Musso & Frank's Nocturne

My show went well last Saturday, there was a great turn out and I saw alot of old friends. Wish I could have had this painting done on time, I was only a week off in completing it. This one is called "Musso & Frank's Nocturne", the size is a fairly large 30x40 inches, oil on canvas. I've painted Musso and Frank's before, but during the daytime. It's the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, it's been there since 1919. All the old Hollywood stars ate there back in the day, including Charlie Chaplin. In the Tim Burton movie, "Ed Wood", Ed went there (dressed as a woman) and met his hero Orson Welles. It was also a favorite watering hole of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway.

I feel that the best way to approach doing a nocturne is to get a strong foundational drawing, so that I have a good idea of the structure even when it's hidden by the shadowy darkness. I had to make up alot of things in this one, particularly the ironwork on the facade of the forward building. And importantly, the color harmony of this piece seemed to work for me. I pushed the foreground to a warmer purple and redish color, and the area further away into cooler greens and blues. I think it has a good feel to it, like a comfortable alone-ness.

My Gallery Exhibition in Pasadena this Saturday, June 24th

Finally, after nearly a year of work, I'm having my exhibition with 25 new drawings and paintings. It will be at the Tirage Gallery in Pasadena on Saturday, June 24th, from 5pm to 8pm. The address is One West California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91105. For more detalis, go to www.tirageart.com

This new painting is called "Crossroads", the location is the historic Crossroads of the World building on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. It is 18x24 inches, oil on canvas.

CITY TRAIN painting and EAST VILLAGE NOCTURNE

This new painting is called "City Train", it is 24x36 inches. If you scroll down, you can see the drawing I did of this same place a while back. In this painting, I wanted to play with a bluish palette, keeping the color very limited. It has a rather smokey, hazy feel.


This is "East Village Nocturne", it is 16x24 inches. The scene here is on St. Marks, the East Village bookshop, a brownstone, and Cafe Magador. One of my favorite little places in Manhattan.

Night Bridge

When I was a young art student, Van Gogh's "Starry Night" was one of my favorite paintings. Nocturnes remain to be among my favorite subjects and one of the more difficult things to paint. The subject seen here is east of downtown Los Angeles, one of the old WPA era bridges over the LA river. This area is full of industrial warehouses, sweat shops, and truck depots. I wanted the viewer to get a sense of the quiet solitude of this area at night, and make my own contemporary version of a Van Gogh like nocturne. It is 18x24 inches, oil on canvas.

This painting sold immediately in my exhibition, there was alot of interest in it by several collectors. But the Tirage Gallery stalled on paying me for it, it's been almost two years now. Never did get my money.

City Train (drawing)

This is a drawing I did a while ago, back in 2002. I've got a new painting of it, or rather a variation of this scene, but I'll have to photograph it soon to share it here on the blog. I have long since sold this drawing, I believe it is something like 18x24 inches.

Back then I used to go on "urban photo safari" around Los Angeles with my friend Suong Yangchareon. He and I went to photograph at this location overlooking downtown LA and the 5 freeway, among other places. Now he's making the big bucks, he shows with Wayne Thiebaud and Diebenkorn up in San Francisco at the Paul Thiebaud Gallery.

New York Interior

A little more than a year ago, I made a trip to NYC to see the John Currin Retrospective at the Whitney. Whenever I'm there in New York, I stay in the East Village. Somewhere down around St. Mark's and Avenue "A", right by Thompkin's Square. That's where the setting for this drawing takes place. I only finished it recently, it's charcoal on strathmore kid finish paper, making for really nice rich blacks.

DOWNTOWN INTERCHANGE

This is the largest painting I've ever done, 54x48 inches. The view is of the 110 freeway cutting thru downtown Los Angeles. I started it just before Christmas, then I pulled it out again 3 weeks ago and decided to finish it.

I had considered having a bunch of cops running a car off the road and chasing or tackling a crazed woman trying to flee on foot. It actually happened to my next door neighbor in Pasadena, she was a fruit loop, didn't take her medication and got caught in a high speed chase. I saw it happen on the news.

But then I thought... who the heck is going to buy that? Then again, it might work. Maybe I ought to try it in the future. Like Goya's series, it could be called... "I saw it happen".

"GROCERY" painting featured in this June's issue of Southwest Art Magazine

I just got the June issue of Southwest Art Magazine, it features my painting of "Grocery" on page 62, and was picked for the Best of the West. It is promoting my June show at the Tirage Gallery in Pasadena.



"Grocery" is a brand new painting. The size is 24x36 inches, oil on canvas. I really liked this street corner and the old lamp post. Even the garbage can. As I was working on this painting, I had the idea of putting a shop keeper on the sidewalk. But I decided against it and went with strategically placed pigeons instead, making it a more whimsical piece for me.

Check out http://www.southwestart.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=25

ANOTHER VISIT

This is a new painting called "ANOTHER VISIT". It is 16x20 inches, oil on canvas. I was in Coronado when I came across this scene and it struck me as something I really wanted to paint. That massive tree casting a shadow on the 1950's house, the play of light and shadow in the foreground that silhouettes the old Porche. It made me think of an untold story of what kind of dialogue was happening here, between the car's driver and the tenant of this home.

MUFFLER MONUMENT

I just finished this drawing called "Muffler Monument", it is 20x20 inches, charcoal on paper. I've had the idea for a while to do some preliminary drawings for larger, more ambitious paintings. Some using the figure. I liked the oversized scale of the muffler-man statue I saw in Escondido, and in this drawing I exaggerated him even larger. The kid down below, looking up in wonder. I imagined, what if one day in the distant future, this statue will be dug up and put into a museum? Like an ancient Egyptian or Roman god.

BRIDGE OVER RAIL

"Bridge Over Rail" is a new piece, 24x36 inches. This is a variation of the earthy pallette, but with a purple-ish gray sky. Very thinly painted for me.

A few months ago, I dragged Bill Wray out to the train yards in the rain so we could get some photos. I wouldn't dare to attempt any alla-prima painting on location here. I needed Bill to come along to watch my back, so I wouldn't get rolled by any of the trolls or crack-addicts living under these bridges.

Hollywood You Marry Me?

I'll be offering new giclee prints of "Hollywood You Marry Me?" in May. The size is 16x20 inches, printed on heavy rag paper. The edition will be limited to 75, all hand signed and numbered. These are archival and of museum quality, the unframed price will be $400.

I originally painted this view of the back side of the Hollywood Sign a few years ago. I took this painting to the old Mendenhall Gallery in Pasadena (when it changed to DNFA) and the director let me temporarily hang it in the show. Later that day, I took my girlfriend (Holly) up there to surprise her. She looked around the show in dislike, until she came upon this piece with excitement. She was confused when she saw my signature in the corner, since the show hanging wasn't mine. I told her, yes, it was my painting... and I said it's called, "Hollywood You Marry Me?" At first she asked if I was kidding, and I told her that would be a pretty sick joke. I showed her the ring, and she excitedly said yes, she'd marry me. We pulled the painting off the wall, and lived happily ever after. Holly and I will celebrate our 4 year anniversary on June 1st.

GLENDALE FREEWAY

This is a small 12x12 inch painting I did, "Glendale Freeway". Going with the theme of Los Angeles icons and architecture, I felt like these freeways and looming overpasses will be our generation's legacy, like the Romans' great structures (the aqueducts and the coliseum). These great creations that will one day outlive their creators.

The bold brushwork and dark palette was inspired by my mentor Richard Bunkall who died of ALS in 1999. Here's an example of his work (top image). If you want one of his paintings, good luck. They're $250,00 to $350,000 (if you can find one that's available).

Sorrento Valley Freeway

When I first moved to San Diego, I went landscape painting with my friend Aron Wiesenfeld (see his artwork in my links). We set up our easels overlooking the freeway and painted this view alla-prima. Drivers honkingly-cheered our efforts, but that didn't seem to help for some reason. My plein-air painting that day bombed. But I went back to the studio and started this quite large 30x60 inch painting, "Sorrento Valley Freeway", to somehow redeem myself. It's finally finished and I'm bringing it to the gallery tomorrow.

PRESIDIO

This is a brand new painting called "Presidio". It is 16x20 inches. I really had to struggle with this one, seperating the foreground, middle ground, and background. The landscape is in San Diego, the freeway pictured is the 8, and the building in the background is one of the earliest structures built in SD, the Presidio. The spanish built it in the 1770's, as it was a strategic location overlooking San Diego's old town area and the bay.