Back to watercolor

I've heard form some people now. My watercolors have "a warmth". So I am picking where I left and re-inaugurating a new watercolor year. I had a consultation with an artist rep: Mrs Margaret Danielak, she had many good marketing and promotion suggestions and watercolor came up again. May be as a way of becoming more distinct among a landscape of urban plein-air virtuosos. Her father was a very accomplished artists in this medium so that makes Mrs Danielak a little partial. But who couldn't be partial to such a wonderful means of expression. Plus I am teaching a watercolor class in two weeks so I better get good in a hurry. I did this little piece in less than 30 minutes.

Armando Ortiz fast asleep

So many times we underestimate the importance of a supportive spouse or significant other. They can make us or break us with a single word. Armando is a very loving and a very difficult person at the same time. He is overwhelmed with passion and impatience for life. I love him to pieces while he drives me to thumping exasperation. He can be sweet and earthy but also launch tantrums of irrational despair. He call ist "sponatenous". I am so afraid of "spontaneity" lately.

Timothy J. Clark and Milford Zornes

Visited the Timothy J. Clark and Milford Zornes show at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. What can I say. I'm floored. Timothy was doing urban impressionism before it was even an issue , nocturnal Chevron gas stations, Ralph's parking lots, crepuscular semi-abstract freeways...Then suddenly he turned to watercolor and never looked back. His watercolors are brilliant even though he left behind the more "daring" subject matter. May be he had to pay bills and cater to more conventional taste? I bought the catalog so I guess I'll find out.

"Artist on a hill" T. J. Clark

Reproduced without permission for educational purposes

I used to think Milfor Zornes was cartoony and abused blacks. Well, I've been disabused. This 100 year old man is a magnificent painter. The show at PMCA was so dazzling , so bold and intense that I have gained a new name to my list of idols.

On a side note : Sometimes catalogs use euphemism to express common shortcomings of artists. museums and the art world in general. Just like in real estate an "eclectic" neighborhood means there are shoot-outs daily, in art-speech, euphemisms abound also. For example : "catering to new patrons" usually means "selling out"; a "vital" artists would be considered a drunk in most venues and "flamboyant" is sometimes shorthand for "egotistical asshole". A "sensualist" or "proteic" artist is usually a serial rapist . A "stipend" means he had to borrow money from his or her sister. And so on....

The end of the year

The year is almost over. Time to tie projects up and declare the unfinished ones finished. The weather right now is spectacular so I hope to still fit a few more plein-air pieces. I've learnt about chalky painting surfaces , Gamblin grey and transparent colors (thanks Jennifer), portable easels, composition and value matching. I am extremely grateful for the lessons learned, and not only the painting ones. I am very grateful for the new friendships and the fact that I still see the glow of hope in life. I have invested a lot of my self-worth in my art and it is time to spread the wealth and paint more but invest less. Not everything has been easy for sure. I still need to deal with my tiny and cold studio, but we will get there.
For now, I just want to feat my eyes in the water of recent rain and the beautiful freeways that fly like cathedrals over the last flaming plantains.

Meeting James Gurney

Today at work at met James Gurney, the author of the acclaimed series of "Dinotopia" books.
http://www.jamesgurney.com/
He even signed a copy of "Journey to Chandara" with a little dinosaur doodle for me. He is a remarkable illustrator. In this book there are clear influences from Gerome and the "Orientalistes" as well as from Alma Tadema and other decimononic painters. The first thing that struck me was the similarity of the cover -which I won't reproduce here- with the Leon Belly painting : "Pilgrims to Mecca". It is a good exercise of inspiration without plagiarism. Even though I love his landscapes and I took a good look at his amazing travel notebooks (unpublished) I still think his human characters are not properly integrated and look as if they are just modern people with operatic costumes and hairdos straight out of Supercuts.
Nevertheless, he is a great illustrator by any measure.

Jury Duty

I had Jury duty yesterday and I thought to myself. Great. may be I'll be able to practice my greyscale drawings there. I did. And now I am addicted to the little suckers. I even made one while waiting for an oil change this morning.


Downtown Los Angeles, who knew, has some nice views around "Angels Flight", a quite pathetic little tram in the middle of nothing. And more importantly, what a discovery it was to see the Grand Central Market! Oh my oh my oh my (gasp for air) . If you can get a couple of bodyguards it must be the best place to paint...evah! Sure there are hookers and hobos and nasty looking security that couldn't outrun a dead lizard but the colors! ...and the the prices for produce are ridiculous!


( A few minutes later) Well, I called the manager at Grand Central Market and she thought that I was either going to rent a stall, paint the walls or do a graffiti performance. I don't know what she thought. Some people live in this bubble .... She just said "No you can't 'paint' , goodbye'". I'll prove her wrong soon enough. Now it is a challenge.

http://www.grandcentralsquare.com/location.html

...and day Three

I was not feeling all that well this day but I managed to produce a quite "delicious" little piece to quote Miss McChristian. Again, she had good suggestions and I am very eager to see if I can use some of the "revelations" on my own next time.

I like this painting because it is both bucolic and urban. The "urban" side is merely a suggestion of cars in a freeway and a lightpost hidden behind the trees.