New Painting - "Resting on the Ancients" & Post Spectrum

Hey guys, just came back from an awesome weekend in Kansas City at Spectrum Fantastic LIVE. Met lots of great artists and had some of the best conversations with the people at the event. Thank you everyone who bought prints and who came out to say hello, as well as the awesome awards ceremony put on by the Spectrum crew! It was great seeing old friends as well as meeting new ones.

It was especially great hanging out with great people and talents like Ryan Graff, Eric Fortune, Joao Ruas, Eric Joyner, Felipe Echevarria, Jeff Simpson, Keita Morimoto, Jason Felix, Justin Gerard, Cory Godbey, Jason Edmiston, Anthony Kosak, Wayne Reynolds, Travis Louie, Brandt Peters, Kathy Olivas, Doug Gregory, Greg Manchess, and Jean Baptiste Monge. There may have been many more, I apologize if I missed any names.

I am looking forward to next year when they put on another Spectrum LIVE event again. Things are busy after I got back and have a few deadlines, I will be posting and sharing some Spectrum photos that I took at the event, hopefully really soon.

Below is a painting I had at the event, that I can finally show now.

  

"Resting on the Ancients"
11.75'' x 11.75''
Oils on Board

"From Then To Now" Oil Painting & Spectrum Fantastic Art LIVE!

  

"From Then To Now"
8'' x 10''
Oils and Gold Leaf on Wood

Here is a new Oil Painting I recently finished and varnished.

Framed


The idea of this piece is to juxtapose new and old culture, the traditional japanese elegant kimono with contemporary earphones as a western oil painting. How the times have changed, but some things remain to be remembered. 


Thank you to Spectrum, this will be included in their upcoming 19th Annual.
I will also be displaying it at the Spectrum Fantastic Art LIVE Event coming up in Kansas City on May 18-20 (This weekend).

Here is a flyer of the show from Imaginism Studios. Click here for more info.

"A Chance Meeting" (Drawing)

"A Chance Meeting" (Drawing)
11" x 14"
Graphite on Paper

Here is a new piece I did recently in graphite. This pencil drawing will be painted bigger in oils, when that piece is done, I will post it here as well.

Have a good week, everyone!

Study in Moleskine

It's time for an update, a lot of new painting updates on their way..
In between paintings, I usually do these smaller studies. This time, I tried using Oils in my moleskine instead of Acrylics, the paper seems to be able to hold the paint pretty well.

The cold is not stopping..

Happy 2012 to everyone! Time sure is flying, I was away for bit in Cuba, and it was a really refreshing inspiring time.. settled back in Toronto now and back to work again! Can't believe its almost the end of this month already. Just wanted to drop in and share a new piece I've been working on, more to come soon.

"Lucky Brownies" @ IndexG Gallery, Toronto

Just finished my piece for IndexG Gallery's Art Brownie Project.

The Opening is on Saturday, November 19th.
Drop by if you are in the area!

Unfortunately I will be in Los Angeles that time and will be unable to attend the opening. Please take some pictures if you visit.


"Lucky Brownies"
(Golden Dragon Head)
approx 2.5'' x 2.5'' x 1.5''
Acrylic on Wood Blocks





ART BROWNIE:
A small art piece. A wooden block measuring 2.5 inch square, 1.5 inch in height. Artist works on it as a mini canvas.

The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop:
a) A mini shop at INDEXG with ART BROWNIE (by different artists) available all year round.
b) Title of an exhibition at INDEXG to celebrate the launch of the shop and the ART BROWNIE project - grand opening on November 19 (Sat, 3-6 pm), 2011.


A new format for the seasonal gift-giving
The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop exhibition arrives in November, showcasing an array of works and ideas by Toronto artists, all work on this smart, cool format.

ART BROWNIE is available each from $30 to $100 or above. All unique items. From painting, print-making and photo-based, mixed-media to sculptural. The Toronto's Art Brownie Shop exhibition starts on 19th November, a bit earlier giving you ample time to plan your gifting strategy. Exhibits are on buy-and-go base, but the trays will be refilled with fresh new bites frequently.

Artists in the ART BROWNIE project launch exhibition: Anna-karoliina, Adam Chow, Aaron Leighton, Alena Skarina, Alec Dempster, Andrew Yeung, Antonio Cangem, Anabela de Castro, Brad Leitch, Claire Manning, David Cheung, Erik Jerezano, Feng Wei, Fiona Smyth, Françoise Mallecourt Cockburn, Gary Michael Dault, Gary Smith, Greg Stevenson, Harvey Chan, Han Xu, He Qing, Ilyana Martinez, Irina Schestakowich, Iris Lee, Ilana Jackson, Jamie Lawson, Janice Kun, Jacqui Oakley, Jeff Jackson, Jennifer Phelan, Jose Ortega, Juana Zuniga, Kestin Cornwall, Larry Eisenstein, Lisa Cristinzo, Laurie Zinkand-Selles, Loree Ovens, Lillian Hong, Malgorzata Wolak Dault, Madeleine Hellmers, Mariana Tomasevic, Martha Chan, Milena Roglic, Mo Aziz, Nahum Flores, Nataly Kim, Peter Chan, Shelley Savor, Sally Ayre, Taras Ostapchuk, Tai Kim, Tings Chak, Tomio Nitto, Walker Ballantyne-Hill, Uros Jelic, Will Wong and others.

An Ocean & Pounds project, 2011.

Upcoming: Art Brownie Shop Project at IndexG Gallery, Toronto

Hi Everyone,
Things are busy! Been really excited these days working on a new body of work which will be released in 2012.

I have also been working on some small pieces for a few shows and events.
Here is a work in progress of one that is coming up in Toronto, Canada at IndexG Gallery. I will post the final as well when it is finished.

Oils back in Effect

Been working with some traditional Oils Painting again the last few days between projects. I have a lot of pieces scheduled in the next months. Will be updating on the progression throughout. Here's one for now, before going into the 'color' stage.

The Familiars - "Secrets of the Crown" Released!

Recently the new children's novel that I have been busy with drawing and painting late 2010 to Early 2011, has been released now.

You can purchase a copy of it either in your local Chapters, Indigo, Borders, or Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

On Amazon.com, you can purchase it as a hardcover book or an e-book on kindle.

After illustrating the first book, the adventure continues in book two of 'The Familiars - Secrets of the Crown'. The book will be a continuation of the first book.

When human magic disappears suddenly from Vastia, it falls on the familiars, Aldwyn the telekinetic cat, Skylar the know-it-all blue, jay, and Gilbert the gullible tree frog--to find the Crown of the Snow Leopard, an ancient relic that can reverse the curse. They learn that the only way to do this is by following in the purple paw prints of Aldwyn's father, who'd gone missing while searching for the Crown years earlier. This magical spirit trail extends into the Beyond, where our heroes encounter new enemies and danger, while Aldwyn learns about his mysterious past.

Full of high-flying adventure and heartwarming friendships, SECRETS OF THE CROWN shows how great it is to be familiar with The Familiars!

Here are a selected few illustrations that I worked on - all of them were done traditionally, in total I have completed about 20 illustrations for the book:









Follow @the_familiars on twitter for more future updates on the series.

New Upcoming Group Show - "LEGEND": Key to Reading SubKaru

Opening this Wednesday, I will be part of a group show in Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden in New York.

Here is the show card:
Back


Front


The show will be available to see from September 14 to November 19, 2011.
Opening Reception: September 17th, 1pm - 3pm

Address:
Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden
28 Deveau Road, North Salem
NY 10560

Admission to Museum:
Free for members and children under 12
Non-member Adult $5, Seniors $4

Here is a sneak peak of the piece I have displayed there, I will be posting more information on this piece and the story that comes with it later...


Teaser image - "Freedom Swing"

Special thanks to Mana, Noa, Don, and Nasa for having me as part of this show!

New New Things Are Coming

Alright, first off, for those of you who noticed some of the missing images from older blog post...heres the thing.

When I joined google+, for some reason there was an album in my account. I thought it was google plus automatically putting some photos they gathered up in my google+ profile.

So since I didn't want some of those old images to appear in my google+ profile ( I was thinking just like facebook profile), I deleted that album.

Little did I know, it was connected to my Blogger too, which i thought was a bit stupid.. but either way, it is gone now. I tried my best to recover as many images to my blog as possible from my PC.

Looks like I will just have to move on and upload more new images and new blog post and get rid of the old ones eventually.

Thats what happens sometimes...you just have to move forward.

This week, there is a lot to update on, I have a new groups how opening in a museum in New York, a new book out, and a few other work in progress things.

Stay tuned, hope you all had a great summer. Autumn is coming, so enjoy that, too.

P.S. For the blog images sacrifices, here is my google+ profile, lets add each other.

Belong To.

Friday! And this concludes the one week promise of daily postings.
I may be posting a little less frequent now depending on current schedules, but i may start up again with dailies another time or another week.


"belong to."
Mixed Media

Delayed Thursday

Sorry for the delay guys, been busy these past two days with several events. So here are the back posts.

Thursday. A snap shot.

In-O

Wednesday!


"untitled"
8.5'' x 11''
Acrylics and Inks on Paper

Young Sienna

Here is Tuesday. Reflects the weather, gloom.


"Young Sienna"
4.25'' x 5.5''
Inks on paper

Say. Orange-nice.

Here is Monday.


"Say. Orange-nice."
5'' x 7''
Acrylics, Inks, and old paper

Sunday Afterwards

Today is Sunday.


"multi- human"
pencils on paper

Second

Here is one for today.


"untitled"
approx 5'' x 7''
inks & acrylics

Freshly painted

Starting today, i've decided to do at least a one week daily update on my blog.
Most of the things I will be posting are sketchbook drawings or paintings, but I may also be sharing anything from a study, a work in progress, a thumbnail, a paragraph of thoughts & discoveries, collages, or photos of my most current working spaces.

Just wanted to keep the blog fresh and going, there are a lot of daily things that aren't normally posted or seen. However, for a little while now, I am really enjoying the process of working and making art. Sometimes there is something about the rough, the thumbnail or concept paintings that I feel are extremely lively and important. While the finished works are nice to post, I feel that process and research work has a life of its own.

So lets start this off today, here is something from my sketchbook.



"too long"
approx 7'' x 5''
mixed media (inks, graphite, and old paper)

Another, tomorrow.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Artists Help Japan: Toronto 2011

Hi everyone,

Things been busy but recently just had the chance to upload photos/video clips of the event. The video was collaborated with an awesome photographer Keith Acedera.

Thank you again to everyone who came out to the event or helped out in some way and supported, we end up raising a total of $20,000+ for the Canadian Red Cross to donate to Japan's Tsunami and Earthquake Relief fund.

Here is the video:


My share of photos have been uploaded to my flicker, click here to see em.

Once again thank you everyone and special thanks to organizers, helpers, artists, and Revival bar for a successful event!