High Desert Painting

"Song of the High Desert"

12" X 48" Oil on Birch Panel

This is pitiful because once again this painting came from my winter trip to the Little Rock area in the Mojave high desert...I have other desert reference photos but the pics I took that late afternoon are ones I really like. I headed out there to paint but got a late start and when I finally got there it was freezing. Instead of painting I decided to just take reference photos waiting for the sun to set down in the town of Little Rock at a McDonalds enjoying hot coffee...yeah, I'm getting soft in my old age, haha....hey, I'm going to be 55 tomorrow! Life speeds up!

The only bad thing about this painting is I'll have to make a frame out of oak for it because of it's odd size. Of course I like working with wood so no big deal....unless one of you framers out there wants to donate some killer frame for it....I'll wait up late tonight to hear from you, hahaha....that's going to be a long wait, haha.

A detail of the painting.....cool looking bushes. The desert has a great assortment of plants to contend with in...or to drive you crazy with depending on how you look at it.  

A closer look at three of the plants....actually, the larger prominent plants are easier to paint than all of the background plants in between these larger ones. Slowly I'm getting better at those "filler" plants in between the larger ones.

Carneros Finish

Well I finally got around to finishing and photographing the Los Carneros painting. In the first image you will see the point at which I stopped on location. At this point there was enough there to just have to dial in smaller bits to finish it up. I looked at the grasses area as the base for what I would do to it once I was back in the studio. The image is slighty different because I snapped this pic as it was on the easel out there.

In the final version you can see the slight alterations to the trees and then the additional grass work. Not bad for a little over an hours work stannding in the shade of a tree that was probably over a hundred years old....now how many artists do you think stood right where I was painting the same scene in that shade before I was even born???

Los Carneros, Goleta, CA

I painted today with PACC, Plein-Air Artist of the Central Coast, at Los Carneros which is the home of the famous Stowe House in Goleta. This is a cool area to paint and one I've painted before at a few years back. Great views of the Santa Ynez mountain range,, wild grasses, trails, a lake, eucalyptus trees, palms...it's got a lot to offer an artist.

The weather was warm and after taking pictures of the group of artists we split up to do our painting. I headed for a big eucalyptus tree for some shade and setup. I had a mechanical problem with my tripod and didn't feel like heading back to the truck for some toold to fix it so I just adjusted things to work and got to painting. Despite the wonky tripod things went ok and in about 2 hours I had a good enough painting to bring home. I like the background mountains and tried painting the trees a bit differently than usual which was fun. I like how they came out but tweaking will make them better. The foreground grasses are there but they too need tweaking. I was going to add a trail but between visits with hikers I was running out of time. I used to want to make a complete, finished painting each time I went out but now have found going back into it the next day makes for better results. This is just because the paint gets really tacky the next day thanks to the copal medium I use and the grasses are always better finished on tacky paint.

There are certain parts of this painting that would make a great larger painting so using it as a sketch is another option down the line. Some of my paintings have come from small parts of other paintings. In fact, I was painting a small 6x8 painting a while back and ended up using just part of it as the inspiration to paint an 8x10. That 8x10 ended up being picked to be used for the invitation cards for one of the California Art Club shows I was in last summer. I still have the smaller painting and each time I look at it I think of how far that quick little painting went. Tomorrow I'll finish this one up.  
  

Foxen Canyon Road Cows

"Shade Below Zaca Mountain"

20" X 30" Oil on Canvas

I took an early morning drive up Foxen Canyon to snap pics of cows and found these guys lounging in the shade as the day warmed. Cows are such noble creatures and I've wanted to paint them more than I have in the past. This field is used for growing alfalfa and it was cut and the cows left to graze on what was leftover. They had it wittled down to mere stubs. Gainey Ranch has cows and they grow their own alfalfa too and when prices are right I buy from them....fun to drive in on their place surrounded by hay fields.

Tree and cow details.....

I know, I know...repeating shapes but heck, that's how they posed for me and that doesn't bug me that much anyway doing it every now and then.

I had a great time painting these oaks. Must be the right time of year, lots of greens and browns which was rather fun to paint...trying to add more branch work too.

 

 

Central Coast Sunset

"Central Coast Sunset"

12"x16" Oil on Canvas Covered MDF

This painting was my warm up painting for the Quick Draw in Los Olivos this year. I used this to work out what I had in mind in painting for the event. It wasn't quite this finished looking so after the event I went back at it touching up things here and there. No sense in not finishing it up since it was painted and dry enough to go in and do the small adjustments. I like it, has that low light that I like and a really nice sense of atmosphere to it. If anything bothered me about it it has to be the canvas I'm using when making my boards. It has a tighter weave compared to most stretched canvases I've been using. Also, there is no flex to board mounted canvas compared to stretched canvas. I've been painting on stretched canvases a lot for the last year and have gotten used to that little bit of flexing of the canvas....panels are solid as a rock. What a little nitpicker I am, haha.

Here is a little detail of the painting....

 

Desert Nocturne

High Desert Nocturne

16"x20" Oil on Canvas

I painted this nocturne of the high desert here in California about 4 years ago I think. At the time I was really painting a lot of nocturnes. I think desert nocturnes have a really cool look to them....reminds me of going to see a Remington show at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park back in the mid 90's with my Dad. There were some Remington nocturnes there and it was really impressive to see them up close. Since then when I think of nocturnes I usually think of that show first. I've seen nocturnes by Charles Rollo Peters which were pretty awesome to see in person. He painted the mission here in town, Mission Santa Ynez....a beautiful nocturne scene.

This painting was really a daytime scene since I have no photos of the California high desert at night. I just used artist license and turned it into a nocturne. If I repainted this scene today there are totally some changes that I would make, softening the edges on everything for one. Night time makes all things have blurred soft edges and so that is one thing I'd change now. Another I think would be to have less detail in the plants of the foreground. They were there in the daytime scene but at night a lot of detail would get lost with the dark so I'd change that part too. Looks good in the frame here and I won't go back at this one to make any corrections. It's all up in the brain and will be used in new works.     

Show is Over

Well, the 2012 Quick Draw is finis....the show went well, good sales at auction but low bids for the first bunch of artists including myself, my painting was the 5th one auctioned....being one of the first up at bat in the auction is suicide and most artists would pay not to have those slots. Takes a while for the crowd and auctioneer to warm up. I was happy to have sold both paintings that I had in the silent auction so it wasn't too bad.

Painters being announced before the timed event begins.

I'd say the best part of the auction was seeing some of the artists who received auction bids last year do better this year. A lot of these artists I know personally and are good friends so it was nice to see them do better this year around.
I thought about my painting, and it was a good painting, better than my last years painting in this event. Things came to mind but in the end I smiled and figured this is probably the painting Gods way of making sure my head will still fit my hat.

Dialing the painting in by adjusting the tree branches. This puppy looked great in the gold frame I had for it. 

  After the auction there was a show at the local church where we all had work hanging. I was pleased that I was approached by a person inviting me to an invitational show later in November. Not sure how well the show will do, especially since it is my first time, so I was busy checking into it today. Also there are the logistics of being in this particular show and I'm still working that out. I really want to do it though just for the location...Death Valley! I know, not the hub of civilization but that place is gorgeous! If I have to do a 4 day show it would be neat to do it in a place with a view! Hope it happens.
I was so lucky to have Linda helping me with the hanging and everything else that had to do with this show including hearing the alarm going off so we'd be on time. I would hate doing this without her helping me out....she's a real trooper.


Linda hard at work with the hanging.

    

26th Annual Quick Draw Los Olivos

I was invited again this year to particpate in the Quick Draw event up in Los Olivos. This is a really fun event (nervous fun for painters) and we had a good time last year. Some really good artists in this event and a fun day spent in a small country town. I was so nervous last year it took most of the fun out of it for me personally but Linda had a good time, haha. They had this really cool BBQ going on too, BBQ'd tri tip sandwiches....oh man!

I met some really cool artists, some who had driven very far just to be in this event. I've always been involved in other art things going on the same day they did the Quick Draw before but managed to get there in time to see who painted what. Big crowd and pretty fun to see these artists go from nothing to a finished and framed painting in 1 hour. After that they auction the paintings off which is almost as nerve racking as doing the actual painting under a time limit. If something goes wrong or isn't working out you don't have the extra time to correct it...Then you have to stand there and watch your goof being auctioned to a very large crowd....ugh!

Anyway....if you are up around Los Olivos California on Saturday the 18th try and stop by. I'll be the guy with the large beads of sweat pouring down his forehead whispering little prayers to the art gods....On Friday the 17th they are having a preview wine & desert show too....you can see all of the details here.
    

"High Desert Rabbitbrush"

24"x36" Oil on Canvas

I painted this scene about 2 years ago but something didn't feel right so I put it in storage. The other day I was hunting in the storage room and came across the painting again. Right away I spotted what it was that didn't look right to me. In the foreground rabbitbrush I had painted the values of the flowers and the plant itself too extreme. I went back at it and made my changes and now I like the painting much more....no more storage for this one.

I really enjoy the California high desert desert. The area in this scene is not far from the small desert town of Littlerock. The desert starts to raise up as it nears the foothills and just after winter the desert plants begin to bloom. Rabbitbrush is one of my favorite plants from the desert. In spring the plant is a grey blue color and in afternoon light looks just beautiful....of course, the entire area as barren as it is can be very beautiful. Obviously you don't want to be standing there in the dead of summer becuase it can get seriously hot. These plants thrive in the desert climate. I've learned that the Mojave yucca trees on average can be anywhere from 200-300 years old and the oldest creosote plants, near Lucerne valley, were carbon dated to 11,700 years old! They are some of the oldest living organisms on earth.        

"On The Ridge"

12"x16" Oil on Canvas covered panel

This area is just north of where I live, about a 10 minute drive maybe. Summer grasses are always great looking around here. The grasses and their warm color tones give the trees and background mountains a great looking color contrast. This is one of those paintings that took two days due to all of the distractions going on...I hate that because it is really hard to get back to work on the painting and sometimes you can begin to loose interest if you had stopped at a point where you were not happy. This painting started out as a summer painting but after a break and coming back I changed to to a winter scene, green grasses, but then came back from another break and went with summer again. I hate wiping paint off. Glad it ended up as it did and calling it finished.

Some of the work on the bushes here in this detail shot of the painting...

Santa Ynez Valley Fog

"Summer Fog"

12"x16" Oil on Birch Panel

This scene catches the summer fog we tend to get here in the Santa Ynez Valley in summer. We haven't had much this year and I miss it. The nice thing abouyt being a painter is that I can just paint the scene and wish it was like that painting now, haha. Was originally going to keep the scene muted down like it would be in nature but then decided to just get a little colorful in the foreground area. I like it anyways.

Here is a detail of the trunk area.....looks cool...and it was fun to paint!

Light ,Shadow and things....

A Study...12"x16"

Still playing with light and shadow, this painting came was started to follow up some things from a previous sketch. Halfway through it though some other ideas popped into my mind and the painting changed into it's own. That was ok to do as the painting came out well enough. I like the grassy area in the foreground catching the late afternoon sunlight and the rest of the grasses in shadow. I was originally going to try painting the shadow areas with blues and purples but opted to go this way. 

Foxen Canyon Afternoon

"Foxen Canyon Afternoon"

12"x16" Oil on Canvas

Did this painting based on a photo taken last winter overlooking Foxen Canyon. This area is just above the Firestone Winery and close to my favorite spot up there. The background hills always catch the late afternoon light really well and the grasses get it too. I like the place and enjoy just being around up there. It is taking me a while to get used to painting smaller again but I'm coming around slowly but surely, haha.
Here is a detail of the background area....Fun adding the metal fenceposts. I used the egde of the painting knife to add the wire very loosely. I like the shadowed color on the hillsides here.

Carlos De Haes, Born in Brussels 1826 and died in Madrid 1898. I had never heard of De Haes and last night while browsing some art related subjects on youtube I bumped into a clip of his paintings. Blown away would be an understatement. De Haes was a super painter with a wonderful sense of illumination, light and technical prowess. If you'd like to see a video presentation check it out here and enjoy!

I really love his sense of light and his commanding way of painting large scenes of very simple landscape subjects. Many of his works have that muted grey look that worked well in landscapes compared to todays bright, colorful works. Those toned down paintings had an enormous amount of mood put into them simply by the use of muted color. It's very hard to find a painting with mood in it today when so much color is being used by todays painters....I'm guilty of it too but that is  the way people want it so I'm told.

I did a Google search of De Haes and found another blog that has some awesome large images of his work and also some background of the artist that makes for a good read. If you have 10 minutes do check out this mans work...it is well worth your time.   

Mission Santa Ynez Bluffs

"Mission Santa Ynez Buffs"

36" X 48" Oil on Canvas

Mission Santa Ynez is located on a piece of land next to Solvang on one side and these bluffs on the other. Below the bluffs are the fields that the missionaries and Chumash Indians grew olives. It's a beautiful overlook towards the east end of the valley and a great place to sit in the shade of the pepper and sycamore trees there and wonder how many people had done the same long, long ago. Lets see if you know your mission history....did you know that the Calfiornia missions were built within a days "walk" from each other going up the coastal road which would later become Hwy 1?? Did you know that I live right next to a small creek called adobe creek and the mud from there built guess what??? Have you ever tried to dig adobe when it is hard and dry like it is in my yard???....I'm veering off the path (....and you don't want to try an dig dry adobe....ever!).
The painting looks good here but my camera loves and sucks up yellows so I had to back off the intensity here which has made my trees look a little dull unlike the rich, vibrant greens they are....sorry about that, life is always a trade off.

Under the Golden Gate

"Spying The Golden Gate"

18" X 24" Oil on Canvas

As the cutter Stratton prepared to enter the San Francisco bay the crew was busy preparing the dock lines for our arrival. To this they played Molly Hatchets "Flirtin' With Disaster" over the loudspeakers on the boat deck...a ritual of the crew when arriving in port it seems. I wasn't overly eager to tell anyone of them that song came out in 1979, the year I finished up my 3 years with the Army. It's an age thing, haha. One of the female crew members was peering over the side checking our distance to the Golden Gate bridge and I snapped a shot of her. I thought it would make a good painting portraying the combination of fog and breaking sunlight...and eager anticipation. It had been 6 months for the crew since leaving Mississippi, going through the ship trials and shakedown, cruising up the East Coast, back through the Panama canal and finally arriving here at Alameda. It was only 4 days for me and I'd be on the ship when most of them left when we arrived and leave the following morning at 0500.

The deployment was a great experience for me. I took plenty of reference photos and got to travel aboard ship with the Coast Guard on one of their newest $467 million dollar National Security Cutters. These Legend Class cutters can travel at 30+ knots and travel up to 12000 miles on a patrol. They have high tech communications, surveillance systems, improved small boat launching and retrieving, helicopter and drone handling systems...they are awesome and look it too.

  The crew of the cutter Morganthau taking a break from loading supplies to check out the Stratton as we arrived in Alameda 

When we docked at Coast Guard island in Alameda it was really very cool to see the cutter Morganthau side tied to the cutter Bertholf. The Morganthau is a Hamilton Class cutter which is what the Legend Class cutters are replacing. The Hamilton Class cutters have earned their place in the Coast Guards history but time moves on and newer ships come with much improvement. As much as it was a thrill to ride aboard the Stratton it was equally a thrill to see the Morganthau in person and up close.

The newer ships are much larger and have the ability to carry and launch up to 3 small boats from the stern through large opening doors. The small boats simply slide out and slide back in when docking with the Stratton.

 Going on deployment with the Coast Guard was truly a great ride and I appreciate the chance to have done it.

CGC Stratton

"San Pedro Twilight, CGC Stratton"

18" X 24" Oil on Canvas

I'm really behind on posting things on the blog lately. I've been bouncing between my landscapes and Coast Guard paintings. This is another painting that I will submit later this year to the CG. This scene was painted from reference photos during my brief time aboard the cutter Stratton. On my first night with the cutter I spent my time collecting photos from various angles dockside and some on board too. I'd have plenty of time during the next 4 days to get shots while underway.

The ship is beautiful and has awesome lines and I really couldn't have asked for better light in San Pedro for the backdrop. I have spent thousands of hours down in San Pedro over the years adding to my personal reference photos of various ships and fishing boats. This past experience made it easy to get what I wanted and so far 2 of my paintings of the Stratton have have been while she was here.

One area of painting that I am not as strong as I wish is figures. There were no crew up on deck in this scene so I added them from other reference photos. I sketched them in making sure I kept them to scale and placed them in areas of the ship that I knew the crew usually hung out at. I like this angle because you can see the cranes and the big doors on the stern of the ship that open to launch the small boats. The Stratton can carry up to 3 small boats on the stern and another boat on her starboard at about midship. The small boat you see in the detail image above was being delivered by the Stratton to one of the other cutters already in Alameda. You can also see the large hydraulic rams used to launch and retireve the boats to the right of the small boat.

I'm really loving painting water and water in a harbor near a boat is my favorite type of water to paint. The outgoing tide made for some interesting lines as the water flowed past the ship. The late sky light and strong shadows of the ship make for great contrasting light and darks. Evening light is always the best to work with for me.  

"Evening Prelude"

22" X 28" Oil on Canvas

Whenever I drive back from Santa Barbara to Solvang I have to cross over the Santa Ynez mountains. This scene is a familiar sight whe driving up towards San Marcos Pass. I caight it not long ago in afternoon light and worked from a reference photo to come up with this painting. I loved the light hitting that ridge line giving it that pale apperance and the strong contrasting colors in the foreground hillsides along the edge of the road. Stuff like that really grabs my eye.

Here is a detail of the painting....

   

Stream in the Arroyo

The inspiration for this painting came from Pasadena. I wanted to try painting a stream scene and there is a really nice stream running under the Colorado Street bridge and the 134 freeway bridge there. This is the water runnoff from the San Gabriel mountains that originally was the main water supply, along with 4 wells, to the Indiana Colony who settled Pasadena in the 1880's. Above you can see the old Colorado Bridge to the left and the 6 lane 134 on the right.

 Looking under the 134 you can see the foliage that grows along the stream. This stream at times can become a raging torrent due to winter rains in the San Gabriels. Devils gate dam and other water control areas along the arroyo have kept any major flooding from happining for years. I've wandered all over the arroyo over the years and taken plenty of reference photos. Down under this bridge is a great shaded spot that this painting came from.

 Stream in the Arroyo

22" x 28" Oil

Fun painting that came out nicely. I like the bright sun relfected off the sky on the waters surface and the dark shadows on the water cast by both the undersides of the bridge and trees. I also like the nice contrast between the young and old trees.

A couple of details pics from the painting....

"Foxen Canyon Oaks"

18" X 36" Oil on Canvas

Once again we had storms over the valley this Spring bringing much needed rain and my favorite, cool looking clouds once the storm begins to pass. I headed up to Foxen Canyon Road one afternoon as a storm began to blow out of the valley to get some reference photos. My favorite spot overlooks both the Firestone Winery and the Chamberlin Ranch on either side of the road. I don't paint there much because it is a wind tunnel a lot of times....major wind so I just take reference photos there. This scene has been painted by me in probably 5 or 6 paintings over the years. It is looking south towards the Santa Ynez mountains seperating our valley from Santa Barbara and the big Pacific ocean.

Oak Above Santa Barbara

"Oak Above Santa Barbara"

22" X 28" Oil on Canvas

I was driving back from Pasadena when I saw this oak tree on a hillside off the highway just above Santa Barbara. I've seen this tree many times and in different light. Normally, I don't paint midday scenes but actually I took the reference photo around 4-5 pm. The fact was the sun was slightly above and behind me putting the tree in direct sunlight, casting shadow to the backside of the tree.

What drew me to paint this scene was working with a tree that was in full sun. I liked the dark shadows under and behind the tree and the sweeping hillsides. I liked the Santa Ynez mountains as the low looking backdrop with the cloud formation covering the tips of the mountains. It is a scene that I see a lot around here. During the day this is a pretty typical scene up here. I've done plenty of late afternoon scenes so catching a scene in direct sunlight was refreshing to me.   

Alisal Trail

Alisal Trail

18" X 24"

Oil on Canvas

This is a scene just south of Solvang heading towards Nojoqui Falls. This trail is actually a two lane road that I've driven quite often heading towards a favorite stand of Sycamore trees to gather reference photos. I like this spot and have painted plein air just a bit further down the road. I like the spot and enjoy looking towards the valley over the hill and just seeing big puffy clouds gliding along the ridge line here. The cattle that belong to the Alisal Ranch will occasionally come strolling by the wire fences lining the road which always make for interesting company. If you try and apporach them they shoot off down the valley where less humans reside. It's hard to believe such large animals can be so intimidated by man....then again they aren't eating us are they?

Last Light

Last Light on the Oaks

20"X 24" Oil on Canvas

Taking a break from the Coast Guard work, this painting is of a spot close to home. This hillside is a view right from the end of my driveway. We had a storm blow out and when that happens I like to grab my camera and take reference photos of the clouds over our hillsides. I like a blue sky as much as the next guy but add massive clouds and things start getting majestic!
I like the colors of the last light hitting the trees so that was the goal here without getting over dramatic about it. The dark colors for the shadowed parts of the trees were a dark mix of Alizarin, Ultramraine Blue and a hint of Cad Yellow Light for taste....my usual colors. Fun painting.
Some details....

That little young sycamore was fun to throw in there and a nice contrast in color.

  

The Whammy!

The Whammy...

Sometimes life just throws you a curve ball. Since mid December I've been fending off the pitches and beginning to wonder when they are going to stop being thrown at me. The same week I was to leave aboard the Coast Guard cutter Stratton my youngest sister had a stroke. There wouldn't be any test results for a week so I went on the cutter. When I came back our family was told she had stomach cancer that was too advanced for any treatment. A blood clot from that actually caused the stroke. Our family made plans to bring her home to my nephews house and provide hospice care for her. I would go and stay down there during the week taking my turn with helping my mom care for my sister. My sister passed away peacefully about a month ago. I am thankful for the time I spent with her and would tell you if you ever get the chance to look after a loved one in the last days of their life to do it. It can be a lot of work but you will never regret one second of it. Having the chance to look after someone you love when they need it most is a blessing and if God ever offers it to you don't think twice.
Incidentally, I came back home after the first week down with my sister and got a phone call from a girl I worked with back in the 80's at Bell & Howell. She was 4 years older than me and became a good friend. Debbie had moved to Mississippi when she married and we still kept in touch over the years. She was calling to tell me that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was in hospice care at her home now. My heart sank. My good friend Debbie passed away just over a week after that phone call. It has been a terrible end of one year and beginning of another.

And life goes on....in the last two months it seems anything with wheels on it at our place has decided to break. First, my car has developed a crack in the exhaust manifold keeping it from passing the smog check...that's on hold. Linda's car started leaking water from what looked like a radiator hose so I replaced it only to find out it was a leak in the radiator behind the hose...so I put in a new radiator. While waiting for the radiator to arrive we used our truck to get around. The truck soon developed a bad misfire when going uphill. I installed new spark plugs, a rotor and distributer cap....problem solved!
A week later I walk out the door and notice a funny line on the inside of one of Linda's car tires...turns out the tire was showing the nylon cords there so I took it down to buy a new tire. Same day the dishwasher motor goes out...that's on hold.

 Radiator replacement fun. It is a lot easier to replace the radiator on my old van than it is on Linda's sporty little car. I'd have taken pics of all of the other fun stuff that has broken but I wasn't in the mood.

Oh no...not done yet. Two days ago Linda's car door window decides to not go all the way up. The next day the window drops down into the door on it's own! I took the door apart and find it has a stripped nylon wheel the window cables ride on but of course you can't just replace the wheel, we had to go buy a the whole assembly called a "window regulator". I just put that in with Linda's help this morning....and so we go inside to celebrate with a cup of coffee...that's right, the coffee pot is broke. Won't boil the coffee at all despite the lights being on. Drove to WalMart and bought a new one but that was nice since we didn't need to worry about the car door window falling down.

At this point I won't go into the lawn mower bearing going out a few weeks ago...
I woke up this morning and told Linda "don't touch anything!...don't even look at it". We are tip toeing at this point. I love to fix things but this has been like rapid fire lately. Of course, I brought that broken coffee pot to my studio and if nothing else breaks in the next few days I will pull it apart to see what went wrong other than it resides here at our house....where things, lately, have gone whammy.           

Pasadena Show

Had fun last night at the Contemporary Masters: Artistic Eden III show in Pasadena. Linda and I had a few family guests show up which was great but there was some confusion regarding guests. This is the first artist reception I've ever been to that didn't seem to want a large turn out so we didn't really put out the word. Apparently they wanted only the artists and maybe just a couple of their guests. Couple?!? The show runs for 5 months so if you live nearby do go and see it! It is totally worth it.   
The show is very impressive and held at the beautiful Pasadena Museum of History on the grounds of the Fenyes Mansion in Pasadena. I was really honored to just get into this show and can't thank whoever the judge was enough for that. There was some incredible work there and the subject matter, anything painted of the San Gabriel Valley, was something I loved seeing since I grew up there.

Rich Gallego on left and myself next to my painting of the Colorado Street bridge.

  

When I was growing up in Pasadena I used to think how cool it would be to actually be an artist painting all of these parts of Pasadena that I liked...historical stuff, cool spots I knew about and the places that were a part of my life growing up there. Walking around enjoying all of this work of scenes from the valley was like finally seeing that happen even though I only painted 3 of them myself. There were a lot of artists there who live in Pasadena and the valley so it was neat to be connected to them in that respect.

My painting of Eaton Canyon which was in a prime location at the show....right as you walk in. The gods of art were on my side there, haha. 

My painter friend Rich Gallego and his wife Ludelle were both there and Rich and I have the same sense of humor, we get along great. Rich had a good painting of a sycamore in Fall in there too. New to this show was artist Joe Millazo. Joe is from Arcadia and he works in pen & ink so I've seen his work around for a while now. Joe and I have been in the Los Olivos Quick Draw together. I dig his work...was fun to say hi to him last night.
Also ran into painter friend Laura Wamsgans and it was fun to chat with her. Laura has a great sense of humor and had a really nice interior scene she painted in the show. My gallery owner Jasminka Gabrie and her hubby Jimmy were both there too. We almost went out with them after the show but we had a 16 year old at home alone and I always worry about fire! hahaha. In fact, right before we arrived at the show he called us to let us know the house still hadn't burned down...good kid.