Weekend 1/27/17

The first few weeks of this year were dedicated to changing banks from big to credit union, redoing my bookkeeping system, updating my business license and other really boring behind-the-scenes things. I spent a lot of time on the phone, waiting for a representative, getting disconnected and all the usual things that happen when dealing with big companies. Still, I felt super productive and like I was getting myself squared away for the new year. I felt that working on these things would get me in a good headspace for starting the year, but when I got back to doing studio work, it felt like I was forcing myself. I made some stuff and never share it and started feeling like it was pointless. 

The country feels crazy right now as many of us are fighting for sanity, rights and democracy. On January 21, 2017 I was one of the over 25,000 who marched in San Jose, CA for the Women's March. It was so inspiring and motivating to do so, seeing friends and family, all sexes, ages, races and ethnicities there. What a relief to see people in San Jose, across the country and world stand united against what is happening in the White House right now. Now that January is almost over, I have this renewed sense of creativity and feel like anything goes.

Some big, dumb reminders I've had lately:

• Make more art! Make lots of it. 
• Make better art. Take your time. Focus. Turn off phone.
• Books are just as important to art making as any other inspiration (nature, museums, music, etc.)

Reading

• I am currently reading Wildwood by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis. I really love it so far! It's bringing up all kinds of nostalgia for books I loved as a kid. They really have a magical voice together. I just finished The Name of the Wind, a fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss. It was amazing. These fantasy tales are really getting me through the glumness of this time. 
• I subscribe to Meighan O'Toole's newsletter, which I highly recommend. She sends out some tech news, but mixes in a lot of great and relevant stuff. She recently shared The Year in Illustration from the New York Times, which I thought was pretty cool.
• While reading this interview with Jean Jullien I was reminded of how when you just keep working you evolve in ways you can't even imagine. He was working as a graphic designer and started doing brush pen illustrations to get away from the computer. He also reminded me of how those you admire influence your work. AND he reminded me about experimenting and not just repeating yourself. Whew, it's a good interview. 
• Here's a read on the Empire Seven Studios art gallery in San Jose and their unknown future.

Watching

One of San Jose's gems is Try the Pie. They debuted the video on Spark and I think it's just brilliant. The pacing of the visual and the song itself are so good. Give it a watch.

• This interview with Inka Essenhigh is really great if you have time to listen/watch.
• This video on Georgia O'Keeffe is super interesting. It was surprising to find out that her time at Lake George was her most prolific time of art making. If you don't know, Lake George was her husband's family vacation home and is often mentioned as a place that O'Keeffe wanted to leave or did not care for. We associate her far more with the work from New Mexico.

Color Night for Content Magazine's ContentLAB

Sometimes you only see the surface of things. A book's cover or the shiny objects. When you look at Content Magazine, you see beautiful images and great interviews with South Bay locals and businesses. Their photography is gorgeous, as is the layout and typography. What you don't see is the incredible team behind the magazine. It is run by some of the nicest, most talented folks around here. 

I think you don't realize how much the South Bay needed Content until you remember that we once didn't have this resource. If you look over their blog, follow Content on Instagram, follow Daniel Garcia on Instagram. The magazine highlights all things in the South Bay or up the Peninsula (aka NOT San Francisco). They also run events like ContentLAB, evenings where they combine food and drink, chefs, floral designers, artists and more. 

The setup before guests arrived

That being said, ContentLAB's Color Night turned out to be a super fun and amazing night! I was really impressed with Content's setup from the lighting to the fancy food and drinks. 

Guests starting to arrive. Isn't that red hair gorgeous?

Juan Sanchez from Baunfire marketing agency talking about color theory.

The palms surrounding the patio

Reena Williams, of Kwench juice in Campbell, led a really entertaining juicing demo. This woman had so much charisma, I wanted to march myself down to her shop and make myself a regular customer immediately. 

Photo by Daniel Garcia

Once day turned to night, it was my time to lead the watercolor demo. The folks at Content made a mirror to hang above me so everyone could watch me work. I wore a Janet Jackson microphone headset so that everyone could hear me:)

Discussing watercolor techniques with watercolor examples in the mirror above. Photo credit: Scott MacDonald

Showing examples of my work. Photo credit: Scott MacDonald

Photo credit: Arabela Espinoza

Before I share the gorgeous work everyone made, I thought I'd share the materials we used. You can see I prepared some cards with textures and color theory ahead of time for class. This really helped demonstrate the work. The orb in the upper left corner is an example of what I wanted everyone to make: a world, an orb, a moon. 

Here are the materials to make one: 

• 5x7 watercolor paper (we used Canson paper)
• Winsor and Newton watercolors (Ultramarine Blue, Winsor Blue Green Shade, Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson)
• Brushes (Artist Loft brand combined with my personal collection)
• And to create textures: rubbing alcohol (applied with q-tips), salt, paper towel blotting
• Cups for water and plates for paint palettes (and you can trace the cups to make the circle shape)

Talking with a lovely and happy painter. Photo credit: Scott MacDonald

An artist at work doing a great job blending colors.

Psychedelic worlds. This artist let the colors blend in a controlled way, keeping it bright. 

A gorgeous pink moon. This artist used the rubbing alcohol texture in a really beautiful way.

This one, by Pen and Paper Addict, really blew me away! The control and flow were done so beautifully, as well as the textures with salt and rubbing alcohol. It makes sense of course since she is an amazing calligrapher. 

I wish I could credit all the artists for their beautiful work. If you or someone you know made one of the uncredited images, please let me know who the artist is. 

And I must give a huge shoutout to Kristen and Daniel of the Content team. Working together was amazing! 

Art, Art, Art Weekend in San Jose

Whew! Last weekend was something else for art in San Jose. Despite having to spend every waking moment wrapping up my taxes, I spent a little time checking out some exciting things in San Jose. The Silicon Valley Contemporary art fair had a diverse group of work from galleries across the country and attracted many visitors. It started on Thursday night and ended Sunday. I had a chance to pop in on Friday night and had passes for the VIP room for some free wine. Although I could only make it for a one-evening visit, it was really fun and I saw works by everyone from Andy Warhol to Chris Johanson. I didn't get to photograph too many artists, but there were so many great familiar and new artists to see.

Alex Katz - one of my all-time favorite artists

Mel Kadel - another favorite

I also debuted my first full-sized art installation for the Shelter show at The Citadel Gallery. It was nice to be part of this dual exhibition at The Citadel Gallery and Works Gallery while the art fair was taking place. As you may have seen in my previous post, I have been working for the last few weeks on this piece. It was an incredible experience, to build something up and let it evolve naturally at that scale. It sort of told me where it wanted to go and the result is what you see here. No rulers were used and everything was drawn freehand. A real chair and hanging bulb are the only tangible objects. All else is ink and paper. The show closes on April 26th.

My Shelter installation at The Citadel Gallery

Empire Seven Studios had their 6 year anniversary party and boy, it was fun! Many friends came out of the woodwork to celebrate their amazing influence they have had in San Jose. They showed work from artists who had shown their before and artists they would like to see in the future. Artists included Jason Adams, Jason Arnold, Ken Davis, Jeremy Fish, Jayde Fish, Mitsy Avila Ovalles, Kyle Pellet, Jai Tanju and a whole lot more. One of my favorite pieces was a black and white pyramid that you could sit inside of. It was all drawn in black and white. You can guess why I'd like that, huh?

Seeing Things Gallery showed work by Lance Cyril Mountain, a mix of oil abstractions, mixed media and photographs by the son of Lance Mountain. Last weekend was the closing party for the show.

Just before writing this, I came across this Forbes article about Cherri and Brian from Anno Domini. It's a nice read if you want to learn more about who I consider to be hometown art heroes.

The energy around town was pretty great. San Jose has come a long way!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Chris Johanson at the Silicon Valley Contemporary art fair. He was born in San Jose.