study of an apple - 8x10 oil on panel

Tostones y Chicharrones - 16x26-oil on panel

The Wait- 18x24 oil on panel

Cathie-11x14- oil on panel

Tosinos -14x18 oil on panel

Another one of the new oil paintings I recently completed. Enjoy!
-Available for purchase

Upper Franklin st Sunset- oil on panel

Hey Everyone,
 I finally photographed some oil paintings and will be showing them off in in coming weeks. More to come!

- Available for purchase

Dream Mine

Hey Everyone!
        Here is a new illustration done for  DreamMine.com, an upcoming web project by designer Jason Dilworth. This illustration chronicles "Koyle's Dream ",one of the many scenes in the story of the Dream Mine. Google the story if you want to read some fantastical stuff. Enjoy!

New Card Illustration

Hello everyone,
I apologize for the lag in posts. I am waiting for work to either be photographed or released from NDA's . On that note, here is a piece that I recently did for Fantasy Flight Games. Major thanks again to Andy Christensen for the opportunity to work with him again. Enjoy!


Copyright Fantasy Flight Games 2013

Yet Another New Card Illustration

Hey Everyone, Here is one more recent card that I did for Fantasy Flight Games. Again, thanks to Andy Christensen for the opportunity to work with him again. Enjoy!

Copyright Fantasy Flight Games 2013

Another New Card Illustration

Hey Everyone, Here is another a recent card that I did for Fantasy Flight Games. Major thanks to Andy Christensen for the opportunity to work with him again. Enjoy!

New Card Illustration

Hey Everyone ,
    Here is a recent card that I did for Fantasy Flight Games. Major thanks to Andy Christensen for the opportunity to work with him again. Enjoy!

Stop The World I Wanna Get Off!

Hello Everyone,


   After a great weekend at the Society of Illustrators NY (post to follow) I finished up the last of the poster art I did for SUNY Fredonia's Department of Theatre and Dance. For this last poster I collaborated with the talents of up and coming designer Brett Smith who designed the typography. With this poster I also had the pleasure of working with Tom Loughlin again whom I had previously worked on the Piano Lesson with. Anyways, back my easel. Enjoy!

The Diary of Anne Frank

Hey Everyone. As promised , here is the new poster I am working on for SUNY Fredonia's Dept. of Theatre and Dance. Enjoy!

Now... back to work...

A little practice....

Hey Everyone.Now that my teaching semester is coming to a close, I'll be in my studio more. I have a couple of oil paintings that need photographing as well as a couple of illustrations that are finishing up. Looking forward to sharing with everyone. In the meantime here is a quick practice piece I did to sharpen up my hand a little. Need to do more of these. Anyways..Happy Holidays!

Society of Illustrators 55th Annual: Gold Medal

Tonight I found out that I have achieved something I could've only dreamed of achieving years into my career. Tonight I found out that I was awarded A Gold Medal in Advertising by the Society of Illustrators New York for their 55th Annual Exhibition. I want to take a moment to thank all friends , family , and of course my instructors. I couldn't of even dreamed of getting where I am today without your support and guidance. This is not only a win for me but a win for all of you.......



Above is the piece I was fortunate enough to win the award for.

David Grove: 1940-2012

             Two weeks ago, David Grove passed away.  I was fortunate to call him a mentor and blessed to call him my friend.  I  had first discovered David 's work in the pages of Spectrum while looking for professional artist in the area to give me some feedback on my work. When I saw his book cover for David Keck's In the Eye of Heaven I just about flipped. Here was some young rookie doing the kind of art that I wanted to do. Little did I know this "young rookie" had 40 plus years  under his belt and had been recently inducted into the Society of Illustrator's  Hall of Fame. 

             I never forget the first day I met David one sunny San Francisco day in his North Beach  house atop a hill on Union st. After hauling a couple  24x30 oil paintings up to his place I entered into a beautiful home with this gorgeous skylight in the middle of his studio. While the first hour of our meeting went fairly quiet as David probably was figuring out why some you illustrator would call him out of the blue to visit him, it quickly subsided once I spotted an original Earl Blossom illustration hanging on his wall.  "You know sh*t that you're not supposed to " was his first reaction after I blurted my love for 50's illustration and illustration history. From then on I would visit once a semester to show him a new body of work. During one visit I was expressing my frustration with a new painting that I had finished. I must of spoke for almost a half hour about how I couldn't understand why my newest painting wasn't better than an older painting that I brought with me.David remained silent. Sitting down on his couch in defeat I blurted" I don't what happened , I just don't .." David all of a sudden got up and went over to the two paintings in question as said " You wanna know what happened?" I said "Yes , absolutely " preparing for David's advice to part the clouds of confusion. David turned to me and said "Ya F%^ked up Ray! ". 

         A few months later, David's health turned sour and he was hospitalized. Getting ready for my thesis show, I sent him a postcard along with a thank you note for the opening to show him the progress I made on my work. His first day out of bed he surprised me by coming to my opening. From those 2 hour conversations at his home and the many phone conversations we had after reconnecting last winter, David taught me the meaning of being a professional. The commitment to the craft , the patience ,determination, and honesty that one needed to do this for a living. 

      I cried after hearing of his death but quickly I remembered how lucky I was to have known someone like David Grove. I only hope I could even be half the artist he was and pay forward all he did for me. Thank you for everything David. I hope wherever you are  you are having a cocktail with Bernie Fuchs and N.C.Wyeth.

The wonderful team at Sidebar Nation put together an amazing interview discussing his life and art. You can find that interview here

A book about David Grove's work was recently released by Norfolk Press You can purchase the book here 

      A celebration of David's' life and work will be held at Café Divine, 1600 Stockton Street, San Francisco CA on November 30, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, or to the charity of your choice

New Illustration

Here's another card I did with Fantasy Flight Games. Again , big thanks again to AD Andrew Christensen for the opportunity to illustrate for them. Enjoy!

New Illustration

Just recently received word on the release of the some more Cards I did with Fantasy Flight Games. Big thanks again to AD Andrew Christensen for the opportunity to illustrate for them. Enjoy!

Head Painting Demo

I'm in the process of painting a demo of a head for my students using an opaque underpainting technique. This process is commonly referred to as "loading the whites " and is a great way to solve the majority of problems in a given picture. I painted this in acrylics and next I will glaze in the color using oils.

Piano Lesson

Hello Everyone . Here is another piece of art finished up for SUNY Fredonia's 2012-13 Theatre and Dance performance season. Enjoy.

Chicago

Hello Everyone . Here is another piece of art finished up for SUNY Fredonia's 2012-13 Theatre and Dance performance season. Enjoy.

It's been a long time....

Hey Everyone ,
      Let me start first by apologizing for the lack of updates. NDA's , unphotographed paintings , and summer traveling put my blog in limbo. But alas, I am back.  One of the many things that I have been working on over the summer has been the newest season of posters for SUNY Fredonia's department of Theatre and Dance . So without further adieu, Here is the first of five posters that I have been working on. Enjoy!

New Illustrations: Games of Thrones TCG

Hey everyone. Sorry about the lack of updates. I assure you that I have been hard at work at some new work but can't show them until the NDA is lifted. On that note, I recently found out that some Game of Thrones cards I did for Fantasy Flight Games were released . Here are a couple of them. Enjoy !

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I worked with the mastermind Andy Christensen, who was the AD on this project. Thanks Andy!

SIDEBAR: An interview with David Grove

            Anyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite podcast is SIDEBAR . Recently they interviewed one of my artistic heroes David Grove. I am very fortunate to call David a mentor and a good friend. Over the years David's generous time and advice has and still been an immense part of my artistic development. As usual the team at SIDEBAR: Dwight, Swain, and Adrian produced a fantastic interview that framed a wonderful picture of the extremely smart, witty, and kind man that David Grove is.

Enjoy the interview here and a samples of his work below

Last year Norfolk Press released  David Grove: An Illustrated Life, a wonderful book on his life and his work which I will be talking in detail about in the near future. But for now here is a link to the place where you can purchase his book

Portrait of Sophia Loren

I Had so much fun doing this portrait I decided to finish it up. One interesting thing that Harold Speed talked about in the book I previously mentioned was that finish was more about refinement of your initial statement rather than addition of more detail. When finishing this I tried really hard to do this.Anyways, Enjoy!

Sophia

Had a little free time so I decided to try out some ideas on value that I've been reading about from Harold Speed

"Gandules" 12x20-oil on panel

This is painting will be part of the "DELICIOUS",a group show at the STUDIO Gallery in San Francisco, CA. Below is the show info:

Delicious, work inspired by food & drink
February 29th - April 1st, 2012
opening reception: Sunday, March 4th, 2012

Location:
1815 Polk Street
(between Washington and Jackson)
San Francisco, CA 94109

"Stage Door"

Here's the final poster (without the type) for SUNY Fredonia's 2011-2012 Theater Season

"Self Portrait at 28" - charcoal on paper

Haven't done one of these in years.

"Off The 220" mixed media on panel

More Experiments

Trying some stuff out. I'll be posting some new illustration stuff that I am working on soon. The mediums are prismacolor,gouache and acrylic. Enjoy

Selections From The Sketchbook

Happy New Year everyone! While Taking some time off and visiting family and friends I bought along my moleskine and some paints to keep my hands moving. To do these I mostly prismacolor pencil,gel medium, gouache and acrylics. Enjoy

Additional note: I also just received word that I my piece High plains Fandango was selected for this years Society of Illustrators LA!

Dance Ensemble Final Poster

Here is the final poster with typography ( Designed by Ashlee Bueg)

Dance Ensemble

Hey Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates. Between working on NDA stuff and another teaching semester wrapping up my blog has been neglected. Here is a poster I just finished up for SUNY Fredonia's 201-2012 theater and dance season. Enjoy!

The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Duncan Idaho: Sword Master

head study for Duncan Idaho

A quick head study in preparation for my next piece based on Frank Herbert's DUNE

"Shai-Hulud"

Here is the final version of the new DUNE painting I was working on. Enjoy!

"Shai-Hulud" in progress

This is an in progress pic of the next DUNE piece I am working on. Enjoy!

High Plains Fandango

Here is the final pre-type painted version of the latest theater poster that I am doing for SUNY Fredonia's Department of Theater and Dance 2011-2012 season. I'll update the post with the final poster once the typography gets approved. Enjoy!

Duke Leto Atreides

This is one piece in a group of illustrations that I am plan on doing based off of Frank Hebert's DUNE . I just finished reading the novel and its loading with awesome imagery.

Thanks again to T-Bone and EJ for the feedback

Welcome Back Bonilla and Sketches for Upcoming Poster Illustration

Hey everyone ,
Sorry about the lack of updates. Taking a minor vacation in August, Teaching season starting, and attempting to finish a bunch of gallery paintings/illustrations, has left my blog unattended to. But fear not, I'm back and to kick off my return I'm showing some early stages of a new theater poster that I am illustrating. More to come soon.....