I have had this unusual frame for years and I also have another one similar as this one. Those are Italian window frames reproductions, which I found very cheap at Michael's on a clearance bin. I cut my canvas gator board to fit, and just couldn't decided how to make it work. Its very small about 7x5. So one day in january looking at this gourd I came up with the vision of just placing the gourd hanging over the edge to create the tromphe oilel (spell???) effect... I added more in the bacground to keep the eyes in the painting... I guess it worked.

Still life #8, from Dan Edmondson's workshop - asian vase with berries. Oil on masonite, 16 x 12. I love Dan's set ups and demos. Small details like the light on the branches were too white, my grapes a little distracting and also my vase designs captured the eye in the vase. Minor adjustments , dark glazing on the vase, and voila! This photo is before those adjustments.

At The Pasadena Art Expo I attended to a full day workshop " Sketching with watercolors and Keeping an artist's journal". Brenda Swenson was the instructor, and since then I've kept my journal almost on a daily basis - lot's of fun, non committed art - that's why is personal... This art expo is very dangerous - new brushes, watercolor palette, sketchbooks, canvases, pens...

Wow... It has been quite some time since my last blog update. So here we are , Easter Sunday 2012... and this post is about my artwork displayed at the juried show at "ArtExpo 2011 @ Pasadena Convention Center". Didn't win a thing but was just great to have all my submissions chosen to the expo. It's a fun event, lost of classes and reasonable sales on the expo floor. Probably I will not expose @ this year's because I got accepted for a 2 year long program in Advanced training in Genreal Dentistry @ Howard University in D.C., and we are on the process of moving to D.C.

Those are my latest works. The Rialto one, is the one I reworked from 2008. It was a plein air study for the California Art Club paint out. It was at the show on a sunday a couple weeks ago, again at the South Pasadena Library. It was an event discussing the futeure of the century old Rialto Theatre. And the other one is my still life #7 - Apples and Blossoms - from Dan Edmondson workshop - which I had decided would be a study for a larger painting( still is), but so far is the painting that caused most impact from my facebook friends. More excitement: tomorrow going back to NOLA for a long weekend and on the following weekend I have three paintings selected for the show at the Art & Expo @ the Pasadena Convention Center. I hope to sell all of them, for my vacation fund raising. BTW I was going to start my post with" finally the weather has cooled down in L.A., but actually, we did not have too many way hot summer days for the last few years...

Still Life # 6 - Yellow Gerberas - Took a while but now its finished . 16x20 oil on board. All of the sudden I got really busy with my art. Last week I was invited to put 2 paintings on a last minute event in South Pasadena. I quickly reworked studies I had done in 2008. I found myself using much more color that I used to . I see those are influences from this fantastic workshop by Dan Edmondson. I also submitted 3 paintings for a juried art show at the end of Oct, at the Art expo in Pasadena. Soon Still life #7 .

Thank you my dear blog followers! I was so excited to be the featured artist on Dan's weekly tip. I feel so bad because I have been so busy at my office and taking continuing education courses at the USC Dental School, I haven't had time to set up my pallete and start my still life #6. And next weekend we will be at our place in NOLA. Last time we were in New Orleans , we went for a day trip to the Lake Northshore, to Abita Springs and Convington. Our destination was to visit John Preble's mistery house - If you don't know him, he is one of the artists lic=ving in Abita Springs and he is known for his different versions of his Marsh Island Girl . His mistery house, is a museum of recycled stuff and collections of pocket combs, old cel phones, the largest paint by number paintings collection... His Dioramas are fantastic... my fav one was the trailler park with an tornado... we can't wait to go back. Of course the major treat was to meet John and see his studio... and while we were visiting him Alan Flattmann stopped by to bring a couple souvenirs he had brought from Spain for John. Allan is one of the best pastel painters in our country - which I'm a big fan, and that surprise visit and meeting him made this daytrip really magical. I can't wait to have a chance to get my brushes working. I'll keep y'all posted. Oh, the pic, is me sketching at Picasso Museum in Paris, jan 2007.