New Painting: Grey Building, Blue Sky

Grey Building, Blue Sky, oil on canvas, 2010, 30 x 40 inches

Living in Southern California, one quickly becomes acclimated to the agreeable climate. We do have weather, and our fair share of air quality issues, but some days are so gorgeous that it literally stuns me when I walk outside. There are often no clouds, the sun is shining, and the sky is blue, so blue that it is hard to describe.

My paintings are inspired by what is around me every day, and this image is no exception. I walk by this building on my way home from work, and I am often struck at how beautiful the grey building looks against the blue, blue sky.

Describing that sky became one of the major problems with this painting. While the composition is admittedly simple, painting this image wasn’t easy – the colors had to be perfect. In the early stages, the colors I mixed were solid, opaque, flat. While this is a common way for me to deal with architecture and solid areas of color, it wasn’t working in this painting. I soon realized that a more complex color palette was necessary to balance the simple composition.

The final colors are built up of thin, transparent layers, using a technique called glazing, which is nearly as old as oil paint itself. Through optical blending, thin transparent layers merge to create a solid color, but a color that has more depth and richness than a flat mixed color. The blue sky was created with several different shades of blue layered over each other until the right brightness and color was reached. The grey building was built up using several colors of grey, and finished with a thin wash of orange, to give the building warmth and to bring it forward from the receding, cool sky.

I am happy with the end result. This painting is my most recent exploration into the "Natural Beauty" of Los Angeles. While more abstract than most of my work, I love the image and hope it has the same freshness that I feel when I see this building on my way home from work.

WeHo@25 Exhibition

I am pleased to announce that I have a painting in "WeHo@25," an art exhibition celebrating creativity in the city of West Hollywood, juried by Howard N. Fox. Please join us for the opening reception:

Thursday, November 4, 6-8pm
8270 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069

New Painting: Runyon Canyon Sentinel

Runyon Canyon Sentinel, oil on canvas, 2009, 22 x 22 inches

I first visited Runyon Canyon shortly after moving to LA. It is an incredible resource, an easy hiking trail centrally located in Hollywood. Within a few minutes of hiking on the trails, you can see amazing views of the downtown skyline, and the ocean to the west. On clear days you can see all the way to Long Beach. It is really breathtaking, and intensely beautiful.

It was in Runyon Canyon that I first got a sense of what the natural environment is like in this area. It is dry, with little rain. We are entering the rainy season now, and it is raining as I write this—-a welcomed interruption here. The lush plants in Los Angeles are watered, and palm trees, found in the wild only near abundant water sources, are no exception.

When I was hiking in Runyon Canyon, I saw this palm tree, and it immediately struck me; I knew I had to paint it. My paintings are about my observations, and my associated experiences and thoughts. This palm tree has layers and layers of dead leaves, suggesting that it has been here, watching over the entrance of Runyon Canyon, for a long time. It is a sentinel, testifying to the history of Los Angeles, and to our future. Like innumerable others, this palm tree has become deeply rooted in the new, natural environment.

Behind the palm tree, a narrow cloud delineates the course of the jet that preceded it. Both elements contribute to this depiction of natural beauty.

New Painting: Sunset from Mulholland Drive

Sunset from Mulholland Drive, oil on canvas, 2009, 19 x 14 inches

Mulholland Drive is a road in Los Angeles that loosely follows the ridgeline of the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. Famous for having some of the most exclusive homes in the world, Mulholland Drive is also surprisingly accessible. The road was created as a scenic byway, and there are scenic view points perched along the road. The east stretch of Mulholland Drive reveals sweeping views of downtown LA, while the western stretch displays vistas of the San Fernando Valley.

My friend Lisa was in town from Boston the night of this sunset, and we witnessed the sun go down over the Valley. There is a quality of light in LA--Magic Hour--that is stunning and unique to the area. It never ceases to bring a smile to my face.

New painting: "West Hollywood"

West Hollywood, oil on canvas, 2009, 30 x 24 inches

This painting, the first in the Natural Beauty series, has been completed for a few weeks, and I finally had the chance to photograph it. This view is from Santa Monica Blvd, near our apartment. To see this painting in its earlier stages, click here and here.

Painting in West Hollywood: Day 4

Today was a great painting day in West Hollywood. After a couple of days of cooler temperatures, the heat was back today. I love the heat, but I have made a mental note to choose a shadier location for the next painting.

The painting is filling in with color, and almost all of the original white space is gone. One of the joys of my job is discovering the intense color in the every-day world around us, and this location is no exception. In order to bring color harmony to this painting, I mixed a large amount of a purple-gray color. I then mixed almost all of my others colors with purple-gray, especially the background colors in the hillside. Some of the foreground colors are mixed full-strength, without purple-gray, to bring those colors forward create a sense of atmospheric perspective.

I am excited about this painting, and glad that it is coming to fruition. I had been looking at this scene nearly everyday; when I walk home from the gym, I wait here for the “walk” sign to cross the street, and day after day, I could see this painting. It became an obvious choice for my first plein-air painting in LA.

A few people stopped to chat today. One woman commented, “That’s great, I love that you are doing this.” Another guy: “This seems like a civilized way to spend the afternoon.” I enjoy interacting with the public, and this is one of the major reasons I have taken to the street with my work. I am looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.

Painting on location in West Hollywood

I painted outside today for the first time in Los Angeles. I prefer to work from life, rather than from photographs or other source material. I have always painted outdoors while on residency, but I haven't painted often in public places in the States. It was so much fun, and many people stopped to talk while I was working. One tourist even took photos of me drawing, which I thought was funny. I had thought that it would be too hot to paint outside in LA during the summer, but we have been having a relatively mild summer. The normally bright blue sky was a little hazy today, because of the fires that are raging outside the city.

This image shows my easel set up on Santa Monica Blvd. near my apartment. The preparatory drawing I'm working on begins with the left margin of the photo, and ends before the orange and green sign. The large blank space on the right of the canvas is the cream-colored building across the street. Interestingly, the establishment with the orange and green sign is Barney's Beanery, a restaurant and bar, and a favorite of old Hollywood with celebrity patrons such as Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Errol Flynn.

This painting is part of my "Natural Beauty" series about Los Angeles, which is in full swing. I love it here, and I am excited to continue work on this series.

About My Process

My painting process changes from time to time, and sometimes within the same body of work. This painting was a commission, so the process began by having a conversation with the client and viewing the photograph that the client wanted translated into a painting. After we had come to an understanding about what was wanted, I produced a preparatory drawing, which can be seen in the lower left corner of this photograph. This drawing was a very simple pencil drawing, really more of just a line drawing, so I could become familiar with the shapes in the painting.

The next step was to prepare the canvas with several coats of gesso. Once the gesso was cured, I began to transfer the drawing onto the canvas using vine charcoal, which can be easily wiped away with a rag when a mistake is made. Once the drawing was transferred onto the canvas, I sprayed the canvas with a matte varnish to protect the drawing.

I then mixed translucent pink oil paint with Galkyd, which is a fast-drying medium that strengthens the paint film. I then painted the entire canvas pink. It was important that the paint was thin enough that I could see my drawing through the pink paint, as this paint layer acted as added protection for my drawing, while getting rid of the white of the canvas. This is helpful because this underpainting can be left showing through in some parts, bringing color harmony to the piece.

Working from the reference photograph, which can be seen tacked on my easel above the painting, I mixed my oil colors, mixing them with a medium of Galkyd and a little linseed oil, ensuring that the top layer of paint would not dry as quickly as the bottom layer, which is important to avoid cracking. I then began to paint. I normally cover the whole canvas with paint right away, and work on the canvas from there, because it is important to establish color relationships early on. With this painting, I approached it slightly differently, working on one area at a time, within the geometric framework of the drawing, realizing that I may need to change colors when the entire canvas was filled in.

When working from photographs, I think it is important to use them rather loosely – more of a jumping off point rather than trying to create a direct copy. Not only is the painting more interesting in my opinion, but it is much more fun to paint.

The painting has been completed, and I am waiting for the paint to dry so I can take a photograph of the work. I will post the photograph of the completed painting as soon as I can.