Morning Near Santa Ynez

"Morning Near Santa Ynez"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
This is a typical scene of a hiking trail you can find near Santa Ynez in spring. I've hiked above Lake Cachuma and seen the wildflowers in bloom and it can be quite a sight. I always love seeing the California poppies in spring and summer. We have them sprout up here in our yard and they will line both highways heading down to Santa Barbara.
$100.00

Oak Trail

"Oak Trail"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

Had to skip a small painting yesterday to work on a larger studio piece. I was too tired to work on one last night so I did this one this morning. I'm using the pink background mountains because I might have a larger commission to do for a collector based on those colors. More fun with oak trees! hahaha. I'm really enjoying the various colors you can paan oak tree with...lots of fun these little paintings.

$100.00

Along Old Friends

"Along Old Friends"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
I'm really glad I painted this one. I love the results and even though this is a small painting this is to date my favorite one of this size. It started out as just a painting to try a different sky color and experiment with the colors and handling of the background trees. One good thing led to another and the foreground was finished up. I love the colors used in this one and the "feel" of the painting. I'll actually go with a larger version of this soon which I'm looking forward to painting. I enjoy paintings that start as one thing and then become something of their own by the end. A wonderful alla prima painting effort.
$115.00

Summer Skies

"Summer Skies"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

Oddly enough...this was painted not so much for the skies as it was to work on grasses more. These grassy hills are behind where I live and the distant mountain range are the Figueroa Mountains. A few years back we had a fire that drove slowly across these mountains for months...it started in July and was finally declared extinguished in Sept or October.
$100.00

Foothill Eve

"Foothill Eve"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
Trying to capture the evening light across the mountains and trees in this scene. Evening light is always a great way to bring some drama into a painting and I enjoy trying to capture it. I don't like to push it too much. I like a somewhat subdued approach to scenes of this nature....let nature tell it's story instead of the painter.
$100.00

Summer Grasses

"Summer Grasses"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel

A study of grasses in summertime nudging the edge of a hillside oak. I like using yellow ochre and love it's wonderful earthy tone to warm a scene up. Once I discovered how nice it makes earthy greens for oak trees I began to use it a lot. You can get some wonderful variety in warm greens using yellow ochre.
$115.00

Over Chalk Hill

"Over Chalk Hill"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel

This scene is practically right in my backyard...it's my neighbors backyard. I saw this scene in late afternoon yesterday as some of the clouds were blowing out of the valley headed for the San Joaquin valley inland. We always get great clouds here blowing in from Pacific storms out at sea. It's always a treat to see them heading across the valley moving inland especially in late afternoon light.

Summer Trail

"Summer Trail"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel

Did I mention I love to paint trails, hahahaha. This little meadow with it's trail running across to the trees in the distance is a scene I like to paint. There is something about a trail running off into the distance that attracts my eye. Where they lead to, where the trail will take you...it's very much in line with the choices and decisions you make in your life. Pick a plan and stick to it...you stay on the trail and try not to stray off the path. I see a trail as my choices and my path to where I want to go in life.

$100.00

Sunset

"Sunset"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel

I painted this scene tonight inspired by my neighbors oak tree on his hillside. I see this tree all the time and it has been a feature in many of my paintings. The fun thing about this painting is I did it from memory in the studio using the tree and hillside as just a base for the painting. I added the background and tinted sky as a whim...just wanting to paint in what I felt about sunsets here and not be a slave to the exact sunset of tonight. I've done this before and it is a great way to keep your memory and imagination working as a team and not having to rely solely on your visual process to creating art....and it's fun.
$115.00

Santa Rosa Hills

"Santa Rosa Hills"

5" X 7" Oil on panel

I saw this scene looking across the Santa Rosa hillsides when I left the Wildling Museum BBQ at Rancho Arbolado. We were parked on a flattened section of one of their hills getting ready to leave and I looked over at really liked the distant hills. The trees were cut in certain areas leaving varying shapes all along the hillsides. The dwindling sunlight gave it this pale look and it was a very nice contrast to the darkened foreground....I like that stuff!

A Nocturne

"Above Cachuma, Nocturne"

5" X 7" Oil on panel

SOLD
I recently did a painting of a hillside meadow near Cachuma lake. An artist friend of mine suggested I do a nocturne version of it and this was the result of that effort. Nocturnes are always fun to do and painting flowers at night was a fun challenge. I had these flowers in the day scene so I kept them for the nocturne and thin they worked out well.

"Trail Near Cachuma"

5"x7" Oil on Panel

Spent the good part of last Saturday at a camp near Cachuma Lake checking out a program sponsored by Hidden Wings. The Hidden Wings organization deals with children, and "after high school graduation" programs for children, with Autism. While there we went on a hike that had views of the lake and wandered around the border of the camp property. I'd guess it was about a mile long hike. It was overcast but later in the day the sun came out and I re-hiked it to take photos of thew wildflowers growing along the trail and in the meadows. It was a great hike...both times! hahaha.
$100.00

Spring Morning

"Spring Morning"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel

Spring is here in the Santa Ynez valley and whatever can bloom is blooming! Had some time this weekend to get out and do a little hiking in the mountains. It was great to make a turn in the trail and see a small meadow blooming with poppies or lupine or other wildflowers. The air is cool and crisp in the mornings but warms in midday. What a great time to get out of the studio and enjoy the day.

$115.00

California Spring

"California Spring"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

From looking at this hear this painting seems to be much larger than it's 5"x7" size. I like squeezing in as much real estate on a small painting to see what the limits are...and I haven't found them yet! I sat down to paint this one using nothing but my imagination. I wanted to paint a scene of what I feel areas of the Central Coast would have looked like before they became settled. I miagine it would have looked much like this scene...wide open valleys splattered with massive eucalyptus trees and poppies lining the valley floors in springtime...a California Spring.

$100.00

Stream At Eaton

"Stream At Eaton"

6" x 6"
Eaton canyon is close to where I grew up in Pasadena. It's at the bottom of the San Gabriel mountains and was a favorite place to hang out as a kid. I go there now to hike around snapping reference photos and enjoying the colors of the sky when it's close to sunset. Many painters head to Eaton canyon because it is so accesible. This year we had some good rains so the stream down the canyon was going pretty good. I was there just after one of the rains and got some great shots of the stream and surroundings. This little study was painted from one of those shots.
$115.00

Caifornia Oak

"California Oak"

6" x 6" Oil on panel

A more greener version of the California oak tree. I like the paint them in a more olive drab color...even a reddish color but you have to think "variety". They say it's the spice of life. I think humor is the spice of life. I have grown up with oak trees as a prime part of the California landscape. We had them all over Pasadena and it would be hard to imagine growing up without having climbed around in an oak tree to pass the summertime. In California we now have a law against cutting oak trees down. Good law! We have several oak trees here at the house and have no inclination to cut into one. We wouldn't dare!

$115.00

Hillside Eucalyptus

"Hillside Eucalyptus"

5"x7" Oil on panel

A little closer view of a "Euc". I like placing a nice tall vertical subject on a diagonal foreground such as this hillside. Honestly I think it comes from going camping with my family when I was a kid. My brother and I would go hiking away from the campsite wandering through large pinetrees in the San Gabriel mountains above Pasadena. Charlton Flats, Barton Flats, Chilao Campground...upper and lower...all very cool and familiar places of many moons ago.

$100.00