Artist Jacques Halbert’s most recent project, “Tickly...

Artist Jacques Halbert’s most recent project, “Tickly Paintings,” on view through February at Cava Restaurant in West Hollywood, grew from his fascination with Buddhism. “Situations are dealt with in less stressful ways than in the Catholic environment I was raised in,” says the French emigre, who is known locally for the whimsical paintings that hang in Splash, the Redondo Beach restaurant in which his friend, Serge Burckel, is chef. Inspired by many Buddhists’ recollections of seeing “tickly bubbles” when in deep meditation, Halbert painted each Buddha (more than 80, with such titles as “Electric Buddha,” “Caramel Buddha” and “Buddha for a Free Tibet”) within a bright, bubbly circle. “Before, I painted more meticulously. My technique for these paintings felt liberating to me,” the artist says. “I broke my own systems.”