 A Walk Downtown, 15x11, watercolor on paper
 Jason painting the backside of a restaurant  L-R: Justin, Jason, Garr, Nancy Another reminder for this Friday evening opening of Chop-Sueyed: Against All Odds & Now Is It.  
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 After dropping off some work in North Beach at the Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Design Studio for an upcoming group show I'm in, Chop-Sueyed: Against All Odds, I made some time to pay a quick visit to the Paul Thiebaud Gallery. If you're not familiar with Thiebaud, he was an art dealer and the son of Wayne Thiebaud, a Bay Area artist who is known for his high saturated palette, luscious application, and confection subject matter. If you're on this end, you can see his work at the De Young (last time I was there they had some, not sure now) & SFMOMA. If you're in the east coast, I think the Whitney? There's also gooooogle images.
It was a 10 minute walk from Paolo's space to the Thiebaud. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to run back to beat traffic. I apologize in advance for the crummy photos. I used my phone, which usually develops great photos, but lately I think I spilled something on it? Or something got inside and is interfering. Basically it's just dirty and I haven't cleaned it. There are these weird spots (look like oil stains?) and a foggy lens. There's moisture or something trapped in there that's making my photos all hazy.  Tom Birkner, Rocket Riders These couple images are from Tom Birkner. He's the main artist showing at the Thiebaud gallery. He uses wild saturated palette as well. Very colorful. His work reminds me of film compositions. The long panels, the isolation, and the dynamic perspectives. The one's I'm showing are the most illustrative in comparison to the rest of his work. An eccentric dream.  Tom Birkner, Cocktail Christmas  Stephen Coyle, Disconnected  Grace Munakata, Bushtit  Michael Tompkins, And a Bowler in the Trees Again, please excuse my poor photo skills and quality. It's not tilted, I just have bad form. Anywho, Grace Munakata is a current professor at CSUEB, where I attended. Her husband, Michael is also an artist. They are both represented by this gallery. I never got to see any of his work in person until today. I've always heard Grace talk about them and I'd see pictures. If you are at all into trompe loeil paintings, then here is one of them. Though, I've heard Grace said that Michael doesn't really refer to his work under trompe loeil. Anyway, the point is, they are a joy to look at. It's one long panel of random items consisting of cups, toilet paper rolls, balls of thread, fruit. A bunch of household items. I feel like each section deserves to be its own painting. However, it's very much more appealing to see it as a whole.  detail 1  detail 2  detail 3 Michael Tompkins Grace Munakata Stephen Coyle Tom Birkner To see more artists from the Paul Thiebaud Gallery, check them out below. Paul Thiebaud Gallery Here's a reminder about the upcoming show in North Beach at the Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Design Studio in October. Details below Show Dates: Oct 2-23rd Reception: Oct 2nd 6-9pm 1317 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA   Kena study, 9x12, oil on board Hey,I was invited to Jason Conn's studio yesterday. He had a model come in for a few hours. I think it was three? It's been a while since I've worked from life, so I struggled throughout our time. I was working a little small and using slightly bigger brushes than what I should have been using.
I worked on the face a lot, by the end it barely resembled her. I think I aged her 10 years or so. HA! I had the most trouble with the cheek, I felt like I painted over that about 17 times? The background needs to be lighter too (if I'm going according to what I saw), and the hair was more saturated. She had blue hair. Sorry, no progress pictures or of what Jason did. I was so focused on painting, plus my hands were covered in oil. However, if you do want to see more of Jason's work, you can find him here, there, and over there. Till we meet again, Friday is it?  It was a good turnout at the Compound Gallery Friday night. There were about over 15 or so pieces being displayed in the Main Gallery. A solo show by Nathaniel Parsons in the Admiral Dot Gallery, and a few sculpture pieces in the Fabrefaction Gallery. Saw some folks that I haven't seen in a while, so thank you for coming!  At the Fabrefaction gallery there were three artists showing work. This piece, The Hive from artist Tim Koppra is a sculptural installation using different sized nuts adhered together to mimic a hive. There's also a machine inside that creates a humming sound. The reverberation gives it an industrial feel that reminds you about the process of construction.  Nathaniel Parsons is the Artist-in-Residence who was able to have a small show at the Admiral Dot Miniature Gallery during the opening of KNOCKOUT. His work focused on picnic tables. Picnic tables are usually seen in social environments, but also brings solitude when they're not in use. Below is a rubbing from a table that had a design carved into.   For the main event, the gallery viewed the work of 10 artists. These are the vintage boxing posters from the Horwinski Press Co. A very cool collection. They also made prints off some of these that are available for sale.   The left are photos from Patricia Monaco. The center work is from Wray Herbert King. King stretched the leather punching bag onto stretcher bars showing the wear and tear from boxers over the endless hours of training at the gym. The right are my pieces.  Paintings from David Amoroso done in acrylic. He has three pieces on view.  At the top of each hour, someone would ring the bell and carry the signs (round 1, 2, 3, etc) to remind folks to buy art.  Sculpture by Nancy Sayavong. An abstract piece resembling a boxing glove. That luscious red and the folds really set it off to make it look cushiony, yet the hard edges gives it some weight. It's very well executed in contrast and design.  Not only does the Compound Gallery offer studio space, workshops, and residency programs for the artists to create, they also offer something for collectors. Art In A Box models after the monthly subscriptions from wineries. Collectors can pay $40-$50 for month-month subscriptions on work from the gallery artists. You describe your taste and the gallery picks handfuls of work from artists that match your description and send it over in a box!   Luckily the owners, Matt & Lena made enough goodies for visitors to bring home. I clocked outta there at 9pm and I was able to snag these before I left. The boxing glove was made from their 3D printer.  Do what the pencil says! Well yknow, maybe not with that exact pencil, but make something dammit! A few things when you visit the gallery... Show runs: Now-Nov 1st Gallery hours: Wed-Sun 12-7pm Address: 1167 65th st. Oakland, CA 94608 It's really on the cusp of Oakland/Emeryville. It's by Emery Bay theaters and Expression College. It's street parking. There are a bunch of open spots. I didn't cover everything, so go by and see the show!   The other day I had the grand pleasure of meeting, painting, and grabbing a beer with Joseph Zbukvic. Zbukvic is here in the Bay Area for the week conducting a workshop provided by the folks from the California Watercolor Association. By lack of funds, I was unable to join the workshop (however, it was also booked in minutes), but I was offered an exclusive invitation by my friend David to come spend some time before he goes back to Australia. We grabbed lunch in Alameda and headed over to SF to paint. We visited the Presidio and painted the homes that once housed U.S. soldiers. Then again across the street from the hotel he stayed at. I don't have any pictures from our day except the group photo mainly because we were there to paint, have fun, and enjoy the experience. Afterwards, grabbed a beer and listened to his stories, advice, and exchanged glances of our sketchbooks. The day before our time in SF, I also attended his demo at the Shadelands Center in Walnut Creek, which was open to the public. I was reunited with other watercolor artists I haven't seen in a while and also met new folks, one who has a business making palettes. Anyway, I do have pictures from the night of the demo.  The reference was from one of his own paintings of jockey's and horses at the track. His painting philosophy is to tell a story with your work. If there is no story, then it's just a pretty picture. The story in this painting is about the bright early morning as the sun rises on the track where the jockey's and the race horses are in training, running trials. It's a simple thing that artists overlook sometimes. It gives you a further purpose in making something.  Z didn't talk much about his process. He didn't have to. Everyone who attended just wanted to see him paint. Instead, he described his experience visiting the Bay Area and went on about the importance of value and color temperature.  The most he worked on was the background at the left corner because he was the most unhappy about it during the process. If it wasn't there or not done right, then the painting would be off. It was a connector that lead to the main focus, the horses/jockey's. So, it was imperative to get that right or else the painting won't be as interesting.  He mentioned how important it is to capture the essence of a subject. If you don't get it, it'll fall apart or you'll overwork it and the painting will get lost. The simple comparison he made was to picture a portrait with poorly drawn eyes. You'll know right away when something as obvious as off looking eyes. Every subject and the overall painting has eyes. There's no further reasoning to make something look like something other than making it look like it (for you life artists, that might drive you nuts, yes yes there's always further reasoning to something). However, capture the essence and everything else will follow its lead.  This was the finished work. I think the demo was about an hour. It's something like 16x20? I recommend to anyone to attend or take workshops from successful artists at least once. It's just like going to a gallery or museum, but better. It'll push you to try a new approach to your work and see things from a different angle. Hell, it may even give you an off experience that can push you to be better than that artist, reassuring your own skills and philosophies. Either way it can help. As artists we all have our own methods and the best thing we can offer to each other is our vision.
I want to plug Zbukvic's website here. Also my good friend David Savellano here. Time to get back to serious work!
YOWZA.The feature for this week is my diptych from the KNOCKOUT: Boxing Art show. These will be on view at the Compound Gallery in Oakland/Emeryville, CA from Sept 19th-Nov 1st. Opening reception is this saturday Sept 19th from 6-9pm. I'm not a boxing enthusiast or much of a fan, but I do respect the sport. My intent was to display boxers in their most vulnerable, yet some may say prideful state, the post match. Looking at each portrait, it can go either way. Who won? Who lost? It could have been a draw. These will be on view along with over 15 other pieces from the featured artists. Come see them in person starting this Saturday! Otherwise, it'll be up on the main page for the week. This week is almost filled with excitement, I'll explain more in Friday's post.   Judo-CHOP!suey. Here's another show that I'll be participating at SF in north beach during most of October. It's another filipino group show featuring many of the same artists from the Now Is It show in Oakland. The curator, Paolo Mejia who happens to be an alumni from CSUEB also owns the gallery that we'll be showing in. The statement for the show, Chop-Sueyed: Against All Odds is to exhibit the current socio-political status of where Filipinos, Filipino-Americans and Filipino-descent see themselves in the diaspora of the US and their homeland of the Philippines. The individual artistic interpretations of each exhibit will give glimpse of an unnoticed and taciturned culture. It is the artists' perspective to elicit and provoke some sensibility of understanding to the viewers about a culture long shadowed by more prominent cultures. I've been working on a new series for the show and hopefully it gets in. There will still be a selection process due to the number of artists participating. The working series is called Tahimik. In Tagalog it means quiet, however I'm not sure if it's used abrasively or passively.
edit* According to my dear friend it can be used as a command to be quiet or used as an adjective. Tahimik is a working series about identity, heritage, and assimilation. So I guess you can say it falls under my Fourfold series, tabbed under assimilation. It is a collection of mixed media portraits portraying young filipino americans being silenced. Tahimik doesn't have to be specifically about filipino americans, it can reach a further audience than that. Just losing the ability to speak or feeling shameful for speaking caused by a greater/dominant force is what I want this series to ultimately convey. That's all I'd like to say about that for now. I'll bring it up again when I've made a 100+ of these. 97 more to go! Other than that, I've got a couple works on filipino war veterans that I'm trying to push as well. I have more of a connection with Tahimik, so I'm hoping those will get in the show. Anywho, I need to get back to making that goal of 100. All the show dates and things are on the e-flyer pictured above, but here they are anyway. Show runs: October 2nd-23rd Reception: October 2nd, 6-9pm Location: Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Design Studio 1317 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA Yo!We spent a couple days in Fort Bragg, about three hours north. It's a small charming beach town with local shops and friendly locals that seem to get lots of visitors. We mainly hung at the beaches searching for critters in tide pools, basking in sea glass, and enjoying the formations of the seascape. I only got to paint during our down time in the hotel, instead I took many photos. I'll be doing small studies in the coming weeks.   Tried our luck to find starfish, but ended up with a fish head that washed up shore. It was rubbery and surprisingly heavy according to SLS. We also found small crabs and mussels.   gouache in moleskine sketchbook Hung out at the harbor where local fishermen park their boats, grub, and sell their catchings from the shore. There were plenty of places to eat that served the regular fish & chips, chowder, and things. I enjoy the rickety old boats that sit by the dock. The harbor also housed stray cats, some were domesticated that kept the fishermen company. Somehow it fits, cat and fish. Not so much seagull and fish like the little dude down here.  Lunch  We left during the heatwave in the Bay Area. I heard in some areas it reached the 90s and 100s. It only got to high 70s, low 80s in FB. The locals say that it's cool and usually foggy during this time of September, instead they were getting some of the heat. We were fortunate enough to see some of the fog rolling in from the coast. It added some spooky mystery to the small town. The picture above is a trail along glass beach. The fog started creeping in and this reminded me of a desolate landscape of some sci-fi film. The vast muted area paired well with the fog and the trashcans that look like little pods or droids.  sea glass from Glass Beach  Ocean View Cemetery  Town in Fog  gouache in moleskine sketchbook The massive seascape of Fort Bragg/Mendocino is nothing short of magnificent. On top of the cliffs, you get an endless view of the coast and waves crashing against the rock formations docked at sea. There are a whole lot of trails that take you through different vantage points. I'd like to spend a couple more days going through it to really soak it in. I can see why people like to just sit in one spot for hours. You really can't go to one area and say, "on to the next!" Each offers a view and experience you can't escape from nor can get enough of.   POW!I got a couple pieces viewing at the Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA coming through Sept 19th-Nov 1st. I've never been to the gallery/studio/complex before, but running through their site they offer some great resources for artists, beginning-advanced/professional alike. Opportunities to create such as classes, residencies, and workshops. They have their own printing/lettering presses, woodshop, ceramics, and more! I'm excited to see what the place looks like in person. To all my local networks, come by and see the show! There's also an artist talk for the closing reception on Nov. 1st. All the info is below taken from the Compound Gallery's Facebook page/invite. Click photo to redirect you there!  Boxing inspired art including original 1960's Oakland boxing posters by Horwinski Press. Show dates: September 19th-November 1st, 2015) Opening Reception: Saturday, September 19th, 6-9pm Closing Reception & Artist Talk: Sunday, November 1st, 2-6pm (talk starts at 4pm) Featuring work by: David Amoroso, David Fullarton, Hartwick Hanson, Horwinski Press, Justin Pastores, Laura Wong, Nancy Sayavong, Patricia Monaco, Veronica Schaible, Wray Herbert-King Live streaming events at: CompoundArtTV.com See our website for additional events SUP!  Boy In Vietnam Study, 9 1/4 x 7 5/8, watercolor, graphite, modeling paste on paper I'm doing two posts in one (double feature!) cause I'll be away during the middle of the week when I usually throw in the weekly feature. This is a small study worked from a reference photo of my uncle who served/gave his life in Vietnam. I never got to meet him, but I remember us visiting his grave as a kid plenty of times during Veteran's day. I always wonder how he was or how he might have influenced me and my brothers if he'd survived. Would he have suffered from PTSD causing us to be afraid of him? Would he have been a hard ass and toughen up all the Pastores boys?
Anywho... There is a potential show coming up that I'm trying to be involved in and this was one of the sketches that I'm proposing. Of course for the final, it'll be cleaner, have more of my uncle's likeness, and more deconstruction. Once things narrow down and become finalized, I'll say something about it. For now, enjoy this sketch. Again, you won't hear from me until Friday. SLS and I will be staying in Mendocino for a bit, so check back Friday for updates on....beaches? See ya |
A little rambling here and there
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