Early Morning, Chileno Valley

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

This is a study of a scene that I gazed upon daily from my living room window years ago when I lived in Chileno Valley.  I may do a larger, more fleshed out version in oil.  It was a magical place not only because of the beautiful contours of the terrain, but being so close to the coast often gave the atmosphere a mystical quality.

Indian Summer Dusk, West of Petaluma

oil on panel, 8" x 16"

This painting of the hills of West Sonoma County near Petaluma was done from a photo I took in the early evening on my drive home from work recently.  I love the pink and orange hues in it, as I was trying to conveying the warm glow emanating from those velvety hills.  I never get tired of this view.

Chileno Valley Oak

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

This was a quick little plein air sketch done from a pullout on lower Wilson Hill Road, looking north to the hills that surround Chileno Valley.

Wilson Hill Road Scene II

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

Another plein air study, this one done from the same pullout along Wilson Hill Road in the Chileno Valley area west of Petaluma, but of a slightly different section of the view.  I intend to revisit this spot again soon, to focus on those beautiful black and white Holstein cows that frequently pass through this valley.  

Wilson Hill Road Scene

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

This quickie palette knife plein air study was a race to capture the golden light of dusk before being engulfed in darkness yesterday.  I really wanted to capture the Holstein cows grazing in the foreground but didn't have time.  I hope to return to this spot soon and allow more time to get it done.  Still, it was a good workout.

From the Cheese Factory, Western View

oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10"

My first plein air sketch in a while, working with a palette knife.

Chileno Valley Hills

oil on canvas, 8" x 24"

This scene has been nagging at me for a long time.  I had taken the reference photo for it in June of 2006.  There was a mist in the morning air, which made the distant hills appear lighter and the foreground brighter, at least as captured in the photo.  I wanted to play with neutrals to see if I could recreate that atmosphere.

Hicks Valley Horses

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 24"

I used a reference photo I had taken last summer on Hicks Valley Road, in the countryside west of Petaluma.  The paint horse in the foreground had risen up out of the landscape like a blossom in the desert.  I spent two hours working on it with a palette knife, then took a lunch break.  But now, after stepping away, I feel that if I go back in there, the painting may change radically, and perhaps not for the better.  As it stands, the landscape is simplified and abstracted, and in harmony with itself, something I can only achieve working alla prima, which is to say completing a painting in one session.  The way I mix colors varies from session to session, and so a reworking of one area can result in a pasted-on look, which causes a chain reaction throughout, and then you're cooked, and the painting is DOA. Still, I may not be able to resist toying with this one later, even though I feel it has a bit of life in its current, unfinished state.  In a nutshell, I am not ashamed to walk away from this one as is.

Chileno Valley in Summer

oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

This is a palette knife painting I did from a photo I had taken along Chileno Valley Road, just west of Petaluma.  There were already globs of dried paint on the canvas before I started, having gessoed over a previous painting that hadn't gone well.  The added texture did not get in the way here; in fact, I think it rather enhances this scene, giving it a rough textural effect.

Chileno Valley Horses

iPad painting, 10" x 14"