Portrait No. 19

oil on canvas, 12" x 9"

The result of a 1.25 hour session with the model.

Elmer's Wild

oil on canvas, 12" x 12"

Another color study done with palette knife, this time a derivative of an Elmer Wachtel painting entitled "Wild Buckwheat."  

Denman Street Lamp

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

Sleeping Lola

oil on canvas, 9" x 12"

I painted this tribute to Lola yesterday while my little angel was having dental surgery.  She is the most adorable little dog, my constant companion, and in fact a spiritual guide.  She teaches me to be in the moment and her effusive love towards strangers speaks to how we all would be in an ideal world.

Denman Studio

oil on canvas, 12" x 16"

This was done mostly en plein air and finished in the studio, the one depicted here.  The red leather Ikea couch was left there after a party on the property and I just had to include it. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

This little sketch was done a while ago and never posted, but it's so blazing hot here right now, I believe its time has come.

Brown Cow

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

A quick little iPad sketch, I like how the trees in the mid ground are set against the background trees. I may try to do something with that on canvas later.

Portrait No. 18

oil on hardboard panel, 12" x 9"

This is the result of a 2-hour session with the model in profile, done with a brush this time.  I am generally happy with it, although I can see that I made her a bit younger than she looked to me.  I chalk it up to early experimentation with paint consistency using a new medium to increase paint flow.  Also, with more time, I would have added more shading in her face, which would have aged her somewhat.  As it is, she has a nice aspect and so I am pleased.

Putnam Plaza

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A quiet scene in the downtown area of Petaluma, a peaceful and shady little spot I often pass by while walking my little dog Lola.  She loves it there, too.

Marshall Petaluma Road

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This is a studio painting done from a photo I had taken from the road.  Update:  I reworked the sky today, warming and lightening it according to the needs of the painting, rather than my misbegotten loyalty to the photograph I was working from.  I sometimes forget to remind myself where my loyalty should be:  with the painting and not the photo.  I've found that, when using a reference photo for a painting, I have to remind myself to paint what I know (or remember) and not what I see.  When painting from life, it's just the opposite:  to paint what I see and not what I know.  Both disciplines seem to complement each other, like stretching opposing muscles.  That's why I like to bounce back and forth between the two.  

View from the Cheese Factory III

acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14"

Another vantage point as seen from the Cheese Factory.  This one was done in the studio from a photo I had taken there, just playing around with design elements.

View from the Cheese Factory II

oil on canvas, 9" x 12"

Another plein air sketch of the Cheese Factory and environs.  I love that place.

Ghirardelli Barn

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This is an old barn in Petaluma, which sits on the Petaluma River.  I've been meaning to paint that barn with real paint.  Will get to it one day.

Silent Watcher

oil on hardboard panel, 6" x 6"

This little ditty I painted on site at the Denman property, a corner of Robert's Barn with a bit of life inside.  

Color Study II

oil on birch panel, 8" x 10"

Another color study, this time with real paint. 

Redwood Way II

oil on canvas board, 6" x 8"

Another plein air sketch of the pastoral scene I pass on my way to the studio every day.  This one was done in the morning along another stretch of that wide area rife with structures, trees, pasture, distant hills, and cows (when they choose to appear).  Done with a palette knife.

Nicasio Reservoir II

oil on canvas, 10" x 30"

I painted this in the studio with a palette knife working from a reference photo and memory.  I loved the pinkish hills in the background and the mottling of rocks and bushes in the foreground hills.  The water was flat and still that day.

Ellis Creek, Western View

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Color Study

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

The idea for this started as an abstract study in purples and greens, but one thing led to another (as usually happens) and voila, another landscape was born!  I guess it's time to admit I love painting landscapes.  Living here in Sonoma County, there is such beauty and variety everywhere you look, it's hard not to be mesmerized by it all.  But this one is still useful to me as a color study.

Portrait No. 17

acrylic on hardboard panel, 14" x 11"

The latest portrait, which I worked on for 2 hours with the model and then another hour in the studio.