Tomales Bay Ridge in January

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quickie digital sketch done yesterday late afternoon.  Just as I finished, the sky turned all sorts of colors -- pink, orange, violet, yellow -- and I managed to capture the gist of that scene with my iPhone before leaving, with the hope of turning that into a painting.  

Eye of Zebra

acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"

A minimalist painting of the sort that I often resist -- namely, high contrast.  Not sure why, since I love high contrast in a painting.  Maybe I'll do some more.

Toucan Tango

oil on canvas, 8" x 16"

More big-billed birds.

Rainbow Sherbet

oil on canvas panel, 6" x 6"

Here's a little abstract using leftover paint from the palette I chose for another bird painting I've been struggling with.  I like the abstract, though.  In fact, I think it looks good enough to eat.

Toucan

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Here is another in what is fast becoming an obsession with big-billed birds.  They are so exotic!

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.

Flamingo Portrait in Profile

oil on canvas, 11" x 14"

Not my usual subject matter, but I've been thinking a lot about birds lately.  There are so many exotic species in the world, and this one, an American flamingo, is among my favorites.  

Pond Swan at Ellis Creek

acrylic on canvas, 18" x 24"

This painting was done from a photo I had taken at Ellis Creek not too long ago.  I painted it with a palette knife, except for the swan and the slim tree trunks in the mid-ground, for which I used a brush.  The black area surrounding the swan was left unpainted, having been primed with black gesso.

Monica

oil on canvasboard, 14" x 11"

This tonal study was an exercise in black and white, for which I used ivory black, payne's grey, and titanium white.

Ellis Creek Reeds and Trees in Winter

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

From a recent foray to one of my favorite spots in Petaluma.  The subtle color variations are so beautiful to me, especially when set against a gray sky.

Ballerina in Dark Blue Tutu

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Was in the mood for a tutu, what can I say?  They're fun to paint.

Eclectic Love

iPad painting, 10" x 10"

I upgraded my iPad recently and noticed my go-to art app, ArtRage, had been upgraded as well.  This is my first digital painting in a square format, an unexpected perk of the upgrade.  I've only been able to produce digital art in a 10" x 14" format, for which I could choose either portrait or landscape perspective and nothing more.  Now that they've added the square format and a few other nice features (along with a few frustrating setbacks, imho), I'll be doing a lot more square digital paintings.  Now, if they would only upgrade again and actually give the artist complete control over format . . . 

Field of Dreams

oil on canvas panel, 9" x 12"

A simple abstracted palette knife landscape here using a limited palette of pthalo green, cad yellow medium, cad orange, cyan blue, and titanium white.  These color field exercises help to divorce me from labels and the conditioned impulse to define what I'm doing.  I find the process very freeing.

Ellis Creek in Autumn

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quick digital impression of Ellis Creek I did the other day while on a walk with the dogs.  It started to rain, so I just had time for the basics.

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!  

Egret at Ellis Creek

oil on canvasboard, 6" x 12"

I started on this palette knife painting from a photo I had taken at Ellis Creek, but had to finish it from memory when my computer crashed last Tuesday.  It had just rained after a long dry spell and there was a carpet of mustard flowers in the mid-distance that I just loved, not to mention the beautiful snowy egret standing in the shallow water.

Finnish Forest

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18"

I'm working off an old computer to post this painting, as my laptop crashed last Tuesday and is still in the repair shop getting a new hard drive.  This was an attempt at an abstracted landscape, with just memory and imagination as my guide.  I wanted to see verticals, for some reason, and thought of birch trees, of which there are many in Finland, or so I hear.

Green Barn

oil on canvas panel, 8" x 10"

A quick little palette knife study of an old green barn that I intend to paint larger and in a slightly different format at some point.  This was an experiment to arrive at the palette I wanted to use for it, in this case opting for cad yellow light, transparent orange oxide, napthol red, cyan blue, and ultramarine blue, plus white.  I have amassed quite a number of barn paintings by now, an ongoing homage not only to what they symbolize -- shelter and protection for animals -- but also as an expression of gratitude, since they have served me well as art studios in the past.

Sunset Study

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This is a study I did as a warmup for an organic painting I have in mind.  Here, I'm playing around with design and searching for the palette I want to use for it.  I've been using a limited palette on all of my recent paintings, which changes from painting to painting.  I try to use between three and five colors, plus white, for each -- colors I choose according to the dictates of each particular motif I have in mind.

On a separate note, I have four of my digital paintings on display and available for sale at a local venue here in Petaluma, the Aqus Cafe, through 2/26/2017.  They are each printed on a 5" x 7" metal sheet and wall mounted, and can be printed larger by request.

Resting Holstein

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

I've had cows on my mind a lot lately.  I love the high contrast patterns formed by cows set against the local landscape.  I am especially drawn to the Holsteins, but I love them all for their peaceful spirits.

White Orchids

acrylic on canvas, 8" x 16"

Here is another addition to my white flower series.  I dropped the ball for a while on these white flower paintings, which I enjoy doing, but I have a few more in mind before I move on to other still life themes.

Finn

oil on cradled panel, 6" x 8"

This is a portrait of my brother's little mini-dachshund, Finn, another palette knife painting.  I used a brush only for the highlight on his eye.  The reference for this commission was a photo my brother had taken, and so I felt obliged to be faithful to it.  If I had used a photo that I had taken and that my brother had not seen, I would have felt much freer in my interpretation.  I typically shy away from commissions, but  I love my brother and so I was happy to do as he wished.

Icelandic Horse

acrylic on canvas, 30" x 15"

I've been playing with a new limited palette lately, the one for this portrait made up of Prussian blue, napthol red, cad yellow light, and titanium white.  

Scarlett

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This digital portrait was done from a photo I stumbled on while searching for something else.  It was another artist's painting, I believe, but I could not track down the artist.  I found the portrait mesmerizing and felt compelled to create my own digital version of it.

Fall on Fire

oil on canvas, 6" x 8"

I suppose this little ditty could be called an abstracted landscape.  I used up every scrap of leftover paint on my palette to cover the canvas, thinking at the start about a photo I had just viewed of Central Park in the fall.  Soon after I began, however, the color relationships took over, and I dropped that idea.  I see Wolf Kahn's influence yet again.  

Update, 1/8/2018:  Extensive additional information on Wolf Kahn and his work can also be found here at www.artsy.net.

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.  

Supermoon

oil on gessoboard panel, 6" x 8" 

This is my first attempt at a nocturnal plein air painting, again using only a palette knife.  I really wanted to capture that big round ball of a moon from the vicinity of my art studio, so I tried to work fast and furious as it was rising in the east over the hills of Sonoma.  While my lighting setup enabled me to see the panel well enough (the light source was set on a chair), my palette was in shadow throughout, and so I had to later adjust the values in the studio.  What a challenge!  

Brown Barn

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 16"

This is a palette knife painting in progress for which I used a reference photo.   Just a few more tweaks here and there, mostly to the mid-ground areas, and I'll call it done.  I do like the overall color harmony in this one, which plays well off the color of the barn.  Updated on 11/21:  the tweaks are in, and I'm calling it done.

Tomales Bay Ridge

oil on gessoboard, 6" x 8"

A palette knife plein air study done from a pullout overlooking Tomales Bay.  

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.

Gretchen's Near

oil on canvasboard, 12" x 9"

This is a palette knife study of still water and background values.  I'm quite drawn to distant hills and live in an area that is full of variety in that respect.  This scene, though, reminds me more of those rugged karsts of Guilin, China.

Eucalyptus Stumps

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A ten-minute sketch done while walking the dogs.  I love the various subtle colors to be found in eucalyptus trunks.

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.  

Key Creek and Beyond

oil on hardboard panel, 12" x 12"

Another plein air palette knife painting, done from a pullout on Shoreline Highway near the town of Tomales, and a very colorful spot.

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.

Giacomini Wetlands

oil on canvasboard, 8" x 10"

This is an unretouched palette knife sketch (rare for me!) of a scene I've been wanting to paint for a long time.  I'm hoping to return to the scene for another go at it, a constantly changing colorama.  Update, 10/23:  I have replaced the unretouched image I had posted originally with the current one, having tweaked it here and there.

Oleander, Olive, and Pine

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Another quick digital sketch done while on a walk with my dog.  

Potted Plant

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A digital still life created without a visual reference.  I started this as an abstract, but one thing led to another, and . . . voila!

Eastside Petaluma, Early Autumn

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Another digital painting here, since I haven't had time to do any actual painting lately.  I'm itching to get back to it and hoping to carve out some time next week, but this time of year is always challenging for me, with various life demands taking precedence.  

Neon Cosmo

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A single flower, beautiful in its utter simplicity.  I found I couldn't add anything more to it.

Self Observation

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This is a strange little sketch that came from just below my conscious awareness, as I was creating it while listening to a spiritual talk.  I am wanting to push through to new territory in my art, and digital art is a low-risk way of exploring that.  The title came to me from that mindset as well.  A psychiatrist could have a field day interpreting what it all means.

Flaming Archway

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Another digital sketch done at Covelo Ranch, where the leaves were already in various stages of yellow, orange and red at the end of September.  This scene looks northward from the house and edge of a side garden toward the razed hay field and hills beyond.

Dogtown Eucs

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

I was on my way to Bolinas the other day and got stuck in a road construction delay, so I whipped out my iPad and painted the scene to my left.  It made the time go by lickety-split!

Looking North, Covelo Ranch on a Hot Summer Day

oil on canvas panel, 6" x 12"

This is a palette knife plein air sketch I did in late afternoon the other day at Covelo Ranch, as the heat was just beginning to abate.  That viridian green hay barn in the mid-distance is just beyond the property line of the ranch, and the hot summer sun seemed to intensify its color just before the shade hit its roof.

Reflections on a River

oil on gessoed panel, 6" x 12"

This is now what I would call an abstracted landscape, having messed with an actual landscape painting to the point where it is now almost unrecognizable but seems to have a life of its own.  You just never know.

Urban Wetlands

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This is an abstract digital painting I did while half asleep.  I like it and can't explain why.  I suppose it has to do with what's been on my mind lately:  New York City and a local wetlands nature reserve here in Petaluma.

Trees of Covelo Ranch, Summer Impression

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Another quickie digital landscape sketch.  This one I was unable to finish on site, but when I looked at it later, I liked it as an abstracted landscape, something I'm wanting to do more of.

September Scene, Point Reyes

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

It was so hot in Petaluma yesterday, I grabbed the pups and drove to Point Reyes, where it was 13 degrees cooler.  This sketch was a real quickie, less than 10 minutes, executed while we all sat in comfort on a bench in the shade as I gazed at this scene.

Conversation at the Confluence

oil on linen mounted on board, 12" x 16"

This painting was done from a photo I had taken of my friends Ron and Marilyn with their dog Dot at the confluence of the Eel and Black Butte rivers in Northern California.  The rocks in shadow on the far bank were actually lighter than the sand mound in the foreground.  The time was that golden hour of a summer day, around 7:00 pm, and I loved the warm and varied colors lit by the setting sun.