Squall cover for the Journal of Consciousness Studies

I'm excited and honored to announce that the publishers at the Journal of Consciousness Studies in the U.K. would like to use another painting for the cover of both a journal edition and a book.

I contacted them and we're discussing the possibility of doing a commission painting specifically for the journal and book cover. The idea is that it will show people in a downpour, hoping that somehow their story would be told. Presumably, those stories are contained in the book.

I always enjoy working with Anthony and the people at the JCS. To date they have used "Monk, Monk, Monkey", "Lone Cypress", and the Tsunami Relief painting "Wondering" for their covers.

Mormon Temple near Folsom, California

I went out painting with Naomi, Dean and Sophia and we decided to paint the beautiful views from behind Hazel avenue looking out towards Highway 50 going to South Lake Tahoe. Later the neighbors told me that this was a large Mormon Temple. You can see some of the colors changing in September and a path going down into the woods.

New Paintings

Here is a piece I completed while driving around Napa Valley. I'll be listing another round of paintings on ebay soon. There were large trees to the left creating long shadows that crept down to this little winery shed.

West Indian Girl Band Painting

I've been communicating with a great L.A. band called "West Indian Girl" and have begun doing a series of paintings for them, ideally for a CD cover. After talking with founding member Fran Ten we started brainstorming some ideas. If I did one painting and it wasn't right it would be a shame for everyone so I decided to do something I've never done before; create an outline image, scan and print it onto canvas and watercolor paper, then do a series of paintings in different styles. This photo isn't very clear, but it will eventually be scanned in at a high resolution.

I'm excited about all the possibilities for these paintings. We can sell these versions, prints of them, the band can paint in their own versions and sell them, fans could color them in at shows...we can create a coloring book for the kids! These will take a while to finish so I'll post them as I complete them. I'm going to do versions in pop art, impressionism, etc.

Suchi Bhosle...an artist to watch

I just got off the phone today with my good friend and mentor, Suchitra Bhosle. She just returned from a long trip back to India and gave me a ring to say hello. She mentioned that she just did an interview with Southwest Art magazine, one of the premier mags in this country, because she was listed as an "artist to watch" in 2009. I've taken a few classes from Suchi in the past and plan to take more. She's a great artist and, unlike some other teachers, can convey important points so you feel like you know more when you leave than when you arrived. I can't stress enough the importance of being able to teach...anything. So I'm very excited for her and I look forward to hearing more details from her trip back to India.

Preparing for Del Paso Show on Dec. 13.

With the help of painter John Krempel I was able to land a show for Second Saturday here in Sacramento. Most of the art traffic is downtown near 20th and J, however, there are also many galleries over on Del Paso Boulevard. I usually go over there every few months to see what's going on. There was a great gallery that burned down called the "Sol Collective" which had cool art and bands from people like Pinguino. I was sad to see it go. There are other great galleries there still.

Anyway, I met a woman who is heading up a project where they put art in various places in the neighborhood that are not traditional galleries. I'll be in this building (details to come) with 4 other artists, including the great Teaspoon Sakamoto!!! We're finally going to show her origami and quilting skills. There will also be a band playing and, of course, food and beverages. I'm hoping to sell some pieces that I've had for a while so I'll have a clearance rack or something like that.

Successful Pecha Kucha night!

I just got back from Pecha Kucha night and I'm amped because it was the most successful one we've had in a while, partly because of our new format and the quality of the presenters. Claire Obenson and I met a while back and put together some ideas for making it more interesting.

What is Pecha Kucha, you ask? It's a way for people in 147 cities around the world to experience design, architecture, music and other art forms in one night. Every presenter gets 6 minutes, 40 seconds to do their thing, and not a second more!

One of our ideas was to have the artist who has their paintings in the Level Up Lounge do a presentation and have the event serve as an artist reception too. Another was to ask Suleka to invent a drink called "The Pecha Kucha" so that we could all do a toast together. Here are the presenters:

Todd Taylor wines from Clarksburg, Ca. Excellent wines, by the way, and very cool people.
Thomas Harris is a painter who is interested in what he calls "escapism." Good stuff.
Richard Burnsed, Program director of the Sacramento International Film Festival, showed us a few animations.
Jeff Walker is a young architect who did a presentation on the use of lasers in architectural design. He's done some interesting work.
Evan Jones was the artist in residence for this month. She's been painting for about 4 years now and is finally starting to show her work publicly. She was a hit.
R&B recording artist Aaron Young or "A-Y", sang a few tunes for us. He has a CD out entitled, "They call me A Y." He's doing good work here in Sac.
Jason Silva is a local architect who gave a presentation on "placemaking", the focus on central locations in every big city. Jason also ran the computer for us.
John Krempel brought his entire entourage to the bar and they were somewhat hostile until we brought him up onto the stage :o) They were Jonesin' for John. He makes his living as an artist and has a solid following. We talked for a while after the show and we'll swap a piece of artwork and try to put a show together. He was a cool presenter.
Suleka! Her staff demonstrated the creation of the "Pecha Kucha", which is Bacardi 151 set on fire (yes, we're blue flamin' it), then add equal parts Kahlua and Peppermint Schnapps. It was very tasty and I was glad that we got some people to throw some money into the register. Suleka is so sweet to support us and her employees are all A-1 people so I enjoy hanging out there. The vibe is always very positive and I end up in the most interesting conversations because the crowd is not pretentious.

Check out more info at www.pecha-kucha.org

Peace out!

Gaijin Card Photo

I'm designing a brochure and I thought I'd include some international images, like a few of the stamps in my passport and that sort of thing to be used as the background for the paintings of various locations around the world. I stumbled across this little gem, which was the photo for my foreigner or "gaijin" card in Japan. What a blast from the past. Hee hee.

Art Advice: Moving the Checkers

I was talking with a young artist recently and thought that this basic explanation of making incremental progress, what I call "moving the checkers" might be interesting to others. It applies to a lot of endeavors which include multifaceted skills, responsibilities and opportunities--especially when you have a family and a full time job. The idea is simple; imagine a checkerboard with two lines of checkers. The first line of 8 pieces closest to the center of the board represent all of the things you need to begin establishing and moving forward across the board. I'll name a few examples:

1. Painting (the obvious one). 2. Learning, studying, improving your skills. 3. Making contacts in the art world, visiting openings and galleries, etc. 4. Ordering supplies, trying new materials. 5. Entering contests and shows. 6. Building and publishing your website. 7. Building your clientelle. 8. Updating your blog (check!)

Establishing and moving those 8 pieces are already a few years' worth of work. Here is the critical concept of this whole approach; DON'T MOVE ONE PIECE TOO MANY SPACES BEFORE WORKING ON SOMETHING ELSE! I spent years painting, studying and adding things to my website, but I got caught up in one thing for a while and neglected other important pieces. While one piece was moving forward across the board other pieces were dormant for months at a time.

The second row of pieces represent things that are related to the first row but can't begin moving forward until the other pieces have already made a little room for them. For example, after studying and taking classes from others I'll not only improve, but eventually get to the point where I could teach someone else (the piece behind it). Maybe I'm not ready to teach at the local college, but I can teach some beginners and give them the basics.

For my next Art Advice I think I'll explain Naomi's concept of "One stitch a day" because it works really well for people in our situation who are busy.

Please leave a comment if this helps you in any way or if you have some suggestions to add to the discussion.

Drunk Paramedics now showing in National Small Oil Competition

Hello again. I almost forgot to mention that "Drunk Paramedics" was accepted to this show. I was very excited to hear the news and receive the brochure for the show. It is being held at a museum in Kansas so I won't be attending. This piece is only 6x6 so it's very small and I was a little disappointed to see that they accepted pieces up to 16x20 for the show. Not that big of a deal, but that's not exactly small, is it? The show goes into November then they'll send it back if it doesn't sell.

This painting is from a photo of when I was in Kazakhstan. We were watching a game and knocking back a few brews with the paramedics, who were on duty, by the way. They were cool guys but it's fortunate that they didn't have to spring into action.

Painting demonstration

Well, I'm back from the demonstration in one piece. There was a good turnout and I received a lot of questions, primarily about why I paint upside down. There were about 12 artists total in attendance and we were treated well. One lady asked if I'd be willing to teach a watercolor class so we'll see if that actually comes to fruition or not. It was fun to actually paint in front of people. You'd think it would make you nervous, but unlike other times when you're "on stage" you can get lost in your own world and forget everyone's there.

Painting demonstration tomorrow!!!

Hi there,

I've been signed up for an oil painting demonstration tomorrow at a big lodge out near Arco Arena. This is an event put on by Hovnanian homes and I imagine they are trying to drum up business and get some of their homeowners together for a little wine and cheese. There will be other painters there as well, although I have only heard David Peterson's name. He'll be doing a demonstration too. I have already picked out the subject I'm going to do.

While preparing for the big Delta show at the 20th street gallery, I drove around the delta taking photos and doing sketches. I took some photos of an old mansion and it's definitely California style. It has that victorian architecture that you find in San Francisco but it's out in the country with palm trees around it and large gardens. I thought it was a bed and breakfast but it was a little eerie because there wasn't a soul to be found. Anyway, I didn't complete a painting for the show, having run out of time, so I'll give it a try tomorrow-surrounded by semi-wealthy drunk people.

Directions: From north 99/I-5, take the Del Paso exit and turn left. Turn left on Natomas Center drive and a right on Hovnanian. It's a big lodge on that street.

New Show at Coffee Break Cafe in Carmichael

I woke up early this morning and went down to the Coffee Break Cafe to hang about 18 pieces for the month of October. The owner's name is Nuvia and she's a very cool lady from Panama. Her 3 children work there with her so the place always has a friendly vibe to it. They get a lot of business from regulars who hang out there to talk local politics or whatever strikes their fancy. I'm hoping to get a few extra customers in there to see my paintings and order a few cups of Joe from Nuvia.

Location: The cafe is located in the Home Depot shopping center on the corner of Madison and Manzanita in Carmichael, California. There's a Garcia's Mexican restaurant right next door to the cafe. They close pretty early in the afternoons but they're open throughout the day and on weekends. Hope to see you there!

Back in Nashville, Tennessee at the Quality conference

Hello,

I'm attending the QATC conference here at the Gaylord bio-sphere here in Nashville. It's definitely nice to be back here after spending a number of holiday seasons visiting my sister's family in Mount Juliet. My big brother Danny bought a really cool fishing boat so he took me out 2 days in a row to go fishing. I used to fish when I was a kid but my techniques were woefully insufficient for the modern mind of the blue gill, the cunning tricks of the crappy, circa 2008, and the catlike flexibility of the new millenium striped bass. No sir, the days of throwing a sinker and clam into the water then waiting for 40 minutes have been cast (pun intended) on the trashheap of history.

Danny showed me all kinds of stuff, like how cool it is to have a boat, as we went from one cove to another. The first day we went to Percy Priest Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous and we had a blast, finally leaving after the sun was really baking down on us. The second day was at Old Hickory Lake, which is connected to the Cumberland River. It was even more gorgeous and relaxing. There was nary a soul out there and we were free to catch fish and discuss marriage, ad infinitum. It was overcast too so the weather was just right. I was shocked by the variations in depth in both places. He has a sonar device that would read 8-feet one second then plummet to 75 feet the next. That was definitely an eye opener.

So I am now attending the conference here at the Gaylord Opry center, which is an immense glass covered dome so large that it leaves you under the impression that you are outside. The conference has been pretty good and my presentation is tomorrow. It's called, "Take your Ed dept. to the next level" and I'm very excited to show people what we've been up to at LifeMasters. I've brought along an assortment of training tools for everyone so we'll see if they're beneficial to people upon returning to their work environments next week.

I fly out on Friday morning.

As for the art world, I am planning to take down my paintings from the Level Up Lounge on Monday and put them up at Coffee Break on Tuesday. Things are moving along.

From one show to the next

I went in to Java City to talk to the owner about hanging my paintings. We're all set to go. It doesn't have as much wall space as the Level Up Lounge, but I'll make it work. I consider the show at the Lounge to be a success. I sold some paintings and made a few good contacts. The Pecha Kucha night went pretty well too.

Speaking of shows, I'm off to Nashville on Sunday to hang out with my relatives then present at the QATC conference at the Opryland hotel. I can't wait. I think the presentation has a lot of good elements and I'm excited to share some of the cool things we've been doing in the Education department at LifeMasters.

Central Valley Antique Radio prints available!

I got these 16x20 giclee prints back from Josh at Sacramento giclee and they look great, in my opinion. We try to get a high quality image to use, then he prints a few versions to show me, we decide what to do and he starts printing away. They're great people.

I like how they work because they've been there a while, but the old man is passing on the business to the younger generation so they're trying to think of new ways to market the business and create specials. When I go in there I sometimes find a little infant on the counter next to them while they work. Very cute.

Anyway, you can read the details about these prints and the image from my old stompin' grounds, the San Joaquin valley, here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CENTRAL-VALLEY-CALIFORNIA-ANTIQUE-RADIO-SIGNED-GICLEE_W0QQitemZ150295225889QQihZ005QQcategoryZ60437QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

"Before the Tsunami--Wondering" on Journal and Book Covers

These publications came out last year over in the U.K., although the book on the right is from Finnish authors. In lieu of payment they donated money to a reputable relief organization. It has been a pleasure working with this publishing company over the last few years. Let's hope I get a few more covers. Come to think of it, I need to give Anthony a holler.

Prints of "Wondering" Completed

This painting, entitled "Before the Tsunami-Wondering" was completed for the Artists for Tsunami Relief show I put on with Carol Cody in Indianapolis. It was an amazing experience where we gathered over 70 pieces of art from 40 international artists and held an auction to raise money. I ended up giving this original painting to an AFS exchange student from Indonesia named Kiki. I'm a former AFS-er (Chile) so we had that in common. Since she was living in Indiana during the tsunami she was traumatized by everything that had happened. I thought it was the appropriate thing to do. She's now studying Political Science in Jakarta and we still keep in touch from time to time.

I recently found the electronic file and had my friends over at Sacramento Giclee Printing create some beautiful prints on canvas. I like how they came out. I plan to put on up in the Level Up Lounge and sell others on Ebay, which will allow me to donate some of the proceeds to charity. I'll add another image of this painting on the cover of The Journal of Consciousness Studies in the UK as well as a book called Dimensions of Personhood.

Level Up Show is On!

All of the paintings are up on the walls and I think the layout of the show looks nice. Rather than a gallery look, the lights are low because it's a lounge. I've never seen the paintings in that kind of environment and since some of them are kind of moody anyway, I like how it turned out.

I met Dane Dewis from the band Cuesta Drive there and we talked about the possibility of doing some art for them. I've heard their name quite a few times here in Sac. I'll have to go hear them to get the full vibe. He was a cool guy.

Full view, so far

Getting closer. I still have a few interesting surprises to add. We'll see how it turns out. I added a new bronze color that I found, which causes the painting to shine and the shadows to become dark or light, depending on where you are standing.

Level Up Lounge Turns ONE!!!

The Level Up Lounge is having their big one year anniversary bash this evening. It's a black and white dress affair. Naomi, Dean, Sophia and I went in there a few hours ago and the place looked great. Suleka was looking very elegant. I was happy that my family finally got a chance to meet her.

Although it has only been there one year, the accompanying restaurant, Thai Basil, has been there for a long time and regularly wins awards for its amazing food. There are a few in the Sacramento area. I'm sure the Level Up Lounge will be there for many years to come.

Here is their website: http://leveluplounge.com/

Check out the funky decor. I can't wait to put up my paintings in there.

Details on the dress

I added some gold designs on her dress and came in with some lights. Notice that the Thai writing is back around the island. Thanks Suleka and everyone at the Level Up Lounge!

Getting closer to completion

I began adding some darker colors to her dress. I'll come in later with some designs over that and hopefully it will look good. I might have to push the lights and darks to make that happen. We'll see.

As for the sarong he's wearing, I used some of the cloth that we bought on Koh Samui for inspiration. They have great designs. I used a lot of wet in wet techniques and let the paint play pretty loosely. Notice that the island is still there from the map.

Tom Clark Wins Children's Book Award!!!

My friend Tom Clark has been writing great children's stories and has been diligently submitting them to writing competitions. He just told me that one of his latest stories called "A Perfection of Wisdom" received 1st place in the Children's Adult Fiction category for the 77th Annual Writer's Digest Competition. It will appear in the December issue of Writer's Digest magazine.

This is big news and I think it goes to show the importance of persistence in endeavors like writing and painting. It's definitely a feeling of taking two steps forward and one step back, but you have to keep on going. Just last week I was standing in my kitchen with a nice paycheck for a recent commission I had completed in one hand, and a rejection letter for an upcoming show in the other. Well, that's how it works, kids! I just had to smile. A mentor of mine talked about the importance of having what she called a "rejection file." I had never even thought of that, but it's part of the whole process, especially when getting into most shows comes down to the opinion of one judge. That's one reason I highly recommend watching documentaries of various artists because nearly all of them involve dealing with hurdles to jump over in your professional life.

Tom and I have been collaborating, mainly on his coming-of-age story set on an Indian tea plantation called "Tea Elephants." It's an inspiring story. I won't go into the details (because I can't write like Tom), but I can assure you that it involves tea and elephants.

You can view the Tea Elephants website and cover painting here.

http://www.tea-elephants.com/

You can send your congratulations to Tom through the website.

Good job, Tom!!!

Tea Elephants Children's Book

This is the book that we've been working on. I forgot to mention that Tom also won an Honorable Mention award for Tea Elephants during last year's Writer's Digest competition. I've learned a lot about how the children's publishing industry works through this process.

You can find out more information by going to www.tea-elephants.com

Don't forget to check out the cool video that Tom made.

Sonoma Bridge Painting Instructional Video

Full length view of "Thai Lovers"

By the way, I'm thinking of doing an entire series of lovers from different countries so I may have to change the name to something like, "Lovers Series: Thailand."

Click on the image to view a larger version.

Thai painting closeup

This is a view of the map titles. I'm planning to paint his sarong in a deep color, probably purple so I may have to paint the name of the island again.

Adding Thai names to the map

I went to the Level Up Lounge, where the show will be held, to see how much wall space there was. Well...there's a LOT so I have the unique task and opportunity to use many paintings while still trying to stay withing a basic theme.

While there I spoke with the owner, Suleka, and told her about this painting. I asked her and her staff to write down the names of Thailand, Bangkok, and Koh Samui. There was a time when I thought that would be a simple task. I learned a lot on that night! I originally thought of using the ancient name of "Siam", but I learned that when they switched the capital to Bangkok they began using the current name of Thailand. Well, I wanted Bangkok on the map so I thought it would be best not to mix eras. They wrote it out very clearly but I'll have to see if my writing is accurate. Fingers crossed!!!

The Olympic Spirit Inspires Me

I love the olympics, don't you? It's the one time when we can put away our nationalist tendencies and come together in the spirit of friendly competition. This is when you see humanity at the peak of its moral existence.

Even when things don't go your way, like losing the bronze medal by disqualification because you took too much injury time, the highest level of athletes can smile and shake hands with their oponent and the referree in a show of good sportsmanship.

Apparently, this fluffy feel good speech was never recited to the Cuban taekwondo master who tried to decapitate the referree after finding out he got DQ'd. Oh well, there's always London, 2012!

Blues and Southern Thailand

You can see the map falling on his chest here. I like the deep blue between his face and her foot. I'll probably make other sections deep blue like that, but I don't want to overpower the overall painting either.

One very easy mistake to make is to create some interesting washes of color only to cover them up later on. I've realized that in the past and thought, "I just covered up 5 hours of work!" so I'm going to try to avoid doing that. This ain't my first time to the rodeo, but it's an easy mistake to make when I'm painting in a state of flow (Czikszentmihalyi reference!).

Adding blues and the map of Thailand

Now that their bodies are surrounded in blues and
greens it's easier to see the shapes. The great thing about painting is that you notice things, like the exact shape of the map of Thailand, that you wouldn't normally catch. I try to get things right so sometimes I spend hours just researching the information that goes into a painting. I had to scrunch down the northern region a tad to make it fit onto the canvas and I had to think about how it would flow across their bodies. It has a very light wash of greens and browns so you can still see the previous layers of paint.

Skin coloring

Here you can see the skin colors added to the woman's body. The original sketch was done with water soluble pencil so it tends to run when you get it wet. This looks great but it can also muddy the colors so you have to be careful.

Adding a layer of color to their bodies

I started adding washes of color to the bodies, first with a light beige color. I liked how some of the colors ran from the previous washes so I'll try to leave those in the painting.

Thai Lovers, phase 1

Okay, this is the first phase, which includes sketching and laying down washes. I already have a basic plan for this painting. I'll let those aspects reveal themselves and explain as I go. You may click on the image to see a larger view.

New Painting, "Thai Lovers"

I have a show coming up at the Level Up Lounge here in Sac. It is run by Suleka, a very cool business woman from Thailand, who is also a talented artist and architect herself. She and her sisters each run their own Thai restaurant in the area and she recently opened a cool and funky lounge upstairs. It's on the corner of 25th and J right above Thai Basil restaurant. I'm going to be filling the place with my artwork in September and I'm completing this painting specifically for this show. It is 3 feet X 6 feet, by far the largest painting I've ever done.

I'm going to post images of the painting little by little, as I complete it. Stay tuned!!

Closeup #3

Closeup #2 (can you find both fish?)

Closeup #1

Bodhissattva of Compassion commission

I mailed off this commission last week to Indianapolis and I thought it was a success. This image of the Bodhissattva of Compassion was a little challenging because I wanted to avoid some of the cliched imagery that comes with spiritual artwork. I was given some images of ancient statues and stories explaining some of the symbolism and how it is portrayed differently in India versus China, to name just two countries. This is an oil painting on 16x20 canvas.

Sonoma Bridge Painting sold

One more painting was sold on ebay. Things are starting to pick up. This painting was the subject of the YouTube video I created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5r7cG8-37g

It looks like it will have a new home in Virginia.

Drunk Paramedics accepted!

Yes, I have the photo to prove that I was hanging out with Kazakh paramedics who were polishing off a 12 pack of beer during a soccer match. Luckily, nobody was injured during the game. The ambulance title is pronounced, "Skoraya Pomosh."

This painting was accepted into the 2008 National Small Oil Painting Exhibition at the Wichita Center for the Arts. I'm putting it in the mail tomorrow.

Here is the closeup of the farmer reading The Modesto Bee. I found a copy of the front page from September 12, 1935.

Here is a closeup of the Peter Pan radio. I'm selling signed 16x20 giclee prints on canvas for $130.

Well here it is...the commission for the Central Valley Antique Radio Society. I wanted it to be about two things; the central valley and about their mascot, the Peter Pan radio, which was manufactured right here in California during the 1930s. The farmer is reading The Modesto Bee. I'm selling giclees on canvas of this painting.

Back from Japan

The family is back from Japan and I am inspired again! It has been a long two months without them. During that time I was able to lose myself in my painting in an effort to stay busy and not miss them too much. We kept in touch quite often through the web and a pretty cheap calling card. Let's see...here are the projects I completed while they were away.

--Completed 5 paintings for the Delta show at the 20th street gallery (www.20art.net)

--Edited my first instructional painting video and posted it on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5r7cG8-37g

--Began selling paintings on ebay: (seller name: moai-artworks)

--Visited my friends, Frank and Mary Lou Wulftange, in Lake Tahoe and completed 2 plein air paintings

--Completed a commission for the Central Valley Antique Radio Society

--Met with Fran from West Indian Girl to discuss artwork for a concert poster or possibly an album cover (now THAT would rock)

--Entered the painting "Drunk Paramedics, Atyrau, Kazakhstan" into the National Small Oil Painting Exhibition.

--Completed a commission for a friend in Indianapolis who belongs to the Indy Zen Center. She wanted a painting of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. I just mailed that off yesterday.

Wow. Now that I listed all of the details I realize that I've kept myself pretty busy. All that on top of work and trying to keep the house clean.

Paso Robles!

Hello,
My nephew and I are in Paso Robles visiting Tom and Amy!!!

Yakatabune

This is a painting called, "Yakatabune kara hanabi wo miteiru no onna."

This is a Florida painting that's currently showing at the Marco Fuoco gallery here in Sacramento.