposa), Studio 212
Thursday, October 24 6-9PM
Saturday, October 26 11-6PM
Sunday, October 27 11-6PM

Other places to see my work this weekend:

Architecture and Interiors
October 19 - November 17
Opening reception October 26, 5-8PM
Artzone 461 Gallery
461 Valencia

Art for AIDS Auction
Friday, October 25, 5:30-9:30 PM
City View at Metreon
135 4th St.

Hope to see you sometime this weekend!

More Iceland Progress

I'm back!

Been away for the past four months travelling up the west coast and then spent most of the summer in NYC with a side trip to Norway and Iceland. All super amazing and inspiring.  Here are the beginnings of a few glacier paintings.

A few paintings

After open studios, I took a few days off to go up to Mt. Tam before the green grasses turned brown for the summer, and that trip inspired a few small paintings. The top painting is just finished and comes from my first visit to Lava Beds National Monument. We just went again a few weeks ago, so there will be several more rock paintings.

Spring Open Studios!

Please join me this weekend for Spring Open Studios in the Mission!

1890 Bryant (btwn 17th and Mariposa), Studio 212
Friday, April 19 6-9PM
Saturday, April 20 noon-6PM
Sunday, April 21 noon-6PM

Hope to see you there!

Oil on paper

These sketches are oil on Arches oil paper, something I've recently discovered and love. The paper is treated so that it does not need priming for oils. Yay! It's the best qualities of watercolor and oil combined.

Trace monotype

Today was the conclusion of the trace monotype workshop with printmaker Jenny Robinson. It was a wonderful class full of experimentation and beautiful work. It's always so fun to see the ways other artists tackle a new medium, and the results were amazing!

This process involves rolling ink onto a plate, covering that plate with Japanese printmaking paper, and covering that with a piece of trace paper onto which a drawing is made. The Japanese paper picks up ink from the plate when marks are made on the trace. The resulting print looks like a hazy, fuzzy drawing, onto which you can add layer of color or more drawing (see the top two images). The plate can also be printed to make a negative of the trace (the bottom five images). The process depends quite a bit on the original drawing, and results are fairly immediate. In fact, you don't even need a press to make the first image.  But I love how the negatives look and am excited to play some more with them.

!

Sometimes I win. Sometimes the painting wins. The most interesting things happen, though, when we're evenly matched.

Preview

Today I took a Trace Monotype workshop with the talented and generous Jenny Robinson.  It was fun, exciting, and inspiring, and I can't wait for part two next week!  Here is a little preview of one small part of the process.  I'll post the final results next week.