Lately In My Studio

Over the next couple of days (with the help of my amazing family and friends) I will be packing up my studio and heading out for my next show at the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale, Arizona. As always, right before a show I am painting day and night to get ready and only stopping to eat or sleep when absolutely necessary. But it's been worth it and I am really excited about this body of work and the expansion of my subject matter into the world of vintage boats.

Here are some shots from my studio with paintings at various stages of completion.

If you are in Arizona I hope you will stop by!

Celebration Of Fine Art

Scottsdale, AZ

Located in the SW corner of Hayden Rd 

and Loop 101 off of exit 35.

Look for the big white tents.

Jan 12th - Mar 24th 2013

Check out last year's move and booth set up here.

An Update From The Artist

Preparations are in full force for The Celebration of Fine Art show that is coming up in Scottsdale.  I hope to have over 40 pieces completed by early January. At this phase that means a lot of panels to paint and gesso.

Most of my inspiration comes when I have uninterrupted time to focus and let the inspiration flow.  That means I paint through the night and often times go to bed when the rest of the family is getting up.  The schedule is difficult, but I am energized about this new line of work that I am putting together.

I'm excited to reveal everything I have been working and am looking forward to the warm weather in Scottsdale, AZ in a little over a month.

The Spring Salon 2011

Santiago has been painting like crazy in preparation for the 87th Annual Spring Salon at the Springville Art Museum.

We were excited to see his piece from last year featured on the entry form!

Plethora of Panels

Santiago mentioned in a previous post that he is preparing for a show, but what he didn't tell you is how intense those preparations have been.  This is the sight in the basement of our 90 year old home.  He has been working on preparing over 50 panels of various sizes.  

The process of getting them ready to paint involves 1) cutting the panel, 2) making the cradle, 3) gesso, 4) sanding, and 5) toning.  The groundwork has been laid for the preparation and concept to come together.  Can't wait to see the results!

Figure Painting Class

Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. you'll find me at The Bridge in the figure painting class taught by Justin Taylor. It's a new class that The Bridge is offering and we are currently working on an 8 week pose that I am pretty excited about.

One of the main reasons I am excited about this pose and painting is because of the model. She is an exceptional model because she poses her body excellently, she doesnt move, she gets back into her pose exactly and she doesnt have to do anything to look interesting. To top it off she has a unique renaissance look to her face that is awesome to paint. To find all of these things in a model is pretty rare. She is definitely one of my favorite models!

The other reason I am excited about this class is because my brother is taking it with me. Leo and I have not taken an art class together since Mr. Lewis' worthless AP art class in high school.

Justin requires us to be 100% accurate which means that we start with a pencil drawing. However, since this is a painting class I am choosing to draw on a gessoed masonite panel. That way I can easily make corrections when I need to, and I can also begin the painting process at any time. Here is a picture of the pencil drawing from the first week.



After the model has been accurately and academically rendered in pencil I can begin painting. The first step is to seal the drawing with "fix-it" spray so it doesn't smear. At the end of week 2, I completed the under painting. The under painting is basically re-drawing in paint. I chose to use burnt umber because I could tell I was going to use a lot of cool colors on her skin and that would help bring warmth and life to the finished painting. This is a picture of my painting after the second week.




I'll post updates on the progress of this piece.

Have you ever wondered where the great artistic masterpieces are created?

If I asked myself that questions I wouldnt know the answer. My guess would be somewhere in Europe... but here is the place where it all happens for me. This is really the first time that I have had my own space; It is nothing fancy - my easel, desk, a few lights and a cd player. I have recently made some modifications to make it more comfortable and functional so that the focus is my art work and nothing else.

When we move into our 90 year old home there was a desk in the basement made from an old crate that was originally a "Utah Cracker Factory" crakers box. I spent a Saturday converting it into an ideal working space and it's now my favorite thing in the studio.




When I was thinking about posting these photos to show everyone where it is that I paint, my wife said that she always wondered about the behind the scenes of artists like - where was it that the Beatles wrote their first hit song, or how some of the worlds great inventions came about? And so here is a glimpse into the place where my tubes of paint become a painting.