JOURNAL 3: LEGION OF THREE

Drawings from Journal: Hummingbird
(click images for larger preview)

©Copyright Trey Gallaher

BACK TO THE FIRST GRADE

Last year a friend, illustrator and old classmate of mine Kristina invited me to visit her daughter Mia's first grade class. It seemed that the budget for art at their school was a little shy and needed some voluntary inspiration and instruction. I jumped at the chance to work with a younger crew of artists than my usual batch of salty dawgs. Meet Mrs. Stephens first grade class of Pleasanton, California.
















My charge was to lead these youngsters for fourty-five minutes during their allotted creative art making hour. Portraits it was! They were welcoming of my company and steadfast in my command, but a little uncertain of my credentials at first. But after a brief introduction and a few samples of my work I brought along, these scally-wags were ready for my lead!



Paint began to fly as I guided them through the rudiments of proportioning the face. Slowly I began to see the wheels start to turn and the look of determination and fury fill their eyes. I couldn't have been more excited. It was working! Even with our limited bunch of poster paint colors and brushes the magic was happening. My crew was hard at work!






Fourty-five minutes past and these youngsters weren't about to quit! They were carefully studying their subjects faces and capturing the likeness. Teaching them to mix primary colors to get skin tones and hair color had them green with envy and anticipation. In their eyes I was conducting magic, coaxing their brushes to make colors appear out of thin air! They were really in love with Color Theory!




I was a little worried about blowing past the deadline but Mrs. Stephen's said "by all means continue, I didn't think they would last twenty minutes". By the time an hour and a half rolled around we were hangin' the work up on the walls and studying their efforts carefully! Smiles appeared on the bright faces of my new found cohorts and feeling of accomplishment. Hi-fives all around!



















I want to send a hearty "thanks" out to my dear friends Kristina and Mia for asking me to be a part of this class. It was a fantastic experience. I will never forget it. I also want to thank Mrs. Stephens for her patience in letting us paint past our deadline. And to my new young artist friends, great job and thank you for letting me work with you.




The thing I came away with the most from this visit was the importance of keeping that youthful spirit in everything you do, to not be afraid to learn something new, to remain open minded, to keep asking honest questions and to just keep trying, even if you make a mistake.









These little people gave me more inspiration that afternoon than any artbook had in a long time.


photos: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

SUMI DRAWINGS

drawings and photos: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

BIRDMAN

Every Quarter at the school I teach at we hold a "Concept Art Jam". It's a contest of sorts for students to draw and paint new ideas on the fly. I usually hire a model or two in costume to pose for several hours for reference and inspiration. The students sharpen their rendering skills while spontaneously inventing a new concept on the spot. We award first, second and third place prizes at the end of the Jam. Often I paint with them or demo specific techniques. When I walked in the classroom one afternoon and saw the model I hired wearing this amazing and creepy bird-like head piece and robe I just had to try and capture it's haunting quality!

Painting: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

JOURNAL 2: ODE TO BEN SHAHN

"Ode to Ben Shahn" from Journal: Hummingbird

©Copyright Trey Gallaher

A NEW LOOK

Every once in a while you need to brighten up the surroundings and keep the walls looking fresh. I recently updated my main website www.treygallaher.com . Just a few changes and rearranging for clarity and navigation. If you haven't been by in a while you may notice a few differences starting with the Portfolio Page where you will notice that in addition to my portfolio categories there is now a small list appearing off to the right!



Say 'hello' to the Recently Added list. If you are a more frequent visitor then you will notice this list changing more than anything else. Any new work that has been posted will show up here too. This list will save you time from navigating through work you have already seen and get you to the new stuff faster!

If you haven't been by in a while then feel free to poke around and take your time looking through the portfolios. For up-to-the-minute info you will notice the DIRECT Facebook and Twitter page links located on each categorical page.






















To each portfolio page I have added a lot more space for readability and to showcase larger works. As many of you may know I have been working in oils and on larger canvases for several years now. This new layout will allow for larger images in order to showcase those gritty details and brush strokes.




















As always I want to plug the Events page to showcase any exhibits or shows I may be appearing in. Check back here to find out when & where!

Check it out NOW --> www.treygallaher.com

GETTIN' BUSY...

Apologies to everyone out there in Cyber-land! I haven't posted in a few months now but I have been a little preoccupied in my personal life... I GOT HITCHED! You never realize what goes into planning a wedding and all the craziness until you plan one yourself... Let me just say we kept it simple, beautiful and sweet... and it still had a huge impact on the rest of my life. It was totally worth it however and things are now settling back down to a normal groove again, I'm painting like a mad man again and should be posting-up more soon!

WONDERCON '11 - 25th ANNIVERSARY!

Get 'em up folks ... and get your GEEK on... for San Francisco's own...

25th Anniversary of WONDERCON!

DAY 3 of Wondercon was a beautiful and sunny one in the City by the Bay. It was great to see all the costumes and personalities as usual. I like to attend the third day of the Con as it is usually a bit less crowded and the venders are anxious to unload inventory rather than take it back home.



























BILL SIENKIEWICZ is a legend in the business of graphic novels, comics, movie posters and many other areas of illustration.... and a personal favorite of mine. It was great to meet him after all these years. He autographed my copy of Voodoo Child... YES!

























































DAVID MACK was in the house and it was great to catch-up with him and hear about his latest projects with Bendis and Maleev for Icon Comics. David's a great artist and nice guy. I've been collecting his work since the nineties when he first started.




























































BARRON STOREY (my former professor and mentor) and his wife Petra are old friends by now and were both in attendance connecting with old friends and some of the new rising talent. It was good to catch up with them again.

























































AND... NO CON is complete without a visit to STUART NG BOOKS! After prying myself away from their wonderful imported artbooks and graphic novels I came away with a few small treausres without going broke.... YAY! (not easy to do)

























































All in all it was a great afternoon and I am already looking forward to next year...

If you have never been to Wondercon, put it on your calendars now, usually around April 1st.

Here is where you can find more work from these artist friends of mine.


BILL SIENKIEWICZ --> HERE

DAVID MACK --> HERE

BARRON STOREY --> HERE

WONDERCON --> HERE