I am posting some quick pics of the finished Mural at Gilgo beach plus some in progress shots. There will be a short time lapse video coming soon plus there might actuall be some real video as well……..I'd like to thank and give credit to Rory O'Donoghue from www.ODAPhoto.com for the great in progress shots of the mural…….

Finsihed Mural…..

In Progress shots………..

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Ocean 7:14

"She captivates with her overpowering demeanor, vast and unbridled she swoons and swells. Within her liquid embrace I am captive, supported and free. In the tides of her fury I feel at peace, in the crash of her thunder I am home. Within her depths life has risen, upon her crests fear is known. I am humbled by her beauty, seduced by her song and cleansed by her gentle soul."

We've finally arrived at the last installment of the Gilgo beach murals. In the past two years myself and a handful of other Long Island Muralists have covered a once vandalized tunnel leading to the beach at Gilgo with beautiful murals for all to enjoy. The Ocean Project was initially conceptualized by Chris Kluesener from Thrust Surfwear along with the Surfrider Foundation to bring awareness to keeping our beaches and ocean clean.

This year we're going to be panting the North side of the tunnel which spans 115 feet in total. Kevin Corcoran and I are tackling a 30 foot section of that wall this year. We're creating our most ambitious mural to date so come down and join us. I've seen the comp for the other murals and it looks like we're going to have a great showing for the north wall. Make sure you stop by and say hello. Just listen for the rattling of spray paint cans and you'll find me…..

Place: Gilgo Beach, Long Island, NY

Time: Starting at 10am and going all day

Date: Saturday July 12th, 2008

Ps: If you want to see a time lapse sequence and slideshow of the last wall mural we did check it out here.

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I'm still very hard at work building my loft/gallery. Got a chance on the 4th of July to relax up on the roof with some new friends from the neighborhhod and catch the Grucci Fireworks display over the east river. To say that the view was awesome would be an understatement. Next year there's gonig to be a huge party at the flat for the 4th. Who's coming?……………

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I've been absent from this blog for some time now for many reasons which are all good and entail growth in my evolution as an artist, and a business person. I'm currently in the process of building a 3 story loft style studio and gallery named "THECEEFLAT". I'll be posting images of our progress soon. My fellow artist and friend Kevin Corcoran will be sharing the space and we have some pretty amazing things in store for the gallery. One of the highlights of the space is a 22 x 12 foot billboard on the roof that we'll be utilizing to create artwork on. As soon as the building process slows down a bit I'll be putting up a full section about the Gallery. We're located at 988 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY right above "The Habitat" which is a hip little bar and restaurant. You can check them out at the following address….www.thehabitatbrooklyn.com    Stay tuned…..

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Here are the drawing / paintings for this week…….My thought process for this week was to push my images and keep adding to them. To explore layering and building up the images. I didn't want to settle for just a good drawing and that basically brought me into a more painterly attitude with these images……

 Image 1: I like this image for the exploration of different sized marks or paint strokes on the page. The figure is barely emerging from within them but the variation of the marks makes for an interesting image despite the figure.

Image 2: I like this image for the thought process of painting and the adding of light to allow the figure to emerge from the page. There was an underlying abstract painting here initially. I created a line drawing of the figure on top and began painting in the volume of the body on top of that……

Image3: This image is a little on the rough side compared to some of the things that I usually do but that's what I like about it the most. I think that with the combination of colors, the primitive types of marks running throughout the figure and the composition of the page the image works. Detail could be added but I'm not sure if that would help or hurt what’s going on here……

Image 4: What I like mostly here is the way that the colors pop off of the grayed out background. Nothing seems to make colors sing more than juxtaposing them against a color that has little to no hue in it. If the background were white the colors would still sing but they'd be competing with the white background. Here the colors are left to perform on their own…

Image 5: I included this image because of it's simplicity. It amazes me how a simple wash can describe the form of the body. After that wash lays out the terrain it's always fun to come in and draw around and on top of that form.

Image 6: I like this final image for a bunch of reasons……I like the line drawing that runs throughout, the distortion of the figure to push space on the page, the way that the feet and hands came out, the abstraction in the background, and the patterning in the pillow. It's generally my taste for design and drawing that attracts me to this image. I hope you enjoyed the images for this week. More on the way soon…..

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This week I only had 2 1/2 hours of figure drawing vice the normal 5 1/2 hours so I'm going to post most of the image that I created in that time period. Generally the poses are between 10 and 20 minutes. Short poses seem to force you into a more concentrated thought process while studying the figure. There's no time to let your guard down. All your decisions need to be important, quick, and add to the overall success of the image. Working in this manner has helped me recognize what I find asthetically important very quickly and I use that to help guide myself through each drawing / painting (it's kind of like allowing the image to tell you what it wants to be). Each pose may call for something different and you'll notice that in how I handled the 3 standing poses. The more I play and explore different types of asthetics the greater my language becomes and the more enjoyable I find the process of creating images……Image 1: I chose this image because it was a struggle for me. The medium tried to get in my way but I fought with it and it turned out to have some really interesting textures in it. I like the lines that are scratched back into the image through the top layer of paint. I dont think this is the most successful image but some of these asthetics will filter into future drawings for sure…

Image 2, 3, 4: Here's the three seperate standing poses. The first is done with pencil, the second with oil pastels, and the third with acrylic paint. I like them all for different reasons but I especially like them together. I think the best thing about them is that each one has it's own mood or personality and for that alone I feel I was successful with each one…..

Image 5: I think this image had great potential but I lapsed a little in the way the distortion came out. This pose was very dynamic and strong and I feel that I captured that essence in the forward hand and leg but lost that quality in the head and the back leg. There are a lot of things I like about it though and one of the main things is the underpainting of colors and how they read through the image. I'm sure this will show up in some future images as well…..

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This week we drew another one of my favorite models. Her name is Lori and she's well known on the Long Island figure scene. She's a large model and just about one of the most interesting people to draw. My focus this week was to create mood in the images and to think about designing the backgrounds on the image as well. I was also looking to fill the entire page and create a more complete image rather than a solitary figure sitting on the page. I wasn't too worried about creating a representational image (one that looks just like what the model looks like). I was focused on the overall composition, design, and picture as a whole…….

Image 1: Chosen for it's overall composition and it's sense of volume. I enjoy how the figure feels like it's being chisled out of the page and the abstractions that exist in the background as well. I believe this image works as it is without adding anymore detail. I wouldn't be against adding some small bits of detail here and there but I don't think it's necessary for the image to work compositionally.

Image 2: I chose this image for it's mood and it's potential. Unlike the first image I feel this image needs more work to finish it. It's got an interesting mood to it which I like, but I will be painting back into this one to bring more weight into the figure itself. Once I do that it should create a lot of space between the figure and the background which will force the depth I'd like to see in this image..

Image 3: I chose this because of it's abstract composition. The figure's not recognizable and it's not supposed to be but the shapes that reside on the page have been created by using the figure as a point of departure. This is mainly a study in composition, color and space. I feel this image is complete. I think it's interesing to solve compositions on a page just as a musical composer solves compositions. When the songs complete you move on and create another one…..

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Whenever I'm drawing the figure on a consistent basis my sketchbooks benefit as a result. It's a good argument why I will always continue to study. The more that I study the more I produce. My mind keeps moving with ideas and it fosters creativity. I've never gone to school for art and that doesn't bother me a bit. I am a student of art and will always continue to be. As I grow my thoughts change and new things come of it. I don't believe in having a block as an artist. I believe that if you create without fear and without judgment and allow yourself the freedom to play and enjoy the process of making art interesting things will come out of that exploration. Here's a page I drew in my sketchbook the other day. It's fun and creative and I think that there's some interesting things happening here.If someone asked me how to be an artist my simple answer would be to create art. I haven't found a better way to do that than to keep a sketchbook at all times, a place to explore, fail, test, think, color and learn. It might just be as simple as that……..

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This week I have two images to show. These were drawn live from one of my favorite models. I was trying to use mood and design in these images. The mood I accomplisehd in one of them by creating a backlit situation where the figure is slightly shadowed causing a strong sense of light. In both images I was able to incorporate patterns into the backgrounds to add a sense of design to them. Whenever I'm creating patterns my focus is mainly on letting the pattern have a life of it's own and not controlling it too much. I generally want to patterns to seem random which always helps them to feel more natural…….

Image 1:

Image 2:

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Professor Edwardo Alvarado is just one of the many musicians that grace the halls of New York's Penn Station. On the days that I travel to the city I often enjoy the sounds of the somewhat random melodys that linger through the tunnels. You can always count on a performance while your there.I found Mr Alvarado to be one of the more intriguing musicians that I've seen thus far. If I had to descibe him in words it would be:Spirited, humble, shining, inspiring, full of energy, and dedicated. That was my visual impression of him. I've never spoken to him, just a quick exchange of smiles as I dropped a few dollars in his hat, purchased one of his CDs and snapped a quick photo for nostaglia's sake.He had an interesting shape to his body and the way that he sat hunched when he played his keyboard. I thought I"d take the 10 minutes that I had to wait for the train and sketch him. In the sketch I was trying to capture the life and character of his presence and the beauty of the sounds as they eminated from his fingers. Here' some snapshots of him, a small taste of his Ecuadorian sounds, and the sketch I did….

Turn the (Sound OFF) in the slideshow window at the top of this page before listening to the track below

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