Road to Foxen Canyon

"Road to Foxen Canyon"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel
This little downhill is actually a paved road but I wanted dirt...and it's my painting so you know how that goes. On the left-hand side at the bottom of this road is the Firestone Vineyard...yep, the tire company. On the right-hand side and up just a bit is the Fess Parker Vineyard...yep, Daniel Boone...well, Disney's Daniel Boone. He recently passed away and that was a shame because he was a very well respected man around here. Mention Fess Parker and you bring a lot of smiles to a lot of people. I like this view over Foxen Canyon. If you ever get a chance to drive through Foxen Canyon it is well worth the trip.

$115.00

Moonrise Near Adobe Creek

"Moonrise Near Adobe Creek"

6"x 6" Oil on Panel
Another view over my neighbors field. The distant mountain range are the Figueroa mountains. In the mornings I can see the grasses on them but by late afternoon they turn some very wonderful colors of blue....the clouds pink up and it makes for a very nice time of day.

$115.00

Gaviota

"Gaviota"

6" X 6" Oil on Panel
Above the bluffs lining the coast near Gaviota are these wonderful grassy fields. I was there not long ago and enjoyed the bright sun and wonderful colors of the coastline. Eucalyptus trees grow up on the bluffs and bring some nice dark shades of color to the pale greens of the grasses.
$115.00

Summer In California

"Summer In California"

5" X 7" Oil on Canvas
I've just arrived back from Oregon and wanted to get a new one posted on here. The trip to Coos Bay went well and I managed to get a few posted while on the road but our time was pretty much spent driving and taking care of things we needed to get done up there. I'm hoping to get caught up with my usual life now that I am back home. This painting shows what I think I saw a lot of while on my trip...brown summer grasses that California has plenty of.

$100.00

Goleta

"Goleta Skies"

9" X 12" Oil on Panel

While driving back from Santa Barbara I saw these massive clouds from a storm blowing in from a Pacific ocean storm over the mountains near Goleta. I grabbed my camera and snapped pics to work from later. I added just enough foreground too give the skies some scale and was happy with my end result.

Clouds Over Chalk Hill

"Clouds Over Chalk Hill"

6" X 8" Oil on Panel
I've painted this scene a few times since it is looking over my neighbors hillside. The clouds in this one came from a pretty good storm we had. As soon as it had stopped raining I ran out to snap pictures of the clouds as the blew out of the valley.

$130.00

Carrizo Plain Bloom

"Carrizo Plain Bloom" 6" X 8" Oil on Panel

This scene is of the Carrizo Plain which runs parallel to the San Joaqin Valley. You can see the San Andreas fault here quite easily since there is very little erosion from the slight rains here. The fault has been photographed from the air here many times because it is so evident running along the east side of the plain. Very cool place.

On The Easel

"At The Foothills"

24" X 36" Oil on Canvas
I've been working on this piece for the last 3 days. This is a scene at the foothills along the north side of the Santa Ynez valley. The mountains are the Figueroas and are about 10 minutes from my house. I did this painting from a reference photo I took in the evening about 2 years ago. I love the warm earth tones you get in the evening, probably my favorite light. This painting is at the stage where I have called it "done" which means it will sit for the next 2 or 3 days and I'll take another look to see if there is some part of it that could use a touch up.

Moonrise

"Moonrise"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

I wish I could have taken a better pic of this painting but I have a large painting sitting on my easel and it's in the way. I take my pics there because I use daylight bulbs at the easel and they help take better pics without having to adjust the colors too much. This sky looks much better in person and I was really happy with the outcome of this one.

$100.00

Santa Ynez Twilight

"Santa Ynez Twilight"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
Who could resist taking a long walk on a nice winding trail through the grasses in the valley in evening light. Great sunset skies and maybe a deer or two out grazing. We have deer who jump over our neighbors fence to eat her roses. She bangs cake pans at them to scare them off. The deer look at her like she's crazy, haha. There is a farm close by that grows hay and you can see the deer "en mass" out there in the evening having their banquet.
This painting was done primarily to play with painting in the trail. I like adding thick pure paint to create the texture suggesting the loose kicked up dirt...the little specks of highlights...I think I'll paint one with a big trail in it. Did one a while ago so maybe it's time to do one again.

Lupine and Oak

"Lupine and Oak"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

A study using some colors I tend to enjoy using quite a bit. I like nice rich dark greens and ochres. The distant mountain is a very nice greyed down violet which even though it isn't a large area on the canvas it really intensifies the depth in this little painting. I'm starting to find the challenge of painting a large scene in a very small canvas pretty fun.

Sap Green

"Sap Green Sketch"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
Horrible title but basically this is a sketch I did to try out some old sap green paint I had. I was recently discussing it with a fellow painter and realised I hadn't used it in over 17 years. I was a bit rusty with it but it's in there and eventually things started coming back on using that particular color.

Evening Skies

"Evening Skies"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
A sketch done to work out sky colors and adding soft pinkish clouds that happen with evening scenes. I like these clouds when I see them and wanted to do some since I hadn't in a while. The vertical format is also fun working with.

Going Large

On The Easel This Morning.....

Just wanted to show what some of these small daily paintings lead to. This painting is still being worked on and is not finished. Not all will be used as a reference sketch for larger pieces but some have. This one is one of them. This is a big 22" X 30" piece. I really liked the color combination of the background and dark oak tree. It's a simple composition but to me that simplicity was what enhanced the painting. This one is about mood, atmosphere and color. I'm still working on the grasses and the highlights on the oak tree so it has a few more hours headed it's way.
If you look to the right of the larger painting you can see the smaller original sketch that I worked from. I added some additional background oaks to promote some distance since this would be much larger and have the room for it. I wanted the feel of those oaks being just over the sloping hillside so there are no trunks on them. Overall and with a little more tweaking this should end up pretty well.

***Click on the image for a larger view***

Glazed

Previous painting now glazed...5" X 7"

Occasionally I like to look over my drying paintings and pic one to experiment with glazing. I wasn't crazy about some of the colors in this painting so it made a good choice for doing a bit of glazing on. I use me medium mixed with just a dab of Indian Yellow and simply brush it on over the entire painting. To darken it up a bit you can add some red or alizarin crimson but AC is a very intense pigment and you barely put any of that color note into your mix or it will overpower the Indian Yellow. I like the aged look it brings to your painting and it is a great and very easy way to enhance the color harmony of a painting.

By glazing your original colors still show through but with a nice warm glow. Although you can't really see it well here, the blues in the sky are still blue in the painting but now are just warmed a bit. Sometimes a painting is too stark, pale in color or just too strong in colors and glazing is a way to dull down that overall look. You can brush on very light coats of glaze and then let dry a few days and come back and apply another coat of glaze to slowly bring your painting to where you like it. You can also try glazing with other colors too. It's a very old technique and brings a fresh look to your body of work.