Ray At Night is a monthly arts event on Ray St., in the North Park neighborhood of San Diego. It’s a big party, but with culture: galleries, music, food, and freaky people, looking at art and imbibing the refreshments and snacks.

I got there somewhat late this time. The crowd was thin tonight for some unknown reason. Met some friends – Jill, Pasha and Dave – at the “Tiki Bar” in the backyard of one of the galleries. Only had a twenty for the $2 donation for the plastic cup of Dos Equis beer, and she gave me $14 in change (I discovered later). Ah well at least it tasted good.

Went over the Andrea Rushing’s gallery - sort of an obligation to make an appearance, since I had two paintings up there. Saw people looking at one of my paintings that always attracts interest – “Girl With A Cosmic Outlook (after Vermeer)” – and got a photo of one of them:

Viewer looks at "Girl With A Cosmic Outlook (after Vermeer)" (click to enlarge)

Jill and I were hungry and I felt like pizza, so we wandered over to Florencia’s Pizza around the corner. I ordered a 10″ Hawaiian Pizza. It wasn’t bad (nothing spectacular) and I was hungry enough to eat three pieces (I’ll write a review for Yelp.com).

Jill was tired, but before leaving, I had to pop into the San Diego Art Department where I used to take classes, and take a few shots of Jim Stewart’s show (click on images to enlarge).

Jim was almost always there in the studio working on one of these nudes when I was working on paintings. He likes to paint colorful, impressionistic nudes. It was nice to see the body of work he’s built up. His oeuvre. He has a unique use of color which I always enjoyed, and I respect his dedication. In the past he’s always painted his women from the back, with their face hidden. His latest painting shows the woman’s face, and the face is nicely done:

"Valeria, Reclining" by Jim Stewart (click to enlarge)