Porsche 911 Turbo painting

 

My latest project that I’m working on is a Porsche 911 Turbo painting. The 930 generation Porsche is probably my favorite version of the 911. When I was a kid, this was the iconic bedroom poster, alongside the Countach and Testarossa. I wanted to make a painting of a red 911 racing down an open road during a beautiful sunny day.

 

Progression from initial sketch to the current state.

 

Self Portrait

I’ve been a little busy lately and now that things have calmed down a bit, I decided to update my blog with a few personal projects that I’ve finished within the past few months. One project that I’m really proud of is my self portrait.

I finished this self portrait in on March 30th, 2024. I waited 6 months for the painting to fully dry for varnish on September 29, 2024.

 

The gloss varnish made the colors and details more vibrant, but I feel that I lost some of the brush strokes.

 

This was how the painting looked when I finished it on March 30th. It was a little hard to photograph, because the paint was very shiny. I was very satisfied with resolving proportions, details and colors.

 

I started this painting around January 2023. I was originally thinking that I could finish it for my 40th birthday on February 26th. It turned out that I was a little rusty at painting, and this painting took a lot longer than expected.

What made this painting challenging, was getting the facial proportions and expression correct. There was a period of time where I thought a purplish background would have looked good. I ended up using a darker neutral that was less distracting from my tan skin tone. I really wanted to emphasize bold shadows and highlights from a strong light source.

This painting was a great experience. I might be tempted to work on another self portrait in the near future. Hopefully, it will be quicker with the knowledge I gained.

 

A floor mural for 5 3 Gallery in Laguna Beach

 
 

With the pandemic, work was slow and I wasn’t able to afford to live in Austin. Around January 2021, I moved to Southern California and stayed with my brother until I found a more stable position. I made some new friends, and one of them operated an art gallery in Laguna Beach called 5 3 Gallery. The owner, Brigitte wanted to throw a Valentines Day party and she asked me if I could help with creating a floor mural.

I was new to the area and wanted to get some exposure, so I agreed to help out. She had a sponsorship with a paint company that made environmentally friendly paints, but the color palette was limited. With the basic browns, greens and pinks, I decided to paint a walkway of henna patterns with leaves and hearts. I didn’t have any exact plans, but rather I decided to sketch with paint. The overall result was great, but temporary, considering the changing needs of the gallery. Either way, it was a great experience.

 
 

A commission for my friend Andrew

 

Around December of 2020, the pandemic was kicking off. With the quarantine, I had a lot of time on my hands and was free to take commissions. My friend Andrew reached out to me for a portrait. Initially he wanted a painting of Kramer from Seinfeld, but we settled upon a portrait of him as Ron Burgundy. This painting has gone through some interesting evolution, but the final result turned out great. It was a great exercise in skin tones and I loved honing in the details.

 

This painting has gone through some interesting evolution. The original idea was to have Andrew against a green leafy background. The backdrop then changed to a “purple 4” from one of the pictures he sent as a reference. I had some struggle with painting skin tone, but my friends gave me some great advice.