Special Commission Painting

Just finished up a special commission painting for a friend. She asked me to create a painting for her friend who's dog just recently passed away, as a birthday gift. The dog who passed away is on the right, with his 'brother' on the left. She wanted them together in this painting, which was no problem. This is about the 5th commission painting from her, for both her family and others as gifts. The first few paintings were in acrylics, until I made the switch to oils. Once I got a taste of oils I never looked back. I love the way oils work and use them for all my work now, including this painting here.

For this particular painting, I kept things a bit more loose than the previous paintings. In my work, even when I was younger, I always aimed for realism in both my drawings and paintings. I can spend much time getting the details right in a painting. And although I did pay attention to details here, I tried to approach it from a more painterly perspective, rather than just a realistic duplicate. For the left and right areas, I had to be a little creative and add elements that were not there, since the reference photo was more square. I almost resorted to using a matte frame inside to match the photo's crop area, but instead I filled it in the best I could using some other references for the blankets.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. My hope is that the new owner will be just as happy or happier with it too! :)

Felt like buying Felt Mountain

So we took a little trip to Rhino Records in Claremont today to browse some new music. My son ended up buying a few CDs, one of which was Black Sabbath. I felt like browsing the record section and seeing if anything caught my eye. I don't have a record player as of yet but plan on getting one as soon as possible. (I have my eye on the Crosley Bermuda 2-speed turntable right now. I love that it has legs you can attach so it is free-standing and I love the overall vintage 70s type of style it possesses.) I saw a few I wouldn't mind getting in the near future, but to my pleasant surprise, they just happened to have Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain, which I couldn't pass up! Especially since this was part of a short run of albums. Plus this is just the kind of music I want playing on my player. And if I ever find Tales of Us by Goldfrapp, I will most likely be buying that as well, since it has a similar style and mood as Felt Mountain.

After walking around and looking through some of the shops in the Claremont Village, we headed up to Mt. Baldy for awhile and took a little hike and just enjoyed some nature and fresh air. My son was feeling motivated to fish, seeing how nice the stream was, although we didn't have any fishing equipment with us. Maybe next time. :)

Meet Na'an

Meet Na'an, one of several scuptures I created for my last show at PB&J Gallery. Sculpting is something very new to me still that I've only recently taken on but I've been learning alot so far. While in the midst of learning, I got an unexpected message from an old friend who gave me the opportunity to show at his gallery, which was still a few months away at the time. So I made it my aim to finish a good handful of small sculptures and learn at the same time, which worked out nicely. I'm currently working on a commission painting right now but looking forward to returning to sculpting and creating some more interesting little pieces. :)

A year of new music!

So far this has been a year of some great new albums from both favorite artists of mine and some unexpected surprises. Although I'm excited to see new music from Depeche Mode : Spirit, Feist : Pleasure, Sylva Esso : What Now, and The Wild Reeds : The World We Built, the biggest impression that came my way was from Goldfrapp. Not only did I enjoy their new album Silver Eye, but after digging a little deeper into this band that I've been mostly unfamiliar with, I found an album called Felt Mountain, and I haven't stopped listening to this amazing album that has touched and moved me tremendously these past few weeks. It has been my painting music and dream music as of late. It's hard to explain why it has had such an impact on me personally, but this debut album from Sarah Goldgrapp and Will Gregory is just astounding, melodic, nostalgic, dreamy, and emotional. 

Just prior to 2017, another personal favorite band of mine, Phantogram, came out with Three, which did not disappoint either, who kept true to their previous electronic-driven work yet with a stronger, guitar-driven presence in their songs this time around. Depeche Mode, probably my all time favorite band, made a great impression on me with their new album as well. I can hear many influences of their album from past music but still infuse new elements into their songs. Their new album Spirit almost sounds like a mix of sounds from Delta Machine and Playing the Angel. Martin Gore really hit the mark this time with his shorter ballads in between. Although some may disagree, to me, they were the Depeche Mode I've listened to over the years, and this was another great album!

The new album from The Wild Reeds, I must admit, was a little too rock & roll for me. I still hear the early melodic and harmonic influences I'm used to hearing from their early work, but I think this album will take some time to grow on me. I think it's great that they're still going forward and producing albums to this day, quite a difference from the 'street ally' and backyard shows they used to put on, of which I had the pleasure of seeing in their early beginnings. But if you like folky, melodic light rock infused with beautiful, melodic voices, you will certainly love them.

As for Sylvan Esso and Feist, I'm hoping for great new music, especially Feist, who had an excellent last album Metals. So far with the release of the songs Pleasure and Century, they are coming on strong with influences from Metals and more raw, guitar-driven music, which I believe was Leslie Feist's intention from the get-go. I admit I'm hoping for the same sound I enjoyed from Metals, but with an understanding that as artists, usually change is inevitable and comes in many forms in an artist's life, whatever form that may take, I'll be ready with open ears to hear what they deliver. 

This is my short review. These are the bands I love. Hope in some small way it makes a difference. :)