The Crevice

acrylic on canvas paper, 9" x 12"

Working from a photograph for this one, an exercise in creating distant atmosphere.  Not much painting this month, as I came to the sad conclusion I could no longer afford the art studio I've enjoyed for the last 22 months.  However, I may have found a happy solution to my dilemma by moving to a smaller space on the same property, with a great view and lots of light, that is sharable and will still allow me the peace and privacy I need for creative inspiration.

Bolinas Marsh with Eucalyptus Tree

acrylic on hardboard panel, 12" x 9"

This sketch was painted en plein air in acrylics, which means I had to work even faster than with oils.  It was really just an excuse to paint that eucalyptus trunk with all its beautiful color variations.

Oneanta Gorge

acrylic on canvas, 30" x 15"

Well, I decided I didn't like the painting of my previous post, Pierce Point Cypresses, enough to drive to the art supply store and buy another 30" x 15" canvas, and so I painted over it with this, which took me all of an hour to do.  Oneanta Gorge is situated near Portland, Oregon, along a section of the Columbia River Gorge.  Mystical.

Pierce Point Cypresses

acrylic on canvas, 30" x 15"

I painted this sketch from a photo because I loved the shape of these trees with their pale trunks and wanted to see blue and yellow together, another color pairing favorite of mine.  

Plum Trees with Vineyard

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

From my imagination, once again playing with the color pairing of aubergine and olive green.  They even sound good together, no?  

While Visions of Sugar Plums Dance in My Head

oil on masonite panel, 6" x 8"

Another abstracted landscape. The thought of certain color pairings sometimes pulls me to my easel.  This was one of those times.  I love the pairing of purple and green, or to be more specific, aubergine and olive green.  I find aubergine a tricky color to mix, so that it's dark enough and still has red in it.  I tried and failed here to execute my vision, but I still like the result.

The Hills are Alive

oil on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

Like all artists at one time or another, my inspiration dries up and I am left with a void.  When this happens, I can reclaim it only by becoming like a child again and resort to just playing with paint.  That's what happened with this one.  This is no place in particular, just a simple scene from my imagination of hills and sky.  

Blue Window

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Prelude to an Orchid

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

An abstract done while lying in bed thinking of a white orchid.

Sonoma Hills with Cloud Bank

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Mossy

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Another tree-lined pathway.  I love the mystery of a woody trail.

A Central Park Stroll

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This painting was done from a photo I took in Central Park on my recent trip to New York and Vermont.  I loved the lavender walkway, which I was happy to achieve without using blue.  My palette for this one was smalt, violet oxide, viridian, hooker's green, cad yellow medium, titanium white, and mars black.  I know it's a rather weird palette, but it seemed to be working well with this composition, so I stuck with it and I'm happy with the result.

Wild Horse

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Done from a photo I found online just 'cause I wanted to.

Topiary Tree, East Petaluma

oil on gessoboard panel, 9" x 12"

This is a palette knife painting I did in the studio from a photo I'd taken while walking along a trail in East Petaluma.  I've walked this path often, and each time I have to stare at this lone tree and its sweet, bulbous shape.

Catamount Drive

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Yet another Vermont sketch I did on site.  This is a view of the unpaved drive leading to my friends' house on the lake.  The filtered light through the leaves was eye-popping.

Boat Dock, Lake Dunmore II

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Another sketch done at the lake in Vermont, this time from the patio just above the dock.  The previous post of this scene was done from a window looking down on it, on a hazy day.  The sun was out in full when I painted this version.

Boat Dock, Lake Dunmore

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This is a sketch I did the other day while staying at my friends David and Rochelle's house at the edge of Lake Dunmore in Vermont, where the fall colors were starting to pop.  Simply gorgeous there!

Central Park Path

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This is a little sketch I did the other day in New York's Central Park.  I was there for a week visiting friends, going to museums, walking the 'hoods.  I lived in New York for about 10 years but had not been there since before 911.  Central Park was a favorite of mine.  I love nature, what can I say?  There may be some NY paintings coming out of this trip.  What a great city!

First Light Farm

oil on gessoboard, 12" x 9"

This is a palette knife plein air study I did the other day at a vegetable and flower farm in Petaluma.  It offers many painting possibilities and I will return again to this spot.  

Los Altos Hills

acrylic on canvas, 20" x 16"

Another abstracted landscape study, starting with a colorful garden in the Los Altos hills and reducing the shapes to their essence, without any details, and yet it still reads as a garden to me.  I would like to straddle the invisible line between the known and the unknown in my painting.  I also like to work in representational style, but this way of thinking helps divorce me of the tendency to label my world and allows for the possibility of surprise, the holy grail of painting for me.

Sidewalk Lavender

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

The Lollipop Guild

acrylic on plywood panel, 8" x 10"

Another abstract using up the leftover paint on my palette.

Sand Dunes and Pampas

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Viridian Vase

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

This is a work in progress, having run out of the particular brand of viridian used here before I was finished.  To be continued . . .

A Walk in the Park

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

This is an abstraction of a scene from memory, where the city buildings (New York) in the summer had this light mauve aspect that contrasted nicely with the neon green grass and foliage of the trees.

Barn Conversion

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This is cheating a bit by posting a painting I did a while ago.  I thought I had lost it, but I found it yesterday hiding behind another painting, feeling neglected.  I love the simple shapes of barns, so unpretentious.  Using a Wolf Kahn painting of a barn as a compositional springboard, I did make this one a bit more pretentious by converting it to a home in my habitual search for one myself.  

Update, 1/7/2018:  Extensive information on Wolf Kahn and his work can also be found here at www.artsy.net.

Red Umbrella by the Petaluma River

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A little digital plein air sketch I did while on a downtown walk with Lola.

Untitled 12/10/2011

acrylic on canvasboard, 6" x 12"

This is an earlier abstract painting that I'm posting now because it is going to be part of an exhibit of my work at the aperitif-tasting room on the property where I have my studio.  

Swimming in Miami

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

My response to the recent heat wave here in Northern California.

Christmas in August

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 12"

Another abstracted landscape, playing with color harmonies.

Young David Hockney

acrylic on canvas, 30" x 15"

This is a work in progress, nearly finished.  Not sure if I want the pink floor to compete with the pink stripes of his shirt, his shoes need some work, and a few other touch ups needed here and there.  I will replace the image when this painting is done.  David Hockney is one of my all-time favorite artists.  I've seen his figures at the National Portrait Gallery in London and an extensive exhibit at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco.  It was his recent plein air work in Yorkshire that inspired me to do more of the same in my area, and also his iPad paintings that gave rise to my own efforts at digital art.

Portrait No. 20

oil on canvas board, 12" x 9"

This portrait is the result of a 2-hour session with the model.  Her slightly downcast eyes and mouth gave her a rather severe aspect, which disappeared during her breaks when she "came back to life," as it were.  Most of the models I've painted in these portrait sessions are first-timers and I notice that they get very serious when sitting, or they think faraway thoughts because it's boring to just sit there.  In either case, the lack of presence is apparent on their faces.  I would like to see what I could do with a portrait where the model is looking at me, where there is a soul-to-soul connection, or just someone who can exude presence in stillness.  It might make a difference in the outcome.  At any rate, it's all a great learning experience and I fully appreciate the opportunity to paint from life.

Tomales Bay at Dusk

acrylic on canvas, 36" x 48"

This is a painting that has gone to live in the aperitif-tasting room on the property where I have my art studio.  I am putting up an exhibit of paintings there, and although I considered this an underpainting to be worked on some more, the woman who makes the aperitifs, Laura Hagar, fell in love with it in its current state and so I feel I cannot touch it now.  I guess it's done.  It is the largest painting I've done to date, but all four of my largest paintings have been snatched up for this exhibit.

Portrait No. 19

oil on canvas, 12" x 9"

The result of a 1.25 hour session with the model.

Elmer's Wild

oil on canvas, 12" x 12"

Another color study done with palette knife, this time a derivative of an Elmer Wachtel painting entitled "Wild Buckwheat."  

Denman Street Lamp

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Sleeping Lola

oil on canvas, 9" x 12"

I painted this tribute to Lola yesterday while my little angel was having dental surgery.  She is the most adorable little dog, my constant companion, and in fact a spiritual guide.  She teaches me to be in the moment and her effusive love towards strangers speaks to how we all would be in an ideal world.

Denman Studio

oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

This was done mostly en plein air and finished in the studio, the one depicted here.  The red leather Ikea couch was left there after a party on the property and I just had to include it. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This little sketch was done a while ago and never posted, but it's so blazing hot here right now, I believe its time has come.

Brown Cow

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quick little iPad sketch, I like how the trees in the mid ground are set against the background trees. I may try to do something with that on canvas later.

Portrait No. 18

oil on hardboard panel, 12" x 9"

This is the result of a 2-hour session with the model in profile, done with a brush this time.  I am generally happy with it, although I can see that I made her a bit younger than she looked to me.  I chalk it up to early experimentation with paint consistency using a new medium to increase paint flow.  Also, with more time, I would have added more shading in her face, which would have aged her somewhat.  As it is, she has a nice aspect and so I am pleased.

Putnam Plaza

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A quiet scene in the downtown area of Petaluma, a peaceful and shady little spot I often pass by while walking my little dog Lola.  She loves it there, too.

Marshall Petaluma Road

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This is a studio painting done from a photo I had taken from the road.  Update:  I reworked the sky today, warming and lightening it according to the needs of the painting, rather than my misbegotten loyalty to the photograph I was working from.  I sometimes forget to remind myself where my loyalty should be:  with the painting and not the photo.  I've found that, when using a reference photo for a painting, I have to remind myself to paint what I know (or remember) and not what I see.  When painting from life, it's just the opposite:  to paint what I see and not what I know.  Both disciplines seem to complement each other, like stretching opposing muscles.  That's why I like to bounce back and forth between the two.  

View from the Cheese Factory III

acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14"

Another vantage point as seen from the Cheese Factory.  This one was done in the studio from a photo I had taken there, just playing around with design elements.

View from the Cheese Factory II

oil on canvas, 9" x 12"

Another plein air sketch of the Cheese Factory and environs.  I love that place.

Ghirardelli Barn

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This is an old barn in Petaluma, which sits on the Petaluma River.  I've been meaning to paint that barn with real paint.  Will get to it one day.

Silent Watcher

oil on hardboard panel, 6" x 6"

This little ditty I painted on site at the Denman property, a corner of Robert's Barn with a bit of life inside.  

Color Study II

oil on birch panel, 8" x 10"

Another color study, this time with real paint. 

Redwood Way II

oil on canvas board, 6" x 8"

Another plein air sketch of the pastoral scene I pass on my way to the studio every day.  This one was done in the morning along another stretch of that wide area rife with structures, trees, pasture, distant hills, and cows (when they choose to appear).  Done with a palette knife.

Nicasio Reservoir II

oil on canvas, 10" x 30"

I painted this in the studio with a palette knife working from a reference photo and memory.  I loved the pinkish hills in the background and the mottling of rocks and bushes in the foreground hills.  The water was flat and still that day.