Sketchbook: Calabasas, The Mysterious Indian Temple and the Culver City Artwalk 2011

From left to right: Amazing example of Culver City architecture. I have been itching to draw this exact house for awhile now and I am really stoked that this is now in my sketchbook. Have you been here? Then, I found this mysteriously hidden Indian temple (originally discovered a few months ago). Then, last week, I returned with friends from India to attend service and record my findings with my trusty assistant, a black Moleskine. I tried to capture the serene beauty of this location and I vow to go back again to attempt this feat.

Hindu Temple Ventura County
1600 Las Virgenes Canyon Road,
Calabasas, CA 91302
805.639.0334
hours
map 

Oh, and don't forget... this Saturday is the Culver City Artwalk. I will have a new painting at LeBasse Projects. Details here. Have a happy "Aloha Friday" everyone!!!

"Culver City Artwalk"
at: LeBasse Projects
6023 Washington Blvd. 
Culver City, CA 90232
310 558 0200
contact@lebasseprojects.com
map

Sketchbook: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Ema

Here is a page from my sketchbook. The one on the left, Jet Propulsion Lab mission control from a tour of JPL courtesy of Dr. Corey Jamieson. Thanks Corey!!! On the right, Oakland Athletics Catcher and Maui boy, Kurt Suzuki at spring training in AT&T Park.

Resting on the grass is my contribution for an ema art auction, "Artists Help Japan" coordinated by my friend, Christina Conway. The winner of this piece has been announced and will receive this drawing shortly Thank you to everyone who supported this cause to raise money for the victims of Japan. You can still help. More information at Give2Asia.

Sketchbook: San Francisco and Los Angeles

Just in time for Aloha Friday!

Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011! Happy New Year everyone!!!

Sketchbook: San Francisco, Las Vegas, Mexico, and Hawaii

With my current sketchbook coming to an end (I have 4 pages to squeeze drawings in), I wanted to share with you a few treasured memories as lines and notes. They were done in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Mexico, and Hawaii.

I love old laundromats. This one is located somewhere in the Haight district of San Francisco.

These were some of the most amazing cloud formations I have every seen overhead in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sketched inside my hotel room at Mandalay Bay.

During a friend's bachelor party, I nerded out some time to sketch a few things in a club on a cruise to Mexico.

Patiently waiting for my flight connection with a holiday destination to Maui, Hawaii. As the lights turn out, Happy Holidays to everyone that reads my blog! Your support warms my heart.

Sketchbook: Here, There, and Limbo

I've been in kind of a daze these days trying my best to clear up ideas and appropriate experimentation for my new body of work. In the meantime, I have gathered a few things for you to see of my recent birthday in San Francisco courtesy of my brother. Thanks Aaron! So enjoy these sketches of my wanderings.

Travel Vegas with a Trusty Sketchbook

Spent a few days in Vegas last weekend. Here are a few sketches I made along the way. Ooh, and don't forget there is a show at GR2 this Saturday. I'll be there early. Then you can tag me at the private event over at LeBasse Projects. If you are invited, it should be a classy event. Have a great weekend everyone.

Sketchbook of San Francisco/Europe/Miami/Los Angeles/Maui 2008

Not often do I post my sketchbook here. They appear in chronological order. This sort of sums up the end of my 2008.

December Sketchbook

So before this year fades out, here are a few sketches from my current sketchbook. Tomorrow, I will fly to Maui so I can spend the holiday season at home. Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Red Friday

Sketches from the week of Sept. 14-19. Subsequently, I am prepping for a show in Zurich . I will post more about it as we get closer to the exhibition. Now, I have to figure out how to ship my paintings to the show (checked), start boxing the artwork (possibly on Saturday), and look over all my arrangements in Europe (checked). Well, that's my morning. Hope you are doing fine. Have a pleasant weekend!

Sunday Baseball

What strange weather we are having right now in SoCal. I mean it was blazing at about 95 degrees on Sunday! So baseball and Cracker Jack appropriately fit the bill. Btw, Dodgers lost that day 0-1.

2008 Sketchbook

My apologies for the lack of consistent postings on this blog. Work has stacked itself on me and I am trying hard to dig my way out of it. Hopefully, some day I will find a confluence between my commercial work and my personal art. But for the meantime, my sketchbook has been my consistent partner in crime. Here are a few recent sketches in March.

Rain, Snow, and Markers ...bring it on!

So I'm busting into a new sketchbook my friend sent me over Valentine's Day. The paper stock feels good and can handle all my mixed media experiments and at the same time soft enough to pick up a fine graphite line. This is a drawing of the Flynt Publications Building on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, CA. I remember when I saw this for the first time and thought it looked like a pencil sharpener. Well, I still do.

Flashback Overture

Not exactly a new sketch, but one of the few I did in my sketchbook while on Maui (somehow most of my sketchbook looks like class notes). I drew this in the rain and you can see where the raindrops affected my ink flow. It's very magical to draw in the rain. I'm just not sure why it feels that way.

Return as 2008

Just landed in LA last night. Here is your sketch for Aloha Friday, no work till Monday. Aloha nui loa!

International Electronic

So I just secured 2 roundtrip tickets for me and my brother to Tokyo. We will be out there from Oct.17 through Nov.7. Any suggestions?

San Francisco Trip

Ahh, what fond memories. I'm now back in LA. Here is a sketch with what I thought was my long-lost calligraphy pen. Funny, it was in my backpack all these years.

5" x 8.25"
pen & ink

Sketchbook Excerpts

This entry is posted a bit early because I'll be in San Francisco in about 3 hours. Places I'm going to attempt hitting up on Friday: Super 7, The Tezuka Show, and Juxtapoz party. If you are in SF maybe I'll meet you there. Back to these pieces. Yup, they are from my current 5"x8.25" Moleskine sketchbook created with a ballpoint pen & watercolor. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

The After Hours

Growing up as a kid, Maui was very country. We didn't have the big malls, theatres, and themed parks. We had one theatre and little money. Most of my childhood was spent drawing, participating in Boy Scout activities, burning things with my magnifying glass and playing basketball. Then one day Borders Bookstore opened up. I'd sketch late nights with my friend Aaron Nakahara there. He's a comic book artist. So in his honor I have done this sketch at a bookstore in comic style.

Vanishing via Empiricality

Umm, how do I start this? Well I have been avoiding communication with everyone this week. And if you are one of them I am very sorry. Sometimes, I feel a need to disappear for awhile and selfishly reflect on my life (where it currently resides & where it will go). What lured me out of my shell was a short chat with an Old Mexican Fisherman at the Santa Monica Pier. I didn't speak much Spanish & he didn't speak English, but we shared a few exciting moments (like when we spotted 2 stingrays cruising below us and the time he caught a baby tiger shark). I realized how exciting life can be if I take notice of these tiny miracles that are occurring everywhere.
So now that I am ready to return back to civilization, here are a few silent observations of my surroundings this week. The first one is about line dwellers of the iPhone craze, and the second is a morning sketch of the local swimming dig. Thanks for dropping in!