Lemon & Leaves

oil 6x6 inches click for purchase information This is the last lemon painting before I left town. I think it's my favorite. I had a fabulous time at Mission San Antonio de Padua painting with about 50 fellow artists. Tomorrow I'll try to get photos of my paintings. Here's a shot of the front of the mission. It sits on 85 acres twenty miles from any town and is the least visited of all the missions. So authentic, peaceful and inspiring. I'm on my way home now with a stop in the Solvang area for one more day of painting, and maybe a danish or two.

Lemons & Twigs -sold

oil 8x16 inches The lemons here came from a friend. I cut some twigs from my ficus tree to add leaves and sticks. I have one more lemon painting to post. Meanwhile, tomorrow I head five hours north for a paint retreat at Mission San Antonio de Padua. No TV, no internet, sketchy cell reception. More time to paint!

Lemon And Blue -sold

oil 6x6 inches click for purchase information Lately I've seen some discussion online about yellow. Funny, 'cause I've been thinking about it myself. I couldn't paint without yellow, but maybe, just maybe I can paint even lemons without cad yellow light or cad lemon. For a long time I've used a cool and warm of each primary, so cad yellow medium for the warm and cad yellow light or lemon for the cool. But in a workshop a while back Jennifer McChristian mentioned that you can make cad yellow light by adding white and a hint of ultramarine blue. After experimenting, I've found that to be true though I doubted it at the time. So here's a lemon that is painted with cad yellow medium. No lemon for the lemon.

Vase With Fruit -sold

oil 6x6 inches click for purchase information This multicolored vase is really shiny and a challenge to paint. I used natural light from the window for this one.

Syrup Pitcher With Fruit

oil 8x6 inches click for purchase information For the last several paintings I've been experimenting with using cool light and natural light rather than a strong warm/cool spotlight. Also, I've been laying in the background and shadows first, then painting the objects from back to front, opposite of my usual process. I really like the resulting softer edges. Found this pitcher at a flea market. I like the rich dark glaze.

The Bread And Vine

oil 9x12 inches not for sale This may be one of my favorite paintings because of its content. I started reading that little brown Bible when I was sixteen. It has sentimental value and the best concordance too. I stuck my neck out putting in a picture of Jesus. I thought it might look cheesy, but being old and mounted on wood, I just might be able to pull it off. I think it fits with the feel of the work, but more importantly, it's crucial to the content. Without explaining away the piece, I'll just say I was thinking about all the scriptures in the Gospel of John linking Jesus, The Bread, The Vine and the Word of God.

Spring Berries

oil 8x8 inches click for purchase information Inspired by our recent warm weather, I painted this high key piece more than a week ago. My mother was hospitalized last week, so going back and forth left me no time to paint. She's doing better now and I got back to my easel yesterday. I painted all day. Felt really good and I'm very happy with the result, which I'll post next.

Still Life With Cork -sold

oil 10x10 inches click for purchase information Here's a low key painting for sure. My intent was to create a strong sense of controlled light. I placed objects half in shadow with their edges disappearing into darkness. Does your eye go right for the green on that apple? For me, the hammered copper mug almost steals the show. I may have to make it the star of a sequel.

Field Study 2

oil 8x8 inches At Newport Back Bay I turned my easel just a bit to get this scene. I liked the rocks, yellow flowers and row of trees on the bluff.

Field Study, Newport Back Bay

oil 6x8 inches Yesterday I painted at Newport Backbay for the first time. I arrived with the mindset to paint small and simplify. Also, I wanted to practice atmospheric perspective: a clear indication of distance, mid ground and foreground. Most of this piece I'm happy with, but the foreground is too busy. It's hard for me to judge what a painting really looks like until I get it home and sometimes even the next day, so I left it alone. I know I'll paint it again another day. I had a snack, and did another painting which I'll post next.

Bouquet Rose -SOLD

oil 6x6 inches click for purchase information From my Valentine's Day bouquet. The red was so deep they looked like velvet. The photo makes the crevices look black, which they are not in the painting. Some paintings just don't photograph well. Much better in person. This is true so often, maybe I'll just start using an acronym: MBIP. :-)

Figure Study

oil 12x9 inches not for sale With this study from my Tuesday night class, I concentrated on natural skin tones. I used the Zorn palette with two reds: cad red light in the lights and cad red medium in the shadows. This helped me mix the temperatures I wanted. I'm really happy with this study in that I was able to get a reasonable likeness and also an emotional quality. FYI, she is blonde and wearing a large black scarf. I was so far away from the model, I couldn't see much detail in her facial features. I was forced to simplify. A good thing.

Yellow Cottage -sold

oil 10x8 inches -sold- Yesterday I met up with about twenty members of SOCALPAPA at Crystal Cove State Beach. It was 80 degrees and chock full of stuff to paint: cottages, hillside cliffs, ocean and tide pools. I wiped out my first two attempts. I felt like I had forgotten how to paint. I was too warm, I needed my shorts and flip flops, coffee and breakfast. Some plein air days are like this. Okay, so I took all my excuses with me to the cafe and had a fabulous lunch. After that I found a perfect spot of deep shade, a new subject and had a great time. Can't wait to go back!

Rain Forecast, Laguna -SOLD

oil 8x10 inches click for purchase information There were some changes I wanted to make to my field study at Laguna Beach. I had felt hurried, painting in between cloudbursts. As usual, the light and clouds were changing, but I was surprised how drastically the color of the ocean changed too. Rather than rework my field sketch, the next day I started new using memory, field sketch and photo. The feel of the weather was still fresh in my mind, and I had brought home sand in my paint. Perfect.

Kid Stuff -sold

oil 10x10 inches -sold- Here are two in a set of nesting dolls. Not the famous Russian type, but hand painted and colorful just the same. The crayons and marbles are a bit out of focus in the photo.

Field Sketch, Laguna Beach

oil 9x12 inches click here for purchase information Yesterday I drove down to Laguna Beach for a meetup with SOCALPAPA, Southern California Plein Air Painters Association. A cold rain was forecast, so I really didn't know what to expect. The sun shone and the sky was beautifully cloudy. No other painters in sight. I painted anyway and absolutely loved being out in the weather. Rain, hail and wind, but I was layered up and warm. Next time I'll remember a hat with a brim to keep the rain off my glasses, and a big umbrella. I wore my fingerless gloves for the first time, and with the latex over they stayed warm and dry.

Child's Play -SOLD

oil 16x20 inches click for purchase information I chose some of the objects just for their color and shape, but a few have sentimental value. The yellow storybook was mine as a child, a gift from my Aunt Diane. Our youngest son, now 29, carried Snoopy every day to preschool. The little watercolor is by my granddaughter, Emily. She did a lot of paintings one day and had them for sale (like Gramma.) I bought it for fifty cents and hung it on the fridge, of course. Childhood is so precious and too short. I plan to paint these objects again, so this one's for sale.

Fun Stuff

oil 16x20 inches Thought I'd give you a peek at what's on my easel today. I absolutely LOVE painting this stuff!!!

High Bay View -sold

oil 11x14 inches, gallery wrap canvas (sold) With this painting I have done some experimenting. My photo reference for this piece had a nice abstract quality. I turned my photo upside down for the entire painting process. I thought doing so would be a fun exercise and would help maintain the abstract quality. I also painted without any initial draw-in. Instead, I focused on laying in the shapes on canvas. Also, I painted on an oil ground for the first time and without any toning of the canvas. The painting dried quickly and opaquely. Needs a good coat of varnish. I submitted this to Carol Marine's "Try Something New" challenge.

Head Study

oil 12x9 inches Rough head study from my figure painting class with Joseph Todorovitch. I enjoyed the pose with her closed eyes and full mouth.