Dillon Beach

I've been super busy lately, but when I heard my brother-in-law was going up to Dillon Beach for the day, I couldn't resist tagging along to sneak in a painting session. Having spent nearly my entire summer in a basement studio, it was the least I could do for myself to take a mental health day.

As luck would have it, the sunny beach filled with vacationers was vacated as soon as I set up my painters box, because I bring bad weather wherever I go to paint! Around half an hour into my session, the cliffs were seemingly wiped out in fog.

By the way, this painter's box is pure awesome. www.allaprimapochade.com

Still, it felt good to finally get outside to paint. And I love Dillon Beach no matter what the weather is like. I could only laugh when the sun came back and burned the fog off two hours later. Yep, mood swings are just half of Dillon's charm.

Well, back to work. But if you want a little more distraction before you return to yours, the second installment of One Swoop Fell is up.

"One Swoop Fell" is Up

My new web comic finally launched today.

It's a humble start, but I hope you’ll tune in each week for new installments and enjoy it enough to subscribe and share with others!

The plan is to update every Wednesday, which I’ll do my best to commit to. I’ll also continue to update the blog with news, sketches, and other goodies.

Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!

Me in the Oakland Tribune!

I was recently interviewed by a reporter for a profile story in the Oakland Tribune. That story came out today and I'm very happy to say the reporter did a great job... I say this partially out of relief that he left out some of the more embarrassing things I must've said. But I also appreciate the effort he made in his own research, such as reading up on N.C. Wyeth, who I mentioned at one point as being one of my heroes. I also mentioned the Totoro Forest Project which he then followed up on. Thanks Paul!

Here's a link to the online edition:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_9960919

And here's the paper edition... which is the same aside from the photograph. Click on the images to read the text.

So what kind of embarrassing things did I say during the interview that he mercifully left out? I think it was somewhere during the "Life is very short" discussion. I can't remember what I said, but I'm glad it wasn't this:
I'm very lucky to have a wife who is supportive, yet keeps me grounded at the same time.

One Swoop Fell

If you read through the article, you'll notice he mentioned a web comic I've been working on. And some of you might recall the Teaser update from a couple weeks ago. Well, here it is, finally:

www.OneSwoopFell.com

The comic itself hasn't launched yet, but now you know where to look when it does. Enjoy!

Trike Trekking at the Mischief Show

Remember this little guy from a few updates ago?

He'll be available at the Studio Gallery's annual Mischief show, which opened yesterday. You should stop by this Saturday from 4-8 for the reception. There's food, wine, and happy people everywhere. Oh, and lots of art! I'll be there for a short while, then it's off to a birthday dinner for my youngest brother.

Memory Sketch

This sketch was from about a week ago, done in the studio. It's amazing just how many places I live around that offer these fantastic views... and yet I don't take advantage of visiting them often enough, opting to paint a memory of them instead. This here is Indian Rock, a venerable mass of stone situated in the North Berkeley hills, offering folks an observation point from which they can take in a view of the Bay in its all its splendor (or haze in more recent times with all the Northern California fires)

Despite the lack of information (the cityscape below is missing), I enjoy the sketch, particularly the washed out color scheme. It almost seems sun-bleached, which sort of lends itself to the idea of painting a faint impression.

The Totoro Forest Project

So finally, the announcement for the big secret project I mentioned in the last update has been made. I'd tell you all about it, but I think it'd be a lot more fun (and informative) if you visited the official website instead.

http://TotoroForestProject.org

Not all of the work has been uploaded to the site yet, but there's still a lot of gorgeous stuff to look at. And the site looks great too. You can even hover Totoro around with his flying umbrella using your mouse if you're on the "Publication" page. See? I told you it'd be more fun.

Cypress of Sighs

The cat is pretty much out of the bag on the secret project Dasiuke Tsutsumi has been spearheading for the past several months, so here is my contribution to his efforts.

"Cypress of Sighs" Gouache and Acrylic on Board. 16x20 inches

His website has yet to announce the details of the project.... so I'll keep hush-hush on what it's all about for now. Suffice to say, I was incredibly honored to be invited for the ride and I can't wait until he makes the formal announcement so I can pass it on to you.

Here's a detail on what turned out to be my favorite part of the illustration:

And the sketch:

You can find large and small prints of the painting in my Etsy shop. Thanks for stopping by!

Teaser

Coming soon to a website near you.

Are you excited or are you excited? I know I am!

In other news, I currently have a solo exhibition at the Papillon Cafe in Lafayette (CA) throughout July. Sounds fancy, huh? Don't worry, it's much more low key than that. Stop by and enjoy a cup of coffee along with a few storybook illustrations.

And as a follow-up to the very warm reception from the folks at Berkeley Ironworks back in May, I'll have another climbing gym art show at the Great Western Power Company in Oakland later this week until the end of the month. More framed prints for happy viewing pleasure. The best part is I'm getting better at cutting mats.