The Clouds Open Up At "The Sky Show"

Tweet

"The Sky Show" marks my first exhibition in New Mexico since relocating here last year. The show opened April 1 and runs through May 4 at one of Santa Fe's most popular establishments, Counter Culture Cafe. The show features 27 cloudscapes, skyscapes, and aerial views of all colors and sizes in a variety of media.

Huge thanks to Counter Culture owner, Jason Aufrichtig, for the opportunity to get my feet wet in the Santa Fe art scene and to all the friends and new collectors who supported the show. Special thanks to my wife, Rachel, for her tireless belief in me and my work. Scenes from Opening Night (including 8 red dots!) are here for your viewing pleasure.

This place is bustling pretty much every day
and it happens to be my favorite restaurant in Santa Fe!

The feature walls of "The Sky Show"

Me with Counter Culture owner, Jason,
and the latest addition to his art collection, Aero No. 13

Olivia and Vicki checking out the skies!

See more of these 5x7's at http://bit.ly/30Paintings

Aerial views: Aero No. 33 (left) and Aero No. 30 (right)

Rachel and me. :)

We love red dots!

Tweet

An Insider's View of "Toledo No. 1"

Tweet

I got down to business on the next stage of this Spanish cityscape over the weekend. Here's a pic of me at work and a few details of the underpainting round. I wanted to get a base of acrylic colors down that approximate what the finished version in oil paint will look like. I think I am off to a good start…what do you think?

Me with "Toledo No. 1". The finished piece is 65" x 29".

Toledo, Spain up close.

Catching the shadows of an afternoon Spanish sun. 

In case you missed it, check out The Creation of a Spanish Cityscape with a video showing how I translated my photos into the charcoal drawing that is guiding the painting stages. Enjoy!

Tweet

The Launch of A New Mexico Cloudscape (Part II)

Tweet

I've made big strides with the drawing and underpainting for my biggest oil painting to date, "Aero No. 28". Even when working fast, the size of the painting itself makes the process "feel" slower. It's all about scale and doubling the size of the project often, and certainly in this case, more than doubles the work. 

Drawing. Generally getting the proportions and movement of the clouds in the right place.

Not quite the brand I'd use on the asphalt playground as a kid, but soft chalk pastels got things going nicely on this painting.

Acrylic paint underpainting. Giving me some tonal values to guide the application of the oil paint  in the next round.

The acrylic underpainting palette for this step of the painting.

Max painting reach achieved. Big chip brushes help me get a lot of coverage with the acrylics at this stage.

Underpainting Stage | "Aero No. 28" | 70" x 47"

I'm having a lot of fun getting face to face with a painting this big on the wall.

Tweet