This is a palette knife painting of a scene somewhere in Devon, I vaguely recall, that whooshed by me on the train to Plymouth to see friends in Cornwall last year.
I took that iPad painting I did the other day, cropped it to a square format, then painted a large interpretation of that, as it seems I wasn't quite done with the subject matter.
This is my first still life in ages. Now that I have a proper setup, thanks to my good friend and fellow artist Todd West, who built and installed two beautiful shelves in the art studio I'm renting, I will be doing more still life using flowers, such as these intensely fragrant roses that grow right outside the window. Thank you, Todd!
I set a new record for myself with this one: only 3 colors! And another record: it was done totally from memory. I can't even tell you the type of flowering bush this was. It was not a rose bush, that's all I know.
Another barn painting, this time on Davis Lane in Penngrove. The two sheep were hunkered down against this beautiful barn, perhaps awaiting a storm. The sheep, the gorgeous barn, the sunlight on the distant hills and that neon yellow mustard field in the mid-ground all begged to be painted!
This is painted from one of my "drive-by shootings," from the car as I was driving by this pink barn on Adobe Road in Petaluma. I did an iPad painting of it in a different format earlier, and left the brown railing out of this one, which I may add later.
This was a quick sketch using a photo of a painting I found online of this dog. I loved the perspective and, using the same limited palette I've been working with lately, bashed in the shapes over a dull orange ground, leaving bits of it poking through on the neck, mouth, and in the eyes. I used a cool, pale blue wash for the background, which gave it a pink glow. I quite like the effect.
Still working with a limited palette (5 colors, plus white), I'm learning what freedom is when the choices are few. I may tweak this one, but the exercise is essentially done. I love elephants in their natural environment, at peace with the world.
An iPad sketch that I hope to later turn into an oil painting. In this barn on the property where my art studio is, Robert creates lighting fixtures for restaurants and high-end residential interiors. The property also has vineyards and will be offering wine-tasting/aperitif-tasting soon.
I have rented a light-filled art studio where I can finally start producing some larger works. This was just for fun, an interpretation of a Roos Schuring painting to loosen me up for the bigger stuff, a Dutch tulip field.
A sketch from a photo I took of Rose and her adorable dog Bouncie at RCA Beach in Bolinas last December. Bouncie is a Hurricane Katrina rescue dog, and what a beautiful spirit she has, not to mention the beautiful spirit of her rescuer!
This little painting is based on an iPad painting I posted on December 30, 2013. Working in different media changes everything. The iPad painting is freer simply because I could work so much faster, not having to mix the colors and wipe the brushes in between applications. They are two very different paintings, but I like the sculptural quality of the tree mass in this one, as well as the rear half of the barn roof, which I left unpainted.
This is a plein air sketch I did last summer that I'm posting to remind myself there is life beyond the digital format. I've become addicted to painting on my iPad, simply because it is so fast and there is no cleanup involved or toxic fumes to inhale.