High Noon - Sold

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For the Quickdraw on Saturday they had set up a model for us as a cowboy. He was fun to paint with his guns and leathers.

Downtown Cheyenne

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This is a building in the downtown section of Cheyenne. It is just down the way from where I painted the Tivoli window.

Immortalized

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While I was painting the Tivoli window Earl walked up and asked me to put him in the painting. I told him I was almost finished with that painting but if he could wait a few minutes I could do a new painting of him. He agreed so I quickly finished the other painting and moved my set up over so he could pose for me. He kept saying "I'm being immortalized" while I was painting. He also ask that I get his cigarette in the painting. He seemed to really enjoy being the focus of a painting and I was glad to have a good model. He held the pose really well too.

Tivoli Window

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This is a window detail of the Tivoli building in downtown Cheyenne. It is a beatutiful piece of architecture and I love the color and simplicity of all the details of this building. I chose to paint the window because of the way the reflected light was bouncing into the shadows.

Sunset Over Cheyenne

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This was a sunset painting I did after a day of heavy rain. I had earlier in the day chosen a scene I wanted to paint and sketched it out in oils. Just when I was about to start in on covering the canvas it started to rain. I was thinking I would tough it out since I had a small umbrella to cover my painting. Just about then a lighting strike came over the hill and then the thunder close belind. I looked around and noticed I was standing under the only power lines around and about three feet away from a power pole with a transformer on it. I didn't think that was the smartest idea to continue to paint but I decided the painting was worth the risk. Then a loud boom came over head and the lightning stike was a lot closer and the rain started to really come down so I quickly threw my gear into the truck and decided to wait for the storm to pass. Several hours later it did pass but it was time to meet the other artists and gallery owners for a dinner on the ranch. I never did get a chance to paint on my sketch.

This painting of the sunset was done after dinner and on our way back to town. We had been wanting to paint a sunset and we thought we might get a good one with the clouds and rain coming down in the distance. I really enjoyed painting this painting and it looks better in real life. I think I captured the rain showers in the distance but they don't show up in this photo of the painting. This painting along with the rest of the Wyoming Plein Air paintings can be seen at the Link Gallery in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wyoming Country - Sold

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This is the first painting I did for the Wyoming Plein Air. The location is a little southwest of Cheyenne and the clouds got my attention along with the wide open country. The paintings for the event are on display at the Link Gallery in Cheyenne. This painting sold at the opening reception.

Above Teton Village

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I did the Jackson Hole Art Festival on July 26 & 27. On the second day I set up my easel behind my booth and painted a landscape within view. The previous day I stared up at the pine trees on the green hill side and finally had to paint it. I tried to paint nice and thick and was happy with the painting.

Garden Jewels

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These beautiful canna lilies are at the Alameda community gardens. They stand over 6 feet tall and were a real challenge to paint as they were blowing in the wind.

Still Waiting - Sold

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After getting lunch I saw this charming picket fence being back lit. I decided to pose Marta back lit in front of the fence and try to capture the effect of light.

Lost in the Moment

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This was painted for the Alameda Plein Air Quickdraw where all the artists got together between 10am & noon and painted the downtown section of Alameda. I chose to paint Marta on a bench in Jackson Park.

Bathed in Pink.

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I painted Marta on the beach for the second day of the Alameda Plein Air. It was a nice afternoon and Marta braved the sun. We were joking about how there aren't too many jobs where one gets paid to lay on the beach. Marta did earn her modeling fee as even with sunscreen she received a minor sunburn on parts of her legs. Her pink legs the next day did influence the naming of the painting.

Lagoon Sunset

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This was painted at the lagoons on Bay Farm during the first day of the 2008 Alameda Plein Air event. I wanted to capture the glimmer on the water from the sunset framed by the silhouette of the trees.

Above San Clemente

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This was painted near the spot where I painted the first San Clemente painting. Actually my easel would be in the center of that painting and I would be looking to the right. Carole was painting her award winner to my left.

I was looking for something to place in the foreground and I liked the way the palm tree and the plants around it stood off against the desaturated, distant hills. There was never a lack of atmosphere during this event. This painting is hanging in the San Clemente Art Gallery.

Girl in Sunlight

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This is the painting that I did in two hours for the San Clemente quickdraw. We had a great model in this beautiful white dress against the sunlit lawn. We were lucky to have the sun mostly out instead of the usual marine layer. My main goal in this painting was to capture the effect of light.

Setting Sun

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I loaded my gear into the truck after painting "Palms in the Sea Mist" and then I saw this beautiful sunset. I was out of quarters for the parking meters so I looked around and found 29 minutes on a meter. I quickly moved the car, unloaded my gear and quickly painted this scene. I started with the sun because it was going down quickly. I barely had it in when it disappeared behind the marine layer. I quickly laid down spots of color to lock in the color key and then finished it off as it was getting dark. And no, there wasn't any time left on the meter or a ticket on the windshield when I got back. It was a good day.

It'll Burn Off

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I went back to the beach in hopes that I could paint the bluffs over the beach with a strong light and shadow pattern. It was again overcast so I decided to emphasize the beach instead of the bluffs (which are just off the left side of the canvas). I tried to layer the painting in atmosphere with the deepest, richest colors in the forground and desaturating the color as I go back to the distant bluffs. This painting is hanging in the San Clemente Art Gallery along with another painting I'll post soon.

Palms in the Sea Mist

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It was a sunny afternoon so I went down to San Clemente State Beach. I walked up the beach along the train tracks and found a beautiful sunny scene to paint. I hurried back to the car, got my gear and headed back to find the marine layer was coming in fast. I instead chose this scene to paint because of the nice atmosphere between all the palms and the bluff in the distance. At times the bluff would disappear into the fog. Of course the sun came back out after 30 minutes leaving me to paint from memory to finish the piece.

San Clemente Sunset

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I went up in to the hills above San Clemente and found this vantage point in a neighborhood above El Camino. I went back to get my gear and then started painting this quickly changing scene. I love painting sunsets as you usually only have 30-45 minutes to capture it before it's too dark to see what you're doing. When I paint this way I just go for it as there is no time to over plan the piece. These paintings are usually quite spontaneous and fresh looking with juicy brush work.

Light Play

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The marine layer was thick in the morning; as it is most mornings this time of year. This allowed for some nice atmosphere in the painting. I chose to start this piece with a palette knife because the mist was burning off quickly and I wanted to get my color notes down before it did. I ended up using only palette knife for this piece. Hope you like it!


Note: This painting received Best of Show at the Napa Valley Museum's Biennial Plein Air Exhibit earning me a One Man Show at the museum next spring. Stay tuned!

Napa Vineyards

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The Napa Valley Art Festival is coming up on May 31 at COPIA in Napa, CA. I wanted to get some local paintings done for the festival so I came up to Napa for a few days to paint.

It started out kind of foggy and then it burned off as the day moved along. This scene is just north of the city of Napa.

Vineyards in the Napa Valley

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This is a painting I did in the Napa Valley up near Calistoga. I caught a glimpse of this scene as I was driving by so I went back and found a good place to set up and paint from.

Yountville Vineyards - Sold

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This is a painting I had done a while ago but wasn't quite satisfied with it so it went into the stacks of paintings. I wanted more vineyards pieces for the upcoming Napa Valley Art Festival so I went through the stacks remembering this piece and knowing it was really close to working. So I lightend and intensified the top plane of the vineyard and touch up the trees in the distance. Viola! Now I'm really happy with it and it sold at the Napa event. I know the new owners will give it a good home!

Garden in Alameda

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Alameda had a garden tour and the painters selected for the Alameda Plein Air were invited to paint at these private gardens. About a dozen artists came to the event and we each were given a garden to paint. I was planning to paint at the main garden when I thought I would check out this smaller garden down the street. The owners had done a wonderful job of making a beautiful retreat with many private areas in their backyard. I chose this one to paint.

Edgar Sketch

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Here's another sketch of Edgar in the fishing cap. I spent a little longer on this sketch, maybe 40 minutes.

Edgar in fishing cap

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My neighbor Edgar, who is an awesome artist himself, modeled for my class today. I did this oil sketch in 20 minutes.

Sangha waiting.

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I saw Sangha over my shoulder resting while I was setting up my easel. He was bored and waiting to have some fun. I decided to try to paint him before he wondered off. I think it was the first time where I had to look over my shoulder and behind me in order to capture my subject. It reminded me of fly fishing in a tight spot. He of course got up to say hello to some folks after a little bit but I had enough time to get this little sketch done.

Pink Glasses

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There was an antique fair the day after my opening so I took my easel outside and painted a vendors glassware. They were a peachy pink color and I wanted to see if I could capture the color. I bought some antiques to use as still life props so they should start to pop up on the blog.

Bodega Headlands

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I wanted to have a larger painting for my 3 person show this last weekend so I painted this 20" x 24" painting based on a study I did in October. I started it last Thursday and finsihed it Friday afternoon and hung it Friday night at the gallery. I guess I cut that one a little close. I'm looking forward to starting some larger pieces for the Napa Art Festival coming up May 31.

Helen Sketch with values

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I've added a wash in values so I get a better feeling for my overall values. My original study ended up too dark because I had a bright warm light too close to my canvas. When I later placed the painting in another room I was shocked to see how dark it was. A mistake I hadn't repeated since school days. I want to correct for this now.

Helen Sketch

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This is a start of a 20" x 24" oil painting. I had done a study a while back and wanted to do a larger, more finished version. This sketch is done in oils directly from the 11x14 study.

Katie Sketch

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Here is the second sketch I did Saturday night. Pretty girls are always harder to get the likeness. Again, it was an oil painting sketch on a 12x16 canvas board.

Sketch of Ben Zevaleta

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I've been busy getting ready for my new show in Folsom, California next Saturday, April 19th and haven't been able to post until now.

Today I went to the gallery to bring a few paintings and stayed and did some sketches through the evening. I met another artist there and I asked him to pose for me so I could do a sketch. He graciously stood for me while I did this oil sketch on a canvas board. It was about a 30 minute sketch on a 12 x 16 board. His name is Ben Zavaleta, look him up on google!

Emma in the Park

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We met Emma about a year ago and thought she would be a good model for our figure painting classes. Today we headed out to a local park where I set her on a burgundy blanket in the sun with a shadow of a tree behind her. Of course the sun was in and out and the wind picked up but I managed to get this 2 hour painting done of her. Look for more paintings of Emma in the coming weeks.

Don in Fishing Garb

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I painted this with my frineds down at Marin Art School. I was happy with the block in...

Demo of Don

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This is a 45 minute demo I did in last Thursdays head painting class. I was trying to demonstrate the need of keeping all the values in the light separate from the values in shadow.

Ali on Couch

Here are three, quick step studies from Peggi Kroll-Roberts workshop. The top study is a 2 value painting separating light from shadow and grouping dark masses. The second is a 4 value study And the bottom is a color study that tries to stay to the values of two previous studies.

Orange Slices with Tulips

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I did this 9x12 painting in Peggi Kroll-Roberts workshop this last weekend. She has us do several black and white studies before moving on to the color painting. This was the final painting on Saturday. Tomorrow I'll try to post a couple of the earlier boards that show the process better.

Not the Bearded Iris

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This is an 6x6 painting I did today. Dianne brought these beautiful flowers from home to Carole's class. I couldn't resist trying to capture the rich colors.

Heidi in a Red Shawl

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This is an 8x10 painting I did today in the last hour of my class in between working with the students. Again I was trying to show them the colors I saw on stage and how I mix them.

A Drink of Lemons - in private collection

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Sorry for not posting in a few days. I have been getting a show lined up at American Visions Art Gallery in historic Folsom, California on April 12th. It will be a group show with Carole Gray-Weihman and Nobee Kanayama. Google them if you get a chance.
The still life above started out really well as simple color spots and then became a challenge for me to finish up. I hope you like the results.

Old Ford in Mustard Fields

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My friend took her class out to paint these brilliant mustard fields near Petaluma and invited me to come along and paint. At first I was overwhelmed with the mustard. Didn't know what to paint it was so beautiful. And then of course I found this old Ford and knew I had to place it in the forground with the mustard receeding. Would love to have another seesion to paint on it. This is about a 2 hour, 12"x16" painting.

Trio in Red

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I thought it would be fun to set up a simple still life with three apples, each with a little more green in it then the next one. I wanted a strong shadow pattern as a design element and the greens to accent all the warm colors. Hope you like it.

Don in Profile

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This was a two hour pose and was painted with some friends down at the Marin Art School. They're about 15 minutes south of our l'Atelier.

Spicy

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I was at the store buying groceries when I saw this kit for making guacamole. The items looked like they would be good for a still life. Too bad the avocados never made it in a painting! Maybe next time.

In the Shadow

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I set this still life up in the studio under a small spot light with natural light bounces into the shadows.

Ashley in Tangerine Wrap

This painting is unavailable as it was given to a friend.

This is a little 6" x 8" sketch I did yesterday in about 40 minutes. It started out as a rough sketch to show one of my students in my figure painting class how I see the color that was up there. I set up behind her and put down some spots of color so that at the break she could look at her piece and then look at my piece and see why I chose the colors I did. I think it is a useful exercise that I learned from Ray Roberts when he did a similar thing in one of his landscape classes. It allows the student to compare their choices to what the instructor chooses. I then changed the model into a 90 minute pose and while the students were starting their new pieces I continued to try and make a painting out of a rough sketch without having the model in the same pose. It was a lot of fun!

Glass Color

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This still life was set up out side my studio's barn doors and painted in direct sunlight. There was this really cool (as in I liked it) wavy light coming through the brown bottle and lighting up its shadow.

25 minute head painting demo

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This was a demo I did yesterday in my head painting class. We were talking about designing the shapes in the head into two values to start with. Separating the side lit with the stage light from the shadow side. Keeping all the values in light in the same family of values as not to compete with any of the values in shadow side and visa versa. As you can see I broke that rule in the light side of the hair as I wanted the the hair to hold as one block of value against the skin.

Apple Spritzer

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I felt ambitious when I set this still life up and kept adding objects until I felt it was working. I wanted a transparent object (so I had to add two) and an irregular metal object against the enamel pan. Then I threw in a couple apples for good measure! What do you think?

Angel's Aqua Glass

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I set this up in direct sunlight. I have been buying a bunch of colored glass objects and grabbed this dark aqua, colored glass to paint along with a Porcelain angel. This was a difficult glass to paint because it's pretty opaque and not very transparent which is the effect I was after. Still a fun exercise though.