Art of Don DeLeva

Well its been a month... 10 days in Sayulita Mexico were I painted 6 paintings in the sun and pool. Tuff? yes! You try to be in paradise and work. I really can't call it work since I love painting. :-) So here is a run down of this month. I had: Solo / Little Olympia Theater, "Architect dream" Group / Gallery Zero, Portland OR., "Big Ass Art!" Group / Art Not Terminal, Seattle WA., "Rock the Terminal" Group / Fremont Abey, Seattle WA. Here is the work I did: 3 paintings for Aqua Miami Basel 9 paintings for the 5x5 show at La Familia Gallery 2 commission painting for private collectors 1 personal oil painting for my private collection Fremont Sunday market. That's quite a bit of work for being on vacation and still having 9 days left in the month. Well on a different note, you know when you go on a vacation for more then 5 days, you start to loose sense of yourself because you have to see yourself in relations to the new surroundings, eve...

Here in Mexico, with my acrylics, sun, water, roosters, fish , tacos... yeah I know, you think this is all fun agames but let me tell you I have finished 4 full paintings since I got here 3 days ago. One of the local galleries, Clay-Brom, has asked to show my paintings. It just so happens I have painting with me. So I guess I know am an international artist. Anyway i will upload some photos of Sayulita soon.

I am starting to work a lot in Acrylics, mainly because of drying time and and durability. If you don't know, oils take at least 6 months to a year to dry to the touch. Then they can take up to another year or so to completely cure. Once the work is cured the oil film is very sensitive to scratches and dust. Since I started doing markets and fairs, I have had to transport my work and subject it to the outdoors, rain, dust and constant handling, besides the transport. Acrylic seems to be able to stand up to mild wear and tear. My true love is oils and it will take some time before I fully understand acrylics, however my acrylics are teaching me a lot about oil. Next year I am looking into traveling to the Southwest and maybe the Midwest for some art fairs. It's time I take the my work outside of Northwest. LA and SF would be closer but people tell me Santa Fe and Austin are the places I should go to show my work. Who knows, I won't know till I get out there. Well, I am ...