12_04_11 Chantry Flats, Arcadia.

This one's a little quicker than the usual. Maybe an hour. The sun is setting earlier these days and I didn't get started 'till late afternoon. My fingers were frozen by the time I left.

11_27_11 Lake Balboa.

I've missed the last month due to rain and holidays and laziness, but here's the latest entry. Lake Balboa looks amazing at sunset. Something about the light in Fall.

Unfinished Storybook Project.

Unfinished Storybook Project.

One of the hardest images to create. 8 family members all different, all reacting differently for the camera and of course the dog. It's still a little jumbly, but turned out pretty good for a first pass.

Unfinished Storybook Project.

Unfinished Storybook Project.

Unfinished Storybook Project.

Back in 2009 I was lucky enough to be offered a job illustrating an amazing children's book story about a wandering dog whose free spirited nature lands him in all kinds of trouble. Unfortunately I ended up leaving the project, but I still look at these as some of the best traditional media illustrations I've ever created. They're all about 90% done. I was looking at some fantastic illustrators like Carter Goodrich, Shaun Tan, David Catrow, Bill Sienkiewicz, Timothy Basil Ering, and Omar Rayyan. I really like their mixed media apporach. It seemed to add a lot of vibrancy and life to things. I also liked that in a lot of ways, you could see the original sketch maintained with the used of linework. I tried a new method drawing a layout sketch in colored pencil, painting in watercolor washeds first and then acrylic in a series of washes to build up harder darks. Then I pulled out areas with colored pencils to create color vibration or add texture. Instead, it frequently made me tighten and refine the paintings even further, but coloristically and texturally I definitely saw an improvement.

Dibs.

10_30_11 Malibu Creek Park

For those of you who don't know, if there comes a time where I have to choose between a beautiful vista and an awesome bench -- bench every time.

10_23_11 Hahamongna Park

Plus the warmup thumbnail.

10_16_11 LA Arboretum

Final, based on the thumbnail.

I rarely do a thumbnail beforehand, but it seems to make so much sense...

10_09_11 Corral Canyon Park

Another one for the Scrapbook.

Helmet Hair v02

Couple of New Posse Updates.

Oct 02, 2011. Malibu Lagoon, Malibu.
Oct 25, 2011. Malibu Bluffs, Malibu.
Oct 18, 2011. Pasadena. Somewhere off the beaten path.
Oct 09, 2011. Paradise Falls, Thousand Oaks.

Helmet Hair

Seattle: Waterfall Park 08_27_11

Seattle: View from Amgen's Helix Bridge 08_27_11

Mandeville Canyon 08_08_11

Sunday Painting Posse Updates_080711

07_31_11. Last weekend at Colorado Bridge in Pasadena.

07_24_11. Point Dume. Although I'm not looking at it's beach. I'm looking down from the other side of the rock, at Dume Cove.

07_17_11. The Fairmont Apartments. A view from my apartment window. I painted this during Carmageddon.

071011_Eaton Canyon

I haven't been to Eaton Canyon for almost a year now. Still challenging to find a panoramic view, but just as challenging to simplify the little clearings chalk full of shrubbery scribbles.

070311_Van Nuys Golf Course

The parking lot at the Van Nuys Golf Course. I rarely get in a painting right at sunset. I finished maybe 45 minutes before there was no light left. If I had a little more time, I would have done a painting in the other direction. The clouds were epic.

062611_El Matador

Not my best day ever. Usually it's impossible to have a bad day at El Matador, but the Posse came during high tide, and it was pretty much impossible to paint from the beach, so we all worked from the switchback trail and I took up post by the parking lot. Not the coolest coposition or colors, but it was a beautiful day.

Zion/Moab Vacation Paintings 2011 - the rest.

"Deadhorse Point State Park." It's no Grand Canyon, but awe-inspiring none-the-less. And that wraps it up. Our last painting was at sunset. We managed to do about two paintings a day, every day, except for ATV day, and found an increasingly epic sight every day until the end. I would go again.

"Delicate Arch."
Just to the left of the "Double Arches."
Behind the "Windows."

After Zion, we drove to Moab. Somehow, it's dryer there. I had to spray my watercolor palette about every minute, and even then, the paint was still waxy and hard to work with. Whereas, I was able to paint about 1 painting per hour in Zion, the combination of heat, dryness, and wind caused me to take twice as long in Moab. The elements humbled me.

Zion/Moab Vacation Paintings 2011 - a few more.

The Patriarchs as the sun set.

More Zion!

Zion/Moab Vacation Paintings 2011

View from the road.
View from the road.
Behind the Pioneer Lodge (our hotel).
Emerald Pools.
Emerald Pools.

Just got back from another epic adventure with the Sunday Painting Posse! Instead of the usual Sunday outting, we took a week to go to Utah and paint the national parks of Zion and Moab. Since we were going to be doing tons of hiking and backpacking, I'm afraid I chickened out of bringing my oils, and settled for my watercolor and gouache sketchbook. Here's a bit of Zion!

05_08_11 Pasadena Mountains.

Tiny bit of digital.
Original.

04_17_11 Lindaraxa Park, Alhambra

Lindaraxa Park, Alhambra

Tiny Repaint.

Tiny little repaint. I painted back the middle background mountain. A small change, but every little bit counts.

04_03_11 Vasquez Rocks

041011_Burton Chase Park, Marina del Rey

03_27_10 Catalina Island_Awesome!

Catalina Casino

The bluff looking inward at the island.