24 AND COUNTING...

Video: ©Copyright 2008 Trey Gallaher
This video may NOT be copied, edited or redistributed.
All Rights Reserved.

ALMOST SHOW TIME

Well it's been a long, hard six months working towards this show. I am excited to present my new works titled SAGACITY. I have been painting this new series for almost a year now and have watched the work develop into a language and message of it's own. Working in series has taught me a lot about continuity, manner, and message through painting. A "voice" is something an artist develops over time and test, and I am beginning to hear my own voice more clearly through these new works. They speak from a more personal place and echo the silences in new and refreshing ways. Whats weird for me, is that I never thought I would produce so many pieces about one subject, and after completing thirteen new works, I am only excited to do more and see where it takes me.

I have been working with a great frame shop here in town (San Francisco) called Cheap Pete's who have been instrumental in getting my pieces framed at an affordable rate. Doing most of the assembly myself I have cut a lot of my cost. Any artist will tell you that framing for a show can be a huge expense and finding a way to do it on a budget is quite a trick. I have been saving my pennies and learning how to do the work myself. I have always framed my own work, but never at these sizes... thirty by forty inches is a big jump for me, but the larger painting area has also opened up a new playing field for paint application and medium!

Before I frame a work, I shoot it in sunlight with my digital high-resolution SLR camera (Olympus), and archive a digital copy and later for a website image. Living in San Francisco can be a very trying for this very reason. I usually shoot in late morning sunlight for best color balance, but trying to find any sunlight in my neighborhood (in the summer months especially) is frustrating. A month of f-ing FOG and stil no signs of clearing... I forgot what the sun looked like waiting for glimmer of light to poke through this white-out...

I use 4by6 a postcard making company in the east bay... they deliver great color and pretty quickly via a very smooth FTP-ing process from your desktop. They have a pick-up location in the Haight that I use quite a bit. Postage is another expense for self-promoters and it can be timely process labeling out to all your friends and followers! If you didn't get one from me, and want to, email me a line and I'll get you on the mailing list...

With most of the pieces framed up by now, I am a days away from hanging them at Sweet Inspiration... finishing touches here and there, hanging wires across the back and wiping finger prints off the glass. It's show time! Hope to see you at the...

reception: Sunday, September 7, 2008 from 4-6pm.
Sweet Inspiration 2239 Market Street, San Francisco, CA, 94114


SAGACITY Show at Sweet Inspiration -->HERE

STUDENT TIME TRAVEL

I run a club at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco called the "VIZLUB". This club is gathering place for primarily animation and game-design students (though it's open to all majors) to learn more about how to develop their own visualizations, illustrations and concept art. The focus is on both drawing, rendering and the ideation process and it is here that students are exposed to a wider range of skills to help round out their education.

Over the last year the students and I organized a time-travel landscape painting project to be exhibited in the school's main gallery, which I am proud to say, finally took place last week. Out of their own research (on top of a full-load of classes, internships etc.), students worked in and learned more about painting and rendering in natural mediums such as acrylics and watercolor to add to the digital skill-sets they get from their classes.

What they learned about drawing, color, value, perspective and picture making deepened their abilities as visual artists regardless of the medium. I am proud to say Jason Forney, Brandon Jones and Tyrone Schieszler set themselves apart from the rest by accepting this challenging process with enthusiasm and countless hours of burning the midnight oil.
The turnout by faculty and students was great and brought many interested and proud expressions. Nothing makes a teacher prouder than to see their students shine, and it was a bright afternoon in that gallery.

For moreInformation on the VIZLUB, the exhibit, and to see more pictures from this show check out the club website...

VIZLUB Website -->HERE

Photos: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

BUSY SUMMER UPDATE: "SAGACITY" SHOW...

VIDEO: ©Copyright 2008 Trey Gallaher
This video may NOT be copied, edited or redistributed.
All Rights Reserved.


SWEET INSPIRATIONS EXHIBITS --> HERE

SWEET INSPIRATIONS --> HERE

SAGACITY (TREYGALLAHER.COM) --> HERE

TREYGALLAHER.COM --> HERE

IMPORTANT !! - THE ORPHAN WORKS ACT

I was forwarded this recently... and needless to say, I was shocked, though somehow not surprised... (here we go again)...

If you are a professional visual artist, commercial artist, or freelancing artist of almost any medium or discipline working today or hoping to work in the future...

YOU MUST CHECK THESE LINKS OUT.... regarding new copyright legislation and the - ORPHAN WORKS ACT - being introduced as we speak, that if passed may take away the copyright protection of your work and future works....

Get involved and learn how you can participate in protecting the copyrights of your work, future works and your industry practices... WE CAN'T LET THIS SLIDE... ACT NOW, NOW IS THE TIME!!! It's the future of our business...

The following interviews, information and related links are cited from leading professional illustrators in our industries who have gathered together at the ... IPA-Illustrators Partnership of America - an online watchdog organization interested in protecting the rights of industry professionals, practices, the business of illustration and keeping an overall healthy freelance marketplace for the future...

About the Interview with Brad Holland:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

Audio Interview with Brad Holland:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan/orphan_works_information.mp3

What You Can Easily Do:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

IPA website with discussion groups:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/index.php

THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL

Isn't YouTube WIERD!!!! Ahh the mysteries of what you can find out on the internet with just a click away...

Ok, so upon visiting one of my favorite illustration and drawing websites DRAWN!... I was lead to watch this first YouTube video showing us the exquisite nature of Chinese brush painting combined in a unique way with digital 3D medium... Wow, what a pleasure to the senses and artistic sensibilities...



Soon after seeing that wonderful video...

I saw in the YouTube sidebar THIS video, which hardly seemed related... then I thought WOW, what GREAT technological visuals for an even more FAR OUT conceptual piece...



Then after that video, things got EVEN weirder but strangely more pleasurable with even MORE realistic looking visuals combined with technology....



Don't you just love the happy positive voices and rapid fire visuals, with dance club music, and laser blast sound effects in the background???? ... way more entertaining and fast paced than American commercials.

Ok, at this point I decided I better log-off and get back to work...

Looks like technology has struck again, and carved yet another nitch into consumerism... thereby bringing all of us in the free-world together again. The coming Olympics looks to be even more exciting.... China, here we come!

God bless the internet, the Chinese, and their weird and wonderful commercials....

Happy clicking!

PS: I NEITHER ENDORSE OR CAN TESTIFY TO THESE PRODUCTS....

DRAWN! --> HERE

KID AT HEART

My little buddy Rowan (4 years old) and I traded portraits of each other last year when she and her family came to visit San Francisco. I love her drawing! It is permanently taped up on my wall. It ALWAYS makes me smile, especially when people stop and do the same... She's gonna be a true artist!

DIGGIN' THE DOGPATCH

Sunday night I swung into the Dogpatch Saloon with a couple of friends to check out the much anticipated live jazz scene the old saloon is famous for. It being my first time, we arrived early to what appeared to be a typical cozy Sunday afternoon locals scene in the neighborhood known as the "Dogpatch" (not just the name of the bar). After getting ourselves set up with a couple of cold brews and some small talk the musicians took to the small stage and started to play led by the legendary Vince Lateano. They eased into the set and led up to a few nice numbers with a real steady beat. Candice (a regular singer at Shanghai1930) warmed the audience with a sultry set of numbers that loosened everybody up and put smiles on faces.



An hour later and knee deep into both the Dogpatch Saloon and the music, the whole scene came alive! Many of the areas local jazz musicians were pouring in through the doors and lookin' to sit in on the excitement.










Everybody would take turns rotating in on the set adding feeling and passion to the music.








The legendary Babatunde (a fantastic percussionist) was added to the second set and things really started jumpin'. His congo-like drums shook the floor and my chest and brought us all together. I grabbed my journal in the excitement and started drawing to the beat of the room that was being thwarted by Tomoko Funaki on bass. The place had come alive!

Greer took a nice romantice visionary solo during this set. Later I would have a nice chat with him after the gig. A possessed man dedicated to his passion. Spanish Caravan was one of the hottest numbers for the night with an extended solo by the great Babatunde... I was lucky enough to have him share a little introductory percussions lesson and technique with me during sets.


Musicians changed yet again between the second and third sets, this time featuring the Three Sax Players, and a nice vocal messaging by Linda for two numbers. The night would see a healthy third set and a wonderful closing drum-off between Vince and Babatunde calling out to each other with a dramatic and powerful peak.




A wonderful night was had by all and I definitely will be returning to see this rare and special weekly event. A jazz family reunion where sooooo much talent is packed into an affordable locals joint that yields a wonderfully intimate setting, solid drinks with housemade chilly and a wonderful musical experience that takes one back to the days of Jack Kerouac's beat generation jazz joints where the musicians came to play after hours, after their gigs, with respected friends and family.














Images: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

WONDERCON WEEKEND

This weekend's Wondercon was a wet one but was a good chance to get out of the studio and see some eye candy, buy some great rare art books, see some great artists and their work up close, catch up with some old friends I ran into and reflect on my childhood while staring at old Battlestar Gallactica actors, a Jawa, and the Hulk....

Nothing like a comic book convention to make you feel old and young at heart at the same time. My mind raced and I felt like a kid running wild and free in a candy store again... and this time with more pocket change to get in trouble with...

I arrived to Moscone Center about noon on a soggy Saturday and was looking forward to hearing an artist speak who's work I have watched develop over the last eight to ten years. Being a collector since I was a kid (go...Teen Titans), I first became aware of David Mack's Kabuki series sometime in the late nineties. I had always liked the way he used mixed medium techniques to achieve a fantastic visual storytelling approach. He developed his own character and storyline for Kabuki (while in college) and combined it with a sensitive use of watercolors, drawing, and visual composition to produced one of the most visually stunning graphic novels I've seen in the genre.

His list of accomplishments is long as he has covered many different storylines and characters including Dare Devil, the Avengers and Alias among others. In his speech he was quick to point out that most of his readers "say" they are not comic readers or collectors, which everyone had a chuckle about. But on some level I knew what that meant. For many of us who were budding artists out there in the early nineties, graphic novels became another promising avenue to making great pictures and illustrating stories with more impressive art. Technology and efficiency were getting better by the day it seemed and the early artists were taking bigger leaps in self-publishing and allowing the graphic novel medium to take it's own shape and spread it's wings with a much more painterly artistic vision.

Thanks to artists like Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean, George Pratt, Kent Williams and David Mack among many others, who have stuck by their guns, stayed true to their artistic vision, originality and haven't settled for a lesser product... the medium has grown tremendously and transcended it's predecessor... and in return they have gained many faithful readers and inspired many to enter this under-appreciated genre with a whole new vision for it's future...

It was great to talk to an innovator like David Mack in person, a great guy who is very open to sharing his thoughts, ideas and methods, and to ask him a few questions of my own. This is the purest, most wonderful and un-pretentious thing about events like Wondercon and Comiccon! A place where ideas are shared and discussed and the creators can meet face to face the people that they serve. Budding artists can have their portfolios looked at, they can meet their inspirations up close and walk away filled with hope and a few pointers that they can achieve their dreams. Both the young and the old, geeks of all age, race, creed and color (green too) can come together and truly "geek-out" about being a kid again. I know I did...




(I grew up watching this guy every friday night 7:30pm as the orginal Incredible Hulk (no C.G.) followed by the Dukes of Hazzard, and "CHIPS".... life is strange)









(when I'm angry version)








Wondercon Website --> HERE

David Mack --> HERE

David Mack Guide (fan site) --> HERE

Lou Ferrigno --> HERE
All imagery is ©Copyright Protected by their respective names and titles.

WORKING IN SERIES

One of the hardest things I have had to learn to do as a painter (not illustrator), is to work in lengthy series. Being trained in the art of illustration never left me with much attention span for working at any great length on any one subject.

In-fact usually the objective is to summarize uniquely, sweetly and with vigor and to not draw your message out over forty plus paintings (books excluded). Always being afraid that the the ever decreasing attention span of the everyday audience would most likely NOT stick around to figure out what was being said. Hit-em' hard and fast... eye candy with a powerful message. The sophistication comes in the method of delivery.

Many great illustrators and teachers like Robert Weaver would remind us of the ever more importance of CONTENT and to report on our experiences and feelings directly. Weaver did work in series as a reportage artist, but as an illustrator was not allotted the time to have any ONE series of illustrations that could run the length of his career. From what I can tell, it seems just not be in the job description or lucrative for an illustrator in his or her professional career to stay with one subject for THAT long. Styles can carry over oviously, but the message changes...

Many in the arts might consider this a negative aspect to picture making, and would cower to the looming deadlines that hang overhead. To be able to research and immerse yourself in the message immediately and tell the story in a few short images is for the brave and fearless who are quick on their toes.

But most illustrators and designers I know, accept this as an even greater challenge and for this I have always held a tremendous respect for the discipline it takes. Yes it's more constricting, YES there is less time, but YES it requires more skill and intelligence to summarize it better with less.

I once interviewed Jane Eisenstat for my thesis. Being a professor of illustration, historian and collector of the artform and lifetime artist herself, she told me this... "there are no amateur illustrators".

Though I am now much more at ease thinking as a painter these days, it took me several years to get the rhythm right to working in series with a slower softer more calculated voice. Now that I am painting as much as I'm illustrating (or all the same depending on who you ask) I have finally grown more comfortable with the idea of speaking in these terms... For those of you who know my personality this has been quite an accomplishment that I am proud of...

I have been working on my Chinatown series off and on for several years and have now added a new figurative series that will be unveiled later this year... I also have running, several smaller series I am toying with, such as my Hats and Koen series (not out yet).... There are many other ideas on the horizon as well that fall victim to time like everybody else... So much to say, so little time... and all the while, with all the other seemingly more important shit going on in the world, one is left wondering if what he does is really worth any value at all... and to whom....

ahhhh, the life of an artist....

...but alas, it's back at it, cause it's what I do...

For the smaller works and illustrations I use my trusty drafting table I have had for years and work at a much closer range.... for the larger stuff, it's upright and on my easle or the wall....

Seen here are some newer smaller Chinatown pieces I'm preparing for a show... again smaller and in-series...

Images: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher