Liquor Stores & Laundromats

I was having a conversation with a buddy today and he pointed out a connection with one of my favorite rap groups, Jurassic 5 and my leanings to certain subjects in my paintings. Of all my urban themes in my paintings, the spaces that I am most interested in are laundromats and liquor stores, specifically. I don't fully understand why to this day, as I have been painting these sceneries for about 11 years. The point of this trivial post is merely that Jurassic 5's song 'Remember His Name' includes the following line recited by Zaakir:

'Oh man, where have I seen this brother before, man Well it was either at the liquor store or laundromat. Seems like everybody I know know dude, but can't nobody remember his damn name.'

That's all, just a tiny observation. Sorry, I don't have any completed paintings to post...

School Bus Row

This one I'm not so proud of, but hey you be the judge. (72" x 14", oil on canvas)

Trolley Square 002

Water tower converted to Hard Rock Cafe in Salt Lake City. (12" x 19.5", oil on board)

Wild Oats 009

This is another one from the batch of paintings I dropped off at my gallery last week. Before they were delivered, however, I took it in to a local photographer to get it documented in digital files and photo slides. And he gave me a compliment on this painting in a form of a question. He asked me, 'What made you want to paint that?' And I was truly flattered. Conventional compliments and kind words are always nice, don't get me wrong. But this question that he asked assured me that my paintings may not be the prettiest, or the best crafted or the best-composed, but it at least does initiate discourse. (72" x 14", oil on canvas)

Laundromat 004 re-submitted

This is a painting I did in 2005 and it sat in my gallery for a good year. I was asked to take it back. Well, this painting sold after 2 days I dropped it off the second time. I am so thankful! It goes to show you that perseverance does pay off even after a few rejections. (48" x 13.5", oil on canvas)

Two Liquor Stores 002 Done

Here it is finished, the 'Two Liquor Stores 002' that I revisited. This is 7 feet long and about 14 inches tall, oil on canvas.

White Mazda in Garage

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Now that I am un-employed one would think that I'd have more time.....I just dropped this painting off at my gallery a few days ago. 29.5" x 12" oil on board

Tight Studio

I am adjusting to my new life as a professional artist working from home. This photo shows the computer side of the office. The other half (not seen) is where I do my large oil paintings. It is crowded and very very loud at times....

Two Liquor Stores, take two

I did this painting once already about 11 years ago. By popular demand, I'm doing a second version. The first one was 10 feet long and the new version is just 7. The original sold and my current gallery wants to give it another shot. Here is an in-progress state. Sorry for the low quality photo. After it dries, I will apply a thin glaze of Indian Yellow and varnish it before I send it off.

Thank you, Sony!

Well, today is my last day here at Sony. It's been close to a 7 year run and I believe in my heart that my season is over. I've been contemplating on starting a painting career for a long time and it seems that I am ready to embark on that endeavor. My role at Sony has been a concept artist and so I was responsible for designing environments, characters, vehicles and props for video games. My console experience dates all the way back to the first PlayStation. It was definitely a fun job. However, I must also say that while I was doing my job, painting for galleries was constantly on my mind. I did paint at nights for my current gallery for the last 3 years but that gets exhausting.

The decision had to be made that if I were to ultimately pursue a career in painting, I needed more time to paint. So I resigned. I plan to continue to do concept art on a freelance basis while I try to add more galleries to do paintings for. Thanks to my good buddy Cecil Kim, who originally got me in the video game door way back in 1999. Thanks, Cecil!

Well, I better start painting!

Dodge Viper

Beautiful car, very subtle curves, many reflective high points...and very difficult to paint! Ron, forgive me if i did not do justice to your car! thanks for the pose, though!

I started this painting with full sunlight, then the clouds rolled in and back to sunny again. i had to keep changing the reflections of this super shiny car many times. luckily it ended up to be mostly overcast again today. for those of you that do plein-aire paintings, my hats of to you.

Honda S2000

it was overcast all day today. but just as well, been too hot as of late. here is my co-worker's Honda. i guess the color of the car was appropriate for today's palette. done in Photoshop live.....thanks, MikeB!

Blue FJ

my work mate's Toyota FJ paintined in Photoshop. thanks, GC!

Jeep Wrangler in the afternoon

thanks, BP for parking your car there for me!

mazda MX 6

here's one from this morning. Photoshop.

Toyota Sequoia Part 2

the toyota sequia is neither super angular nor super round. it's this huge chunk of metal that is hard to pinpoint the correct perspective lines viewing from the second story. but gary meyer can. i had to tweak it a little using the skew/transformation tool...anyways, due to a request from a buddy, i did another life digital painting in higher rez.

Toyota Sequoia

i decided to paint what i saw outside my window again. this only took me a few minutes. perspective is a little off, or maybe the person just parked crooked. sorry after halfway through the painting, i realized i was doing it lo-rez.

Slow Day at the Office

i have a great view looking out my Sony office here in beautiful Bend, Oregon. however, it was raining all morning. thought i'd do a quick sketch from life using Photoshop.
haven't done this in a while since the Incognito days when i would paint my co-workers digitally working at their desks.

Air Filter

just got my AllerAir 5000 Exec DX from Cheap Joe's.

i felt like i needed to make this large purchase since i have to keep the windows in my painting studio closed for most of the year because the winters here are so long and cold. hopefully, this air filter will help me live a little longer and healthier. i'll let you know if it worked. or not.

Lumberjack Chop Chop

here is the before and after photos of the paintings that i chopped off. i really felt like there was too much sky. other artists like Ray Turner can pull off a good composition with a lot of sky, but not me.

Latest train paintings

Whew! just finished more train paintings for my gallery. they were all painted on hardboard because i ran out of canvas. the good thing about painting on board is that if you are not satisfied with your composition, you can always chop off the sides until it looks right. in one of these three paintings, that was the case. i started on three panels, all sized at 48" x 12". well, it ended up that the last painting didn't feel right, so i cut off the top part on my table saw to get rid of some of the sky.

Unorthodox equipment

i've meant to post this earlier, but somehow i always manage to forget. as it is no secret that my palette is unconventional, so are my tools for painting. no one has really taught me this system, but at the same time, i'm sure it's not new. my system has evolved over the years as i continually seek to set up a system that is very time saving at both ends: setup and clean up. this was very important to me as my family grew, i could not spend as much time in the studio. so i had to make sure that when i was in there, i used my time in there painting. very unromantic and non-traditional as far as the fine arts was taught to me, but yet it works practically and efficiently.

so here it is, from left to right:

• Butcher paper and cutter: i don't mix my paints on glass as i found that just rolling out the paper and crumpling it up when i was done to be a much faster and less tedious
• ZipLoc bags: any left over paints i scrape up with my palette knife and save it in this bag. i squeeze out all the air and the paint is usually good for up to two weeks. this would be my chromatic grey for future painting sessions.
• Short hair comb: i use this as a cleaning surface for my brushes. i squeeze Gojo pumice hand cleaner onto the comb and wash my brushes onto the teeth of the comb.
• the last unconventional tool in the photo is the gum stimulator. i got it at Rite Aid. i use this to scratch back into wet paint for fine, straight lines. you can also use this to scratch out your signature if the paints are still wet.
  

Helicopter Gunship

helicopter gunship based on the anatomy of a scorpion. just had to get it off my chest. originally sketched with ball point pen, then scanned and Photoshopped. two things that are problematic: main rotor looks as if it would collide with the tail boom and the front weapon pods(pincers) would block the pilots' views of ground below.....oh well.

Blue Engine 644

just completed this morning. still not claiming to be a train expert, my artist buddy is....here is the fairly limited palette that i worked with.

Engine 4364 painting

my gallery have been asking for more train paintings. this is a tiny one, 12" x 9", oil on canvas board.

Upon Mount Ararat done

i had to stop rendering this thing. i wanted to do more on the water and waves, but i had to stop.....moving on. done in Photoshop.

Wild Oats 008 Detail

so many have asked to show a close up of a recent painting, 83" x 16", of the produce section of Wild Oats that i shipped off to my gallery recently. well here it is. sorry about the quality of the picture. i don't think i have fully harnessed the potential of my digital camera.

Upon Mount Ararat

personal project. struggling with this piece. any suggestions?

UWACS

unmanned warning and control system with contra-rotating propellers, mast mounted IR/optics dome

Wild Oats 008 Finally done !

after the Indian Yellow glaze dried, i coated it with retouch varnish. shipping it out tomorrow via UPS.

Indian Yellow Glaze

wow. i just mentioned about how i had to get a crate built so i could send out my painting on time to a couple of guys(Andy Adams and Tim Chase) at church, and BAM! they show up at my doorstep with 2HP compressor and a pneumatic nailer. i swear about 15 minutes later, maybe less, my crate was built. thanks guys! anyways, i would have taken about 2 hours.

the painting is finally dried to the touch, with an indian yellow glaze and is drying on a pair of saw horses. i have to keep it elevated to keep out of reach from my kids....

APC sketch

sometimes, i doodle while i'm in a meeting. here is a sketch i did on some corporate notepad of an armoured personnel carrier and Photoshopped over the scan.

Still Wet

well, Wild Oats 008 is still wet. it has been about three days since i put down my brushes on this painting. i never use driers (copal medium, cobalt drier, japan drier, liquin, are there any others?) so i have to wait for the paints to dry in its own chemical terms, however that works. the client is expecting this painting by the 15th....hmmm.

Wild Oats 008 painting

i was commissioned to this painting through my gallery . it is based on an earlier painting that is 1 foot too long for the client. and so i was assigned to do another one like it, execept 1 foot shorter. this is 7 feet across. i finally finished it. just needs an indian yellow glaze and a coat of retouch varnish....it is a painting of the produce section at Wild Oats. i came up with the idea one day when i was in the store. i stood there and said to myself ' how can anyone not like to stand and stare at fruits and vegetables? the colors are amazing!'........