UPDATE / LA TRIP

So I have been neglecting the blog big time since my solo in SF, just very much caught up in painting for the next show. due to some scheduling mishaps, I had less than 2.5 months to paint 5 new paintings for my show at Thinkspace (September) from the time of the Shooting Gallery opening -- and I'm almost half way through that now. 5 paintings in 2 months is already pushing it, but predictably I was also feeling like changing things up a little, trying some new things, etc. It's going well I think, albeit a little slowly, but I'm happy with the work and I have some new directions to expand on. (and some new directions that do not work at all...also very good to know).I've been in the studio and generally over-working myself pretty steadily for the last few weeks, but did get a chance to go down to LA at the end of June before I got too far into the new series. I planned the trip around a dinner thrown by Corey Helford Gallery for their 5 year anniversary, and spent a few additional days shooting some new models. Instead of just throwing a party for their own congratulations, Corey Helford Gallery invited something like 150 artists to dinner. It was fantastic and I am hugely thankful to have been invited and to have been present for what seemed pretty unprecedented. Being a Northern California guy who didn't go to art school, and who isn't the most social creature in the world, I often feel pretty detached from the art world outside of the fairly insular community here -- so it was a huge treat to be able to meet so many artists in such a short period of time, some of whom I've been fans of for years. some of the artists in attendance: Kent Williams, Sean Cheatham, Shawn Barber, Kim Saigh, D*Face, Tim Biskup, Sylvia Ji, Natalia Fabia, Gary Baseman, Colin and Sas Christensen, Adam Wallacavage, Dalek, Camille Rose Garcia, Joshua Petkar, and tons more. fun!