San Clemente Plein Air

Last Saturday I made an effort and drove an hour to San Clemente to participate in the Quickdraw which is the kick-off event to the Plein Air San Clemente. I wasn't familiar with this event at all. Moreover, I can't really be part of the event because I have to work all week. But I was very glad I visited the town . It is very nice indeed. I also met up with some fabulous artists and friends like Michael Alten, Laura Wambgans, Catherine Hill, Al Tofanelli, Paul Strahm, etc...

For my Quickdraw I chose a garage sale scene going on in a street behind the gallery. It turned out pretty nice and I ended up winning Fourth Place and 100 bucks. The awards were juicy and well deserved and the artists roster was impressive. The awards are even juicier for the main event next Saturday so I am a tad bummed that I won't be painting that much. I did the required two paintings on Sunday though.

On a side note. I also secured a honorable mention in the main event and met some very talented artists. Tim Tien got the first price for a very nice painting indeed.

Some amazing portraits at the Huntington.

McEntee's symphony greys harmony conveys his mood after loosing his wife. The landscape as portrait.


Clearly a Vermeer inspired interior. A bit contrived but that light...



Formal and elegant . Love the risk of the brim shade.



I can totally see this woman just barge in a room. German painter active in England. Notice the "bottleneck" shoulders so typical of the period portraiture. Probably didn't have money to add hands.



Sargent. Just plain incredible.


Mr Watts. by Raeburn I think. Again, the light. And the uneasy stuffiness of this character who practically launched the industrial revolution.

They speak for themselves. However, I found it strange that anybody would collect portraits of families not their own. I guess Mr. Huntington was trying to import England wholesale. These are not just nice pictures of anonymous subjects as "figures" but people with clear genealogical roots, names and families. Then again, they are beautiful on their own and some of them were latter acquisitions.

Tony Pro Workshop Part 3 and final.

After some more thought I decided to add a few notes about what I got from Tony's workshop.By adding some artwork that relates to it. First, I attach here a picture of Teale holding an artichoke. I did this one week before the workshop. You can see the harsh edges in the wrong places and the overall "hacking" at it. It is very apparent on the nose and the shaded side of the face.

Next, is the portrait of the model we used at Tony's workshop. The method I used here is a lot more "thought out". First I applied the overall simplified blocks of color, then the secondary details, most detail was actually added at the very end. You can see how the portrait becomes a lot softer and how it resists distance watching a lot better. Progress is evident from the example above. You can barely see also one classic "trick" , the adding of a thing fringe of color to the illuminated side of the face, to avoid a very sharp delineation a and create a sort of "glow".

I add here the other two paintings we did during the workshop. One is a landscape where Tony had some input but an area where you can tell I am more confident. The other, the blocking of Tony's wife posing in the park, no details. The dirt on the canvas was the result of the hefty winds.

Lummis Day 2010

This morning I was interviewed (in Spanish) by Univisión and KTTV (Fox) did a segment on Good Day L.A. About Lummis Day. They called me yesterday and I was ready to go at 5am this morning.
Not only that, I sold the two small 5"x7" pieces I made during the taping to the producer Rosa Maria and the photographer Al.

Wonderful event by the way.