West Marin Ranchland

acrylic on MDF panel, 8" x 16"

The golden hills of California are so beautiful to me at this time of year, and the local landscape is looking gorgeous right now.  This was painted from a photo, but I'm hoping to get out there and do some on-site painting soon.

Sunlit Ridge

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 12"

Painted from a photo, here's another quickie I did to distract me from the two paintings I'm currently struggling with.  I think it helps to do these quick studies, because I notice that it puts me in a different frame of mind when I return to the more challenging paintings.

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.

Denman Cottage View

oil on panel, 11" x 14"

This palette knife painting is a somewhat idealized interpretation of the view from my cottage on the Denman property.  I painted it from a photo and not from life because, while my camera was off with the colors of the background hills, I quite liked its skewed version, and yet the values were not far off the real thing.  

Midday on the Mesa

oil on panel, 6" x 8"

This little study was started on site, at a pullout looking west on Blueberry Hill Road on the outskirts of Taos, and finished in the studio.  It was a hot day and I had started just as the sun was getting intense.  It seems my fascination with cows has followed me to New Mexico.  

Estero Creek

oil on hardboard panel, 8" x 6"

This palette knife plein air painting was a rather hurried attempt to capture the golden light of late afternoon in a sweet pastoral setting that I discovered the other day in West Sonoma County.  I will definitely go back for another try, as I found it to be enchanting.  There were also black cows dotted here and there, but I didn't attempt to capture them.  Maybe next time.

Spring Scene, Eastside Petaluma

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

With this loose digital sketch, I tried to capture the pillowy lushness of spring growth in a field of weeds and mustard flowers on the Eastside of Petaluma. 

Millerton Point Grazer

acrylic on canvas, 10" x 20"

This painting was done from a photo I had taken at a pullout along Shoreline Highway, just north of Point Reyes.  It was either at or near Millerton Point, but I can't be sure.  I loved the halo of light violet behind the black cow provided by the distant hills.

Hills of Nicasio

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This plein air sketch was done the day before yesterday after the latest storm broke, leaving some neon green hillsides in its wake.

Marshall Petaluma Road in January

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

The sun came out the other day and so I worked on this palette knife plein air sketch until the cold air forced me back into my car.  The grassy hills are intensely green now, after all the recent storms.

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.  

Tree of Life

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

I've been wanting to paint this tree for a long time, as it captures my attention every time I drive by this wondrous thing.  Cows frequently gather underneath its shelter, and I love the tunnel that forms from within the curve of its trunk.  

La La Land

acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

I just felt like transporting myself to a fantasy land, and this is where I went with that.  I may have another go at it, but for now, it goes in the time-out room.  I've been reading Hockney's "A Bigger Message" and I can see his influence pretty clearly here.

Preston Point

oil on canvasboard, 8" x 10"

This plein air palette knife sketch was done on a somewhat overcast day, yesterday, on a pullout along a stretch of the Shoreline Highway between the town of Tomales and Marshall, with Key Creek in the foreground.

Victory Walk

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

This is one of the few horse paintings I've done to date.  Just trying to get more familiar with horse shapes and this one in particular, I already have another in mind to do of him.  This is my friend Marilyn's handsome boy Victor, a Thoroughbred and former race horse.  I dare say he's much happier now, living on a big ranch with someone like Marilyn to love and care for him.

View from the Cheese Factory, Looking West in Summer

oil on gessoboard, 8" x 10"

This simple scene was sketched looking a bit to the right of the last one I did at the Cheese Factory, along the same ridge of hills, and earlier in the day when the sun was at its height.  I may add some cows later.

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.

The Pond, Late Afternoon

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This was a quick sketch of the pond at the Cheese Factory along Point Reyes-Petaluma Road in Marin County.  It is a venue worth revisiting for the sheer variety of subject matter.  

Country Living

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This digital painting is from a photo I had taken a while ago somewhere in the countryside northwest of Petaluma.  I found the bathtub to be a charmingly odd curiosity, and one that added scale to the massive barn behind it.  Care for a soak, anyone?

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.