"Pine Tree Overlook"

10" X 10" panels are perfect for the landscapes of Idaho. Room to play up the mountains or sky, which ever is more exciting at the moment.

This morning heading out to paint, I had my creature adventure of the day with 3 horses wandering down the road. You can see them in the photo below. I knew that it was not a good situation, pulled over and took them home.


10" X 10", oil on panel

"Pine Creek Road"

5 painting marathon today, ending at Spoons Bistro for a well deserved Cobb salad and bottle of wine with co-marathon painter Janet. I have moved up from multi-legged creatures to a 4 legged orange tabby without a tail that takes care of the local brewery's rodents. She adopted my travel studio, aka the trunk of the Honda to hang out while I painted.





Oil on panel, 9" X 12"

"Rainey Access"

"Fishing was great, catching not so good", was the answer yelled out from a passing boat by a fly fisherman. I had to laugh and enjoy the idea that we were both loving the day, no matter what. At the end I had 3 paintings, mosquito bites and my easel tried to fly (it survived).

Oil on panel, 8" X 10"

"Summer Wind"

The wind picked up tussling the tops of these trees. The movement became my focus for this little painting. Again today I had a painting buddy with many legs. His photo is below, as he was lounging on a Source Tek panel. When I was packing up my gear I had to shoo out another 3 spiders. You wouldn't believe all the bugs in the wet paint.

Scott Christensen's studio, full of art and books, truly a dream studio.

"Within the Apens"

First day of painting after driving 1,000 miles. In the shade of Aspens and under the protection of serious deet, the variations of green seemed endless. I did have a visitor on the edge of my palette for a long time and was so happy when the temptation to hop into the oil paint (certain death) passed. He posed for the photo below.

Oil on Linen, 9" X 12"

"Turp Can" ©

A few weeks ago I "won" some classes with David Gallup. David currently has an exhibit of his paintings exploring the Channel Islands at the Frederick R. Weisman Museum on the Pepperdine Campus in Malibu. Artists today are so very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from current master painters. This week the class painted this turp can, last week a shark's head. Yep, a real shark.

Oil on Panel, 12" X 9"

"Bailey Canyon" ©

Matilija Poppies blooming in Bailey Canyon greet you at the beginning of the trail heading up to the waterfall. In the early days of the canyon, local trappers snared fox and coyote and shipped the pelts to furriers in Chicago. In 1875, R.J Bailey homesteaded the canyon. He left little but his name. (Source: John McKinney, Dan's Hiking site)

Oil on Canvas, 14" X 18"

"Though the Trees" ©

Today a discussion came up with a group of artists about critiquing our own paintings and taking the time to make the very best decisions. The paintings I blog are very rarely never touched again and I thought it might be interesting for people to see what happens in the studio after reflecting. Here is "Though the Trees" finished. Below is the original posting. This is like a game, what did she change? I'll tell you, I took out the tree that I so loved in the middle of the painting. Usually the one thing you love is the item that is of most concern. I gradated the sky, added light in the foliage of the trees, warmed up the trunk of the main tree, brought the path down out of the canvas, lit and warmed up the brush in the foreground, carried the brush to the edge of the hill and lit the tips, pushed the distant trees in the hills further back and warmed up the distant hills a bit. OH, and pushed a bit of the darks back in here and there.

Now I have a painting that I would hang on my wall.

Oil on Canvas, 16" X 20"

"Mountain Stream" ©

A Facebook friend told me yesterday that "the beauty in nature happens when God sighs". Such a lovely thought, it's been on my mind all day. I like to think artists see more beauty in the world then most of humanity. We are allowed to sit and observe nature for hours while attempting to capture the beauty or sigh on canvas. Not a bad gig.

Oil on Canvas, 20" X 16"

"Mt. Pinos Meadow" ©

Today a small band of plein air painters were given the gift of a new location to explore and capture on canvas. An email started it all, announcing a meadow of wild Irises in bloom, thank you Susan! Amazingly, only an hour from the Santa Clarita Valley at 8300 ft. the air was cool, birds were singing and everywhere you looked was a painting. A perfect painting day!

Oil on linen, 8" X 10"

















Ernie Dollman, painting in the forest, above the meadow.



If you look closely you can see Marian Fortunati on the path, while she was deciding where to paint.

One of thousands of wild irises, blooming in the meadow...

"Eaton Canyon" ©

Late in the day, Eaton Canyon is still hot in the shadows, small critters skitter around and the hawks make their last passes. It's a peaceful time to wander the canyon, saying goodbye to the day.

Oil on Canvas, 11" X 14"

sold

"San Gabriels"

This holiday weekend I painted our San Gabriels from the Art Center School of Design parking lot. The cropping job comes from working on a borrowed lap top without my software, sorry about that. Hope your 4th is full of sparklers!

Oil on canvas, 18" X 24"