Alexander McQueen

It's hard to believe a year has passed since the death of Alexander McQueen. Both of these pen and ink drawings were done on Legion Iyo handmade Japanese rice paper. February 11, 2010.

Paculla Annia

Recently I decided to try to using pencil to compose my under drawing. Usually I draw on watercolor paper using Prismacolor erasable color pencils. When I paint over the lines they melt into the paint.

Something about light gray pencil line makes the whole painting feel lighter, which I find really satisfying. I've been painting with two sets of primary color palettes and black. For some reason I find this easier to do with oil paints as opposed to watercolor.

Paculla Annia was an Italian priestess. She led the Bacchus cult and threw wild parties.

Post-Impressionist Masterpieces

Yesterday I went to San Francisco to the de Young Museum to see an exhibition called Van Gogh, Gaugin, Cezanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musee D’Orsay. I’ve been waiting to see this exhibition since it was announced over a year and a half ago. There were paintings from Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Pierre Bonnard, Auguste Renoir, Édouard Vuillard, and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. I was blown away, my heart raced, and I was completely speechless.
I admire many artists working today, but the masters treated painting as a craft and that idea is fading. Nothing bothers me more than looking at a great painting and being able to recognize paint colors that were used out of the tube, no mixing of different pigments. Worse than that is photoshopping your art to mislead the viewer into believing they are seeing something that was really painted. For me, loving painting means trying to learn more, always studying. There is always more to learn. I am going to see this exhibition again before it closes.

La Carmencita
John Singer Sargent
1890

What I Wore

This is what I wore to a weekend at my parent's house in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Northern California.

Death

You're Going to Die
Jessica Murrieta
December 2010

Sometimes I just need to be reminded. This is colored pencil on paper.

Tedd Vallance

Tedd Vallance is my step Dad, you may have see his work at United Coffee in Sacramento, Ca. I was finally able to get him to start a blog in which he explains his process and motivation. He spends 40 hours or more on one 8x10 drawing. As a child he made sure I always had plenty of art supplies, everything I could possibly need. I was always in awe of his talent, skill, and patience, and so I am excited that he is finally putting his beautiful trees out there for all to see! Follow him!

Behance

Hey, check it out friends, I am on the behance network now!