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.