6″ Squared
This is the last week of the Randy Higbee Gallery 6″ Squared show, and they are offering a President’s Day 20% discount! My little jewel of the crashing surf along the California coast is still available, plus others!
gallery
The Exhibit
Last night was the opening of my solo exhibit at the Pacific Grove Art Center. The center has four galleries and four simultaneous openings on the same evening. It was a grand time with around 400 art lovers showing up!
The show runs through February 26, so you’ve still got plenty of time to come and see for yourself! Pacific Grove Art Center hours: Wednesday – Saturday: 12:00 – 5:00 PM Sunday: 1:00 – 4:00 PM (Closed Monday & Tuesday)
Being busy, I didn’t take many pictures, but here are a few from the evening.
Here are a few short video clips–
Thanks to all my friends and neighbors who attended! I wish I would have taken more groups shots of all of us! Please stop by if you haven’t already!
A Unique Competition For Big Bucks
I recently started showing my paintings at a new gallery in Pacific Grove, CA called 480 Lighthouse, deemed the largest art gallery on the Monterey Peninsula.
This incredible space in Pacific Grove, CA, is currently hosting one of the most unique art contests I’ve seen. The challenge? Each participating artist gets randomly assigned a 16×16-inch square on a massive board, is provided with acrylic paints, and has 30 days to complete their masterpiece. Once all squares are painted, a panel of judges will select the top three winners. Currently, only artists showing in the gallery are eligible to enter. Here’s the real kicker—first place takes home $6,000 with $10,000 in total prizes! That definitely caught my attention, so I jumped in.
I was assigned a square in the lower right corner of one of the two giant panels. The painting surface? Rough chipboard covered in white gesso—not exactly a smooth canvas! Maneuvering into my little section was a tight squeeze, but luckily, no other artists were working nearby while I was painting. After a number of visits, I completed my piece—a vibrant depiction of a Boracay sunset, inspired by my recent trip to the Philippines.
Here are some photos of the panels.
Here is the final painting. If you look closely, you can see the texture of the particle board.
Right now, less than half the squares are finished, and the variety is amazing—everything from bold abstracts to intricate animal portraits and still life. It will be interesting to watch the artwork evolve, and see the final result. I suspect this contest is also a clever way for the gallery to bring in new artists—fitting, given the sheer size of the space!
If you are in the area of Pacific Grove, be sure to stop in and see what develops, view, and purchase some great artwork!!
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Le Trio
This time of year I usually paint a few 6×6 miniatures for Randy Higbee’s 6″ Squared Show. This year’s show will be online only, starting December 2, 2023.
I usually do pretty good in his show selling most, if not all the pieces, so just painted three new ones. Many times, I do smaller versions of some of my larger pieces, and sometimes they are small versions of a larger work I am thinking about doing. Working on all three simultaneously over the past week, I took a photo during the initial stages of painting.
Below are the three completed pieces. Click on each one for a larger version.
Stay tuned for more info on the show when it opens!
Honored
I was honored last night with First Place in the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Member show, “Coastal Passions” at the Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA. The show was quite strong, with a lot of great paintings, and it was the first time I have shown with this group. I painted the piece during the California Art Club paint out last January. You can read about it here, plus a video with some great drone shots of the California Coastline.
The show runs until October 27. Please stop by!
Open Studio Walkthrough
The first weekend of my first Open Studio Event went quite well…until the very end. More about that later. Below is a short video walkthrough of my setup.
I put up a canopy to house my welcome table, displays, and other items. Many paintings were hung on the fence. As you walk past the canopy towards the back yard, is my studio with, of course many more paintings, etc.
Visitors came sporadically, most of them from Marina. Much of the Monterey County Studio tour centers in the towns of Monterey and Carmel. Being about ten miles north, I am a little off the beaten path.
It was occasionally a little windy, so I made sure all the hanging paintings were held down by stretching a rope across the front and used rocks to hold down brochures, etc.
A couple hours before closing time on Sunday, the wind started gusting. I was expecting some wind, as we usually get in Marina, but the canopy almost turned into a kite! Some of the tiedowns broke, and I was holding onto the flimsy structure to keep it from blowing away, with no one to help! I couldn’t run into the house to get my wife as it would have been blown into the next neighborhood by the time I came back out. I was thinking of trying to call her on the phone to come help, but just at that time, four friends walked through the gate, and we quickly got the canopy folded down. Thanks to Don, Angie, and friends!
The weekend far exceeded my expectations, selling a number of works, and a new commission, plus one spoken for on the easel to be completed. I will also be open next weekend, but it looks like rain, so am contemplating a different setup.
If you are in the area, be sure to stop by next weekend, Oct 23 & 24, 11am-5pm.
Open Studio Walkthrough Read More »
…Almost Go…
The Open Studio event starting tomorrow will be primarily a covid friendly event outdoors. Come sit by the waterfall, watch the goldfish in the pond, see some great artwork, and how it is created.
BTW, the sign above the door is “Avon near the bay”. I named the new studio after my mother as she was always encouraging and thrilled at my drawings since I was an adolescent.
Ready! Set!! ….
Getting ready for my open studio Oct 16,17,23,24, here is a dry run of some of my paintings. I will have most of my ‘Vertical Water” series on sale, and this is the first picture of all of them together…at least the ones I haven’t sold. Dozens more paintings on sale, some on deep discount, so stop by if you are in the Marina area!
