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First Saturday each month Dan is hosting an open studio figure drawing group at Inspire Fine Art Center. For a door fee of $15 you can draw with us. We start at 10am and draw until 12. All he needs is a heads up if you are attending. If there are less than four artists we use a free clothed volunteer. If we have four we can use a professional figure model. Walkins are welcome. They just don't add to the count. Bring your own materials. We are up the stairs in the studio area. Address is 200 Queen Anne, San Antonio, Texas.

I have a new series starting this winter. I haven't named it yet. It will be figurative (duh). I have already finished two photo shoots to prep for it. The idea is to have the figures in a monochomatic scheme. Each will be either in motion or in a pose that shows alot of tension. Feel free to suggest a title. The feeling is high energy.
(later that year)
Anyone would agree art is all about evolution. The extensive photography has evolved into photography driven digital art. I have thoroughly enjoyed the work. The talented young men who did the modeling have not only been used on this site but also on Sunset Road Fitness Photography.
Not to say that I will never paint from this body of work. I will. But winter has past. And I'm not making any promises.

The Ebony series is a product of a social dynamic in the US from my perspective. Late one night during a visit with my daughter. The question was asked, "Why this subject? What is your attraction to this culture?" My answer unfolded like an internet streaming video. Later (about 1:00am) I started typing that explanation for you. It seemed to work better in poetry than narrative. Here it is. Maybe the images will make more sense after you read.


ebony explained
dan mcbain 2010


talk to me my friend and help me understand.
how it is my country and my education
have helped me love you as a man.

why is it, my friend, when I move toward you,
to hear you speak,
I look for the joy felt when your humanity
becomes clear seconds into the grasp of your hand?

a hundred fifty years has changed our hearts,
our laws, our minds, this land.
still every generation witnessed the one before.

will my child and yours be the ones to discover
true zero, no impressions to dispel with acquaintance?

sadly I feel we share the faint evidence of fears
held before our time.
I find myself wishing to remove your fears
along with my own.

so is it our nature, yours and mine, to be most comfortable
with our own? is it that mystery of someone different that is
so powerful, so beautiful? or is the beauty real?