Terrain, Travels, and Trails
Painting in Oregon, upcoming shows, gouache class recap
Happy April everyone! If things look a little different around here, it’s because I have again switched newsletter platforms. It’s a tough world out there, and it turns out Substack is much more evil than I knew. Thanks to Maia Kobabe for eir post making me aware of the situation. The folks at Buttondown made the migration easy, and you can still read all of my archives here!
Last month, I told you about the first half of my gouache class with Kate Rado, which was focused on still life painting. You can go read that one to learn how we taught choosing a composition and starting a painting. Unfortunately, I was sick for our scheduled second day, painting plein air in Washington Square Park. Kate did a fantastic job on their own, and I scheduled a second make-up day. That gave the students another opportunity to come out and have a guided painting session.
Everyone did a fantastic job, even though we got a little bit rained on.
The next show at STUDIO Gallery is called Terrain and is all about California and Bay Area landscapes. My friend Mila Kirillova’s painting of the Great Highway is the postcard image for the show! Though that piece is quite large, it started as a small plein air study that we painted side by side from atop Sutro Heights Park on a remarkably clear day about a year ago. My smaller piece (pictured below) from that same day is also in the show!
When we painted it, the Great Highway was not the hot-button topic that it has become. It’s shocking to me how angry people can get when it comes to car sovereignty, especially over a stretch of road that is inevitably becoming part of the beach one day, and has been closed part time for years now. Someone was so angry, in fact, that they vandalized Emily Fromm’s mural celebrating the Sunset neighborhood, despite that action doing nothing whatsoever to restore car traffic to the Great Highway.
I have three more exhibitions coming up, all first time places for me! The first, WORDY, opens this Thursday evening at Mini Bar, an appropriately tiny neighborhood spot on Divisadero.
Though I haven’t previously exhibited at Madrone Art Bar, I am extremely familiar with it because I’m there every Tuesday running figure drawing with Sketchboard. We are excited to have our first show at Madrone opening on May 1st, with the celebration running from 6-9pm that night! At both Mini Bar and Madrone, I am showing something different from my usual plein air gouache paintings; figure drawing collages.
Also coming up soon is the annual Potrero Hill Artists’ Exhibition, which I qualify for now that I work down the hill at ARCH! I love the library, so I am delighted to be part of this. I put in a recent painting from the neighborhood featuring (surprise) Sutro Tower. To see more of my paintings and drawings of Sutro Tower over the years, check out my February newsletter!
Prints of this painting are currently available at Queer Arts Featured in the Castro!
“The Potrero Hill Artists' Exhibition is purportedly the longest running annual art show in San Francisco. The show began in 1955, organized by the late Charles Farr and a group of other neighborhood artists. They helped save the branch from imminent closure. Continuing their legacy and vision, Potrero Branch Staff are elated to host the exhibition once more. The night will include live music, light refreshments, craft projects for young children, and the opportunity to meet our local artists while taking in the beautiful view. The exhibition will be on view May 20th-July 27th.”
I’ve been out of town recently on my annual(ish) visit to Newport, Oregon to visit my grandparents. I like to take this opportunity as a painting retreat. It’s exciting to be in a different environment and take the time to experiment, explore, and improve.
It’s also interesting returning to the same subject time and time again. Here’s my recent painting of Newport’s iconic bridge versus one I did several years ago:
In this comparison, I see a lot of improvement in simplification, atmospheric perspective, and value control. I’m excited about the direction my work is moving in!
Mark your calendars for April 27th: CROONERS Takes You By Storm! This month’s theme will be songs about weather and change.
I recommend this show every month because it’s my favorite night of the month, and I want it to be successful so that I can keep enjoying it forever. Check out the website for photos from past shows and more info!
Thank you for joining me for another month! While you await the next newsletter, you can check out my website to see my portfolio of plein air paintings, still lifes, block prints, figure drawings, tiny model houses, murals, and you can also find information on commissions! Please feel welcome to email me (just respond here!) and ask about any ideas you have that aren’t covered on my commission page, I’m always willing to discuss.
Stay tuned for next month, and let me know what you’d like to hear about in the newsletter in the future.
Lastly, as always, here's Ruby!
-Nathaniel J. Bice
he/him