In the Pink Boat

oil on canvas, 12" x 12"

This is a painting that I'd been wanting to do for about three years but never got around to . . . until now.  Ever since rafting down the Yulong River in China, I've been in love with the jagged karsts that rise up like monoliths in the distance.  This scene was painted from a photo of a woman boating along the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and I just loved the pink interior of the boat set against the cool greens and blues around it, not to mention the repeating "cone" theme sparked by her hat.

In the Pink

acrylic on canvasboard, 6" x 6"

A little abstract painting I find rather uplifting for reasons I can't seem to articulate.

San Francisco Bay

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

This was a quick sketch I did the other day from the Sausalito Ferry after a power outage in San Francisco had caused me to abandon my desk at 9:00 a.m. and head back to Marin County.  It was a brilliant day, but a bit disorienting to find myself on a ferry boat when I was expecting to spend it tied to a computer in a high rise building in downtown SF.

Airborne

acrylic on canvasboard, 8" x 8"

Another abstract painting done with leftover paint on the palette.  I really enjoy doing these freeform pieces, with no agenda other than to respond in the moment.  

Springtime in the Foothills of Mt. Diablo

acrylic on canvasboard, 9" x 12"

I used a photo I had taken recently for this palette knife painting.  It was raining at the time, and I just loved the neon green of the distant hills framed by the gray skies and the violet ceanothus (mountain lilac).  Had to paint it.  

Moon Over the Sierras

acrylic on canvas, 12" x 16"

I had the urge to paint this scene for the juxtaposition of the dark violet sky against the pink glow of a snow-covered ridge at dusk.  I find it soothing to gaze at a full moon; it's such a magical orb, so round, so light, so seemingly still.

Inside of a Tulip

iPad painting, 10" x 10"

I love gazing at the insides of flowers, where they store their jewels.  Tulips are especially provocative in that way, with their petals curved in a protective manner around the center.

Wild Irises

iPad painting, 10" x 10"

This was painted from memory, an impressionist take on a large patch of bearded irises I spotted on a neighborhood walk.  The flowers are explosive this year due to the prodigious amounts of rain we have gotten, with more rain on the way.

Marilyn

acrylic on canvasboard, 12" x 9"

I saw a photo of Marilyn Monroe in a local curio shop downtown the other day and felt the urge to paint it.  I wanted to capture the bemused expression she had on her face, intrigued by what might be behind it.

Fragile

acrylic on canvas, 24" x 24"

In keeping with my yellow/gray exploration, I could go on and on adding branches, birds and butterflies to this painting.  Instead, I decided to quit before it loses its feeling of space, something I find rather appealing.  Those little yellow birds are warblers, and I love how their cool yellow color pops next the cool gray, in this case payne's gray.

A Nice Pair of Boobies

acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14"

I must confess, I came up with the title for this painting ahead of its creation.  I've been having a bird fixation lately, and when I came upon these Blue-footed Boobies, I was itching to paint those cute aqua blue webbed feet.

The Source

oil on canvas, 24" x 24"

This is a somewhat abstracted painting of a rose in closeup.  I loved the light emanating from its core, giving the outers petals an intense, multicolored glow.  I may abstract it further at some point, but I'm giving it a timeout for now, unless and until I know my way forward with it.

Backlit Nude

acrylic on canvas panel, 14" x 11"

This painting was fun to do, using only Indian yellow, terracotta (a muted orange color produced by LUKAS), ivory black, plus white.  The mix of black and white to get gray in semi-shadowed areas like her upper right arm look bluish next to the warm colors of her skin in direct light.

Study in Yellow and Gray

oil on wood panel, 8" x 8"

Another favorite color pairing of mine is yellow and gray.  I drove by a building recently done in those two colors and all of a sudden I felt uplifted.   I had to rush home and play with those two colors.  For this study, I used cad yellow light and payne's gray, plus white.  Both the yellow and gray are on the cool side, and mixing the two renders beautiful shades of green.

Eye Candy

acrylic on canvas, 10" x 10"

A colorful little ditty, again using springtime as the theme.  When I think of spring, I mostly see pink and green, one of my favorite color pairings.

Anza Borrego in Spring

oil on canvas, 10" x 10"

Anza Borrego is a stretch of desert in Southern California that has a profusion of colorful wildflowers in the spring, and this year, with all the rain it got, is slated to be a superbloom year.  I wish I could go there and paint my immediate response to it all, but alas, I cannot get away.  So, I comforted myself by painting it from a photo I found online.  Not the same as being there, but still fun to do and another useful learning experience.

Red Bud

oil on canvas, 10" x 10"

I worked from a photo I had taken to create this painting of a scene I passed along Highway 162 last spring, a road full of breathtaking beauty at this time of year.  The magenta blossoms of the red bud bushes springing out of the bright green grass and set against the dark greens and blues of the many trees make for an eye-popping natural bouquet.  

Spring Scene, Eastside Petaluma

iPad painting, 10" x 14"

With this loose digital sketch, I tried to capture the pillowy lushness of spring growth in a field of weeds and mustard flowers on the Eastside of Petaluma. 

Red Rock by a Pink River under an Orange Sky

oil on canvas, 6" x 9"

This was just for fun, exploring warm-to-hot color combinations in a landscape. 

Pond Algae

oil on canvas, 10" x 10"

I've been wanting to introduce more warm colors into my paintings, so here's an imaginary landscape done with that in mind, again using leftover paint on the palette.  I seem to gravitate toward cool colors, particularly blues and greens, perhaps because I am surrounded by them in the local landscape, but those neglected warm colors need to have their say!