Sill Life With Lemons and Orchids

oil 12x12 inches magnify/purchase My friend Audrey gave me these very paintable and delicious lemons from her tree. I had a great time with this painting. Like 99% of my work, this was painted alla prima (all at once, or at least while the paint is still wet.) I'll share a couple of tricks I've learned from other painters for keeping your paint wet a bit longer. Before you begin, apply a VERY thin coat of linseed oil to your canvas. Just enough to make it a tiny bit slick. You can do this with a brush, then spread with paper towel. Facilitates the application of paint too. To keep the paint blobs on your pallette wet a bit longer, add a drop of pure clove oil and mix with palette knife. Waste less paint this way, and your painting dries slower. Caution! Bees will love you if you use clove oil in your paint outdoors! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

IN OTHER NEWS: I'm pleased to announce that Flower Happy (above,8x8 inches) will be included in HOLIDAY TREASURES at the Debra Huse Gallery on Balboa Island. This "Small Gems" Salon includes 100 works from artists across the country. The show runs from Dec. 4- Jan 4. For more info, click here.

Bird On A Wire -a watercolor sketch

watercolor 5.5x15 inches magnify/purchase Here's a little watercolor sketch I did recently from a photo reference.

Jo's Roses -a still life oil painting with roses

oil 12x16 inches magnify/purchase I went to visit my friend Jo, who months ago had a nasty fall and resulting fracture. I took her some Chicken Tortilla Soup and fresh apples from Oak Glen. She asked me to cut some roses from her front yard and take them home. They needed to be cut, she insisted. So we shared. She has the best attitude and is healing nicely. I would try to paint them, I said, but had generally been avoiding roses because they're so difficult to paint well. No more avoidance. These were too pretty to pass up. The green mutsu apple on the left seemed the perfect foil to the reds and pinks. The iPhone shot on the bottom is actually most accurate of the painting.

Grungy Goodness -an oil painting of artist tools

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Sometimes figuring out what to paint is more perplexing than the painting the painting. In this case, I just painted what I paint with. What color is grunge? Kind of a yellowy-greenish tan-like pale ochre gray. I like it.

Santa Monica Pier - a commissioned painting in oil

oil 9x12 inches sold magnify I used several photo references for this commissioned piece. The design required quite a bit of invention, which made it one of the more difficult paintings I've done. The client is happy, so I'm happy!

Five In The Nest -a bird's nest watercolor painting

watercolor 7x10 inches magnify/purchase More fun with eggs in a nest. To see the previous and an explanation of the process, click on "bird nest" in "labels" below. EVENT NEWS: Tomorrow night ART UNCORKED is at Brinderson Hall, Chino Jr. Fairgrounds from 6-9. Wine, artisan beers, food and eight great artists showing their work. The event helps support the arts in Chino Valley. Tickets sold at the door and online HERE. I hope to see you if you live in the area!

Stars & Stripes -an American Flag oil painting

oil 12x12 SOLD magnify This is a commissioned piece, and the fifth and largest American Flag painting I have done. I love my country and I love our flag, so it is always an honor to paint it. The collector requested "lots of stars and stripes" so it was much more involved than my previous 8x8's. It took some time! To see some of my previous flag paintings, click on "American Flag" in "labels" below. Tuesday is Veteran's Day. If you are a veteran reading this, I sincerely thank you for your service. My father, son and a close friend of ours served in the Marine Corps, so I'm somewhat familiar with the kind of sacrifices you have made in service to our country. Thank you, and God bless you.

Three In The Nest - a bird's nest watercolor painting SOLD

watercolor 7x10 inches magnify/purchase For once I've painted something from nothing. Without a photo reference and no bird's nest on hand, I made it up. I used alternating layers of watercolor and masking fluid. Then I removed the masking and painted the shadows. The splatters and drips were necessary and very exciting! Bird nests make me think of families with children. This one should go to a family with three children, don't you think?

Commissioned Window and Door, plus ART UNCORKED!

Open Window, oil 14x11 and Hobbit Door, 8x10 SOLD These are the other two paintings commissioned by my brother for his friend. All three have the pink canvas tone I mentioned in my last post. I haven't gotten to visit this house yet, but I sure would like to go inside that little hobbit door! EVENT NEWS: Thursday night, November 13th there's an art event right here in Chino! The Chino Community Center Corporation, a non-profit organization is sponsoring "ART UNCORKED": Food, wine tasting, artisan beers, music and eight artists displaying their work for sale. The proceeds will be used to promote visual and performing arts in the Chino Valley. Location: Brinderson Hall, Chino Jr. Fairgrounds. Hours: 6:00-9:00pm. Tickets available online HERE at Eventbrite.com It's going to be a great evening! If you're local I hope you'll consider attending. Join the fun and support the arts in our community!

Zen Garden -a landscape painting in oil

oil 8x10 inches sold magnify I've been working on several commissions since mid September. This is the first, commissioned by my brother. He commissioned three pieces depicting the home and gardens of a good friend. Now my brother is busy building custom frames for them. Knowing they would be a special Christmas gift made painting these extra fun. Painting tip: Sometimes I tone my canvas with transparent pink; a mix of Thalo Red Rose and Indian yellow. I learned this from Jennifer McChristian, who paints fabulous urban scenes, and anything else fabulously also! I have used it for urban scenes, but I think it also works well for overwhelmingly green scenes such as this. The little bits of pink showing through here and there (and underneath too) help temper the greens.