Apple studies



"Green Apple Study", oil on canvas 6" x 6", 8/27/12

I'm returning to oils after painting with acrylic for several years, so I'm going back to basics.  I absolutely love Carol Marine's style, and she has these great tutorials on Daily PaintWorks that have really inspired me.  I did the little value study below first, using only burnt umber and wiping out the lights.  It's a lot harder than it looks!

The color study came next -- what a joy!  But the photo also helps me see areas I need to work on, like softening and losing edges, seeing color accurately, breaking the form down into planes and getting the light right.  Holy Moly!  Good thing it's fun!  I plan to do many, many more of these studies until I can get a handle on this stuff.




"Apple Value Study", oil on canvas 6" x 6", 8/27/12

A new little streetscape




"Georgia Street Bridge", acrylic 5" x 7", August 2012

Here's a new one in my series of little tiny streetscapes.  This beautiful bridge spans University Avenue in San Diego, and it always reminds me of an aqueduct.

Brentwood Backcountry




"White House on Sellers," acrylic on canvas, 8" x 10", 2012

This little house is on Sellers Avenue in Brentwood farm country.  I've always loved the interesting cluster of gable roofs and the play of cast shadows on the old white siding. The wisteria was in bloom the day I painted there, filling the air with a lovely fragrance.  It was a nice day to be a plein air painter!

Second and Flora, Crockett

"Second and Flora, Crockett," acrylic on canvas 12" x 12", July 2012.

Crockett is a fun town to paint!  This massive stucco apartment building caught my eye, looming up from an intersection at the bottom of a steep hill.  I did my usual tweakings -- the house is not really yellow, and the sky just wanted to be pink.  What can I say? 

Quonset in Oakley

"Quonset," acrylic on canvas 8" x 10", July 2012.

This boarded-up old shed complex is not far from my home in Oakley, California, where there are still pockets of agriculture hopscotching with suburban neighborhoods.

I was attracted to the strong forms of the quonset hut nestled against the gabled barn, and the beautiful shadow pattern. With so many cool colors and complex details in the building, I decided to go with a simple red-orange matrix for balance.

Zion Terrain

Here's one of my shots from our trip to Zion National Park in June. I love the cascading layers of rock and the whole hillside seeming to tumble toward us. And of course the colors in Bryce and Zion are amazing. This scene wanted to be painted.





I started with an underpainting in cool colors to establish the structure of the terrain. Took a few liberties (I always do!) -- removed most of the foliage to focus on the rock forms and invented a little arroyo on the left






Here's the final painting. I decided to remove the tree on the top of the hill, since it seemed out of scale and looked a little bit like a candle on a melting birthday cake in my underpainting!



This painting sold at the Scene on the Strait. I really enjoyed working on it -- am planning to do a series inspired by the Bryce/Zion landscape.

Just joined Daily Paintworks

"Black Diamond Canyon," oil on canvas 16" x 12", 2012

My friend Kaethe Bealer turned me on to the Daily Paintworks site. Looks like a great way to be challenged and inspired, connect with other artists, gain exposure and sell my work. I plan to paint and post new work on a regular basis, and will keep this blog updated with thoughts and background as things progress.

This is Black Diamond Canyon, an oil painting I completed a couple of weeks ago. I did a little terraforming here, combining a view of our local Black Diamond Mines regional park with some memories of Bryce and Zion canyons we saw on a recent trip to Utah. It was a pleasure working with oil again, after focusing on acrylic for so long.