Mare Island

Last weekend I participated in the "Mare Faire Plein Air Paintout" with several other artist. Took place at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, Ca.

The 2-day competition ended mid Sunday afternoon and I managed to take home 3rd place :)

(gouach on watercolor board 7" x 10")

While driving around the area...this old house really caught my attention. It was huge, beat up, on 3 large sets of wheels with a sign reading "Quarters M4". I tried digging up some info on the building and here's what I was able to find.

It's full name is the "Marine Officer's Quarters Building M4" and according to Mare Island's Catalogue of Historic Resource Quarters M4 history is as follows:

Area: 4
Resource Number: M
Resource Name: Officer's Quarters
Classification: City Landmark
Date: 1900
Type: A-Single-family residential

All painting were judged by artist, Edwin Bertolet. Both my fellow North Bay Plein Air painters took home awards as well. Iris Sabre took "Best in Show", Sergio Lopez took 1st and 2nd place. Congratulations to the both of them!

So Seattle has our summer weather, reaching record breaking temperatures. While the Bay Area stayed a consistent 60 - 70's all week. In the mornings I see the fog slowly rolling in over the hills and by the afternoon I can't help but think it might rain. I guess that's what inspired this painting....looks like a storm is brewing over those hills?

(gouache on 5" x 7" watercolor paper)

Inverness

Sorry for the MIA, I've been working on a couple side projects involving digital paintings. But I did manage to paint over the weekend at Inverness, Ca. The day started out with clear blue skies and a mild breeze. But by the time 1 o'clock rolled around, the winds were ridiculous... causing my easel to continuously sway. Here's the Point Reyes boat located behind the Inverness General Store.

(gouache on watercolor board)

Metamorphica

Tonight was another session at Metamorphica. The evening started off with a lecture and demo by creature design artist Jason Felix. And tons of costumed poses by Bad Unkl Sista. No tables were set up this time so I couldn't set up my paints. So I grabbed a seat on a comfy couch in the back and dusted off my heavily neglected sketchbook.

Zip Line

I'm still playing catch up with the blog and I'm mentally still on vacation. But here's a couple images from my trip to Costa Rica. This photo was taken during a canopy (zip line) tour starting at the foot of the mountain range where Arenal Volcano is located. With 12 platforms to zip down from, we were cruising over 150 feet of humid forest and spectacular views.
Being the first of the group to jump off platform # 1....I won't lie - I was terrified! The second I got onto platform # 2, all I heard was "Ready? (Click) Go!"

One of the longest zip lines measured 1200 ft. and lead you through a hole between these large branches filled with leaves.... no clear site when and where you will end?!

So after flying passed large tree trunks, screaming through large branches, we ended the afternoon (last platform) cruising over a beautiful river. But I couldn't end the trip without a quick thumbnail painting.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Red Torch Ginger

It took awhile...but I sent a postcard to my parents from Costa Rica. Instead of writing, I decided to share a painting of a flower I saw every morning. It's name is the "Red Torch Ginger" flower. This firery-red flower blossoms into a shape of a torch! Here I masked off the Costa Rican stamp and started painting.

Here's the final painting.(gouache on postcard)

Plein Air

Spent the day at China Camp Village and painted on the small dock down the hill from the main parking lot. It was great to meet so many other painters from both, the Benicia and North Bay Plein Air groups. We ended the evening with a bbq cookout and critiques.

I really enjoyed painting out into the water. The dock didn't shake, but the winds really picked up around 1pm...and my easel began to shake. When packing up, I really thought I'd drop a couple gouache tubes into the water...luckily I didn't.

Here's a closer look at the painting

(gouache on water board 9" x 12")

As for a personal critique: First, the chain linked fence was a challenge. It was the last part I painted...so I may have rushed it. I probably should have started with a lighter color instead of white? Second, the sky was bright & clear....I couldn't figure out how to make it more interesting?! But after I scanned the illustration, I tried adding a low opacity haze near the hills. That seemed to have done the trick.

Take a look below.

weekend hike

Managed to do some hiking and sketching over the weekend. As much as I wanted to bring my gouache and brushes, I went with lighter supplies: 4" x 6" Fabriano Artist's Journal, watercolors, water brush pen, and white acrylic. One of the trails tapered off and lead me to a cove. I unpacked my gear and just soaked in the amazing views. During my first thumbnail sketches, I was visited by a friendly lady-bug. It just stayed at the bottom of the page while I finished up.

Here's a closer look at the first thumbnails.

Thanks to the lil' lady-bug that kept me company, but I decided to move to the opposite side of the cove and crank out 2 more thumbnails.

And here's the last one before hiking back to the car.

Colors in the Sky

Trying to capture the low lighting during a night flight to Houston, TX.
Click HERE to watch how this was painted(Nintendo DS using "Colors" app)

Here's more of my previous animated drawings

Post-it

I wanted to share an idea to promote your art at work. It's just a simple Post-it dispenser with a clear plastic cover. Once you print your latest or favorite illustration, use the free template included to cut out the necessary holes....Wah lah! These can be purchased at any of your favorite office supply stores. Details and measurements listed below.

Plein Air (4 of 4)

Here's the last painting from the 2nd North Bay Plein Air Session. Starting at St. Vincent's Church, we planned to end the day by painting the Old St. Mary's Church in Nicasio (just passed Skywalker Ranch). But due to a large event, no parking was to be found and there were far too many vehicles blocking the entrance of the Church.

So we drove a bit further to the Nicasio Resvoir, where we pulled over and found a spot off the road to set up and paint. It was already 4:00pm, the heat died down and the cool breeze rolled in. We spent about an hour painting and called it a day.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Plein Air (3 of 4)

Here's an attempt to move out to the front of St. Vincent's and to actually start painting the church. There was a baptism event happening at the same time so many visitors stopped by my set up to say "hello". I got a few funny comments like, "hey, you're a lefty".

This is not complete due to the sun moving and causing me to do the moon-walk until I no longer had shade. I'll definitely return to complete and start another painting from another angle.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Plein Air (2 of 4)

This is one of the many halls at St. Vincent's Church. The lighting was really nice and overlooked the huge patio and fountain. Although the fountain was on my list to paint, it was just too far from any shaded area.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Plein Air (part 1 of 4)

Last weekend, I met up with 2 other painters at St. Vincent's Church in Marin. I decided to try a medium I haven't touched since art school...gouache! Most of you probably recall the weather reaching the high 90's on Sunday. So finding a shaded area to set up was key. Here's the view behind the church and what seems to be the San Pablo Bay.

(gouache in sketchbook)

Metamorphica (part 3 of 3)

(Watercolor, micron and brush pens)

(Watercolor, micron and brush pens)

These were painted on postcard sized watercolor paper (140 lb Cold Press) by Strathmore. Unfortunately, I lost track of time and tried to squeeze in one more towards the last 5 minutes of this pose.

Metamorphica (part 2 of 3)

After warming up in my sketchbook, I decided to try my hand at painting on ATC's (Artist trading cards) that measured 2"x3". Each card was taped down, creating a nice quarter inch border all around. I worried about the cards curling, so light watercolor washes were appropriate. I have to say that I'm really surprised neither of these cards curled when completed!Three to five models were shown at a time, giving a great mixture of quick gesture poses and one long pose. I had to decided quickly...which one to draw?

Metamorphica (part 1 of 3)

A handful of us had a chance to lock in a spot for this month's "Metamorphica" costume/life drawing session at the SF Bus Stop Gallery. Seats filled up rather quickly. Check out the vibe!

Here's a couple scans from my sketchbooks.(watercolors, brush pens in Fabriano sketchbook)

(Micron and Brush pens with a splash of watercolor)

Point Reyes - Market

Sketch from a previous trip to Pt. Reyes. Here's a large bin filled with pineapples and melons. The winds can get pretty intense here...I barely had enough time to finish before retreating back to my car.

(Watercolors, brush pen, background blur filter in Photoshop)

Day at the Beach

(Acrylic on canvas)

Plein Air - Marin Headlands (part 2)

Fort Cronkhite - Met up with 3 artists for plein air painting right on the beach. It was my first time painting on location, so it was all about exploring shapes, tones and mixing colors. I was really hoping to paint 2 canvas pieces but spent all my time on just one. Here's a photo of how far we painted.
I have to admit that the extreme brightness of the clear skies and the fast change in lighting & shadows was quite challenging. Before I share some thoughts and personal critique, here's a scan of the original painting.
Bringing the painting home, I saw immediately that I forgot to keep in mind the massing of colors and tones. Lemme show you what I mean....

1. The greens were way too saturated. I digitally added tones from the ocean and yellow hues to bring down the saturation. Now the yellow flowers felt more in sync with the greens.
2. I didn't realize how bright of a blue I painted for the sky?! The ocean often reflects the blue sky....So I digitally added some of the ocean tones into the sky and that actually looked better.
   

I could have continued adjusting the whole painting, but I just wanted to share my mistakes and possible improvements next time around. It's amazing how different painting live vs. the comforts of your own studio.

Even with all the mistakes, I did enjoy painting certain parts. I just loved the beach in the far distance where tiny specks of people played in the water.

And here's a few waves that I managed
to capture with minimal brush stokes.

Plein Air - Marin Headlands (part 1)

Don't drink the water!!! - Well, at least not the water bottle on the left...it was used to clean my brushes during a Plein Air study with some friends along the beach. Remember, no dumping in the Bay :D

I'll scan my painting tonight...still recovering from that gorgeous warm weather over the weekend.

Sketchcrawl 22 - Chinatown YMCA

San Francisco, CA - It was a bright sunny Saturday, but a bit windy. Getting a late afternoon start, I hiked up the street from Portsmouth Park and was immediately drawn to the architecture of the YWCA and was up to the challenge of rendering this illustration.

(upper right: from a personal Benicia, CA crawl)

Throughout the afternoon I was greeted by passers-by and curious kids looking over my shoulder. A tenant from across the street was kind enough to inform about the building I was drawing. The YWCA was designed by the famous architect Julia Morgan. The same Julia that designed Hearst Castle and the Fairmont Hotel. Supposedly there's a self-guided museum inside the YWCA, but only open on the weekdays :(

I totally got caught up in my crawl and forgot to grab lunch and dinner?! So I stopped by a local restaurant before my way back to the meeting point. Unfortunately most of the group already left, but I was greeted by Ronnie who stepped in to coordinate because Enrico caught that awful flu bug. I also chatted and exchanged sketch books with cartoon illustrator, Kevin Wood.

Just to give a taste of a Sketchcrawl, please view video footage by Goro. This footage is basically everything, and everyone I missed. LOL.

22nd SketchCrawl San Francisco from Goro on Vimeo.

100 Artist Project

(Micron pens and brush pens)

As much as I'm excited to complete this project, I'm just as enthused to hand the book over to the next artist on the roster, Clint Smith.

"Here ya go Clint!"Special thanks to Ben Rollman for coordinating the 100 Artist Project.
This project supports The Center for Cartoon Studies Scholarship Fund (Vermont).

Progression

Being the first artist was a little intimidating. Open the book and it's the first thing you see! Late in the process, I decided to scrap the idea of a landscape painting. Instead, I wanted to inspire... but at the same time...convey a message for each artist that opens the book for the very first time. Getting in there and and attacking those pages! Blessing each blank page with their creative minds and talent. Then came the idea of the first 2 pages being seen as one huge entrance way. At the same time, a bold warrior is pointing towards the massive door, telling you:

"Get in there...and DRAW!!!"

Stay tuned, up next.....Inking :D