Thursday, December 26, 2013

Al Jumhuri Morgue



Its a nightmare scene that I have replayed over in my mind to the point its just a familiar sight. December of 2004 during my deployment to Iraq I had to make several stops at the local hospital and had to go into the morgue on a couple occasions. I can't say what the cause of death was for everyone in there, but the volume of bodies generated by the war outpaced the hospitals' ability to deal with it. This holding room on the east side of the examination room was stacked to overflowing, and the extra containers outside were packed. Due to frequent power outages, they could not be kept cool in the hot climate.
    I have often considered making artwork about the deployment but have found it difficult to bring myself to do as it is not light - hearted work.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sketchbook Uploading - Coffeeshops and beyond


Lemos Farms - Highway 92


Osmosis Meditation Garden - Freestone California





Burlingame Public Library


Saturday, October 26, 2013

Black Dragon and some CGHUB magic


I really had fun working on these last few aircraft/spaceships. The white one on a blue ocean background I posted earlier this month, and this one got enough views on CGHUB to make it to the front page! I suppose its an element of luck, a striking thumbnail, sharing on facebook (thank you to all who clicked on those links). It doesn't really mean anything other than I had always wanted to see one of my images up there and had no idea what kind of interest it takes to make it. I believe its something like getting over 100 views a day and a certain percentage of likes or faves? My best guess. Anyways, on to the next image! :)

Sketchbook Dump from the last month

I have been sketching away when I can, and just haven't taken the time to scan them and upload so here are some watercolors and sketches from the last month.
Safeway in Burlingame end of Sept. I think this one I learned what happens when you use too many layers of paint and try to control it too much, it gets a bit muddy and, well, ugly. still was fun to have enough time to try and accurately convey the lighting and surroundings.

On the left is a quick sketch out the window of the renovated Burlingame Avenue with new lamps, trees and a wider sidewalk with a sort of smooth cobblestone. On the right, I met my buddy Abiraj, who was a Stryker driver and Infantryman on our deployment to Iraq. We ate a place in Dublin called Country Waffles at way too early in the morning. Dublin kind of reminds me of Radiator Springs at that hour with the sun rising up and the full moon still out.

Found myself in the city by the Bay yesterday and spent about 1 hour knocking out 4 sketches. The one on the right is the Embarcadero Ferry Building which I used actual watercolor paints. The rest are sort of super saturated because I did them while standing using only watercolor pencils and mostly primary colors at that.


St. Helena the day after Masha and I celebrated our 5th anniversary together. Time has flown! Grandpa and Nanna watched our little one so we could stroll through St. Helena and I sketched a bit while Masha looked through the stores.

The Sherman - Used to be a restaurant and bar, now it sits floating in its moorings surrounded by fisherman, runners and the occasional painter I suppose. Coyote point in the distant rear of the image.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Ships

Ships!




Garden Sanctuary


I was playing Legos with my son, and we built a sort of animal sanctuary walled in with some blue transparent bits we pretended was water. I thought this would be a cool scene to make into a painting.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Paint Burlingame !!

Had fun with some other wonderful artists in Burlingame on the 29th of Sept. It was a one day plein-air  painting event that only required work be done in Burlingame city limits during the hours of 9am and 3pm. Some members of the local art, government, and historical society were on hand and the event was judged by Paul Kratter, a very talented oil painter.

http://paintburlingame.wordpress.com/


I ended up painting the Il fornio for those high contrast awnings and the direct lighting.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Knocking off the rust - Palo Alto Figure Drawing Workshop



After stepping into the freelance life, I have neglected to find a local figure drawing workshop. I took a drive down to the Palo Alto Art Center which is a terrific resource and was full of dedicated artists. I can see some deterioration in my powers of observation and was a bit slow to get up to speed. As you may notice, I went with a computer and Photoshop down there so I could experiment with color in a familiar tool set and try to get some decent results. Must go more often!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Water colors, Oahu to San francisco




Paintings around Kailua, Oahu and one of the University Mound Ladies Home in San Francisco's Portola Valley. Painted with my friend and Portola Valley Native King Chen!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Farewell


Got started on this and couldn't stop. Most fun I have had painting in a long time. 6 hours.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Costa Rica and Burlingame Farmer's Market


Some watercolors from this and last weekend. I took a surprise trip to Costa Rica last weekend, from Friday at midnight until Monday morning. It was fast but beautiful. Saw my good friends Shaun and Linda and a bunch of wild creatures such as pit vipers, sloths, monkeys and more!

This morning I stopped by the Burlingame Farmer's Market and sketched some of the set up. I like the early morning activity of early shoppers, vendors unloading trucks and of course, fresh pastries!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Carrier Operations


A Concept of a VTOL naval fighter jet based on current aviation technology.

Water Colors of San Francisco, Burlingame


Saturday, July 6th. Beautiful morning so I walked over to the Burlingame Train Station to do a quick painting in my sketchbook with watercolors.  I think its time to buy another sized brush, doing text on the sign and small details is almost impossible with my waterbrush. So fun though.



These two I did with King Chen in SF back a month ago or so. We got a diner breakfast in the teder-nob area and drove up to Inspiration point past Arguelo gate in the Presidio of SF. Plenty of tourists filtered in behind us from all over the world as the sun rose up over the city to our south East. I got it the top watercolor and did a pen sketch of the view to our right of Presidio Heights. We later drove to sea-cliff where I jotted down the water color on the bottom left.

Watercolor has become my favorite sketching medium because of its immediacy and ease of clean up and small amount of supplies to carry. Now I am just working on gaining more control of the medium as I go, one painting at a time.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Jousting Knights

Been working this sketch over for too long, thought I should post it and get it off my mind. May come back to it. Hope you enjoy.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Gun Ship



Just working up some Sci Fi into my life. Designing a ship that looks like it is engineered by an alternate reality version of humanity. It has an escape vessel built in so the rearward portion could break away in an emergency.