Poppies And Eucalyptus

"Poppies And Eucalyptus"

9" X 12" Oil on Canvas
Can hardly wait for the poppies to start covering the ground in so many places around where I live. The other day I drove on the road down to Santa Barbara and already many flowers were starting to bloom at the roadside. The wildflower display in the Santa Ynez valley and the mountains bordering it can be pretty impressive.

An Earth Palette

"Valley In Blue"

9" X 12" Oil on Canvas

I have been reading up on using an earth palette lately and wanted to give it a try. I thought forcing myself to use just 3 earth colors would push my mixing skills up a notch and teach me some new color mixes to try out. I used only Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and Paynes Grey along with white. I enjoyed learning to mix greens and blues using grey and no doubt this will add to my mixes in later works so it was a good experiment to go through. Pushing yourself by using a limited palette is a great way to force you to learn something new and step out of your comfort zone a bit.

Greens are commonly bought by many painters but I have been mixing mine from my primaries for years now. Using these colors above was a great way to experiment with new green mixes, very pale green tones which will work perfectly for distant greens. This should increase my ability to use more convincing colors to promote depth into my work. Also, the range of greys and neutral tones found with these 3 colors is eye opening to me and will show up also in future paintings.

Nipomo Eucalytpus

"The Sappling"

20" X 24" Oil on Canvas
I've been working on larger pieces lately and at the same time experiencing massive problems with my computer when trying to start up. This is a newer computer using Vista and I'm still going through the problem more often than not. Aside from those woes, I've been able to concentrate on larger works since the new year. I'm really enjoying working larger but they do suck up more time to produce...still a lot of fun.
This one was painted from a reference photo taken in a stand of eucalyptus trees in Nipomo, CA that I love to visit. This young little tree was catching the most wonderful light hidden in between it's older brothers. The young leaves showing off their great shades of bright greens in the background of muted darks and the pale ochres of the grasses. Hard to resist not painting this one.

Hillside Bouquet

"Hillside Bouquet"

6" X 8" Oil on Canvas
Winter naturally brings on thoughts of Spring so I suppose that's where the thought process began for this piece. A gentle hillside meadow covered with random Spring flowers, some green left in the grasses before Summer takes over. A very common sight along the mountainsides of the valley here.

A High Desert Painting

"Hills Above Little Rock"

8" X 10" Oil on Canvas
The view here is overlooking the small town of Little Rock up in the high desert not far from Lancaster. Whenever I can get up that way I like to drive through the desert, stop and explore...take in the desert air. The last time I was there I stayed till the sun went down to get some nice reference photos...took my painting gear but it was too windy and cold for that.

Valley Grasses

"Valley Grasses"

6" X 8" Oil on Panel
A quick one painted this morning. I like the summer colors in late afternoon light and miss seeing them now that Winter is here. I used this painting to play with color and try a few things out...nothing serious just little things. Fun little painting to work on today.

In The Arroyo

"In The Arroyo"

22" x 28" Oil on Canvas
A large painting of the sycamore trees down on the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena. This is an area that was painting by many of the early California Impressionist painters around and after the turn of the century. It's a great spot to get away from the city for a few hours even though you are just a short hike away from cement and red lights.

Eaton Canyon Meadow

"Eaton Canyon Meadow"

22" X 28" Oil on Canvas
I grew up hiking around in Eaton canyon which is just above my parents old house in Pasadena, CA. This small meadow is on the north side of the riverbed that runs down the length of the canyon. I think it is a great place to go and smell the sage and other aromas in the canyon. I remember my Dad taking all of us boys in the family hiking there once and we ended up hiking up to Henneger Flats...boy was that a story.

Spring Blooms

"Spring Blooms"

9" X 12" Oil on panel
This is the first of 2011 paintings. I started this painting 1 hour before midnight on New Years eve but finished it today Jan 2 due to a cold I've had and preparing for the rains that have now arrived again. We've got two trees down from the high wind in the early morning hours so I'll be playing with the chainsaws as soon as the weather breaks. Not the greatest start for the new year but I'm still in a good mood.
This is a larger version of a painting I did earlier at 5x7. I liked the foreground poppies and the spark they brought to the smaller painting. I also like painting with a knife occasionally so this was an appropriate one to start the new year off with since the flowers were mostly knife work.
Happy New Year to everyone.

Summer Above Los Olivos

"Summer Above Los Olivos"

8" X 10" Oil on panel

Sitting here with gallons of Winter rain from a Pacific storm pouring outside. I started this one while waiting for the much predicted storm to arrive. I finished it this morning after spending the earlier part of morning clearing a clogged drain that had created a lake up near the higher parts of our property. Happens everytime...I need a bigger pipe up there. Anyway....it's nice to see a bit of summer on the easel to remind me why I should appreciate the much needed water here in California.

Midsummer Trail

"Midsummer Trail"

8" X 10" Oil on panel
Getting back into the groove after this years studio tour and a foray with a very large painting. Actually, after the tour there were a lot of things to take care of so between that and the larger work things had gotten delayed in painting small works. I'm hoping to get back to work on those paintings. Maybe I'll post the large one in here tomorrow. because I've got another large canvas waiting to go....busy busy busy...not to mention the holidays, hahaha.

Originally this was a 5" X 7" painting. I liked it and decided to paint a larger version that you see here in 16" X 20" size. This is a nice looking 3" wide Larsen Juhl fframe that I'm trying out with this painting.

I haven't painted anything for about a week now due to having to get ready for the Studio Tour this weekend (Nov 20 & 21). This last week was spent deciding which paintings to show and what frames to put them in. Some are fine framed the way they are but others are being switched around. There is a lot of deciding what paintings work well on certain walls and next to certain paintings. Tomorrow I need to varnish but I'm low on varnish so that means a 30 mile trip one way to pick some up. Then it's back here to varnish. The rest of the week will be framing and hanging, getting the studio cleaned up for company and helping Linda get nametags and other items ready....I'm telling you, by the time the studio tour happens we are nice and worn out, hahaha. I was recently down in Ventura harbor and managed to take a zillion reference shots. I uploaded them late last night when we got back and there are some really nice prospects in there...now I just need to window to get started painting.

Skark's Parlour

"Shark's Parlour"

16" X 20" Oil on Canvas
Just finished up on this sportfisherman berthed down at Santa Barbara harbor. I loved the glow of the white, yes, white cabin walls in the early afternoon sun. I tried to capture that color along the back wall of the cabin and transom while showing the bright day's light left on the sunlit sides of the boat. I am pretty happy with the job of capturing that glow so I feel this painting has me on the right course in my paintings. I'm a happy camper!

Autumn Trail

"Autumn Trail"

6" X 8" Oil on Panel
We've had rains, chilly weather and leaves blowing everywhere so summer has passed and we're headed for the winter holidays. Southern California, not being noted for snow, will have this look in many places...brown grasses slowly turning green as winter passes.

New Hazard

"New Hazard"

12" X 16" Oil on Canvas
This is one of the fishing boats down at Santa Barbara harbor that I see a lot on my visits there. A great looking older boat with lots of character. Here she is seen tied close to the fuel dock across from the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Blackfin.