On The Road

These shots are from Humboldt Redwoods State Park where we camped several days ago. There's my hubby doing one of his favorite things, and you can see our little RV. This was a quiet and majestic setting where you carefully drive between these giant trees to your camp spot. I had a bit of painting time the morning we had to leave and I painted right in our site. The tent belonged to a motorcyclist who packed it up while I was painting. Luckily I had gotten the tent in first. I might make a few changes and will repost it later. We're having a great time, and I've had the chance to paint in several places. Tonight we're in Grant's Pass, Oregon along the Rogue River. More on our trip later, Wifi permitting.

Bike & Paint

oil 8x10 magnify/purchase Friday and Saturday we RV camped in Buelton, just three miles from Solvang. After our Saturday morning ride for danish, I tested out the idea of riding with my paint gear on my back. Without a towed vehicle we have to get around by bike. I lightened my pack as much as I could and rode around a bit. The pack felt very stable, so I figured I'd be safe enough, and I was. I painted on a familiar road just a mile away, and had a great time. Felt kinda funny to be painting in my cycling clothes! Happy with the result, and happy I didn't step in the poison oak just a few feet behind me. Didn't see that till I was packing up!!!

Last Light, Balboa Blvd. -sold

oil 9x12 magnify I haven't painted many nocturnes, so this was extra fun. For those of you who know the area, I took this shot while walking toward the pier parking lot, standing on the corner by the drugstore. See the tree "on fire" in the distance? It's planted in the meridian way, way up the street, so it's a big one. I think it's a Norfolk Island Pine. I always look for that grand old tree when I go to Balboa. I love that tree and felt happy to put it in my painting. OTHER NEWS: Associated Artists Of The Inland Empire's 50th Show is coming up September 5-7 at the Cultural Center, Victoria Gardens, Rancho Cucamonga. I'll be demonstrating all three days. Come on out if you can...beautiful venue, great variety of art, and over 350 works. Soon we leave on an RV trip from SoCal to northern Oregon. I have a small backlog of paintings to share if the wifi's good. We're due for some R&R, but I do hope to paint and post along the way.

A Little Dinghy 2 -SOLD

oil 12x9 inches magnify/purchase After painting A Little Dinghy I wanted to bring down the horizon line, tweak the color in the water and include three objects rather than just two. Might as well go a bit larger while I'm at it.

A Little Dinghy -SOLD

oil 8x6 inches magnify/purchase Sometimes I feel a little dinghy. How 'bout you? Painted from my photo reference taken on Balboa Island. The next day I painted another version of this scene which I will post next.

Ice Cream For Breakfast -SOLD

oil 9x12 inches magnify/purchase Dad's on Balboa Island is home to the original frozen banana. I couldn't resist painting this young man having a morning cone.

Hibiscus High

oil 8x16 inches magnify/purchase The landscaping in our neighborhood includes some big hibiscus bushes. A beautiful day, going for a walk, and BAM! Look at those flowers reaching up to that beautiful Southern California sky!!! I snapped a bunch of shots with my iphone, and here we have a painting. Hope you are having a wonderful summer. This might be for sale at a later date.

Nesbitt's

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase You might be too young to remember Nesbitt's orange soda. When I was about 19 I drove an orange Pinto around Orange County as a delivery driver for a reproduction company. It was a great summer job. I'd stop in a little market sometime during the day to grab a Nesbitt's and a candy bar. I do like orange. My spotlight made the orange glow, and that's what this painting is about. The brown drapery looked just right to me with the yellow and orange. Painting finished, I suddenly realized how 70's this painting is. I get a good feeling looking at this. Hope you do too. Now I'll go put a flower in my hair. For fellow painters out there: Painted with 4 colors: cad yellow light, cad red light, ultramarine blue and Twhite. All Utrect. Love that paint.

Strawberry & Old Stuff

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Here's one of our locally grown juicy strawberries. They really are that red. The old bottle has some kind of white film inside it that glows when the light shines through.

Copper Pot

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Back to my ledge series. With this piece I did something I rarely do. I painted it twice. The first go-around I didn't listen to that little voice in my head saying, "Might be too squeezed up top." I forged ahead, and right on through till at the end, sure enough, it's too squeezed up top. (It has to be either high or low, not in the center.) I was so happy with how the objects were painted, I couldn't bring myself to wipe it off. So I painted it all again, which to me, is torturous! I still like that first lemon. Need to get a ban saw, cut it out and glue it on the second painting! Ha!

Watercolor after Deschampe

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase In June I had a serious case of the blahs while struggling with various physical ailments. I thought I should be painting, but pity-partied instead. I remember hearing the master watercolorist, Milford Zornes say once, "If you have a physical condition, don't let that stop you from painting." He was nearly blind at the time from macular degeneration, bent over his full sheet of watercolor paper and painting from memory. I have no excuse. This watercolor was done when I had little energy to be creative, but just wanted to get a brush in my hand and move some paint around. I found an old Walter Foster oil painting book in my studio and thought it would be interesting to turn an oil into a watercolor. The original oil painting is by Gabriel Deschampe.

Fruit Stand Reds & Greens

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!" This line from an old sports show came to mind. Last watercolor posted seemed so fun and effortless, with too much confidence I ventured outside this time for more fun....NOT! The heat got to me and dried everything too fast. So the lovely fruit stand items were overworked, and the tomato became a large sinister tomato monster, overpowering everything else. Still, I thought the set up had potential, so I gave it another try (inside) another day using my first painting as reference. I shrunk the tomato, left out a few cherries and moved an onion. The painting has life, but is still more heavy handed than the last one posted. Might be the deeper color scheme.

Flower Bowl With Fruit

watercolor 9x12 inches magnify/purchase Monday the power company was working in our area so we had no electricity for most of the day. Too hot to paint outdoors, so I worked in watercolor using filtered light from a very large window. I've done very few still lifes in watercolor, so I didn't expect a fabulous result. With low expecations of how it would turn out, it felt like play. I had fun, and I'm really happy with the result after all. Funny how in painting the play looks like fun, and the work looks worked, and sometimes overworked. Hmmm.

Surrounding Red

watercolor and gouache approx. 12x9 inches magnify/purchase A break from my ledge series. I don't have a good shot of my recent ledge piece, so I offer this little watercolor in the meantime. I did this one a while back at my Wednesday night paint/talk/laugh group. I picked up the geranium and lavender at Home Depot on the way, then borrowed the pots and glass from my friend, Martha's still life collection. Why the little oil can? I aimed to combine contrasting textures: plant, ceramic, glass and metal.

Apricot Guard

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Here's one of my little Xian Warriors. I have a boxed set and have used them in other paintings. The chopsticks came in a pretty little sleeve with a bright green knot that tied in nicely. I got pretty excited about the green drapery with the various apricot colors. Yummy color! The warrior is just keeping it all under control. :-)

Ginger Jar

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I don't know anything about ginger jars, but I like the shape and the blue. Part of my "on a ledge" series. The yellow is a bit more subtle in person...kinda buttery. Yum.

Luminous Lemon -SOLD

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I love the way light shines through lemons. Seventh in the series.

Yellow Flower

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase More stuff on the ledge, and the flower insisted on being the star of the show. With the change of season, I've lost my primo spot next to the house for shooting my photos. So if you like this painting, just know it's even better in person. :-)

Primary Focus -sold

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase Kinda funny that the image of a painting titled "Primary Focus" would be slightly out of focus. I tightened up a bit on this one, probably because the objects were simple enough I could just l-a-b-o-r over them! Anyway, I'm really happy with the grungy patina on the brushwasher.

Grapes & Stuff

oil 8x8 inches magnify/purchase I honestly could not think of a title for this one. Next in my "three things on a ledge" series, well this is more like three or four and a quarter things on a ledge. Let's just refer to it as the "ledge series." I deliberately pushed that flower up almost off the canvas so it would not hog the scene.