GUARDIAN ANGEL

Before anymore time flies by I have to lay this down once and for all. I love this man's work! In more times than I can count I have found myself up late painting and listening to movies (yeah it's what I do when I paint) only to be brought to a grinding hault by this man's performance. Let me say right here and now that I love Paul Giamatti! He is my favorite actor at the moment and is the best I have seen in a long time. He is a master of his craft. While far from your glamorous physic or stature, Mr. Giamatti delivers a very real portrayal of almost every character he takes on. His character portrayal of "Miles" in Sideways is legendary and has become that comfy blanket in the middle of the night that reminds me no matter how pathetic I may feel at times in my life there is someone that can relate... As "Harvey Pekar" in American Splendor, his slouching neurotic performance was about as close as you could get to the man himself. And no one will ever forget PIG-VOMIT in Howards Stern's Private Parts! His recent performance in The Illusionist was a bit different but equally solid and it's nice to see him branching out. Last but definitely not least you got to catch him as "Cleveland Heap" in M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water. This is a different story but you must watch it more than once to really get the underlying message. Here Mr. Giamatti gives us the depth and range of character that he can deliver and to date, is the most real crying scene on screen yet. Deep down something inside me resonates with that middle-aged, pudgy, slouching, slightly neurotic, heart-broken, crazy-eyed, struggling artist, stewing-in-his-own-pathetic-juices, gentle, honest to a fault guy-on-the-street just trying get by. It's in the eyes! I can watch a Giamatti movie any time and always come away feeling better. Thank you Mr. Giamatti! I can't wait to see what you will do next...

Image: ©Copyright 2007 Trey Gallaher
To see the full painting --> Giamatti Angelica

VENTURING OUT

Last Saturday I took the painting club (from school) out for another great day of plein-air painting practice, only this time to Redwood Park in the East Bay hills behind Oakland. Having been there one time before myself, I was anxious to get back to the forest with some pastels and paint the beautiful fern-lined trails through the giant redwoods.









We met at the school first and car-pooled over with six of us. One of the great things about the Bay Area is you can be in such a different climate and environment in less than a half-hour drive.















My fellow instructor at the Art Institute of California-San Francisco Barry Ebner, met up with us shortly and we began our trek into the park. We gradually staked out our claims along the trail and started working. Everyone was working in different mediums and on different surfaces, but soon the marks filled the page.






© Copyright 2007 Erin Rice >






< ©Copyright 2007 Jose Rene Ramirez






©Copyright 2007 Trey Gallaher >







< ©Copyright 2007 Jesse Quijalvo








©Copyright 2007 Brandon Jones>





We finished the afternoon up as the sun slowly crawled across the sky and headed west behind the ridge. We surveyed our work and discussed our victories and losses. What I continue to experience every time I set out to do plein-air painting is the incredible rush of excitement and peace that comes over me simultaneously as I begin to draw out the landscape in front me. I can hear the birds chirping, the water rushing, the gentle breeze against my skin, and all of the delicate and subtle sounds of nature that one misses when simply hiking through. When you stop to open your other senses, not just your eyes, you experience a more complete sense of your surroundings, and for a while I feel at harmony and balanced with the earth as my charcoal glides across the paper sculpting out the world before me. I feel at ease.

Images: ©Copyright 2007 by there noted creators
Photos: ©Copyright 2007 Trey Gallaher

BIG NIGHT OUT

The night started early as I made my way up Polk Street towards the STUDIO Gallery. Living in the neighborhood it is a matter of blocks. I had been looking forward to this group show and to meeting some of the great artists that I am showing with. I haven't been with this gallery too long but I am really enjoying working with Jennifer and Rab the owners. The show ran from 4-8pm and was quite full. Several good friends of mine and a few students showed up too. It was great to see some familiar faces mixed in with some new friends.


After several hours of cheeses, crackers and the usual fair, my friends and I cut over to the nearby sushi joint SUSHI ROCK, and it ROCKED!!! We dusted off numerous roles and beer and good times were had by all. Now the night was just gettin started as my friends and I after finishing our feast made haste to Union Square about six blocks away just over Nob Hill in time to catch the tail end of the Chinese New Year Parade. It is one of the things I look forward to the most every year living in San Francisco.























We arrived in Union Square about twenty minutes later just in time to get a great standing view of the parade. It was a festive scene and my friends and I eased our way to the front. Check out the pics. Not the best here but then it was dark with lots of movement (the worst scenerio ever) but you can still kind get the feel. 2007 YEAR OF THE BOAR!!!! Although these little piggies didn't look so tuff, more like Wilbur!


It was a nice night out on the town and the weather held up for the first time in quite a long time. It always seems to rain on the Chinese New Year Parade but not this year, in fact it was clear and warm and the spirits were high.





















An hour later we were all a bit hard of hearing and having been smoked out of our brains from all the firecrackers, we headed for the a local cafe around the corner for coffee and to catch up a bit more.


































Before too long the hours ticked away and I found myself itching to get back to my studio to paint. It's late but I have always found a comfort in those late night hours that really allows me to work. I have two jobs to work on this weekend and I have a lot to be thankful for, so I am giving a big "THANK YOU" to the Big-Guy up-stairs for blessing me. It's gonna be a good year!
Images: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

SOMETIMES FASTER IS BETTER

This was a piece I was working on a while back, a study I thought I might take to more of a finish at some point. I like the peaceful introspective feeling it implies with a slightly voyeuristic manor. I am always trying to work looser, and I found an interesting balance between naturalistic lighting and expressive line work with broad gestural paint strokes. Sometimes faster is better.




Image: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher
18x24in. pencil and oil on bristol

WHEN NOT TO PAINT

When you can't make it any cuter than the original! This is our newest family member Klaus. He makes me laugh out-loud, that deep down giggling response to something in life so naturally wonderful, warm and pure.
Photo: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher

AN OLD FRIEND

I do a lot of demos for class and the painting club at school. Whenever I get a chance I try to sneak in another drawing or painting of my favorite writer and poet Jack Kerouac, "Jackie Delouz" as he refers to himself in his semi autobiographical novels. A great writer of immeasurable influence in my life and I owe it all to my childhood buddy Kevin who grew up across the street who one day late in our high school years turned to me and said, "hey man, you should read this novel... its called On the Road". That is where my mad love-affair for the Beats all started. Kerouac and his writing have been a constant soundtrack playing in my head for the last seventeen years.
Image: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher
11x14in. acrylic on illustration board

A GRAND DAY OUT

Last August a fellow teacher Barry Ebner and I took the Painting Club from the Art Institute of California on a field trip to the Marin Headlands. The goal was to take a stab at plein-air painting. Barry, an experienced hand at the traditional artform, gave us an inspiring demo the previous week leaving everyone filled with anticipation. Most of these students were relatively new to painting in general, let alone the long respected tradition of painting outdoors (which can be tricky negotiating the environment and weather). We had a grand afternoon and club members did a fabulous job for their first time out. It was a typical gray August morning along the San Francisco coast but that didn't slow our excitement. We arrived around 11am and after scouting-out the local terrain, we soon staked our individual claims along a network of pathways that creep over and around the scenic sea-side cliffs. Two hours later we shared our works, played a little frisbee and headed back to the city. It was great fun. Check'em out...

©Copyright 2006 Allison Brown
9x12in.
watercolor on paper.










©Copyright 2006 Elizabeth Rodriguez
18x24in.
acrylic on canvas.







©Copyright 2006 John Middleton
14x17in.
watercolor on paper.









©Copyright 2006 Jesse Quijalvo
18x24in.
acrylic on canvas.






©Copyright 2006 Simone Mitchell
14x17in.
watercolor on paper.






©Copyright 2006 Barry Ebner
16x24in.
oil on wood panel.








©Copyright 2006 Trey Gallaher
14x17in.
pastel on paper.

GENTHE'S GIRL

Arnold Genthe was one of the first (if not the first) westerners to capture images of the first Chinatown and Chinese people in America, San Francisco in the late 1800's. What is interesting is the covert and secretive way he captured a lot of the images using a pin-hole camera (the local chinese were fearful of having their photos taken). His photographs are now a national treasure and were part of the inspiration for my painting series on Chinatown. There is a book you should check out called Genthe's Photographs of San Francisco's Old Chinatown, it is truly one of my treasures. The images will haunt you and take you back to a different time and place. This study I did directly from one of Genthe's photographs of this worker-child who already looks well beyond her years.
image: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher
photograph: Arnold Genthe
9x12in. gouache and acrylic on bristol

COLOR COMPS

Every once in a while a color solution doesn't always seem so obvious. I like scanning in my drawing and working up a couple of variations using Photoshop. It can be fast and informative when establishing a color-cast,values and contrast for the final painting. I still love natural mediums for the finish but the power of the digital tool can be a time saver in the preliminary stages. Here you can see where I scanned in my drawing and produced a digital color comp. It inspired me in a few areas that I took to the finished painting.
Click here to see the finished piece --> "The Bachelor"
Image: ©Copyright Trey Gallaher
9.5x12in. mixed medium on bristol

DECODING THE PAST: SHROUD OF TURIN

About a year ago a colleague of mine at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco and I were asked to be part of a documentary that would appear on the History Channel series Decoding the Past featuring the Shroud of Turin. Jumping at the chance to work with the History Channel, my partner Alex Peter and I flew to Los Angeles to meet with the film crew, animators and Barrie Schwortz one of the leading experts on the Shroud of Turin. We were immediately thrown into the project and asked to help visualize the Shroud's controversial yet faint and distinct image. After careful observation and analysis with Mr. Schwortz, I embarked on a series of drawings that would be used by the animators in their attempt to render the figure digitally in three dimensions. The difficulty in this challenge for me was to produce drawings that depicted the body in various positions and angles using only the FLAT two dimensional information that is cast in the Shroud itself. This took all my knowledge of human anatomy and matching it carefully with ONLY the data provided by high-resolution shots taken by Mr. Schwortz from the Shroud years earlier. It was a fun project that spanned several months and took many hours of careful drawing and study. For a brief moment I felt kinda like Indiana Jones(in an artist kind of way). I did a total of seven drawings of the head and full body. Here are three drawings of the head. Only one drawing made it on the "air" but all were used faithfully in the three dimensional sculpt made by the animators.
Image: ©Copyright 2005 Trey Gallaher. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
11x14in. conte on paper
Barrie Schwortz's Shroud Website --> HERE
Alex Peter's Website --> HERE