Art of Don DeLeva

As a way of reinventing yourself you have to break down those things you thought defined you. I thought painting defined me so much that I let the world start to influence my work in order to fit in, in order to make money, in order to be understood. But the cost is too high for me to give up the one thing that makes me feel like I can make an offering to the world, my own creativity no matter how banal, ugly, and ridiculous it is. Money contorts My thinking when it comes to My Art . That being said I have only been painting sporadic late lately. I think it is because I am breaking down the my process of painting and separating it from wanting to make money from it and what it is I am really trying to capture. I know I have said this before but I thought I needed to up date this blog and this is how I feel. I will post work soon as it comes.

Yes i have been painting, this is somthing whipped up today after painting the house. It's called Bankers Shame...at this point. I am not sure it is finished. I

They say reinventing yourself is a good thing, well I agree. In the last 3 years I have felt I have been rehashing my old ideas and thoughts, focusing on Art history and the elements of Art. I decided this year to start something I felt was based in the future and the here and now. Object Oriented Programming is an art form I have not really explored so I have made it my goal to understand and learn OOP to clear out my mind and start new, as it were. This change in scope is a powerful one that has taken me out of my myself and in to the world of the present and future. I compare it to build virtual sculpture that serves a purpose. I see programming as the art it is. My goal is to dive deep in to programming and let it influence my Art. I can't wait to see what comes out. I will post as the painting come. :-)

As I design more and more websites I think more about squares. Last night I had a dream that I was rebuilding my face in CSS3 and HTML5. I remember seeing my hands, my fingers were typing out a Div tag with the Id "eyes". Once that happened I was able to see the browser version of my face and the outlines of all the boxes I had created to form the portrait of my face which was actually me alive.

The painting below. Salmon Eater spawn a new direction. Currently I am working on 5 paintings all of which have this collage of images that fade in to the next. I am excited to see what they look like when I am finished.

I have never liked the obvious, my stint with pop surrealism was an experiment with telling people what to see. I came out of it feeling hollow and like a production artist. Honestly I don't have the personality to tell people I am right and everyone else is wrong, only I know what is wrong for me. I don't mean to be cryptic and strange I just think that touching on the vague is powerful. It gives people the opportunity to own their own thoughts about what they are looking at. It is a personal goal of mine to help people find who they are and that they use my art as vehicle to prove to themselves that there vision of life is as valid as everyone else.

I don't have too much news today being I have been working for the last 10 days straight(except yesterday). I do have 4 paintings I am working on right now hopfully I will have some new work to show you in the next month.

I've been working a lot in the last few weeks. All though that means I can finaly eat it also means I haven't been bloging much. Well I have been painting quite a bit. I would say in the last4 weeks I have started 4 paintings, finished 3 worked into 3 and still have not come to a conclusion on " Salmon eater". I have been toying with the idea of leaving the thin veil of white over the image but people seem to mistake the work for not being finished. Its interesting to me how people do not seem to be intersted in coming up with there own conclusions about paintings. Poeple can be so afriad of "being wrong". I say there are some things that are meant to be made personal and my art is one of those things. So if you need more explaining I can only give you what I was thinking of at the time. If this is written wonky its because I did it from my phone and my phone does not display a cursor in this text box. Forgive. Me

This is the next progression of the Salmon Eater. A new title is starting to arise from it, Gold Lust. You can still see the original composition hasn't changed too much but the integration of the bottom part of the painting is starting to become a part of the work. I don't know if the work is finished, I like the misty quality and the sloppy suggestions of shapes that become foundations for defined images. I need to sit with it for awhile.

  I still haven't gone back to Salmon Eater, but it awaits my return. Like I said I finish the Skull, sorry I finished it in one night, Here is it. Title:Summer Nights Medium: oil on clay board Size: 5"x5" Date: 11.2010 It would be nice to say that you can see some of the original scratching or black but all is painted :-).

Title: Rebirth Medium: Acrylic on canvas Size: 4"x6" date: 11.2010

So the Skull painting is finished. I forgot so take photos of the progress while painting it. See the problem is that I finished it in one sitting, I usually take photos after each sitting. Oh well I will get it right. Salmon Eater has not been changed yet. It needed to dry a little, this time I will take pictures.

1. 2. 3. Painting 1.  is a finished painting called Salmon Eater. Painting 2. is what happens to works that sit in my studio too long. They get sanded and changed into another painting. LOL! Painting 3. This is the 3rd stage in the repainting. Notice how it is starting to look completely different. As I paint my subject changes because I really don't ever have a subject to paint this is why it is hard for me to create illustrations. My mind wanders with my immediate feelings and "findings". I paint shapes and lines or do something to the surface like scratch it. Some times those elements suggest images to me so I go with them until I get board with what I am painting and some times I end the work or end the progression of an image. I am not looking for a finished recognizable image, rather I seek the ephemeral or enigma. I am looking for that place before something becomes a materialized image or thought. I am interested in moment before you label someth

At this point you can see that I have scratched in a skull and then dripped paint over the panel. I used a very "loose" paint to drip an organic grid for me to work with. ( in the same way that bones are an organic scaffolding for the muscles.) The paint is oil, it's 1 part paint to 6 parts turpentine.  It's called lean paint because the oil has been broken down in favor of flow and dying speed. There is a process of painting called "Lean to fat", it's a process that insures that the paint will dry correctly. For now, just understand that loose paint in the beginning is really important to the longevity of the style of painting I work in, "Glazing". I will go over that in the a little later.

I have had a lot of people ask me to show them how I paint. I am going to try to answer that by taking you through a painting from start to finish. This is a photo of a piece of Masonite that used to be a scrap piece of Scratch board sitting on my easel. Some times I find things and work over them. At this point I have done nothing to the Masonite.

"16. If words are used, and they proceed from ideas about art, then they are art and not literature; numbers are not mathematics. " Sol De Witt Numbers are not mathematics in my art. They are representations of emotions mixed with mystery. They come to me as I am painting and I feel it is important to include them in the content of the work because they came to me in the creative process.

Title: Skull in Motion Medium: Oil size: 6"x 6" x.5

This is simply the most incredible video I have seeing in the last 10 years of my life. 2 of my all time heroes in life together playing one of the best songs ever! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLwhnUiNDs

SO my website is almost finished. Actually I got the front page and supplemental pages completed except the Archive and Dollhedz page. These will be finished up in the next month. I created the templates for the pages so it shouldn't take too much time once I get other work out of the way. These last 2 weeks have been crazy. I had 3 shows to put up a cold and 14 days of work in a row. That takes a lot out of you. Today is the first time back doing some painting. I have 3 new works in the studio I will photo them and give you an update.

The show at tasty went well. I sold these three paintings.

So this weekend I am getting ready to Hang at the Auburn city Court house for October. It should be a good show.

Title: Untitled Medium: Oil on panel, gold leaf Size: 42"x46" This painting is comes to me as an abstracted Mecha coming alive for the first time. Title: Untitled2 Medium: Oil on panel Size: 28"x36" I have this thing for abstracting skulls, it's a reference to the fact that our bones supports a bio machine that runs a spirit. The abstracted shapes and colors are the live with in the scaffolding of the bio machine.

Title: 12 Medium: oil on wood, gold leaf. Here is one of the first pieces I painted this year. It's had 3 shows this year. 2 in Seattle and one in Portland. It has one more show before the year is over. You can see the earlier stages of this painting in an earlier blog. It was originally two paintings that I painted over and bolted together.

It's been along time since I gave you any updates at all. I am really sorry about that. I have had a lot of things going on, most of them have centered around the art of computer graphics and Flash. For those of you that think I have given up on my quest for truth and using my freedom of expression, I say to you Have more faith in me! Flash and code only add to my skills of fine art. You will see the results of this soon with my short movies. It takes money and reinvention to be good at what you do, these are the things I have been working on. They insure that I paint as honest as I can. Last year I found myself starting to lean towards selling painting to make ends meet. That became painfully obvious that I have a limited audience for my fine art. Since honesty is the only thing we have in this world I have decided to preserve mine and paint what comes from my head and heart. Computer graphics is my business. It is the money maker that keeps my art honest, it is my way of in vi

So this year in October I have 2 big shows, one is at the City of Auburn Galleries and the second is at the La Familia gallery. I just got the 2010 city of Auburn gallery announcement in the mail, its always sweet to see your work in print when some one else prints it. ToooT ToooT. I am starting a plan for a redesign of my website. So it might be a little while before I list new work. Stay tuned

Here is some news, I had a painting accepted into the CVG gallery show in Bremerton, curated by Gary Faigin. The painting is "Psycho and Zephretti" oil on panel. I have a photo of it at my website. www.dondeleva.com . The show will be on up in February. I all so got a show at the Georgetown Limited Gallery in Seattle for July. Proceeds support the TheyShallWalk.org . I swear I have some work finished I just have to find the time to shoot it. Its coming!

Aqua went AWESOME! It's so good to have work on the east coast. Next year Aqua, I will send larger work, ( more money!). The La Familia Gallery is working out to be a good place to show and the people are great. I think this year I will concentrate on showing in Washington State. I would love to have a gallery in Grays Harbor or La Connor. I am also going to do more fine art fairs and less craft fairs. I had a great run of craft fairs this year it showed me what the game is about, now I need to take my work to the fine art audience.

This has been a great year, I have had a lot of shows! I showed in Miami Basil at Aqua, I got 2 galleries and entertained my illustration ideas. This year also put in to prospective where I want to go with my work. If anything, I learned my abstract side is an important part of my art. In 2010 I plan to focus back on my abstracts with a new muse. In one way I feel I left my collectors wondering "What the hell is he doing?" All I have to say is, some times you have to step outside yourself to see yourself, you know forest from the trees? By doing this I didn't come away with any "New Vision". What I came away with is the reaffirmation of why I painted in the first place. This year I got to play the "Celebrity Painter" by attending fairs and being out in the public. I also got to paint with quantity as a goal. The experience helped me to understand where to place dollhedz in my work, it also helped me to take my interest in OOP computer programming to

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

title: Stag Dream title: Raven Dream title: Cupie and the Raven The Above paintings will be showing at 2009 Aqua, Miami, Fl. Busy Busy This week, I went to Portland to hang a show, then I when to Oly to hang a show, then I brought 6 paintings to La Familia gallery, 3 going to an auction, 3 going to Aqua, then I have a holiday show at the Mourning Market, then I have 9 5x5s to paint along with a 4'x5' painting for the Gallery Zero, and then the Fremont market. Thing are going good.

I saw a stag last night. I talked to a raven on a wire I fell back ward on tilted slowly to let the rain in my mouth. Now, I am no longer. Thank gawd for jumper cables I was out of juice.

I was at the Sunday Market in Fremont this weekend, it was like a dream. It was cold the whole day because I was in the shade, the light seemed to be perpetually 10:00 am. I talked to a lot of people that needed to tell me things, 3 people in particular. It was like talking to people in dreams, everything seemed to have a deeper meaning. It was a long day from 5:18am to 12:42 pm, but it felt some how I passed threw gates or passed a test... It was good day.

What a month! I felt the key turn just a little. 1. I have a gallery in Seattle. It's the La Familia gallery in the TK building. I have been working on getting a Seattle gallery for the last 14 years. Some people don't have to work so hard, to them I say; Good for you, now its my turn and I am ready as all hell. 2. I got into the Mourning Market October 18th at Motor in Seattle, 1950 1st Ave. This should be a great show for my Dia Del Los Muertos work. 3. I'll be showing in at the Little Olympia Theater in November for a play called "the Geek". 4. I have decided to set up a small gallery at the Fremont Market. My goal is to be there year round. For the last 2 months I have been at the Ballard and Fremont market, I decided to be consistant at the Fremont market, so come see me. 5. There is a chance I will be going and showing at the Miami Basil Aqua. I will keep you up to date on that. 6. In November I will be in a group a show at the Gallery Zero in Portland.

I saw through fog some shimer of gold the light in my eyes old as the night so hard to keep the balance from dark and light this icicles hang from the chimney with care soon in hope that air will be there. I looked further in to the light All I saw was the rabid glow of foggy steel foggy gray steel like the after glow of a large fire in midday. I walked passed the flames in to the Davey Grey dawn I am still walking but at least my mind is more quiet.

Crazy Crazy, boy have I been going through some change. I almost don't know if my name is DeLeva any more, lol. So as of last week I have finally landed a gallery in Seattle, the La familia gallery. YEAH!!! I will keep you up to date with that, I might even be going to Miami Aqua this year. Today I am headed to the Fremont market to show off some new paintings and check out the crowds. On October 3 Ill be at the Mourning market with my Dollhedz, this should be fun. I'll keep you up on that.

Been a little lets see what I have been up to: 1. Take down show from Corridor gallery 2. Put up show at Zero Gallery Portland 3. Saw some Huskies win 4. When shooting with my lady and her father. 5. Working on a commission for 1800-Autopsy 6. work at Utrecht 7. 4 paintings for Clay Brom gallery Salulita MEX 8. one 3'x5' painting for Zero Gallery 9. getting ready for the Mourning Market at the Motor pub George town October 18 10. Ballard and Fremont Sunday market 11. Group show in Fremont in November. 12. Show a show at the Olympia Little Theatre set for November. As of today, I think that's it for the next few months? Who knows. I am Busy, so don't get mad if its hard to get me to do anything in the next few weeks LOL! I will try to post a little more. I got some new paintings on the way.

Portland was good. Their was a good turn out of people and some good art. I didn't get photos because I forgot to take my camera, but there should be plenty of other show because the Gallery Zero has asked me to show more work with them. The Gallery Zero is located in Portland's Belmont district which is just north of Hawthorn. Forget about your typical white painted walls, the inside is painted black and red which can be seen half a block away. I love the red walls it makes my work jump out at you. I am currently working on a new painting for Zero's next show. Ill keep you up to date.

Title: Bee Medium: Oil on wood panel size: 8"x10" I took down my show from the Corridor Gallery today. I always love showing in Pioneer Square. First Thursday always brings large crowds and downtown Seattle attracts the art collectors. Next I bring my work to Portland for a group show at the Gallery Zero. This looks like it is going to be a great show with all new artists. I will be there for First Friday so if your down there come and buy me a Cognac and meet some good artists. I will try to get some photos.

Here is what I have been up to in the studio for the last 2 weeks. This is called Jax Rabbit. It's an oil painting on wood panel 20"x20". It will be showing in Portland at the Gallery Zero. Hope you show.

Here is the Group show in Portland. I will have 4 paintings in this show. It should be a great, one Come see it!

The Corridor gallery show went well, lots of people stopped in. I love watching the crowds, being a fly on the wall is one of my favorite things to do. Honest reactions are like diamonds in the grass. Currently I am working on the 4th painting for The Gallery Zero show in Portland. Last night I finish painting #3. Jax Rabbit . I will post it as soon as I get photos of it. On to the next

We hung the work today, I have a lot of small paintings in this show. At first I thought the space was too large for my small paintings until Lynn helped me realized my paintings need a lot of breathing room. I usually smash all my work together so you can't get a good look at each individual piece. Out of the 3 shows with Corridor this one looks the best. TNX Lynn, I love the way this show looks. It's really good to get outside your work and see it out of the context of your studio and look at it as a spectator. More to follow after first Thursday. De Leva

I would love to see you at the Corridor Gallery August 6th from 5 to 9 pm This is work from the last 6 months, the paintings are the result of going back to my roots.

Wow, was it HOT with no breeze, it made for a long fair. Sunday was the good day, the best part of Sunday was people where talking about Leviathan, the second was that I sold "Grave decision" to one of the few female grave diggers in this state. :-). That is my favorite kind of sell, like when I sold Copernicus to a Mathematician. Any way its time for me to get ready for my Corridor galley show. De Leva...OUT!

Boy Bellevue is HOT in the 90s easy. Not large crowds but lots of families. Not much to say from my end except I got a lot of dollhedz.com hits, that's about it. I don't think my demo is here and if they are they ain't stepp'en up.

Yesterday saw small crowds, scouts no doubt for today. I have no doubt that today is going to be hopping and hot, 9o degrees or so. Justin Hillgrove, my fair mentor and booth partner, did pretty well. His work is on the mark, great color irresistible images and all around fun. Here is a link to his work: http://www.impsandmonsters.com We are located in the International Jeweler's parking lot, 8th and Bellevue way. Hope to see you there.

Last night was the set up for the Bellevue art fair, in down town Bellevue amidst the sky scrapers and commerce. Justin Hillgrove and I are in the International Jewelers parking lot. I feel like we are in Orange County, SoCal, we are just missing the surfers and valley girls. Anyway, this show should be good. Ill keep you posted.

Link: http://www.artaccess.com/images.cgi?m=1&p=91 Here's a link to my Show at the at CORRIDOR GALLERY in Pioneer Square Seattle, it's on first Thursday august 6, from 6:oo to 9:oo. See you catz there.

I wanted to thank Monika Cassidy for purchasing " Surrealist " at the Museum of Northwest Art annual auction. Thank you for adding me to your collection.