My Art news and notes

Now Showing

2011-10-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Evergreen Washelli Columbarium
11220 Aurora Avenue North
Seattle, WA

Summer Landscape

2011-08-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

As usual, some paintings just did not make the cut. This is what did. However some of these aren't "wall worthy" and will sit in a stack somewhere peacefully. Painting outside in the wide wide world is always fun, you never know what is going to happen. I will fill in a few stories here.

I arrived at the site to do a second session on the above painting ^^. The first didn't quite do it, but I felt there was something there, if I could only get it out. Anyway, I was setting up and realized I forgot one thing. Brushes! There wasn't time to go home and come back, the light would be pretty much gone by then. So I dug around in my pack. I had a handful of cards that I hand out when I'm out painting. I ripped strips off and folded them until I had something I could manipulate the paint with. I made about 20, they didn't last that long. But in the end, I'm glad I stuck around instead of giving up. It really changed the way I usually work, and I think the painting benefited.

The is one ^^ was painted at Lake Union. A quiet spot amongst the house boats. About 30 minutes in (just starting really) a couple of fishermen showed up. They were pretty funny. One lost his hook after about 10 minutes, so he sat next to me drinking and smoking and telling me stories about all the people who lived in the house boats. You see some funny things when you are fishing in someones back yard. Nice guys, but I think it got me a little distracted. This painting turned out a little boring for all the nice subject matter. I can't decide if I will toss it, or try to fix it in studio.

This last drawing was done high on a ridge. A long hot dry hike, up up up. I started with a water color of the surrounding mtns. It turned out really awful. So I decided just to get back to basics, and do a graphite study of a group of rocks. By the time I was about an hour in, the hikers where coming by in a fairly steady stream. Two very nice ladies stopped and gave me some nice compliments, and some bug spray (the bugs were absolutely killing me). I stopped to have a sandwich and left my set up where it was. Some hikers stopped to look at what I was doing. One made some nice comments, and the other one said "it's a long way to go to draw that!" Which I though was pretty funny. I guess it's true on one hand. 360 degree views and I'm drawing a pile of rocks. On the other hand, he came just as far, and he has no drawings. So there.

Summer Still Lives

2011-08-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

I completed 4 16x20 landscapes this summer. The first two, I really enjoyed pushing color. But I decided to take it down a notch or two for the second set.

Summers figure work

2011-08-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

I got to a few open figure sessions this summer. It felt good to get in front of the model again, I just wish I had time to do more.

Paint Out

2011-07-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

I did a paint out/competition last weekend. There were three categories, landscape, cityscape, and figure quick draw. I got a 3rd place in the figure quick draw. It's hard to decide if I should be happy about that, my competitive side says no, but I guess it's better than being beaten with a sock full of rocks.

Here's how the quick draw went, 4 models in costume, 45min break 45min. So only an hour and a half! The first picture is after the first 45. It was an amazing set up, I would have loved to paint it for many more hours. Notice the lady standing while holding a serving tray. I can't believe she held that pose. And the set up was chosen by the models.

And we got some nice freebies too, it was a very nice event.

Now showing..

2011-07-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

At Julia's in Wallingford.

Self Portrait

2011-05-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I do 4-8 SP's a year. Good practice, cheap model. I finished this one last week, I'm also trying out an animated progress gif. You will have to click on the image below, and it will take a minute to load.

Finish

2011-04-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

I finished the first of the paintings from the Oregon coast trip. I'm happy with how this one turned out. I've started on the next, and I have some high hopes for it.

Trip to the Oregon Coast

2011-04-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

I took a nice little painting trip to the Oregon coast last week. It was wet and windy, but I still managed to batten down the hatches and get some good painting done! I will post pictures as I finish the work in studio.

The reason there is none of my junk around the easel: I was painting away and a rogue wave came in. I grabbed everything off of the ground and ran back about 20-30 feet, even though I had my stompin boots on the water came up over them. That will keep you on your toes!

Art Walk

2011-03-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

Work hanging at West Seattle Wine Cellars, art walk March 2011

finished in studio

2011-02-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

I've been finishing up the paintings I started in the Central Cascades. This one turned out quite nice I think. Generally I struggle finishing in studio what I start in the field. But going back to the location is sometimes a little tricky.
Start:
Finish:

11x14 Coulee Morning

Floral

2011-01-21T07:33:00.000-08:00

Central Cascades

2010-12-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

I took a few days to go into the central Cascades, to paint some snow and mountains. I armed myself with plenty of maps and locations to go, so I could have plenty of choices depending on weather conditions. I came away with a bunch of paintings that could turn into something, but all need work before they become frameable.

The weather called for mainly gray skies, with only a small chance of snow. Which was ok, but I really struggle painting in dim overcast light. Color and value ranges shrink. I got some very good advice from Stapleton Kearns about painting on gray days. A few things that I kept repeating to my self were: find the color that is there, be very careful of your painting getting too dark, you know what sun looks like bring a little light in.

I had in mind where I wanted to go for my first one, and maybe I should been a little more flexible. The scene was pretty much black and white. But I love the look of the houses nestled up against a nice big rock. 11x14.
I'm not sure what happened with the raw umber, but it got everywhere. Even though I kept Stapes advice in mind, it got too dark and dull.

I hiked up and up in the snow. And found that the snow in the foreground contrasted nicely with the distance. This one is 14x18, and I feel like the structure is there, I just need to firm it up a bit. Sorry for the blurry photo.
At this point I called it a day. The snow was kicking up a bit, and I didn't really have the energy for another.

Early the next morning I drove into Leavenworth, which is a German styled town, great for touristas. I thought that since chance are slim I get to real Europe in the near future, I'd paint a fake one.

I spotted this church just as it was getting light. I think this one has potential, but I've got to work out the background better and fix some verticals. Even though I am very aware of getting good verticals, they still slip around. 11x14
After a little snack and dethawing my fingers, I took on a more complicated view. I knew it would be hard, but I really wanted a nice challenge. You're trying to weigh so many things, it's easy to get bogged down. I pushed myself until I was frozen and achy. 20x16I was not feeling like jumping into another one right away, and ended up driving around for about an hour looking around. By then I was all warmed up. 11x14
And then it was time to call it a night as dark was setting in.

In the morning I checked out of the motel when it was pitch black and hit the road. I had done the craggy traditional mountains, and now it was time for Coulee's. I wanted to jump out of my car at many points on the way, but I kept focused, and satisfied myself with taking pictures while driving.
Plus there really wasn't anywhere good to pull over, my car is pretty low and I didn't want to waste time getting stuck.

Got to my destination and forced myself to stop taking pictures and set up the easel. I got this finished just as the sun started rising. Sun! It was amazing. And cold. I can't get enough of the desert. 11x14
I hiked a couple of miles up into a canyon. There were paintings everywhere. I went down into a little ravine, and spent a few hours making a really awful 16x20 of a desert waterfall. Which will not be shown here.

Hiking back down, I decide to set up right on the grade, and got one of the road twisting up. A few people had gone by in 4x's. A guy driving a jeep with his kid stopped and talked for a second. He seemed excited to see someone out painting. Very nice guy.
I had intended to paint a bit more, but I was feeling a little worn down. I need to get myself to the point where I can paint for 12 hours a day in the field. But painting in the field can be much more tiring than the studio.

Overlook

2010-12-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Day turns to night, and night turns to day. Rinse repeat.

Dusty blogs aren't much fun. I really should post more. But I don't.

There's a view I've been meaning to try for a long time, I finally went out to paint it. It took a bit of looking but I found the IDEAL painting spot. I need:
1) the subject
2) a place to put my easel,
3) somewhere there aren't loads of people to look over my shoulder and ask me what I am doing.

This spot was all of those. It has a very nice view of the city. There are a ton of paintings to be made here.

This is after 1 painting session. It is the basic drawing/composition/values. A good framework to build on. I think in one or two more sessions I could have something, or it could be bound for recycling, but that is the fun risk reward that painting brings.

Mid Summers work

2010-08-25T08:20:00.000-07:00

Over about a month of the summer, I really put in a lot of time on art. I drew or painted every day for 2-10 hours. This summer I focused more on study than finished work, although I did come away with some finishes and some things that can be finished in studio.

I think this is everything worth showing, and there were also 10-20 pieces that got scrapped.

Color Test

2010-07-19T06:52:00.001-07:00

Time to update the old fade test. The first three are single pigments. Mass tone in the middle, thinned with spirits on the left, tinted with white on the right. The swatches were cut in half, bottom section stuck in a drawer, top placed in a sunny window. These first three were started 5/22/09.

You can see that the Rose and Madder are doing pretty good. Alizarin is fading quite a bit, especially in the thinned portion.

The next three are Alizarin Crimson + 1 color, mass tone middle, tinted right, scraped thin on the left. These were started 7/7/09, so

They are all starting to fade, but the big loser seems to be in the tinted section.

Still life

2010-05-24T10:46:00.001-07:00

I decided to document some steps for this painting.

Stage 1, monochrome underpainting, Aliz + B Sienna. Wiping out lights. Establish Value of light.

When that had dried, I work in small short brush strokes, trying for accurate color and value. Each mark is carefully considered, this takes some time, and plenty of concentration.

I realized before I had progressed very far that my flowers would be long dead before I had a chance to finish, so I left them out, to be subbed in with some fresh replacements.

I missed the next few sessions, but this is the final, with new flowers/vase.

Orange and Purple - 16x20

Still Life

2010-04-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

I always experiment with different methods of painting. To me, that is part of the fun. I like the process of discovery, and don't want to fall into a machine like routine.

This was painted in a monochromatic underpainting. I used a mixture of Burnt Sienna and Alizarin, wiping out the lights.

When that was dry, I came back with short directional strokes of color, thinking of each stroke as a facet of a crystal. I built the picture slowly, and methodically. However I think the result has a very nice energy.

Master Copy

2010-03-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is actually my second crack at Juan de Pareja by Diego Velázquez. I tried a few years ago, didn't quite turn out, so into the circular file it went.

I started in a way that was a little different for me. I kept the first session to two values in the face, really concentrating on the drawing. I kept the edge hard in the face. You either are the light side or the dark side, no in between. Generally this phase would last about 15 minutes for me, rough the shapes in very loose and vigourous, and refine from there. I knew I wanted to get my drawing pretty close before moving on. This is painted on top of an old landscape, which you can still see at this point.

The second session forms were rounded, I sorted out some warms and cools. And somehow got way too dark. I did want to get a 1/2 step or so dark, but it got out of control. My intention was to get a little of the flavor of the technique Velázquez used on this painting. He has a few different styles, and for this one it appears he brought out the light side, lightly hitting the surface with a loaded brush.

I didn't get a good picture of the next session, but I lightened and refined further. I couldn't get the Velázquez brush stroke though. It was a combo of too heavy and unsure of a hand.

Upon evaluation for the next session, my drawing just wasn't cutting. On a portrait, slight variations of a millimeter, or one degree off in angle really throws things off. So I tried something I haven't done before. I painting the whole session with my painting and the reference upside down. And I think it really helped!

Up in the snow

2010-02-18T11:17:00.001-08:00

I have been meaning to get up in the Mountains and do some serious snow painting. However, the weather doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Whenever I have a free day, it gets nasty.

I decided to head up there anyway, just tough it out, rub some dirt on it, man up.

It snowed steadily, some mild gusts, but not too cold. The snow would build up on my palette and canvas and then melt. The oil resisted for a while, but turned into a sticky mess after about an hour.

I'm still glad I went up, this start could turn into something real. Once it's dry I'll work it over in the studio.

And I was able to test out my ever evolving gear under adverse conditions. I'm really happy with my current set up. The next thing on the list is to build another wet panel carrier. You can see the one I've got under my easel with my palette sitting on it. I'd like to build one that is lighter, and a little bigger, 16x20. Once I get it all together I'll put it on a scale, but the whole kit is very light. It'll be great for my long summer hiking paints.

Fun with figure painting

2010-01-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

For the most part I paint landscape and the still life. Maybe 95% of my painting time.

But lately (the last 6 months or so) I've decided that eventually I want to do some larger narrative works, with figures incorporated. And my people skills are a little rusty. So I am making an effort to paint more figures, from life (when I can), photos, and master studies.

These are a few from photos I've done recently. These are done strictly for fun and practice, (not for show or sale). They are all in the 6-12 inch range, which makes the heads about the size of a quarter.

Color Test Round 2

2009-12-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some new photos of my color test. To review, the color was place on acrylic primed printmaking paper, dried then cut in half. The upper half placed in a sunny window, the lower in a drawer.

You can now see some obvious hue change in two hue swatches. The Alizarin + Ultra blue is doing ok, but the Alizarin + Phthalo Green is changing noticeably from a neutral to a green tint. This is now five month aged.

The swatches with a single hue, + mixed with white + thinned with spirits are doing somewhat better, but seem to have a bit of lightening or darkening. Permanent Madder seems to be fairing the best so far. This is now seven months aged.

Waterfall

2009-12-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Waterfall

Nothing can harm me at all
My worries seem so very small

With my waterfall

Jimi Hendrix

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted anything. Still pluggin' away, just haven't felt the desire to put anything up.

The weather has kept me in for the most part, although I still manage to paint outdoors once a week or so. When stuck inside I browsed through the hundreds of photo I have from hikes over the summer. I decided to give these two a try, and I think they turned out. I usually don't like to work from photos, but sometimes you have to change things up a little.

Variations

2009-10-01T10:49:00.001-07:00

When we went up to Orcas, I stopped at Crow Valley Pottery. Some gorgeous work there! I had to pick up something, and I knew it would work it's way into some paintings. It has made it's way into 3 so far.

Plums

2009-09-22T10:14:00.001-07:00

Two small paintings from last week, a larger plum from the store, and a handful from a tree in my Dads yard. 4x6 oil

Summit Lake

2009-09-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect day for painting. Only mishap - apparently I left my gouache brushes at Orcas Island after I cleaned them! DOH! So these were done with the two that I rarely use, and thus were still in my bush holder. A large wash brush, and a smallish flat nylon. For all that, I think they turned out fairly well.

Pochade Box 2

2009-09-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

I've modded up my painting box again. I decided I wanted to put it on a tripod, and also change how the painting surface sat on the box.

I was just taping my painting surface inside the box lid, which worked ok, but limited me in size, and to a horizontal. I dug around in my bits box, and came up with some hangers. They came in a framing kit. I pounded two of them flat with a hammer, and then screwed them inside the lid at an angle.
I will rest a sketch book or panel on these. Since this box is very thin light weight wood, it's pretty crucial to get two screws in each bracket. I think that will hold up under moderate abuse. This was pretty easy to do, but it took awhile for me to figure it out.

The next step was to ready the box for a tripod. I drilled a block of wood to the back. This actually served two purposes. It holds the lid open to the appropriate angle, and gives me a little beef to screw the T-nut into. A t-nut allows you to attach a tripod to your box.
I had a chance to go out Friday and put it though it's paces. So far so good!

Good news!

2009-08-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

My painting, Sunbreak, was chosen for the Washington State History Museum Award at the 2009 Maritime Art Show.

Here are show times, go take a look!

August 20-Sept 13,2009
Foss Waterway Seaport Museum
705 Dock Street
Tacoma, WA

Mt. Rainier, Sunrise

2009-08-24T06:28:00.001-07:00

Sunrise is the name of the area, not a time of day.

Although I got there in time for a sunrise, but as I got out of my car in the parking lot, it was heavily clouded over. I could barely see enough to find the trail head. But by the time I got to my first painting local, the sun came out. Shadow lake is about a mile from the parking lot I believe.

11x14. I like how this one turned out. I started in a different way than usual. Generally I work from back to front, roughing in the color and value shapes very simply. Here I decided to start with the intended center of interest, the stand of trees to the right and their cast shadows, getting the values/hues there (no detail) and then roughing in the rest, keying around that.

Next I hiked up to a lookout. I've never hiked to a lookout before, and I was pretty excited. There are supposed to be great views in every direction, and I planned on spending most of the day there. By the time I hiked the few miles, the clouds had returned. There were times I could barely see ten feet! Pretty windy too. So I painted a small 5x7 of the only thing I could really see, the lookout!
I hiked back, and then along Sourdough Ridge. I came to this view of a peak and valley. It was still pretty cloudy, and windy! I had to hang on to my paint box with one hand while painting with the other. There were some spots of sun though. I really liked this one when I had finished and stood back, but when I got home, not so much. I'm not feeling the clouds, and the sunspot doesn't quite read right. I am going to try to fix it in studio and hopefully not ruin it, there is something there I like. 11x14.

Flowers and Peaches

2009-08-13T06:31:00.001-07:00

9x12

I painted this as a study, and a warm up, but I actually like how it turned out. I think it stands up pretty well.

And on to what it was a study for.

14x18

I like how this sort of bounces in and out of reality. Sort of like me!

Studio revisions

2009-08-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

I've given the three paintings from last weeks Rainier trip a going over, and I didn't ruin any of them! That's pretty good for me.
The photography's not great, but it'll have to do for now.

floral

2009-08-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

14x18 Oil

I've been doing a lot of florals lately. I've just discovered a pretty nice farmers market right down the road from me. And they have great big bunches of flowers for $10 or less! Go into a florist and you could get about three flowers for that much.

So this is the one I have photographed so far, but more to come.

Mt Rainier

2009-08-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

I took a quick overnighter to Mt. Rainier this weekend.

Thursday night, I hiked up to Eunice Lake. I painted this one:

9x12 Oil

I tried to take my time, despite the evening light changing quickly, and the bugs! The bugs were swarming big time. I put on my hoodie, put the hood up, and a hat over that, and lathered on the insect repellant, but they were ferocious! I got in the zone and tried to block them out.

I am pretty happy with how this turned out. Once it's dry, I'll just give it some minor tweaking. Yes, I know the tree trunk is in the middle, and I don't care. Although I will make it a little less stark in color. Some people seem to have a phobia about putting things in the middle of a painting, and avoid it at all costs. The overall composition being dynamic is what is important.

The next day I hiked to another area and got a couple more in, I had the same issue with bugs. No pain no gain right? I've got to re-photo one of them.

11x14 Oil

I want to reshape the foreground flowers to make the composition "loop", a fix a few things here and there. These are taking a really long time to dry for some reason, it may be the new kind of turp I'm using. As usual, if I don't ruin them I will post them up.

Open Figure Studio

2009-08-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

I did my first figure work in a few years. Besides self portraits that is. It was a long pose, so I painted a 14x18. A little rusty, but it turned out ok. Usually I wouldn't let myself skimp on the head and feet like that.

One new, one revised

2009-07-30T07:29:00.001-07:00

I have been slackin' on posting new work. Trying to get good photos is what is holding me up.

This one is down the road from my house. I put the kit in a backpack, and rode my bike around until I found a composition. 5x7, oil.

The next painting is the only one that survived revisions from my Olympics trip. The rest died horrible deaths. 9x12 oil.

I'm going up to Mt. Rainier tonight, and hopefully come back with something good.

Painting in the Teanaway

2009-07-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

I made my weekly trip out to the mountains. This time I choose the Teanaway area, which is on the east side of the cascades.

I made the mistake I've told myself I am not going to do, which is hike too much and paint too little. I came away with two 5x7's and a 11x14.

My mantra that I will repeat until it sinks in:
When there is beauty all around, don't hike to the next ridge to see if there is something better.

Dewey Lake

2009-07-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

I made a day trip over to Mt. Rainier and Dewey Lake on Friday. I started early, and had a good 10 hours of hiking and painting. I'm dialing in my paint/hike kit pretty well, but I could use a new backpack. My shoulders were sore the next day, that's never a good sign.

I came away with three paintings that were worth keeping, and one dud. I may have to do some work on these in the studio though, and hopefully not ruin them. I've killed half the paintings from my Olympic trip so far.

The first two are 5x7, the last 9x12.

Florals

2009-07-18T08:47:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of stuff I need to put on the blog. My painting speed is out pacing my blogging speed. Especially this time of year, when I'm baching it.

I painted a few florals last week, and a still life that I'm not sure if it works. This little guy was painted with flowers from my garden. It's like "black sheep" in the family.

5x7

This one was painted with store bought flowers. I have never nestled a still life in drapery like this. I think it works quite well. I will have to try that more often.

12x16

Painting in the Olympics

2009-07-13T06:12:00.000-07:00

Just as on my trip to the coast, I came away with a lot of good potential paintings, but no knock your socks off finishes. I'm fine with that, as long as I can work some of these into nice finished pieces. If they turn out well, I will post them on the blog, if not, they go into the scrap pile.

I left my house at 6 am Friday morning, loaded up and ready for a hiking painting trip.
I arrived at the trail head at around 9, and after double checking everything (it's no fun when you get somewhere and forget the white) started up.

The flowers were in full bloom, which helped keep my mind occupied through switch back after switch back. When there are great subjects all around I have trouble with is trying to decide when to stop and paint, and when to keep going. I can only carry a certain number of panels with me and don't want to run out. But sometimes I end up to "destination" oriented and pass by some good compositions.
I stopped and did this study. I liked all the great diagonals of the hill side, the balancing verticals in the trees, and the peek of the craggy peak. I think this has some potential, I will either clean this one up or do a larger version.

When I got to the top of the ridge, I was just wowed! It helps take the mind off of the legs and the lungs. I was like a kid in a candy store, and now I just had to calm down and rationaly work out a good composition. I walked a long the ridge and picked out this one.

I like contrast the snow brings, the shape of the trees against the sky, and the path leading into the picture plane. I think the compositional elements work well to move the eye around. However I have a list of things to fix on this one before it can work. While I was working, I heard foot steps behind me, and a curious kid wanted to see what I was doing.

It gave me a start! But I had the sense to grab my camera. I could tell the little fella wanted to play, but the moms didn't look too happy and their horns sharp. Plus you are not supposed to acclimatize wild animals to human contact, so I gave a quick stomp on the ground and scared them away.
I continued along the ridge line, the path getting more more sketchy, loose sand and rock with nothing in the way of a nice long fall. I painted this view, which has some potential, but the values and chroma need some adjusting.

By this time I was beat and hungry. I'd only brought water and dry cheerios to eat on the trail, so after a rest I headed back down.

I got something to eat and drink in the car and rested up for a bit.

It was still fairly early, so I replenished my backpack with the painting gear and headed up to another trail. This one was rated as an easier trail, but I was already pretty well used, so it was a little tough. I managed only one more, there was plenty of good stuff out there, but I was beat.

I hit the campground, had some beer and burgers and got some much needed rest.

Then next day I broke camp fairly early, and got on the road just after 6. Even though I was close by, the next trail was accessed by a long harrowing dirt road, and I got to the trail head at about 7.
My first painting came about a mile in. The bright morning light bathed everything. That definitely didn't come through in the work. The composition works ok, but it needs some work to see if it will turn into anything.

The next one I thought was great at the time, but when I got home it was a big bunch of goat droppings. I'm going to blame it on the bright sun. Up on this ridge, there was absolutely no shade, and it was shaping up to be a cooker. When I was working on this one, the first hikers of the day came up the trail. The girl very kindly refrained from comment when she saw what I was working on.

I continued along the trail until I came to a view up Grand Valley. A nice little alpine lake nestled in there nice and cozy, with the spiky Olympics keeping guard. I worked on this for a couple of hours while cooking in the sun and wishing I had put on more sunblock. The hikers started coming by more often by now, I had a nice chat with most of them. I think a painter on the trail makes for a good excuse to take a break. I know I look for any excuse!
I like the way this one is going, but I have a list of things to work on once it drys.
Step up the value of the furthest mountains. Get a little more precise on the shape of the mtns. Value up, chroma down on the furthest trees valley trees. And so on. Hopefully I don't ruin it.

At this point I was mentally and physically done, so I called it a trip. I try not to work so hard I get sick, or start to hate painting/hiking. I have done that before.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and if some of these paintings turn out I will call it a successful trip.

Revised and Edited

2009-07-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

I was browsing through my website, and decided to revise a painting that I had completed a few years ago. I only touched certain spots, and mainly the sky. I also decided to crop it down to 9x12. Here is the before:

And here is the after.

It can be funny looking at old work, sometimes you think "wow, that was good, oh no, I've lost it!" or sometimes it's more like "god that is awful, I must burn it before anyone sees it."

This is a painting with no before shot. I started it on location. I really liked the design aspect of it, but didn't care for the way the paint was handled. I gave it four or five quick sessions in studio, and now I think it works much better. A lot of the subtlety of color got lost in the photo.

quick studies

2009-07-09T06:33:00.000-07:00

These are the type of quickies I like to do to warm up, or when I don't have a lot of time. I have about four more from the last few days, but not worth showing.

Landscape

2009-06-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

14x18 oil

This is a studio version of a little gouache study from life. Landscapes that resonate quite a bit with me are ones that feel dreamlike, illusive. I felt like this was a chance for me to explore that direction. I'm not sure I got there, but I feel good about the attempt.

I under painted the sky and water with a light pink of madder and white. When it was dry, I painted the gray layer, and rubbed some of the paint with a rag to let the under painting show through in areas.

Color Test

2009-06-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am doing a little color test on Alizarin Crimson, and a few other colors I have in my box.
The swatches are painted on primed printmaking paper. The center color is unadultarated straight from the tube, to the right mixed with white, and to the left thinned with OMS.

When the swatches were dry, I cut it in half and put the section with writing in a drawer. The other half was taped in a west facing window. The window gets some nice strong sun.

The picture above was taken with exactly one month of sunlight, and I'm not seeing any changes yet. I will update this post with new pictures every month, or six months, or as the fancy grabs me.

Grand Coulee trip

2009-06-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

I took a (long) day trip to Sun Lakes State Park yesterday, in the Grand Coulee area. I was there hiking around from 9:30 am, till 7:30 pm. Add in the 3.5 hours drive each way, and it was long day. Two sketches turned out, and there was a hand full of duds. But I had a great time. It's a beautiful area, one I've never been to before. I'm glad I've started exploring!
These are all 5x7 gouache.

I was painting that last one when a thunderstorm rolled in. I heard it coming and was trying to hurry, but the rain drops started before I could finish. As I was hurrying out the few miles to my car I almost stepped on a rattlesnake! The first one I've ever seen, and it definitely gave me a heart check. I was probably two feet from it when it slithered into the tall grass. It didn't want to move too far though, it's tail was less than a foot from the path when I walked past.

Pochade Box

2009-06-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

This is a box I threw together to paint small gouache studies. It may not be pretty, but for equipment, I'm all about function before form.

I bought the box at a local craft store for a few dollars. The only thing I needed to do was add a small latch to keep the painting surface at an angle I like. It was made with a bent piece of wire, a screw on the lid of the box, and a bolt on the body of the box. I will replace the standard nut with a wing nut, to make it a little easier to hand tighten.

I use small bits of tape to secure the primed 100% rag printmaking paper to the lid, no need for fancy clamps. The palette is a standard watercolor tray, close it up when you're done painting and no need to worry about mess.

I am going to put it through it's paces this weekend. I'm going on a short overnight painting trip to the dry side of Washington. It'll be hot and dry. I'm a little worried about the speed of the paint drying, and also rattlers. But I'm pretty excited, it's a beautiful part of the state, and I need to start exploring more.

Landscape

2009-06-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

I have been winging it too much and am going to do a lot more small quick compositional studies.

I got out some old watercolors, and bought a new tube of white gauche. I also threw together a quick pochade box, which I will post up when I get some pictures.

I decided I would do a color thumbnail in my sketch book, before I went to a larger piece. The thumbnails are all about 3x4 and took less than 10 minutes. The larger studies are 5x7 and were painted in around 40 minutes.

They were fun to do, and if a comp didn't work I knew right away, and could move on with very little loss of time. I liked the river scene so much I started on a 14x18 version.

Pansies

2009-06-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've never painted pansies before. I like the pattern on them, it's almost like they have a face. I threw/glazed that pot last summer. I need to get in another pottery class, I've painted all my pottery quite a few times.

Rant alert

2009-06-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was working on a landscape a few days ago. I was roughing it in, and got to a section where I thought "that doesn't work compositionally". But I thought, I'll make it work later. And kept working away. Got it home after the plein air session, and tried to make it work in the studio. And the thing just kept getting uglier and uglier. Just a big old dud.

I had a teacher who said that sometimes you can tell right away if something is going to work or not. He was talking about the proportion of the figure, but I think it applies here as well. And just fussing and fiddling with the thing won't fix it. But sometimes I can be pretty hard headed.

Then, as is probably common with painters, I went in to a funk. Normally I am somewhere between apathy and despair anyway. But I was thinking along the lines of "what the hell have I wasted so many hours and years with this bullshit. I could have been doing something constructive, I am no good, and I'm never going to be any good. Just churning out crap after crap."

Nothing to unique. But I had an idea that to get over a bad painting could be like getting over a bad girlfriend. You need to get right back on that horse with a new girl! Figuratively of course. I haven't done a still life for what seems like a couple of months, so I painted a (manly) picture of potted purple pansies. And now I feel much better!

Views of the Valley 2

2009-06-01T08:14:00.000-07:00

I have still been working on this series, there are a ton of compositions still out there. A few of these I stay in the same spot and turn to face a new direction, and Bam! new painting.

Golden Hour - 11x14

This is one I started last week. I spent one more session on location Saturday night. My idea of a good Saturday night is spent painting! I am very happy with how this one turned out. The light does not last very long, and so I had to work fast, which gives the work an urgency which I like. I'd like to get out and paint more in the evening, the colors change so much. Now that I see it on the computer screen, there are a few edges I need to soften.

Valley Morning II - 9x12

I am so glad all the land here is not layed out in a grid, the diagonals and unusual shapes are much more interesting. I am not sure this one is done, I'm going to let it digest for awhile.

Valley Morning III -11x14

This was started on location and finished in studio.

Views of the valley

2009-05-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I've been doing a series views of the Sumner valley. Last year I discovered some newly built roads on the hillside for housing developments. Right now half of them are just roads with no houses, so there's no buildings to ruin your view, or people to kick you off their property. I'm in no hurry for the housing market to get going again. I'd love to see the hills stay green, but I know soon they will be jam packed with large houses all painted in various shades of baby poop brown.

After the Rain 11x14

I painted this early in the morning. It was painted alla prima. Right now, the spring greens are just neon. I'm sure I will be sick of green in a few months, but right now it's a tonic after the long gray Northwest winter.

Valley Morning 14x11

I really love the geometry of farmland. While I'm painting it, I definitely appreciating the things someone like Diebenkorn would do with landscape, although I prefer a more naturalistic approach.

I have two more in progress, both of which I am excited about. One of them is in the golden hour before sunset. I have never painted in that light, and it's a fun challenge. Hopefully both of those turn out, and don't end up in the scrap basket. I already have valley view there from last week.

Composition aid

2009-05-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

I made this tool to help pick out compositions, and keep an eye on proportion. It's not a new idea, I got it from an old fellow named Albrect Durer.
Now, in this example it's more of a drawing aid than composition tool, but a tools use is whatever you use it for.

On my computer I made a grid, scaled to the proportion I generally work for landscape, 11x14. That's approximately a .78 ratio. I used thick lines on the thirds. Thirds and their intersecting points are things you want to keep on eye on for composition. I then broke all those squares in half with thinner lines, just in case I have any tricky drawing issues to deal with. I printed this out on a piece of transparency, and taped it to a piece of mat that I cut to size.

I used it this morning for two plein air sessions. It seems to work fairly well, but one more thing would help. Two alligator clips connected by a flexible wire would allow me to connect it to my paint box. That way I wouldn't have to hold it in one hand while roughing in my comp with the other. My hands shake more than I thought, and it's a little distracting. Once I get it set up for real, I will get a picture of it in the field.

Spring Snack

2009-05-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Spring Snack 14x18

This was finished about a month ago, it had to dry a while until I could get a good picture. I paint a lot more than my blog updates indicate, I need to get into the habit of posting much more often.

This was the first time I have painted daffodils, and it was a fun challenge. Yellow can be a tricky color, it has some interesting subtleties in color temperature and value. The composition is a little strange I realize, I like to play around with comps sometimes. How can you grow if you don't explore the options? When I was setting up, I found many interesting triangular shapes.

Two Coastal Landscapes

2009-05-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

I finished two more from my trip, and now I think I'm done with this series for now. Although you never know.

Craggy - 12x9

This is HEAVILY revised from the plein air, with the aid of a few soggy photos. Although painting in the rain isn't the most fun thing, it sure makes for some interesting shapes. Atmospheric perspective in the rain turns forms into paper cutouts, that turn to sky as they recede in the distance.

Sunbreak - 14x11

This was painted from a small painted notebook sketch. I generally have a hard time enlarging the little sketches, but this one just fell together. I just shook my brushes in general direction of the painting and viola! Well, maybe not, but this one felt like all payoff, and none of the usual angst anger and anxiety. It was a nice change.

3 plein air finished in studio

2009-05-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

I got three good paintings (imho) finished from my previous trip. Ruined a few, and the rest in the scrap heap. I have one more in progress, and we'll have to see how that one goes.

This on took a few good sessions, but I think turned out rather well. I still like the unusual composition, and the dynamic between the two masses of rock. Basically just cleaned up some drawing, refined the color.

This one traveled the farthest from what it was as a plein air, as it had just been massed in when I was rained out. I tried to keep the spirit alive of my original intentions.

This was another fairly quick revision, two-three hours at most. Refining some shapes, values and colors. And I decided it was better cropped into a 9x12.

Painting trip to the coast

2009-04-08T07:43:00.001-07:00

I have planned this trip for quite a while. I had pretty much all the details worked out, routes planned, bags packed, go time!

On driving to the coast, I was going by Crescent Lake, which is just way too good to pass up. It was gray but dry when I got in the car early in the morning, but after an hour or so, it started raining, and as I got closer to the lake, there were even some snow flurries! Not usual for Washington in the spring. I parked at the trail head, and hiked about a mile on the Spruce Railroad trail to Devils Point. I was hoping for a clear enough day to paint Mt. Storm King, but still had some cool views of clouds moving around the mountain peaks. This painting has potential, but the oil paint became too mucked up with rain to continue before I could really finish. As you'll see this becomes a recurring theme.

View From Devil's Point - 11" x 14"

As I drove into Forks, the rain and snow weren't exactly letting up, so I went over to the everything store in Forks and picked up some gloves and an umbrella. I mistakenly thought I'd be able to prop the umbrella above me using whatever trees were around and some bungie cords. The crazy ideas I get sometimes.

I drove down the road to La Push, and stopped at Second Beach. The short trail to the beach is quite beautiful. There is nothing like the twisted shapes of trees and roots of the coastal forests. As I came down the last stairs to the beach I was warned by a little 8ish year old "Watch out for the BIG waves!". Good to know.

Monumental rock every direction you look. I chose a composition and go to work. I enjoyed painting this one, but it just doesn't translate to the work. Maybe too much enjoying and not enough analyzing? In any case, this one is borderline scrap pile/try to fix. I'll probably put it aside for a time when I run out of projects.

Quileute Needles- 11"x14"

It was getting a little late, I went to check in to the hotel. Very nice place in La Push right on the beach. I was planning on doing a nocturne after dinner, but it started raining with a vengeance. So it was a good book and a beer or four and early lights out.

The next morning I was up and on Rialto Beach by 7:30 am. It was a gray morning, but not too wet as of yet. The tide was just going out when I started hiking, which made for some fun dodging of waves and scrambling up onto beach logs. I was getting a little impatient to get started, and grabbed this scene. I should have waited a bit, because the composition got much more interesting after walking a few hundred feet. But I took a few shots, and will give this one a much needed reworking.

Gray Daybreak- 9"x12"

A little farther and this stretch of beach gets much more interesting. I hiked up the high tide bypass for hole-in-the-wall, and had great views in two directions. I was a little giddy as I picked out my next scene. I chose a slightly precarious perch to get to work. I sat right about the red arrow. It's hard to get a sense of scale there, but the hole-in-the-wall is probably about 15 feet high. So this painting was going great. Until pretty much right after the block in phase, it started pouring. I tried to close up my paint box and wait it out for a bit, but I got too cold and wet, and the paint too gunked up with water. This one will have to be finished in the studio.

View from Above- 11"x14"

Dispirited wet and cold, I continued along the shore line. Primal rocky and gloomy, it felt like Mordor, minus the orcs. There were many great rock formations and tide pools. I found a spot beside a boulder where I could at least be sheltered from the wind, if not rain. This scene was very interesting. There was a sort of canyon between these two amorphous shapes. When a wave would hit the water would rush in and out of the crevice. This one had to be left early as well. But I see some intriguing possibilities to work on. I think I'll try and unleash the darkness on this one.

Molten- 11"x14"

At this point I was just about bedraggled. Tired, wet and sore from lugging my kit all over. So I hiked back and drove to a roadside cafe to get a big burger, fries and a few cups of black coffee. Took a quick stop at the hotel to freshen up. I was a little bit worn, but not ready to call it a day, so I grabbed my light travel kit and went back to Second beach to do some studies.

Good news, patches of blue were appearing in the sky! There were a lot of subjects to choose from, but I knew for sure I wanted to paint Quanteta. It lurks like a prehistoric creature. I think I got enough color from the sketch, and a few photos for details to do a larger work.

Farther south on the beach I tried another. I think this works well as a comp. Another with studio potential.

It was getting late, I did some exploring around a bit, took a whole mess of photos and hiked back out as the sun was just about down. A great place to watch the sunset.

Day three (last day!) I got an early start, packed up and checked out. The sun was bright in the sky, and I was excited to hit the trail. I painted these two beasts as with the morning sun hitting them. It may be a little strange as a composition, but something drew me to these. They may have been one large sea stack at one time and were spit in two. The shape they made through space reminded me of a yin-yang. They seem to have an interesting narrative and couple dynamic. I am happy with how this one turned out, but it still needs at least a couple of hours of refining until I would consider it finished.

Couple - 11"x14"

I hiked farther along the coast to see what I could discover. The beauty of this section of the coast was overwhelming. I found a great subject, but some how it just didn't work out. I gave up after and hour or two. I'll put this in the maybe later pile.

My last painting was this rock that was just being battered by the sea. I painted from a spot that I knew was at risk of being hit by a 10 foot wave splash as the tide came in. I decided to call it done when I started getting wet. I feel like I captured the value and hue in the piece very well. I left out some sea stacks in the background that I may add back in in-studio. A few hours on this one crisping up some values and shapes and it could be a nice one!

Incoming Tide- 11"x14"

So that was it for this trip. I headed back tired but happy. I had not produced one single painting that I'd say "frame it, it's done!" But I have a lot of paintings that could be quite nice with some work. And way too many reference photos for other works. I have enough to keep me busy for a month. As I can't stay away from the still life, especially with spring flowers blooming, I will be lucky to finish these pieces before my next trip.

Three new landscapes

2009-03-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

I went on a trip to Washington's coast last month. It was a trip for fun/relaxing, but I used the opportunity to do a little scouting around, because I knew it was on my list for my next plein air trip. That way when I go to paint on location, I'll spend less time hiking around aimlessly.

I didn't plan on painting from the photo's of that first expedition, but I'm glad I did. They turned out fairly well, and as a bonus, I think it helped warm up my brain for the trip to come.

Four new still lives

2009-03-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

I finally photographed the two still lives I finished last month. You will have to forgive the glare on all these. I'm getting a little better at photographing art work, but I still haven't been able to eliminate glare 100%. Both of these were painted in multiple sessions.

Fruit and Mums - 16"x20"

Lilies and fruit - 14"x18"

I painted these two florals on Friday alla prima. The first was painted in the morning with artificial lighting. I painted the second the same flowers, but a different viewpoint, natural lighting from the window and a different background.

Red and Purple - 8"x10"

Red and Purple II - 9"x12"

Wet Paint Carrier

2009-03-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

I finally finished a project I've been working on for awhile, in anticipation of going on a plein air trip to the coast in a few weeks.

This Panel Carrier will hold 3 14"x18" panels. It may not be the most beautiful, but I'm all about the utilitarian.
I started with this for a plan.The frame being four boards, a clasp and a hinge. The only power tool I used was a table saw to cut the grooves the panels would slide in. If I didn't have any access to a table saw, I would have just glued some thin square doweling to the boards.
Here are all the cut bits.I then nailed the frame together, along with a couple of L brackets for a little more strength.And attached the hinge and clasp.
This is where I stalled out for a few months. I originally nailed 1/8 inch masonite on the sides, but this seemed too heavy. Sure, it wasn't that much, but when your hauling around a whole mess of painting equipment, it adds up quick.

So I went to the local hardware superstore and picked up some Laminate. That is the stuff that is used for cheaper counter tops. Its very thin, and brittle, but unless I step on this thing, it should be fine. Now, all they sold it in was huge sheets, for more than I was going to spend, but they had a broken piece, which I picked up for $10. It gave me enough to make about 5 of these things, I'm sure I'll find a use for the extra.

As I didn't want the faux marble look, I nailed the Laminate on bottom facing out. Here is the finished product.

Color deprived

2009-02-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Fruit still - 14"x18"

The northwest gray has really been killing me. I don't mind the cold, but the constant gray gets old after a while. So as a form of therapy, I've been painting some nice colorful still lives. This is the first one, I have two more finished, but they are still too new and shiny to photograph.

Now Showing

2009-01-29T06:48:00.000-08:00

Music and Drink - 15" x 17" - Oil

At Collective Visions Gallery, in Bremerton, WA. This painting was selected for the 09 juried show.
The opening is February 7th.

OJ

2009-01-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

This is a 6x8 that I painted last week. One of the things that I noticed while painting this was how different the juice color and the flesh color are.

Self Portrait

2008-12-31T07:09:00.000-08:00

I finished the third and larger self portrait. I am not really happy about the drawing, there still seems to be some issues. Maybe it's just my elephant man head. :D

However, I am very happy with the paintings texture. I love the way a painting looks after many sessions with an impasto, leaving lower layers showing, it's like an archaeologists dig.

Recent studies

2008-12-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

Couple of new studies to show. I haven't done any figure for a long time. For a bit of a refresher course, I've done a few self portraits (one is still in progress), and a master study.

Also this small 5x7 study of an Emile Gruppe painting. I really enjoyed this one. There was so much color to find in it. And looking around at the snowy world around me, I found a lot of those same colors, from the yellows in the sky, blue shadows, and purple distance.

2 Small Still Lives

2008-12-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

I painted these last week. The orange with my usual light source. West facing window light. The pear was painted with artificial light, and I noticed it really added color to the shadows.
Both are 5x7.

Landscape Master Copy

2008-11-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

This is a little 5x7 copy after a painting by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot that I painted this weekend. My goal is to not worry about details, just focusing on hue and value. They are fun/instructional and also a great warm up to go out an paint plein air. So far I've only done 6 or so of these little guys, but I'd like to do at least one a week.

My first Nocturne

2008-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it's the time of year where it gets dark very early. With so little daylight, I decided it's time to give a nocturne a try. It was pretty fun, but I felt like Luke doing Jedi training with his eyes closed. I couldn't really see what I was doing, I had just a small clip on reading light for a light source, so I was pretty much just using the Force.
It was a lot of fun, I like painting with alternative lighting situations, it really makes you look. Hopefully I do a bunch of these this winter.

Landscape from the imagination

2008-10-02T06:36:00.000-07:00

I spent a few hours doing small thumbnails in my sketchbook with charcoal and chalk. I ended up with a few compositions that I like, and decided to develop this one first.

That little guy is about 1" square. I then did 3 larger (5" square) studies, with the idea of studying color, time of day and mood.

I had fun with these, I don't often do landscape from the imagination. The cool thing about it is it frees you make decisions based only on what works as a picture, not trying to represent what's in front of you.

Two new sketches

2008-09-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

My daughter went to a volleyball camp this summer at a local college. The campus has some really nice old buildings, and I managed to do these two sketches while waiting for her.

Painting trip to Orcas Island

2008-07-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days on Orcas Island in the San Juans painting and camping. I got a lot of good work in, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

First day, I got off the ferry around 2pm, and headed to a trail up south Turtleback Mountain. About a mile up hill, broke a little sweat, and the views were everywhere! The taste of dust an pine needles was in the air, it really brought back memories.

I had decided to work with my water based sketch kit until I got into the flow of things. This consists of basically, an earthbound sketch book, 6 tubes (black, yellow, green, red, blue, white) of acrylic paint, and a set of flat brushes. These all end up approximately 5"x7" and take between 15 and 45 minutes.

My first painting, a view of the islands.

Then, a painting facing inland of some farmland.

And a view of Deer Harbor.

Then it was time to check in to the campsite, get all set up and have a bite to eat.
After all that I had time for a few more, so I drove up to Mt. Constitution and got this view of Mt. Baker.

And did two in Olga, but only one worth showing.

Now, the plan was to get up really early and do some sunrise painting, but early cloud cover gave me the excuse to sleep in a little. I was in the car by 7 am, and hiking around Obstruction Pass, I found a good spot to paint by 8am.

Still cloudy, and also a good amount of wind, I then painted this view of a Kayak Rental at Crescent Beach.

I stopped by Orcas Island Pottery and looked at some absolutely beautiful pottery.
I then wasted a lot of time hemming and hawing, trying to figure out what to paint. Unfortunately I do this a lot. I hiked up the north side of Turtleback Mtn, but nothing was clicking. And now I was carrying my oil kit as well, which is heavier. So, tired and hungry, I went into Eastsound, got a $9 sandwich and painted this view in oil.

Then I spent more time driving/hiking around. But nothing was clicking. Finally I told myself to just paint something, and went down to Rosario and painted two sketches.

So I had got some work in, but I was pretty frustrated with the amount of aimless wandering. I tend to get frustrated, and I get in snarl mode. So I had a few cans of refreshment back at the campsite, and looked at maps and brochures to make a good plan for the next day.

I started with a little hike up to Sunrise Peak. With plenty of cloud cover, there wasn't much sunrise to be had, so I painted this view looking down at the lake and trees. About a half way through someone came out and sat quietly. It was great, and I gave him two dots in the picture.

I then took a quick hike a nearby falls, very beautiful and peaceful. I don't think I pulled this one off, but my excuse is: it was my first waterfall, and I was sitting in a somewhat precarious position. Hmm, for some reason I can't find the picture of it, strange.

Then I headed up Mt. Constitution to "little Summit". This was the place. Great views, and you can walk around off trail. And nobody there, unlike the main summit!
I did a sketch here although there seems to be no picture (that means it should be burned).
I went back to the car and got the oil kit and did this one.

Hiked around a little and found this view.

Now I felt like i was getting somewhere. I love the way the islands look from above, like some sort of prehistoric beast.
I had time for one more oil of the day.

The end of this day felt much better than the last!
The next morning I had time for two more little ones before it was time to break down camp an head out to the ferry.

Overall it was a great trip! I was glad to end on a high painting note. And I came out with a good handful of studies to make into larger finished works. This was my first real landscape painting trip and it went pretty well, although I learned a few thing. Number one, make better plans about specific locations to paint!
Already I'm starting to think about my next trip.

Time to put the nose to the grindstone

2008-06-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work-painting day and night!
Here are just some of the things I've finished this WEEK!. I'm going to try and update much more often.

Penninsula Juried Art Exhibition

2008-04-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

Three paintings were entered in this show.

Grapes and Sherry - 16x20 - Oil

This is a painting that I think turned out very well. A lot of time and thought were spent on the composition. The ovals of the dishes are connected by the towel to make an interesting figure 8 shape. Various shades of red and purple are repeated throughout for color harmony.

Roses - 9x12 - Oil

I painted this Alla Prima, (in one session). It's a funny thing, that some of the things that I've painted the quickest are the ones I like the best. I enjoy look and feel of brush strokes vigorously applied. One of the tricky things about painting something like roses, is to keep the result from looking too "sweet". I think this is a successful painting.

Lake Crescent - 14x18 - Oil

This is a studio version of a plein air painting. I had a rough time photographing this work, I just couldn't get rid of the glare. The plein air version was painted the morning after a ten mile hike. I was very happy to sit in the quiet shade and paint. Lake Crescent is very beautiful, and reminds me of Scotland, even though I've never been there! There are endless possibilities for paintings in the area, and I need to get back soon.

Overall I am very happy with the three pieces I entered, and think they should do well.

Juried Shows

2008-04-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Last year I entered my first show. I entered two paintings, a still life, and a landscape, and they both sold pretty quickly. That felt pretty good. So this year, I've already entered two shows, with plans for at least two more upcoming shows, with around 20 paintings being entered.
I will be very busy framing! Hopefully they do well, I'm pretty excited about the new work I am producing right now.