Working on a Pink Flamingo

One thing I dig the most about my city is that I live so close to several beaches. In the nice weather, I head down to the water after work hours to work on a painting. Last night I worked on two - I'm getting close to finishing the flamingo piece below (I love this subject, it's the second time I've done a piece about one. I don't know if its the colours, or the shapes in the face, but its so much fun!) and I'm starting a slightly larger parrot piece (24" x 24"). Both of these are going to be ready for my next show, which is in just a couple of weeks at Ambelside Park here in Vancouver (Harmony Arts Festival).

Some Painting In The Sun

I live in a pretty decent apartment in my neighborhood in Vancouver. Decent...in that it's old and cool and has character and is near the beach. I don't particularly care for "nice" places or condos - I want to feel some weight to the beams and sense that there is a history there.

One thing this means, however, is that my pad has no balcony. In the nice weather, I set up my gear and paint/draw on the lawn out front.

Last night after work I jammed on some new sushi pieces (fresh batch of 10 started) and worked on a smaller 16" x 16" flamingo. Two progress shots of him are also below. 

Third Annual Whistler Paint Off

 Last weekend I participated in the 3rd Annual Whistler Paint Off competition. This event was a lot of fun - 7 of us set up outdoors in the main village square in Whistler for two 5-hour sessions, over the course of two days. We each had the same sized canvas and got to put together a single painting that the public voted on. Public vote determined the winner. Below is the step by step progress of my peacock painting. At the very bottom is a photo I'm very proud to be in - I was fortunate enough to win first and got an award presented by two great costumed ladies.

A Couple Of New Pieces

I'm currently working on some new works for my next show, which will be happening in early August. The show is called Harmony Arts, and it will be in Ambelside Park in West Vancouver.

One subseries I am working on is a collection of parrots. After I made my 100 sushi paintings, I became very involved with colour combination/experimentations. I'm taking that approach and applying it to some larger pieces, and since the natural colours available with this subject are so bold, bright and fun to interpret, I figured it would be a great reason to create this subseries.

In addition my giraffe piece is really coming together. The image below is from two days ago at the studio, and it has since been reworked further (newer image coming asap). Yesterday I worked on it at Greek Day here in Vancouver, to an incredibly amazing and responsive audience. I was out on the street drawing on it for five hours and it is now 75% complete.

My Weekend of Work

 This weekend was productive indeed. I wrapped up a commission piece of three crows, progressed nicely on my giraffes, and worked away on two new parrot studies. Aside from the crow piece, which has now been shipped to its new home in the UK, I am creating the rest of these works for an upcoming show in August in West Vancouver called Harmony Arts. I am planning to integrate some new textures and collage elements too!

This Sunday the Blim Market will be at Car Free Day on Main Street! I will be there with my good friend Sean showing, selling and making new art for the afternoon!! The market is located at Main and 17th and should be good times!!

New Parrot Piece on the go!

After a bit of a well-deserved hiatus (I was quite burned out after the 100 sushi paintings and exhibition) I have started some new work. I am taking what I learned about colour combinations on the sushi project and applying it to a series of parrot pieces. Some other new work is on the go too, so expect images of those very shortly. For this first parrot I'm liking where it's at so far. I'm going to texturize the beak to give it some good depth.