big move out west

good ol' AZ sunshine this time of year. 

oooooh i've missed homemade tamales!!!!!!!

last day in NY w/ my love and cat in tow. 

the ol' studio, for now.

well, we packed up everything, movers came a day early, slept in an empty apt for two days and flew out to Arizona. here we are! my girlfriend Christy and I grew up in AZ and haven't lived here in well over 10 years. my life's journey has been a hell of a ride so far and i wouldn't change a single event. i'm looking forward to what the future brings. we're also fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work from home which has been a huuuge dream of ours (plus being in a place where the cost of living is cheaper than NY helps a bit). i can't believe i'm going to be painting full time! wow! its hasn't hit me yet and it feels like vacation at the moment but it will settle in soon enough. i still have a boat load of paintings to do for our January show so i've set up shop temporarily at ma's house. i'm so excited to work. its been waaaay to long. here's some pics so far. more to come!

 p.s. it feels great to come back to a place that shows so much love. 

wrens traps and fungi

finished this yesterday. i was doing some research and found about earpick fungus. its a type of fungus that grows out of rotted pinecones. i thought that was pretty damn awesome so i incorporated some flytraps and some wrens that stopped by to chat. 

hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

collabs

here's a collab update. been having a great time with these. i must admit that i was quite stressed when presented with the theme "pin ups and pussycats". i was thinking "well what the hell am i going to do??" "how am i going to contribute?" blah blah...

getting out of my comfort zone wasn't easy but now i'm having a blast. i'm learning that sometimes less is more and keeping things simple can have a bigger effect than adding a bunch of "stuffs".  when Richard sends me the figures i get a bit nervous considering how superb of a painter he is. 

im still here!

hey there. i know posts have been a bit sparse as of late, BUT i'm still here peoples! i took a shot of the studio this morning to prove it. the works hanging to the right are the collabs i'm working on with my buddy Richard Salcido. there will be 10 total. the solid colored pieces against the other wall are my own works for the same show. you can 't see from this pic but most of those works already have sketched in compositons. i normally work on one piece at a time but since time is crazy sensative right now i've been drawing out all my compositions in advance. i've learned a lot doing this and have been enjoying it. while in the moment of drawing one piece i can play with ideas and have them bounce around which feeds the next. of course this may seem like a common sense approach, but for me this opens up doors production wise. now its down to the meat and potatoes part of slinging paint! im excited too because i'm scaling my day job down to two days a week which free's up three full weekdays for painting!

release the Kracken!!! oh ya, and we're preparing for a move to the southwest in December!? pressure?............maybe a little bit :)

humminigbirdddd

finished this 11x14 last night. took the pic with my phone. all things considered, purdy darn clear wouldn't you say?!

swallow and nest

did this cave swallow and nest last night. 11x14 acrylic on panel. i was surprised to rock it in one session. it was the result of pent up painting energy, stress, listening to my gut and giving myself a mental slap in the mug while holding myself by the collar. sort of like when bugs bunny is trying to tell daffy to get a hold of himself.  whatta maroon...

nonetheless, i'm wide awake and its time. 

funk

pardon the lack of posts, if any of you were concerned. since my recent show a lot has been going on. at the day job we've been moving into a new space and at home we're slowly packing up for our move. i'm also working on some collaborations and my own work for an upcoming show in January. overall, there's been a lot of non organization which has hindered my art production and overall mental. i didn't think it would affect things as much as it has. as a result i'm just getting over a cold, bleh. BUT, i'm getting back in my groove and now its time to turn and burn. more progress pics to come.