Studio Visit with Drew Macias

Originally recorded June 11, 2022.

George Irwin of Western Gallery visits with Drew Macias for a wide-ranging conversation about the artist’s work, process, and studio practice.

Transcript note: Speaker labels were assigned from the source audio where available and dialogue context otherwise. Paragraph breaks were added for readability, and verbal filler was lightly edited. Joint labels mark rapid or overlapping exchanges. This was prepared from an automated transcription, so minor transcription errors may remain.

Instagram Live studio visit—June 11, 2022

Watch the original video on Instagram (35:06)

Participants: George Irwin and Drew Macias

George Irwin: All right, take two. George Irwin here with Western Gallery we're gonna be talking to Drew Macias today Hopefully if I can get my technology to work I think people are going to be tuning in here Thanks for thanks for coming back y'all. We're gonna give this another shot and

Drew Macias: I don't know if Drew's on here yet. There he is. Alright, I'm waving at him. Maybe that will help us with the

George Irwin: I don't know the Instagram gods.

Drew Macias: All right, yeah, the phone works. I don' t know why it works. The other thing doesn't work.

George Irwin: Hey Drew! How's it going? That iPad, that iPad of yours, got updated or something.

Drew Macias: Yeah, no kidding. I think maybe that's the issue though. I think it did update and now it's like giving me trouble. I used to do this on that frequently, but that's okay.

George Irwin: Good to see you! Am I pronouncing your last name correctly by the way? Yeah, I'm going to see us. I've heard a lot of things throughout the years. Cool. Did the baseball announcers get it right? You know what, I have a funny story where actually I remember going into spring training one year and I get to the Big League Clubhouse and my jersey was spelled wrong. They put Macias they added an R to it. Nice. But yeah for sure. A lot of different Macias. For for some reason a lot of Macias, Messias, Macias, Macias.

Drew Macias: Well, Macias it is though. All right, Drew. Well cool. This is, it's cool to see you've got like some other portraits behind you and...

George Irwin / Drew Macias: Yeah, this is a studio tour I guess so do you...

George Irwin: Yeah, do you wanna show us around first

Drew Macias: and then we can start to chat a little bit about Yeah, sure.

George Irwin / Drew Macias: So basically I got a great understanding girlfriend who let me turn our kitchen into my little

George Irwin: studio. So over here it used to actually be our dinner table, it's just me and her.

Drew Macias: Oh wow!

George Irwin: Never used it. And so at first I took over the dinner table and then I was like I need more space, I need more storage. And so I went out and bought this cool

Drew Macias: drafting table, and threw it right in the middle of our

George Irwin: kitchen. So yeah, just took it over.

Drew Macias: You know, whatever works you know that's that's one of the things is like, you know, if anywhere you can find a spot if you love to do it then you'll find the spot.

George Irwin / Drew Macias: Yeah. No, it definitely gets the job done. I enjoy it. Cool. So Drew, I was mentioning my first attempt.

Drew Macias: Oh sorry, I think we're having like a little bit of a connection delay. So maybe we can... Yeah let's try and be aware of that I guess. So, I was talking like I think the first time I tried to do this live a minute ago on the iPad, I was saying that you're relatively dove back into doing fine art or started for the first time. I'm not sure which.

George Irwin: Can you tell us a little bit about your...

Drew Macias: I know professionally you were playing baseball and then you were with the Padres for a for a little bit and then you were acting for a little bit, and then you found your way into being more serious about drawing and painting. And I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit about if you've always had the fine art kind of

George Irwin: pull or if this is something you discovered? Well, I definitely have always drawn. Growing up it was more, I did a lot of cartoons throughout baseball and I always like characterize teammates and teachers and different things like that. Definitely always been attracted to art for some there's just certain things that just you know I'd see certain paintings and I just sit and look at it and you know for the longest time especially even growing up I remember almost knowing how much time it took for that artist to do that. It kind of was a little daunting and I thought yeah, I would love to be able to do it. I just don't know if I could do that and then I think the best thing that was probably the best part of the pandemic was all of a sudden had a bunch of time and that's kind of when it was like I started really getting more into like I don't

George Irwin: want to draw cartoons anymore. I want to you know kind of move this direction and then it's just kind of gotten, I just got kind of obsessed with it. And it's like a daily thing and it's really been, you know, it's been, it's just that's been the fun part of just watching it grow from like what I originally posted. Um, but I was so proud of in the beginning to what I'm doing now.

Drew Macias: So That's awesome. I mean, It's, I feel like, uh, you've, you've shown like that you have like a kind of an innate talent understanding for it and then you've really developed that over the years. I think you're a great example of somebody who entered New Western Talent last year, I think even with some drawings and the jury didn't jury you in for whatever reason but this year it was you know you got juried right in with your three portraits so that's exciting to not only kind of like see that progression but then also to see you know some kind of payoff of it I guess or recognition is a better way to say it. So that's cool that's kind of what happens so nice work. I know that also like you have been, did you kind of find some mentors

George Irwin: through Instagram or elsewhere that you've been studying with? Yeah, I so originally I remember one of the first artists I came across he's up in Northern Cal or middle part of North guys name was Kenny Keys. And he it was like one of the first kind of Western yeah and I remember I just reached out to him and or maybe he commented or something I remember maybe he was like the first kind of other artist who started following me after stuff that I was drawing. And so I remember, I just got in contact with them started asking about you know, know, what I would need. And he was just a cool dude and he, he kind of gave me a whole list. I have a whole you know, of what you need do this that and so you know we kind of kept in touch and we still keep in touch now. So that was great. And that kind of just pushed me along. And then I was lucky

George Irwin: enough that when I'm not painting, I actually teach kids to hit. And one of my lessons was studies now playing at UCLA He his uncle is Michael Cassidy. So it just was like the most perfect Yeah, I was like The most perfect because it's like exactly where you know I kind of saw myself kind of the art that I'm drawn to and so throughout, you know once Kathleen his sister Jack's mom Once she started understanding like oh you like to draw or you like To draw a Cowboys and then and then she's like my brother does that it just so happened It was Mike like Cassidy and so So, you know, I reached out to him and it just started off as like kind of like a slow little thing. And, you now even looking back, I'm embarrassed. But again, I mean, I just the drawings that I would originally send in, you know what I mean? And he was cool enough to just kind of give me tech, hey, go get this book, check out

George Irwin: this different techniques of drawing. And then probably about August of last year, he invited me up to his place and I stayed there for like four days and he just gave me a crash course on painting. And that was it now. And then he released me into the wild.

Drew Macias: That's so cool. That's, that's so cool, Drew. I mean, I think that being able to connect with other artists and you know, from them is, you know, that's like the age old way of learning to do, you know, fine art and artisanal crafts and everything. Like be apprenticeship almost but... And I'm not saying that you were like a apprentice, you now, but to get those kind of like tips from someone who knows what they're doing, not only just like the, you know, the knowledge and technical stuff that you pick up. But even just seeing somebody doing it in a more established way can be like inspiring and in a great way and give you kind of a vision for what you want to do too. That's really awesome.

George Irwin: Yeah, it was to watch him move around and I'm a visual learner. Like if you can show me just show me a couple of times and then my brain kind of processes that. So it was really cool to just you know see, again him and I are so much alike in and outside like just the way he is but it's not you know it was so gritty and let's just get this work done and it was amazing. It was really cool thing to watch.

Drew Macias: Cool. Cool. So you have kind of gravitated right to doing portraits.

George Irwin: Is that, do you think that came out of just doing like caricatures of your

Drew Macias: teammates and stuff or what draws you to doing portraits of all these characters?

George Irwin: Yeah I think so. I mean obviously everybody's like hey draw me, you know, so it's always you always have to obviously start with their face. So and I think I don't want to just like get locked in. I feel like that's just where I'm at right now. Like I want to understand the face and then I'm slowly going to move down here and then you know eventually I want go up to I'm gonna go back up to Bend and do more like landscape stuff and kind of learn that what how we you know just kind of how he sees things. But, you know right now I'm just having a good time doing that. Like just I see a face, I see an interesting face and I want to see especially now like these new paintings in the beginning I was really sketching a lot and now I am trying to get more of like I just wanna draw only with my brush and not give myself so much as I kind of challenge myself with that.

George Irwin: So it's just, I'm still learning. I think on the face and obviously I got years to go to get down to the chest and arms but I've done a few little paintings where I haven't even done a horse yet man.

George Irwin / Drew Macias: I haven'y even tried to do a horse.

George Irwin: So I'll get there eventually man.

Drew Macias: I'll bend onto them. That's wild. thought about that like maybe like that's just like kind of like what you feel comfortable doing at the moment but that's really, that's so cool. I mean it's kind of like if you get like the portrait thing down and I feel like you're- you got a good like head- you've got a great head start. Um

George Irwin: I was about to say hey nice.

Drew Macias: Yeah so but um That's, I mean that's such a challenge for so many painters. I think to get a, you know, like a convincing face that a lot of people shy away from it. And I think that's really admirable that you are getting that down as like a foundation. That's really cool.

George Irwin: No, yeah.

Drew Macias: Appreciate it.

George Irwin: So, Drew have you... I don't know if you've had... Have you shown anywhere else before?

Drew Macias: Or is this kind of like the first foray into the world?

George Irwin: Instagram. Just Instagram. That's how you found me!

Drew Macias: Man, this is... I know, yeah it's awesome but yeah that's cool. That's really exciting that you're starting to get your work out there though. That's cool. So for now is it just, I didn't mean it yeah. Yeah so for now, is it kind of like focusing on portraits and then maybe expanding into um I don't know like you're saying like the rest of the figure and then landscapes and stuff as well but is it do you see things like you're just kind of like doing the work and finding your, finding your voice and everything at the moment or do you have like a vision for kind of what's what you want to do? I think I'm definitely

George Irwin: just you know one of the other artists that I talked to a lot and he's he's just been amazing of giving me pointers is Greg Newbould. And he's got a lot of great work that I love to look at and he you know, so we talk about that too of like just, I don't know, I am looking for exactly what I want to do in like my style and you know what he says is basically just you gotta keep putting in the work and eventually it will come out. So it's like I'm not trying to do anything like crazy experimental or anything crazy like that. And every now and then I'll kind of for what I think is pushing, oh, I'm gonna do a pink background. You know, I mean, like, I, yeah, to me, I'm still I'm definitely looking for right now, I am just trying to put out things that I think look right. You don't mean like this face is very interesting? I love shadows, I love the shapes.

George Irwin: And I'm working on different brushstrokes and different way to lay down the paint. So I guess it's just, it is, it's kind of like, Hey, let's see where this goes. I'm having fun. I don't really, you know, I don t really put too much pressure on myself to do that. It s just Let's just see what happens. I think that's how I've

Drew Macias: always been. That's really cool. I mean, it seems like, you're in a good spot for... This is, I don't know if this is worth saying but you're at a good spot for where you are or you're doing the right thing, I think, for like the point that you are in your practice. And that's really exciting. I think one of the things that is exciting and maybe you know you're still working at it but I think that yeah, I think that you're starting to develop a little bit of a personal style and maybe that's just because like of the artists that inspire you and what you're trying to emulate is not necessarily the same combination of or like maybe not the most common like combination of influences for artists who are starting out. So in any case it's starting to I feel like there's like a little bit of Drew starting to come through with these pieces which is

Drew Macias: really cool to see. Jose, you've been doing, you're making some good comments. Jose can Ontario art while we've been talking and he said he's noticed some improvement. Yeah, that's my boy too. Yeah. Cool. Yeah so awesome Drew. So I guess, You know, most artists have like a few different directions in their career before they find their, you know, their calling to fine art.

George Irwin: Do you think do you have any ideas about how like your previous experiences as a ballplayer

Drew Macias: and as an actor, maybe have helped to shape

George Irwin: the way that you're approaching this? Definitely. Obviously I feel like even when it came to acting, like, I feel everybody probably has a certain, we have this creativity that we're trying to let out And I think not everybody, it doesn't. You know what I mean? Maybe and it could be anything. It could be making a pot or blowing glass or you know, anything that I can just, I wanna say that I made that. Some people like for instance my brother's amazing at like he can build the whole cabinets in a kitchen and he can built, that's his, you know. That's his arm. I on other hand, I'm not handy when it comes to Like I can't sit in a crank or ranch and fix my car, being a Southern California cat. So it's like that's my, this is my, the way I get my creativity out and for awhile I was doing acting I did that for five or six years and you definitely in that business

George Irwin: you could definitely get into a place where you just feel like you're spinning your wheels And you know, things would happen here and there. And then obviously COVID happened. Then I just got into art and it's just been, it's been a great stress relief. It's just being good. You know what I mean? It's like again, it was just like, you gotta find something to put your mental energy in and be creative. And if people like it, great. If not, you know I've been lucky enough to get to have people reach out and comment, you know what I mean? And then I think as an artist that's what, you know, that's definitely a good feeling. You know what i mean? It's like you're doing it and it was the same thing when I did acting. You know, I mean, it's like, you know people always make fun of the Academy Awards and different all these are but it's such a hard business even this

George Irwin: it's just a hard businesses that every now and then you do need a pat on the back.

Drew Macias: You know how I mean Oh yeah, yeah. Definitely. Yeah, I mean, I think that's such a huge part of yes like you're saying like any kind of artistic thing is like making a map connection with people and getting the feedback from whether it's like the audience or the viewer or whatever. One of the things

George Irwin: I think is really cool about visual art. Hey, who we got there? That's Dutch! She's my art buddy. She always hangs out and watches me.

Drew Macias: Dutchess. Oh hey Dutch. She's a lover. She's good girl yeah. Cool. I love a good studio cat. Anyway, so what yeah one of the things I was thinking that you know it's we definitely like or like one of those things is wonderful about the arts is making that connection between the artists and their kind of perceptions and the viewer audience. But one of the things that i think is really cool about visual art in like tangible like paintings for for example, is that there's like a solid... Yeah. So the word tangible, there's a solid tangible thing that is evidence of what you have put your work into that you can then revisit and see that like, oh yeah, this is what I made. And it's a little bit different than when you are acting or whatever, it's hard to feel that when you think like, well I think I acted really well then and then maybe if I go back and watch this part

Drew Macias: of the commercial or the TV show or something that I was in and it's kind of different because there's a background in it that wasn't there before. And I don't know, I feel like there's a little bit more of a concrete sense of accomplishment that you can get as a visual artist making like real life stuff.

George Irwin: Yeah, 100%. And you know, it's funny, I feel like, you know when you say that even now because it's like where I'm at in my art journey

George Irwin / Drew Macias: is like I'll finish a painting and I'll look at it

George Irwin: and sometimes I'm like I don't even remember exactly how I did that. I look at it, and I'm like, oh my gosh, am I going to be able to do that again? Because I get into a zone where I've just got some music on, and strokes start coming out. And I see this, and so looking back and forth at my reference and what I have to do, all of the sudden I'll end this every now and then I'll come back and say, oh gosh this is terrible. But sometimes there's something where I'm, and that's what I love about, I'll go look at different earths. I remember when I went early on when I first started getting in to art, I got lucky You'd have to go see a Brett Allen Johnson at a gallery out in LA and to just sit and get up close to his paintings and look at every stroke, the color of his blues. I don't know if you've ever seen his in real life but it's like there's a... his blues just hit.

George Irwin: I don' t know what he does. And so yeah, it's that.

George Irwin / Drew Macias: It's just different.

Drew Macias: just different. Yeah, yeah Gina has a good comment about this about how it's like I guess you have painting is something you have more control over as a TV commercial, you know, a TV commercial is out of your hands once your bid is done. Like I guess it is, it's more of like a independent product instead of like, a piece of a puzzle of a big team with people working on something as far as like fine art is concerned you know that's interesting and that's a good point Gina I like that cool well Drew can you tell us a little

George Irwin: bit about the guys you got behind you there oh yeah so this is uh these are just a couple things that I like I started this guy the other day so I got little bit more to do on him. I've actually done a small version of him and so this is the first time i'm going to a 9x12 with him um this is my first attempt over here this is my first attempts to just kind of quickly do a cowboy uh actual fingers and legs you can see well yeah and I didn't really plan it well I didn' t leave enough room for his boots I was a little mad about that. When I started the head, I was like, oh yeah this is Play Your Room and no I didn't. And then we got a couple cool just these are little fun things that I work you know I'll be watching TV and I'll just start throwing paint down. I'll find a cool head and then yeah every now and then I'll start doing some old baseball some old base ball guys.

George Irwin: Awesome so who's who's that guy? this is onus Wagner. He's got he's got one of my favorite baseball quotes. One of his quotes is there ain't much to be in a ball player if you're a ballplayer so that might that might go with me, that might do with painting too I feel like that's how you know I feel that you can probably switch that over to painting I'm not there yet but I guess yeah. Yeah when you I mean when you get into the especially when you're talking about

Drew Macias: being in that flow state and you're not sure how it happened. It just, it just did.

George Irwin: Exactly. And some people are like can you show me how to do that? I'm like maybe? I

Drew Macias: might? Yeah I mean it's interesting because you can teach... I think there are a lot of things that you can't teach but the way that you apply all those things together is something that each individual has to figure out. That's cool. So your three, I think I saw one of the portraits from New Western Talent over there on the right here to give us another look at that for a scale and I don't really know how big these are.

George Irwin: Yeah these nice let me grab these things for you.

Drew Macias: you. Yeah, they're all right here. Cool. Nine by 12. Again,

George Irwin: this is okay those spaces that I saw when I'm like, I saw this. Yeah, so yeah, it's kind of good. It's exactly with the frame. So is that like from us? When you say like, This is like a face

Drew Macias: that I saw, that I have to paint?

George Irwin: Is that like a reference photo

Drew Macias: that you've just sort of come across or...

George Irwin: Where does that start for you right now? Yeah, definitely I spend a lot of time just saving pictures. Now I've been kind of going through trying to get into different archives and just doing that, like trying to do the library and different things where I'm just, I just sit and scour Pinterest and I'm trying to find. And a lot of these guys were pretty close to this old Joe Gillian. He was a famous Texas Ranger and I've seen quite a few photos of him

Drew Macias: so I just kind of zoomed in.

George Irwin: And yeah, and this one, you know, this is especially when I was like at this point where I was really working on really kind of trying to simplify as much as possible. So it's like the thing that I love too about my paintings is, like, the farther away you get, it looks, you know, like just a picture and then the closer you get which is one of things I love about work. That's just my style like I want you to get close in kind of... Then you see all the brush strokes and then it doesn't really make too much sense this close but from, you you know, from farther away than it's like, oh, that's cool. Yeah. So there's the other one and then we get together.

Drew Macias: Cool. Drew when you're when you are getting those, are you

George Irwin: Are you at all different sort of distances from the surface or are you pretty much

Drew Macias: Kinda up close? Right here

George Irwin / Drew Macias: So I have this little tabletop, the little board.

George Irwin: And I just kind of set it right here on these little nubs. Right? Like this thing just, I just come right here, set this thing right here and I have my palette right here. And I just breathe in all that dangerous fumes for five hours. I just kind of hang out right here. Okay, and then I'll go walk around the sink because I'm in the kitchen and then i'll kind of look at it from far then I will watch tv for a little bit kind of get my eyes off it and then I'll come back and be like oh holy cow why would you do that and I'll fix it and slowly but surely comes out And yeah, then every now and then I'll just get the paper towel, I'll wipe it all over and start over.

Drew Macias: Very cool.

George Irwin: Cool. Are you when you're doing these portraits?

Drew Macias: I know you said you were trying to do more like drawing with the brush.

George Irwin: Are you just starting right with a brush on the surface or are you

Drew Macias: doing any underpainting or anything like that?

George Irwin: So like this guy, I just put my undercoat on this green, you know, it's all a green color. And then what I'll do is I'll just get, I'll sit and look at the picture and I'll start drawing with no paint. Like I'll be moving, I don't know if you can see this but in the beginning I'm kind of like moving this to see how that wipes away the undercoat And I just kind of make my mark. Yeah, and that's what I've been doing lately. In the past, I would draw like a, I would drop the outline of the face. It just depends. Like, I just, that's kinda like been what Mike's been pushing me to do is to just draw more with the brush and just he talks about it just becomes a life a little bit more Instead of it being just like this stagnant, you know, block in and, you know, it's almost like just letting it flow a little bit better. It's definitely challenging.

George Irwin: And especially so all my, I might mark a couple things like I know I'll get my scale tool and I'll be like, I know, you know, this picture to this picture, this has to be, you know, seven inches down where the nose going to be. So it might just be like a mark here, a mark there, mark

George Irwin / Drew Macias: there and then work around that. But it's just kind of I'm just

George Irwin: winging, I'm having fun winging it and sometimes I get lucky and they come out the way they want and if not, I just start over.

Drew Macias: Yeah, cool. One of the things that you are doing really well

George Irwin: with is your color choices? Is that something that you are also

Drew Macias: just kind of winging or is that something that you're paying attention to, kind of like working out a palette? I don't know beforehand or kind of paying a lot of attention to during the process.

George Irwin: My next purchase is I am going to be getting a desktop computer and Photoshop or whatever elements And I'm gonna, I am going to start, you know, trying to get better at planning. Like right now I'm just looking at a black and white picture and I'm

Drew Macias: just making up colors.

George Irwin: Um, no, wow. Like this one was a black one. This one actually I did was like the first one that I ever used. My brother's and he, we kind of colorized it in a certain way. And so I want to get my own thing where I want to start putting more time in doing that because there is certain times, Like I'm trying to think like, for instance, this one, which it actually, I got lucky and it came out pretty cool. Like the background is just a nice color, right? Like it fits the original background. I was like, Oh, you know, yellow's a compliment, complimentary color, I'm going to go with yellow and it's kind of pop. And I started doing the whole entire thing yellow. I'm like, and I'm like, oh my God, I messed it up. I screwed up the painting. And so then I just got, I just wiped it all out very carefully and then just started like, I'm going to do it. I'm just gonna go white.

George Irwin: And then it came out to a color that I actually really liked. I really liked that background color. And I even kept a little bit of the original which actually has stuff like that. Like I even captured a little of the originally yellow right there just to kind of... It came out, I liked it. So it's just kind of that thing where sometimes you'll do something your eyes are like, no! And then other times you'll do something and it's like, wow, that swipe. I got to leave that there and not touch it. It just yeah, I'm just, I think that's what I like about it because there are certain little things that happened that I wasn't necessarily trying to do that I ended up loving.

Drew Macias: So Well, and that's, I mean one of the things I remember talking to Eric Bowman about before was like, he talks about so much of his process ends up getting covered in stuff. covered up or obscured, or like different things are added and removed. And then all of that goes into the final character of the painting. And even you said you added the white around them and it turned out some of the yellows in there, some of their background painting in there kind on the edges, all that looks really cool together. It's an accident but at the same time it's also evidence of the process you went through to make it. That's really awesome.

George Irwin: Eric Goldman, man that guy's one of my favorites.

Drew Macias: Alright Drew. Yeah, yeah he knows what he's doing I think most of the time. Oh yeah.

George Irwin: Well cool Drew, what are you up to this weekend? I think actually my cousin's going to come over and we're probably going to do some painting for a little bit. Maybe go hit up the golf course, play 18. It's my sister-in-law's birthday so we're gonna go to brunch tomorrow, church, brunch.

Drew Macias: It was a great weekend. Sounds good! Well excellent. It's been really nice to talk to you and see some of this stuff and kind of learn a little bit about what you're doing and I appreciate your time this morning and thanks for continuing to enter New Western Talent. I'm glad that you were juried in this year and that we're showing these pieces. Y'all who have tuned in, thank you guys for watching

George Irwin: and be sure if you haven't go check out Drew's work on the New Western Talent show at western.gallery.

Drew Macias: You can zoom in there's like some different angled pictures and I think videos even of the pieces in that show specifically so you can check it out up close. And I guess yeah, that's good keep me up to date with all of us up to date on what's going on and we'll look forward to following what you're up to. Thanks George appreciate you.

George Irwin: All right cool Drew. Adios bye everybody.