Marlon

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A digital portrait of Marlon Brando as a young man, just for practice.  Working on the human head again.  

Ely Road

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

The property where I have my art studio sits at the top of a knoll, and I've always liked the view south beyond the vineyard to the hill that shows Ely Road climbing up and over another knoll.  This was the view I had from my former art studio and as beautiful as it is, I still haven't gotten around to painting it with actual paint.  I see beauty everywhere, though, so to narrow the choice down is always a difficult one for me.

Looking South, Covelo Ranch on a Misty Winter Day

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 36"

This was done in the studio from a photo I had taken at the ranch, and I loved the subtle layers the mist made out of the distant hills.  I'm not quite done with this one, but will not be able to get back to it for a few days.  Who knows, it may be finished now.  I never know these things.  I find it helpful to sit with a painting for as long as it takes to receive the answer to that question.  I've heard it said you never finish a painting; you just stop working on it.

Filoli Garden Impression

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18"

This is a work in progress, already significantly altered since the first go round.  

Swimming Upstream

acrylic on canvas, 6" x 12"

All those years of indoctrination in the mental practice of labeling things can work against the creative impulse in the artist.  I noticed it happening with this piece, as a fish appeared before my eyes, and so when I caught that (pun intended!), I tried to work against the tendency.  It was a bit like swimming upstream, hence the title.

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.