Old Eucalyptus Branches

iPad painting, 14" x 11"

This digital sketch was done on the east side of Petaluma, looking east, with the ridge of Sonoma Mountain in the distance.

Annie

acrylic on canvas, 8" x 6"

I've been wanting to do faces again, so here's another one.  I was going to "finish" it, but now I think I'll just let it stand as is.  I like the sketchiness of the background and the minimalist treatment of her hair.  Once I saw the spirit in this painting, I was loathe to toy with it.  Update:  Couldn't help myself, had to do one more wee little thing to it.  

Flowering Plum Trees, Covelo Ranch

oil on canvas, 12" x 12"

Another painting started on site and finished in the studio, done with a palette knife.  This scene is of the side yard by the main house, with the slough running alongside and a large field beyond.  

Sheep in the Field, Early Spring at Covelo Ranch

acrylic on canvasboard, 12" x 16"

This started as a plein air painting which was finished later in the studio.  I wanted to paint the sheep relaxing in the white flowered grass, against the subtle color variations in the trees beyond, but as soon as I set my gear up, they were gone.  How dare they!  Luckily, I took a photo where some of the sheep were still lingering and used it as reference for the studio work.

Early Spring, Covelo Ranch

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Back at Covelo Ranch, I love this view of the property, looking north, with the lush green everywhere and lichen hanging from some of the oak trees that are just about to pop with foliage.  Then there's the plum blossoms adding that bit of pink here and there.  Love it!

Lovebirds

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

Like the previous posting, this painting has gone through multiple incarnations as well.  It started out as a still life of roses, then I got frustrated because I found myself working too tight, so I took a large brush to it to shake that tendency off.  Finally, I picked up my palette knife and started sculpting an abstract with the leftover paint, letting my hand do the talking and keeping any thoughts about it at bay 'til the entire canvas was covered again.  When I stepped back, I saw these sweet little birdlike faces, to which I added a spot of color on their beaks and called it done.

Sonoma Mountain Road

acrylic on hardboard panel, 11" x 14"

This painting has been through many incarnations, as I tried and failed each time to capture my vision for it.  I finally got fed up and decided to just "mess with it," using a palette knife and mixing the colors directly on the surface.  I have to say, I like it much better now.  Even though it still doesn't match my original vision, at least it has some life in it.

Central Park Tree Tunnel

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

This was done from a photo I took one day in Central Park last October.  I was mesmerized by the scene of these tall, graceful mauve trees set against all that green, with a pale yellow ball of light in the distance.

Un Reve de Vincent et Paul

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This digital sketch came about as I was pondering Vincent van Gogh's cypresses and Paul Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire, and their respective palettes, so I combined them in a picture from my imagination.

Mendocino Pass Road in Winter

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This is a sketch from a photo I took last week on a short trip to the snow from Covelo.  It was my little dog Lola's first experience in the white stuff.  She loved it at least as much as the beach, but with her short legs plowing through 6 inches of snow, she didn't get very far before the snowballs stuck to her legs and immobilized her.  She didn't seem to mind the cold at all.  What a trooper!  

Iris Shoots Along the Slough

oil on hardboard panel, 8" x 10"

This little painting I started the other day at Covelo Ranch, thinking I'd work on it some more yesterday, but I had only brought two little palette knives with me.  Eventually, frustration overtook the project and I ended up wiping it.  Oh well, there's always another day, but I thought I'd memorialize it here, poor thing.  

I've been reading a large, fascinating tome about Vincent van Gogh entitled, "Van Gogh:  The Life," by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, and I've been letting my colors veer a bit from what is considered "correct," in search of my own sense of color harmony.  Van Gogh himself decried abstract painting, but in the last year of his life he loosened that view as his paintings veered ever closer to abstraction themselves.  I was attempting to do that here, with the turquoise grass in the upper left corner, simply because I found it so beautiful against the brownish water and linking it to two of the iris shoots next to the tree trunk.  I hope to explore this whole idea more in my paintings, but will need all the tools at my disposal for it.

Faye with Plum Trees and Foot Bridge

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This is a sketch of the side yard by the main house at the Covelo Ranch, with the slough in the mid ground, and Faye is one of the three very lucky Border Collies who get to call this home. 

Mustard Field, Eastside Petaluma

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

An iPad sketch of the Lynch Creek area on the eastside of Petaluma in between rains.  The walls in my new art space were painted a pale dull green and I realized it was negatively impacting my color choices, so I've been busy repainting the walls white.  Until the walls dry, it will be mostly digital art.

Plum Blossoms in Petaluma

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Even though they blossom in winter, plum trees always make me feel like spring has arrived.  A simplified interpretation of a scene looking east in Petaluma, with the bright greens set against the contrasting pinks, oranges, and mauves, symbolizes optimism to me.  Spring is coming!

Estuary with Lighthouse

oil on hardboard panel, 11" x 14"

Another palette knife painting.  I believe the reference photo for this painting was taken in Eureka or thereabouts but I cannot remember for sure.  I just know I had been wanting to paint this scene for a while.  Again, a very limited palette, this time all cool colors, save for a bit of warmth in the use of yellow ochre in the sky and the foreground.

River Rocks

oil on gessoboard panel, 6" x 6" 

These are just a few of the many colorful rocks to be found in the Eel River and its tributaries.  The big yellow rock looked like a gold nugget under the water, so, of course, I had to paint it!  This is a fun exercise in loosening up and going with the flow, as it were.

Apple of My Eye

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

This started out as something entirely different.  I wanted to produce a high key abstract painting, and was trying to come up with a composition using certain color pairings, such as viridian and magenta, or lemon yellow and a tropical blue.  I had spring on my mind, though, and one thing led to another, then out popped an apple.  I've also been wanting to do a New York skyline painting, and this has traces of that thread in it.  Ironic, the apple, innit?

Victor

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quick little iPad sketch of my friend Marilyn's thoroughbred horse Victor, done from a photo I had taken on their property the other day.

Ron's Barn

oil on gessoed hardboard panel, 6" x 12"

This palette knife painting was done on site at my friends Ron and Marilyn's ranch in Covelo, looking south to a brown barn just over the property line that Ron had built and lived in years ago.  

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.

The Golden Hour

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 8"

This little study was done from a photo I had taken in Anderson Valley last fall when the sun was sinking on the horizon, creating that late afternoon golden glow in the hills.  My favorite time of day to capture in a painting.

Coy Koi

acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

There is a little koi pond off the front deck at my friends' ranch and I love the juxtaposition of the green/gold algae against the purple fish, which in reality is more gray than purple yet the same or similar in value.  I painted this from a photo I had taken, just to get the hang of koi shapes.  I don't believe I've painted fish before, but it won't be my last attempt.  They're fun to paint, and I may try a plein air sketch of them at some point.  

Three Sheep

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

I'm back at Covelo Ranch, where sheep abound, getting some practice painting their sheep shapes so that when I attempt a plein air painting in the spring I will have a better handle on it.  Sheep, like cows, move surprisingly fast when you're trying to capture their essence.

White Magnolia

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Another in my white flower series, this one a quick digital sketch to keep me going until my studio is ready.  I'm anxious to go back to the easel, which I can do starting next Tuesday.  Yay!

Plumbing the Depths

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Old Farmhouse, C Street, Petaluma

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

I painted this view of an old farmhouse from the church parking lot on B Street in my neighborhood.

Mill Creek at Covelo Ranch

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This was done on site at my friends' ranch outside the town of Covelo in Mendocino County, in between storms, which left the creek a beautiful orange/brown color.  I am hoping to do some plein air paintings there this spring.  They have about 21 sheep, 3 border collies, 2 horses, and 100 acres of wild, natural landscape.  That adds up to a lot of painting possibilities.  Now, if the weather will just cooperate, . . .

Seated Nude Study

acrylic on canvas paper, 12" x 10"

This was a quick tonal study of a nude that I have had in mind to do a painting of for quite some time.  

I have been in limbo for the past month, as I had to move out of my beloved art studio and into a smaller space on the same property.  They just installed electricity in the unit and now I await the installation of a sink and the removal of their storage items.  I will likely be able to set up my space early next week, which I am anxious to do.  Although smaller, it will be warmer, and the light is just as good.  I will also be able to share the space and yet retain privacy, something I could not do in the other space.

Nicasio Cow

oil on masonite panel, 6" x 12"

This was done on site a few months ago and somehow never got posted, so here it is.  

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"