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"

The Lollipop Guild

acrylic on plywood panel, 8" x 10"

Another abstract using up the leftover paint on my palette.

Sand Dunes and Pampas

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

Viridian Vase

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

This is a work in progress, having run out of the particular brand of viridian used here before I was finished.  To be continued . . .

A Walk in the Park

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

This is an abstraction of a scene from memory, where the city buildings (New York) in the summer had this light mauve aspect that contrasted nicely with the neon green grass and foliage of the trees.

Barn Conversion

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This is cheating a bit by posting a painting I did a while ago.  I thought I had lost it, but I found it yesterday hiding behind another painting, feeling neglected.  I love the simple shapes of barns, so unpretentious.  Using a Wolf Kahn painting of a barn as a compositional springboard, I did make this one a bit more pretentious by converting it to a home in my habitual search for one myself.  

Update, 1/7/2018:  Extensive information on Wolf Kahn and his work can also be found here at www.artsy.net.

Red Umbrella by the Petaluma River

iPad painting, 14" x 10"

A little digital plein air sketch I did while on a downtown walk with Lola.