Crater Lake

oil on hardboard panel, 6" x 6"

An abstract palette knife color study done with a limited palette of ultramarine violet, cyan, cad yellow deep, and alizarin crimson. 

California Gold

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

This is an imaginary landscape done with a palette knife, essentially amounting to a color study using a palette that is somewhat unfamiliar to me.  The "new" colors here are phthalo blue, cad red medium, burnt sienna, and yellow ochre, in addition to the familiar colors of ultramarine blue, Indian yellow, and cad yellow light.  I'm just trying to get more familiar with the mixing capabilities of this palette.

Winter Pond

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

I was lying in bed the other night thinking of a color combination, of pairing a yellow ochre with a mauve or slate blue.  It got hold of me, for some reason, and when I awoke the next morning, it was the first thing on my mind.  So, I went to my studio and started laying down the colors I envisioned.  It turned into a landscape painting, and although not one based on an actual reference, I can see the influence of my many visits to Ellis Creek here in Petaluma.  The whole thing is an invention, really, and I am most pleased by what I see on the right side, where the blue/gray water of the pond meets the yellow ochre reeds, which are set against the dark red trees.  

Fire and Ice

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18"

With this painting I was trying to develop an earlier idea in a marriage of hot and cold, as in the heat of a setting sun reflected on an icy lake.  I tried to work fast with this one, using a brush in each hand to speed things up, and I must say it was really fun!  

Lakescape

oil on hardboard panel, 8" x 10"

No particular reference on this one, just using up leftover paint on the palette.  I love Italian cypress trees and lakes, and wanted to convey stillness and light.

The Lake in Central Park

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Back to New York here, with a digital sketch from a day I spent in Central Park.  I loved the faint view of San Remo in the distance.

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!

City Lake

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Eric's Optimistic

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

The Swimming Hole

acrylic on canvas, 6" x 12"

A plein air sketch that I started tweaking in the studio, then stopped because it all started to go pear-shaped.  I couldn't remember how I mixed the colors that day by the pond, and once you start in with a slightly different palette, there's no end to the changes that ensue.  I liked some things about this effort sufficiently to want to preserve them.  So, I chalk this one up to a successful learning experience.  Onward!

Dream House

acrylic on hardboard panel, 20" x 20"

Lac D'Annecy

oil on zinc plate, 8" x 6"

As promised, I have delivered . . . yet another metal painting.  I just can't seem to stop!  For some reason, it feels like a guilty pleasure, the paint sticks like glue to the surface, which I love, and the shiny metal ground pokes through to give it a certain glow.  These metal paintings are luminous, if I do say so.  So strong and yet so fragile, all at once, they need the kid glove treatment.  They're divas!  This one I painted from a poster of a cruise ship on the lake and left it incomplete because I got attached at that point.  Always a good time to walk away, in my experience.

Yamdrok Tso Lake

acrylic on canvas, 8" x 16"

Driving through the mountains of Tibet, the lake in the mid-ground is considered one of three sacred lakes in Tibet, loved for its turquoise color. 

Agua Caliente

oil on gessoboard, 8" x 8"