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.
Corvette C8-R painting
I've been working on this painting since the pandemic started. I was inspired by Kirk Bennion's posting of the racing version of the C8 Corvette.
With the lighting, I wanted to make the Corvette leave darkness and enter the light. I wanted to emphasize the front details while letting the rest disappear into the background. This was a really fun challenge, and I will work on more paintings.
Here are some shots of the process:
Sketchwars chess pieces
A few weeks ago one of the challenges for Sketchwars was to draw chess pieces. I submitted two entries. A digital knight sketch and a good old fashioned ideation page.
Random sketches
I have been doing more sketches lately. The top one is of my friend, Krishna. The bottom one is Charizard for my friend Alisha. I always love going back to traditional medium. I find it challenging, and as a way to become more disciplined with other tools. Plus, I always love it when friends give me suggestions to sketch.