Something New

Started a new painting today. I must say it has been a long and productive night. I met with my friend Josh in Chelsea for gallery night. As I would have suspected not much was going on in the art world today. It's summer and not many things are happening in the gallery district, since most artists, collectors, and gallery owners retreat to their summer homes. The Hamptons is the place to be for this elite group, leaving some hungry art lovers like Josh and I starving for some gallery action. I came home to do some bill paying, laundry and lite studio maintenance. I organized my tubes of paint and put them all in one drawer unit. I have two paint boxes containing small tubes and I needed to keep it all together in one area along with the bigger tubes. Did some more maintenance by sending out some art related emails. With all that aside I had enough time to sketch out a new painting. Here we go again, another onion! This onion will be different than the rest since it will be a red onion, and the color harmony for this painting will be a bit more bold. So far I'm feeling good about it. I guess we'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.

Moleskine World Tour

Interior Lifestyle Fair 2008, Tokyo.

In March of this year, Moleskine invited me to be part of an international group of artists who would represent the brand at the London Book Fair. I did not hesitate and agreed to lend them one of my sketchbooks. Due to the success of the London Book Fair, Moleskine is taking the notebooks and sketchbooks on tour.

Special edition Moleskine books at the Interior Lifestyle Fair 2008, Tokyo.

The most recent stop was the Interior Lifestyle Fair in Tokyo. As in the previous fair, visitors were allowed to look through the sketchbooks and notebooks set up in the Moleskine booth.

Interior Lifestyle Fair 2008, Tokyo

Gloves were provided to protect the artists' work and thoughts. The next stop for all these books will be the ISOT (International Stationary & Office Products) Fair,Tokyo. Let's hope Moleskine sets more stops for the Moleskine tour.

Interior Lifestyle Fair 2008, Tokyo

Interior Lifestyle Fair 2008, Tokyo

London Book Fair 2008, London

London Book Fair 2008, London
Roster of Moleskine artists, London Book Fair 2008, London

*All images are a courtesy of Moleskine.

Yellow Heirloom Tomato

Yellow Heirloom Tomato, 2008, oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches

It's done! I started work on this painting a year ago, when my life seemed to be all over the place. Things affected my work, and soon this painting was put to the side along with other projects. From time to time I would work on it, but it wasn't until recently when I decided to finish it, and to make it the best painting I've done so far. I feel so much better now that this painting is done. There were many things in this painting that posed a challenge. To start I needed to make yellow the focus, a color I don't seem to work well with. My values are always off. But perhaps the greatest challenge was the striped towel. After my first towel painting, I wanted to outdo myself. Little did I know that this time around the towel would be much harder to accomplish. I looked at paintings at the Met that would offer some clue as to how to accomplish this. I kept thinking of Vermeer and his soft fuzzy tapestries and rugs. But in the end I had to figure it out on my own and find the best way I could portray this fabric. So I piled on the paint until I got what I wanted. Now I can move on to other matters, like finishing Steve's portrait.

Nothing But!

Vine Tomato, 2008, oil on canvas, 6 x 6 inches

Yes, my life seem to be full of nothing but tomatoes and onions. I guess one can call me Mr. Tomato Head or Mr. Onion Head. But I can't help the fact that I grew up with these veggies. Mom always made sure to have these ingredients handy for her cooking, a habit that has been passed down to me. So what else would I find in her refrigerator this weekend when looking for a painting subject? I guess you can see for yourself!

Quick Update

Yet another block on another portrait. Nando's portrait was going steady and good but I lost it somewhere. Not sure what's wrong with the picture but I know I have to start over. I think the format of the canvas was all wrong, with that in mind I stretched linen on 14 x 20 stretchers hoping that this rectangular space will give me what I'm looking for. In the meantime I'm finishing the Yellow Heirloom Tomato I started a year ago! How did I let it get this long, I don't know, but I am happy to say that the painting is almost done and I am very happy with it.

I'm Back! I Think

There are not enough hours to the day! I'm slowly getting back into painting again after taking a couple of weeks off. I got back last week from a five day trip to San Francisco and as soon as I arrived there were many things to do and people to see. I will be posting new work as it develops in the coming days. Priority is to finish Steve's and Nando's portraits. More on that later.

Tasty Treat

Strawberry Vanilla, 2008, oil on linen, 7 x 8 inches

Man it was a rough day at work today. The kind that knocks your moral down a little and also hypes up your determination. I wondered how I could get rid of my stress? Should I work out or should I paint? It was an easy choice as I passed the neighborhood bakery. Buy a treat, paint it and then eat it! This was my way of dealing with a hard day at work.