An Aerial View Painting Inspired by Spain

My latest painting began live at a special event at Will Leather Goods in Venice on Nov. 22, 2014 (see that story HERE). Since then, this piece has evolved dramatically and my progress and the final painting are presented below. This one has been a wild ride and way more challenging than I anticipated. Sometimes it goes that way, but the education en route is well worth it!

It was inspired by my window seat view of the Spanish countryside moments before landing at Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas. Beginning with Madrid, the places I visited and the things I saw on that trip opened the door to a change in painting style and sharpened my focus on subjects important to me.

10 Stages of Aero No. 14

Aero No. 14 (Miami -> Madrid) | Acrylic on birch panel | 46 x 23" (Complete painting to the Left, plus extreme closeups to the Right)

Actual scale of Aero No. 14

On the easel: Aero No. 14 (Miami -> Madrid) | Acrylic on birch panel | 46 x 23"

Scenes from Art Night in Venice

I joined forces with Will Leather Goods at their flagship Venice store for their inaugural "Art Night" on November 22. Special thanks to Tim Chan and the Will staff for hosting me, and to all the friends who made it a fun and special evening of art and fashion.

The exhibition included over a dozen cloudscape and aerial view paintings from my Aero Series PLUS a live, in-store demo of me painting the latest in the series. Enjoy scenes from "Art Night" @ Will Leather Goods here:

Something exciting is happening in there! The view of Will from world famous Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Aero No. 33 (Mountainscape) greeted visitors to Art Night.

It was a lot of fun integrating my paintings throughout the store. Here's Aero No. 6 hanging out behind the counter.

Live painting about to go down!

The beginning stage of my newest, Aero No. 14 (Miami -> Madrid)

Aero No. 25 (Barcelona Sky) and Aero No. 39 (Powerlines)

Making progress...

Aero 2014.3 (LA Sky)

Spreading it on thick! I made the switch from painting with brushes to exclusively using palette knives about 1 1/2 years ago and haven't looked back since.

Getting extra encouragement from my fiancé, Rachel.

The base colors are all there. Will have to finish this one up in private in the studio. Stay tuned! Aero No. 14 (Miami -> Madrid) | Acrylic on birch panel | 46" x 23"

LA Artist Takes Manhattan

Meet Kelly Reemtsen (www.kellyreemtsen.com).

I've known Kelly, a Los Angeles-based artist, since 2004. She exemplifies the working artist life and has been a role model and inspiration for my art career.

I was thrilled to find out that her latest show, "America's Sweetheart", opened at the De Buck Gallery (www.debuckgallery.com) at the same time I was visiting NYC. So proud of her and in awe of Kelly's productivity, the quality of the concept of her series, and the execution of the paintings themselves. See for yourself…

Busy night at De Buck in Chelsea on a chilly Manhattan night!

With my date, Rachel! :) We're both huge fans of Kelly's work.

Up close, you'd swear she paints with frosting.

Catching up with the star of the show and friends.

My personal favorite. That orange…amazing!