The River Series: The Finished Paintings

A lot of you have been interested in seeing the pieces I started in the "Fantastic Titanic Art Week Part 4" post a few weeks ago. Well here they are!


"Admiring The Stream", Oil on Panel, 20"x30"


"Into The Enchanted Forest", Oil on Panel, 16"x20"


"The Cool River", Oil on Panel, 16"x30"

As a bonus to all those who would be interested, I took process shots of every stage for all 3 paintings.












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Step 1: Watercolor Drawing - I like to start with a watercolor wash because it's easier to erase, not quite as staining, and you can paint over it immediately after it dries. You can sketch it out very fast, then when you add the first layer of oil over this, there's already an extra layer.

Step 2: Oil Wash - Reinforcing the drawing, covering the entire canvas, and establishing the overall light and dark value pattern. Pretty much just burnt umber at this point.

Step 3: Background - I paint in the light side of the background, and just the overall local color. I also place the overall sky color in.

Step 4: Bottom Layer - I paint on another layer for the darks, and block in the local color for the middle ground.

Step 5: Sky Clouds - I basically finish the sky and the clouds in one sitting. I like to work back to foreground; if you paint over a plane closer to you with a stroke that's meant for a background element, that will always tend to come toward you. That's why when you paint skyholes into tree shapes they always tend to stand forward unless you soften them somehow.

Step 6: Second Layer of the Background - This is where I start to lay down what will become the basis of the finished painting. I am starting to model the form and try to get the colors/values/edges right.

Step 7: Middle Ground - More of what I started with the last step, this time I take it to the overall painting.

Step 8: Lights/foreground - I now paint in the entire foreground, and also bring the light areas to an overall finish.

Step 9: Figure - I now model the figure and take it to about an 80% finish.

Step 10: Finish - I fix anything that needs fixing, and also add any extra glazes and overall color adjustments.

Keep on the lookout for more pieces in this series, they will be coming soon!

New Dance Paintings

Tonight I just dropped off a few paintings for the group show at Sugar Cafe in SF. They're all 11x14 acrylics on canvas panels... Everything looks better framed! If you're in the area check em out, they will be on display for the rest of the month...

2 New Plein Air Paintings

Allied Arts Building, Menlo Park, CA.



Oakland Mountain View Cemetary

Super Fantastic Titanic Art Week Part 5: The Conclusion!

Ok since I've been falling behind with this, I'm just gonna finish this with one last hurrah....

10/16/09

This was the day we all went out to downtown Sacramento to paint for the "Quick Draw Competition". A few of us chose to go to Chavez Park and set up. I painted this clock tower, took me about 2 hours. We then came back and put our framed paintings up for judging.




The evening was the reception of the week's fruits of labor. It was well-attended, and had a lot of good paintings to show. I got to see a lot of new names with considerable talent. Here are what my paintings look like framed:






I'm also posting up a few of the other painter's work which I like.







10/20/09:

Saturday was a day full of drawing and teaching by example. This time Jason was drawing from my pad instead of the model. His observation was that he was surprised with how little I draw, especially in the quick studies. He said I know how little I need to put in to suggest a lot. He also learned how little you need to make a face look like a face. These were 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, and 7's.









10/18/09:

To finish the week I did these 3 quick gouache paintings from life. They were 25 mins. each. Also, it gave Jason the opportunity to apply everything he learned in the week. It was cool to see certain things start to sink in, most noticeably the drawing part of it. In the last one I applied a different technique. I used a large flat synthetic brush and painted through the planes with broad strokes. As the painting went on I used shorter and smaller strokes...

Fantastic Titanic Art Week: Part 4!

10/15/09

Last Thursday I painted my very first outdoor nude. This took place at a ranch in a wee little Gold Rush town called Fiddletown. The ranch itself is very interesting. The barns are all full of graffiti and the resident artists are all very creative talented folks. The model herself is an artist as well. She lives on the ranch and gets to use the place as her studio in exchange for being a farmer... Anyways, she gave me a tour of the ranch, which is full of very enchanting little nooks and crannies. At the top of the hill there is a grove of gorgeous manzanita trees. It's a very enchanting feeling to get lost in the forest there. She took me to the "grandfather tree" which was much thicker and larger than the rest of them; there I shot her for a while.

Afterwards she took me to a secluded river (the location of which I have been sworn into secrecy) where we shot for a few hours. The location is incredible. The rocks which surround the river look like a shelf of books had been knocked over. It was quite a hike to find the most picturesque areas, but it was well worth it. There was an area which, on the account of all the heavy rains, was too deep and frigid to make it over there. I had seen pictures of the place she had told me about and the location looked amazing. The only way to get there was to wade through the stream over to the collection of rocks. But she was so enthusiastic I was almost convinced to follow her over there. So much that I took off my shoes socks and pants(still can't find those socks!). God, she was a trooper to wade waist-deep in that kind of water.

The series of paintings I am showing WIP's of here are from photos I took there:







After we got back to the ranch, I executed the painting of her from life which I unfortunately don't have here (I forgot it at Jason's place, doh!) but I will post up in the future. I can't thank her enough for the opportunity and inspiration she gave me, and I will be going back in the very near future to work with her again....

Fantastic Titanic Art Week: Part 3!

Last Tuesday was one of the biggest October storms in recent Sacramento history. Needless to say, I wasn't about to go outside and paint in that type of rain. Instead I stayed inside and gave my friend some painting lessons. It ended up being a marathon of a day which left us both absolutely exhausted but it was a very rewarding experience...

I painted this still life for him in about 2 hours. His observations of it were that he didn't know where I was going with it at first, and that it didn't really come together until it was about 75% of the way through...



This painting was from a photo of a model he shot at his studio a few weeks ago. She's an insanely built fitness model who is very beautiful, in my opinion. Anyways, I picked this photo because I thought it was fairly basic and a very interesting pose. The proportions were a challenge because I've never painted such a muscular female before.

The idea we came up with was that he would follow everything I would do. He actually would paint from my painting instead of the reference photo. I would tell him every color mixture, and where I would put it. At first it was fairly easy for me to follow. I started with the drawing, then the block-in of the background, the light and shadow side. As soon as it got to the basic modeling part is where it got hard.... Having to explain every mixture, like, "Ok, I'm going to mix white, yellow ochre, and a bit of alizarin crimson, it's a little cool, so I will mix a little ultramarine blue into it" for every stroke, it gets exhausting! And also, I learned alot about my own process and what makes my paintings successful. For example I learned how much the way I handle my brush contributes to how I model form. If I just use flat strokes as opposed to twisting the brush with my fingers, it's not nearly as dynamic...

I learned about how much you can teach a person at a time. It was really a test of patience as I waited for him to catch up. By the end, I was barely making sense, and he had trouble following me. My brain was fried.... Normally this painting would take me 2 1/2 hrs. to finish. This one took me 5 hours!



For the record I'm posting the painting he did.



He was really stoked to see how I paint, and to have me break it down... It's something I would have fun doing again, but it's sooo tiring. Maybe I'm not used to it is all. It's inspiring though, and I will definitely do some more tutorials soon. I hope in the near future I can set aside some time to do some more video tutorials to upload to youtube.

Fantastic Titanic Art Week: Part 2!

This was the first painting I did for the week of the Capitol Plein Air Festival. There was supposed to be a competition for the best painting at the East Lawn Memorial Park in Sacramento. I didn't know it was a cemetary! I had no desire to paint there... but it was in the middle of a very ritzy area of the city, and it had some gorgeous homes around there... So I decided to paint this building instead. Before I was even done, there were 2 people who were interested in it!



Later on in the evening I went to the Sacramento River area and painted that iconic yellow drawbridge (what's the name of it anyhow??) It was interesting, I purposely painted the sky darker than I saw it, knowing that by the time I finished the painting the sky would be the right value.... As Bill Sanchez would say, that's your $10 tip kids!


Part 3 = tomorrow

Fantastic Titanic Art Week: Part 1!

A few Fridays ago a did a live painting event for Zipper Promotions at the Space Gallery in San Francisco. I attached some photos of the event on here, and the finished painting.



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Also, the next day I was hired to do portraits at a friend of a friend's birthday party. It was pretty cool, but it's impossible to get people to sit still, so you have to try your best... Everyone's drinking, so maybe it's best to have a few yourself so you don't care as much, haha. But I had a good time and I would totally do it again... hint hint, :)






Tomorrow I will do part 2...

A Trip to Feather River!

A few weeks ago I went up to the Heart K Ranch in Genesee California for the Art on the Land paintout. It's in the middle of the Plumas National Forest. For those of you who don't know where this is (I imagine it to be most of you) it would be in between Tahoe National Forest and Lassen National Park. It's quite a beautiful area, with very quaint little towns.

The town of Greenville which I stayed at had a little sherriff's office in the middle of town. At the end of the alleyway it sits on is a little shack that says "Jail". LOL!

On the day of the paintout there were about 12 artists participating. I did 3 quick paintings of the scenery around me.






A couple of photos of the scenery painted, if anyone is curious:

They were auctioned off at a fairly good price, and half of the proceeds went to helping them keep the ranch there. I hope they succeed, I'd love to go back and paint there again...

Belle of The Ball: Chasing The Moon News and Pics

I am happy to announce that the show was a great success for me! 4 out of 6 of the pieces I had at the gallery sold today! In fact, one of the pieces sold and was taken before the show officially started! It's a huge boost of confidence, and I feel like this is a big step forward for my fine art career...

I took pictures of my pieces in the frames, what a difference they make!







I totally forgot to shoot a photo of the one with the pink clouds... oops!

I have to give props to Nancy at the Christopher Queen gallery for putting together a great show, and just for having a great space to exhibit art. Here are pictures of the show, and the space.



Also, some pictures of a few of my favorite pieces from the show.

Paul Kratter:

Rodolfo Rivademar:

I'm Chasing The Moon!

Christopher Queen Galleries
#4 John Orr's Gardens
Duncan Mills, CA 95430

"CHASING THE MOON"

A Stellar Array Of Paintings That Capture
The Mystery & Magic Of The Moon
And It’s Many Faces

Opening Reception
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
1pm – 3pm

Show Continues Through November
RAY CARPENTER TOM RISSACHER
THOMAS CREED RODOLFO RIVADEMAR
CHRISTINE CROZIER DAVE SELLERS
ALLEN FIGONE BART WALKER
PAUL KRATTER WANDA WESTBERG
F. MICHAEL WOOD
&
SELECTED EARLY CALIFORNIA PAINTINGS

Though I'm not listed on this flier, I'll be participating in this show. I'll have a few new pieces that I haven't posted online yet. It's been one of my goals for a couple of years now to get into this gallery, so I'm absolutely excited to be showing here. It's a great gallery, looks like a museum. Just about everyone who shows there has mad skills, so it's worth checking out even if you can't make it for this show.

Here are a few new pieces I did from the Fremont paint-out last Saturday. The opportunity to show wasn't handled all that well, but the area was beautiful. I've always liked Fremont, it reminds me of Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park where I grew up. The surrounding hills are beautiful and fun to paint. The clouds were a big challenge too, because they were changing so rapidly. The creek painting was done at a small pond at the park in Lake Elizabeth.

Mr. Friday Night

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Some more Friday Night drawings from Sugar Cafe in SF... Come get your portrait drawn!

A Model And Moonlit Skies

I dunno I'm getting really lazy about writing stuff about these paintings... But I have a whole slew of things coming up that you may wanna know about:

Plein Air Paintouts:

Fremont CA, 09/12/09
Genesee CA, 09/26/09
Sacramento CA, week of 10/11-10/17/09
Menlo Park CA, 10/24/09


Shows:

Space Gallery, SF, 10/09/09
Christopher Queen Gallery, Duncan Mills CA (TBA October)

Return of the Rockstar!

Write-ups coming soon! Too tired to write now!








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Angel Island From The Miller Knox Trail in Richmond, California

Mare Island Paintout + Friday Night Portraits

This weekend was the Mare Island Faire paintout in Vallejo. It was pretty cool, the first time I entered into a competition, though very small. Only about 5 participants. Though I didn't win Best in Show, I took home 1st and 2nd place awards! The judge was Ed Bertolet. Iris Sabre won Best in Show, and Gerald Dedios took home 3rd place.

1st Place Winner: Red Tree



2nd Place Winner: Secluded Base









I took reference shots on my cell phone so the pics arent the greatest. You can see the places I chose to paint from.



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Also, last night's painting from Marc Taro's Tuesday night session in Hamilton. Trying something more unorthodox with the composition. I also threw in a bit of fantasy by giving her little Vulcan ears, hehe. I really like the color I got in her chest, reminds me of old school paintings. Except for the purple hair of course.



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These are thirty minute drawings from the Friday night parties at Sugar Cafe in SF.

The Submariners

Done for the ol' portfolio... Perhaps a book cover of some sort? :)

Threadless Tee Submission

Trying my hand at a t-shirt design. Doin' the threadless.com thing. Don't know if its "hipster" enough to win, but we'll see what happens...

If you want to vote on it for me, click on this picture:

Adventures in Inverness

Last Sunday was another session for our plein air painters group. We went out to Inverness, California this time. Nice weather, perfect temperature.

I started off next to the boat that everyone paints. Instead I painted this view. The fog came in and went away, so I had to add in the clouds from my head. It also helped out the composition a lot. Notice the limited palette? :P

I tried to paint this Russian dacha down the road. I tried to paint it as fast as I can but you can see its unfinished and shaky. Why? Because the tide kept coming in. Every ten minutes I had to move up the shore and after 30 minutes I called it quits.

This was my favorite view. I went up the peninsula to get this view of Tomales Bay. Not an easy one to get to either. I think im getting better at painting trees on hills.

When I cam back to our original point of meeting, no one was there, so I got some barbecued oysters (so good!) Then I drove way out to the peninsula, as far as I could go out Pierce Point Road. There was so much fog it was pretty crazy. I found Abbotts Lagoon and decided to paint here. With all the fog and the unfamiliar vegetation the place looked otherworldly. Seemed like it shoulda been in Mass Effect or something. It was too foggy to paint the lagoon itself so I painted this little pond instead as quick as I could.

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Here are a few more paintings I did the weekend before, over on the Sonoma Coast.

The Main Loop Sketchbook Volume 1!

I just finished putting my sketchbook up on Lulu! Check it out, it's got 60 pages of sketches that span 7 years of sketching from life and from my head. Super excited to have something like this out finally!

The art of Sergio Lopez. A collection of sketches from 2003 to 2009. 60 pages. Pen and ink, pencil, gouache, watercolor, and more mediums.

Preview and/or buy the book here

I'm really hoping for this to take off, it'll give me some money to do all kinds of projects in my head right now. This is only volume 1, I have plenty more books I can make right now. Be sure to keep an eye out for updates!

Gabrielle in Hamilton

Or Nina or whatever she wants to be called... :P

Learn more about the session here: http://marinmocapainting.wordpress.com/

Nazarena (finished) + Digital Figure Study

A few new developments:

I started a blog where I am selling original artwork: Studies, sketches, sketchbook pages, finished paintings etc. You can check out the link to it here:

The Art Marketplace

Sign up for the email list where I'll be sending out updates to the marketplace!

Sign up for the mailing list here!

Ok so I finished the piece for my friend Nazarena from my last post. I took a reference photo of hers which I used to finish it up in my studio. I spent probably a good 5-6 hours total on this piece.




I spent the weekend in Sacramento where I did this demo for my friend Jason Fassnacht who is an amazing photographer. He's the one who shot the photography for this, and the model is Nicole Bell. She's a great model, very passionate about what he does. This took about 3 hours.




I'm putting together my first sketchbook! I'm not sure what direction to take it yet, in the process of scanning my old books. I'm curious as to what people want to see more of. Do you think it would be better to have more life studies rather than imaginative work? B&W over color? If people can give me their opinions on what you'd like to see more of, it'd be hugely appreciated!

A Weekend Full of Art

Friday night I went to the Sugar Cafe in SF, and I had my friend Nazarena pose for me. very pretty, and a pretty good model too. I did this painting in about two and a half hours, and plenty of drinks in me... I want to work on it some more once I get the reference shots from her.



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This was the next day, I got the opportunity to do a 5 hour pose at the Riley Street art supply store. It was only 15 bucks too! What a bargain! I will try to do the next one, for sure. Apparently I'm super fast.



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I also went to China Camp in San Rafael to paint with the North Bay Plein Air painters group. We also hooked up with the Benicia Plein Air painters group for a cookout. It was nice to get my work in front of other appreciative eyes. It was also a good 15 degrees cooler than it was inland. Perfect day for painting.

A Fresh Batch of Everything

Painting in Santa Rosa

A couple of new gouache paintings I did when I was in Santa Rosa a few weeks ago. I really like how the first one came out, I must admit!





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Dr. Sketchy's SF at 111 Minna

Chicks on bikes!






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My Heart Beats for Art - Drinks and Drawing








PS. I will be painting live this Friday in SF. If you want to come by and check it out, follow the link:

My Heart Beats For...
Live Art!

The Market Is Now Open...

I'm trying out a new experiment here. I'm selling a few of my drawings on ebay.com to see where I stand as far as the market goes. I'm starting them off really cheap, so if you want to own one, it's quite a bargain! These are the drawings I'm starting out with. Click on the pictures to go to the listings.