Painting 41: Stanley Park Totem Poles (Vancouver)

This was the first painting I did in Vancouver last October. It took me awhile to get comfortable with not having a car to hold all my painting supplies.  I started to only bring the essentials since I was going to be walking for miles with a backpack full of supplies.  It's not too bad once you make the commitment.  Nowadays I'm used to it!  Anywho, this painting was done in Stanley Park in Vancouver.  I always appreciated the structures of the totem poles.  They are so tall and interesting to look at.  So much symbolism  in each section.  I told myself since I'm in Canada I have to make sure I paint them. 

Coin Laundry drawing

Here is a drawing I did last week for Avenue 50 Studio.  I didn't even know that this gallery existed until  I met these cool artists while painting on Colorado Blvd.  They had told me that there was an art opening for the Mt. Washington Plein Air Painters group at the Avenue 50 Studio gallery and that they had a studio next door.  So I decided to visit them the next day.  It was really awesome to meet other artists in the community.   I was also excited that there was a plein air group in my area!  I ended up going to the opening the following weekend and met some of the artists.  One of my favorite artists of the  group show is actually in the vfx industry and will be working for the same company that I will be working for!  He even knew some of the same plein artists that I met in the plein air convention!  What a coincidence!  It was all meant to be!  The group even invited me to paint with them!  Too bad I will be heading to Vancouver  for a few months, but I will be back!

Painting 40: Oinkster

This is a Filipino owned burger joint called Oinkster in Eagle Rock.  Represent!  Unfortunately I'm vegetarian, but they do have a really awesome veggie burger!  I really like the simple shape of the red building against the green trees.  I was very fortunate to find a shaded spot underneath a tree across the street.  It's been a pretty hot summer to paint outdoors, but nonetheless I'm having a fun time being outside doing what I love.  The locals were very nice when passing by seeing me paint.  People were giving me bottled water and asked if I needed a chair to sit.  I also met some local artists that invited me to their studio.  I've been having a lot of positive feed back. It feels really awesome!

Painting 39: Verdugo Rancho Market

Painting 38: Bagdad (Portland Oil Painting 11)

Last day of painting in Portland with my friend Nathan.  I had an awesome time.  I definitely want to come back!  People were so excited to see us paint in the streets. 

Painting 37: Signal (Portland Oil Painting 10)

Painting 36: Le Happy (Portland Oil Painting 09)

Finding places where we can paint without getting wet from the rain and getting a good composition was tough.  Though I did like this cute restaurant, "Le Happy." I loved how square it was and the simple color palette. We were underneath a tree across the street.  It didn't rain the first hour, but it started to drizzle and soon after started to rain really hard. Everything got soaked!  I need to get a huge umbrella! Oh I love Portland!

Painting 35: abandoned building (Portland Oil Painting 08)

We randomly saw an abandoned building off the freeway.  I really like how the trees came out.  Super fun painting but time went by fast.  Damn time constraints! 

Painting 34: St.John's Bar (Portland Oil Painting 07)

Painting 33: Wishing Well - St.John's (Portland Oil Painting 06)

I think this was my least favorite painting I did in Portland. My perspective is really wonky amongst many other things.  The best part of this painting session were the locals who live in St.John's, Portland.  They would pass by and say really nice things to us.  Some of them were artists themselves.  We had our set up right in front of a bar.  People were drinking and gambling at 11:00 am!  

Painting 32: Nite Hawk (Portland watercolor 03)

 Since it started to rain heavily, we decided to paint inside a coffee shop.  Across the street was a view of a bar called the "Nite Hawk."  Here is Portland watercolor #03.  We are slacking off when it comes to watercolor.  We can't have it all!

Painting 31: underpass (Portland Oil Painting 05)

Oh I love Portland!  I love how unpredictable the weather is.  We had a nice start of the week with warm weather, but all of sudden rain appears.  We thought if we set up underneath an underpass that we wouldn't get wet.  Nope that is not the case.  It started to rain and the sky  kept changing in color and value.  That's the fun with plein air! You never know what's going to happen.

Painting 29: Oregon Theater (Portland Oil Painting 04)

Oregon theater is another quirky building we came across.  We even met someone who worked in the theater pass by and saw us painting.  He mentioned that we should go inside because the owner of the theater might be interested in buying our paintings!  We had the intentions of  coming back and finish our paintings but we were on a tight schedule!  I never got to go inside, maybe my next visit to Portland.  Damn, I must paint faster!

Painting 28: Canteen (Portland Oil Painting 03)

Painting 27: across the street (Portland watercolor 02)

Painting 26: Perierra Creperie (Portland Oil Painting 02)

 We decided to paint at a lot designated for food trucks.  Night time scenes are tough!  At least people were excited to see young people painting for fun.

Painting 25: Rocket (Portland Oil Painting 01)

Here is the first oil painting of the series in Portland. We found this run down auto repair shop called "Rocket."  The scene looked simple but it was quite challenging. The light kept changing and cars kept coming in and out.  I also had a hard time having a steady hand when it comes to writing the text.  Though I still had tons of fun!

Painting 24: Portland- Sen Yai Noodles (Portland watercolor 01)

I took a 9 day trip to Portland to visit my artist friend Nathan Reidt.  Our goal was to paint everyday that I was there.  We were going for 15 oil paintings and watercolors were extra.  Our goal was quantity and quality. hehe. It was a great jump start to build our confidence. It was super fun.  People loved us painting in Portland.  Since I started to paint again I mainly worked on landscapes, but in this trip we focused on urban landscapes.  This was quite a challenge, because architecture is less forgiving.  But it was definitely a learning experience.  Here is the first watercolor I did in Portland.  It was of a Thai noodle restaurant called Sen Yai noodles.  Super yummy.  After dinner we sat across the street for an hour or so to paint the restaurant.

Painting23: Laguna2

I got to paint with my friend Jeff Sewell that I met at the Plein Air Convention.  I learned a lot of cool techniques from him, like how to edit parts of your scene to make the painting look better or changing scale to push things back.  He was kind enough to give me this frame for one of my paintings.  It's crazy to see how a painting looks so much more finished with a frame around it.