"Freeway Exit"

I wanted to either call this new painting "Houses by a Freeway" or "Freeway Exit", it's 15 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. This one involved a lot of imagination, I made up much of the landscape. But it's based on my travels through Detroit.

I laid down some fairly thick impasto on this piece, scraping the paint around with my palette knife, and smearing color around with a rag. I love the surface of this piece in particular, the manipulation of light, and the quiet color. I enjoyed playing with the composition and design too, with the houses on the right, and the lone solitary figure on the bridge to the left. Together, all these things hit on the overall mood I was going for.

Graffiti Bridge

This is "Graffiti Bridge", oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches. With this piece, I invented these young characters making art on the walls of the bridge, like modern hyroglifics. I have wanted to include graffiti in one of my paintings for a long time, since so many of the places that I paint are often old, and usually have graffiti on them anyway. But it then becomes an important part of the image. So my graffiti tells a story.

"Rail Bridge Over the 101 Freeway" and the RAY TURNER exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art

I have been drawn to painting bridges for over a dozen years, all throughout my career as an artist, even before I went to Art Center. This new piece is called "Rail Bridge Over the 101 Freeway", oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches. And I think it's one of my favorites. The actual bridge can be seen while driving up the 101 freeway, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. I was actually on my way up to visit my new San Luis Obispo gallery during the Labor Day weekend when I was inspired to do this particular piece. I'm now exhibiting work at the Just Looking Gallery on Higuera Street, be sure to check it out if you're in the area... http://www.justlookinggallery.com/

When I was a student at Art Center, as you may know, I was also working at the Mendenhall Gallery in Pasadena. I got to work closely with some great painters who exhibited there, like Richard Bunkall, Sally Storch, R. Kenton Nelson, Raimonds Staprans, Mark Ryden, and many others. I moonlighted as a studio assistant to some of the artists, including Ray Turner, who is having a show right now at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Be sure to check it out before it closes on January 31, 2010. There is also an impressive Wayne Thiebaud show in the main gallery... http://www.pmcaonline.org/exhibits/_main/index.html

When I worked with Ray, I was fortunate enough to collect some of his original works. Since the current exhibition at the Pasadena Museum includes his portraits, I thought I'd share just a few of those originals that I have (above and below).

Ray Turner's new book that accompanies the exhibition includes a section dedicated to a handful of portraits he did of his friend "Joe". Ray used to paint Joe every day until Joe passed away. The above painting is one such piece from my collection, a small 4 x 5.5 inches.

This piece above is part of his series of portraits of horses and jockeys, done in the 1990's.

Ray is renowned for his monumental landscapes. Here's a Turner landscape hanging over the couch in my living room, I love the industrial image. Nobody can paint a sky like Ray Turner, they are incredible, smokey, hazy, moody... http://www.rayturnerart.com/

Arroyo Seco Freeway

"Arroyo Seco Freeway" is an historic engineering landmark (the CA110) between downtown LA and Pasadena. Constructed between 1938 and 1940, the parkway was designed for people to slowly drive along at 35mph and take in the view, considered to be leisurely and scenic. The old bridges on this stretch of road are amazing, I first saw them as I headed up to Pasadena to start college at the Art Center, they forever remained etched in my memory. I particularly like the morning light that was captured in this piece, along with the long blue shadows stretched across the foreground. "Arroyo Seco Freeway" is 18 x 24 inches, oil on canvas.