"Fall Cottonwoods" ©

An artist buddy dropped off thousands of slides that her father had taken over the years, for me to mine for painting ideas. I wish I could have met him, obviously an adventurer and fisherman. One of his trips to the high country in the fall inspired this little painting of "Fall Cottonwoods".

Oil on Panel, 8" X 10"

"Palms in the Afternoon" ©

These palms live at the employee entrance to the Phoenix Zoo. I was chasing the suns warm light on the Arizona desert last March and saw these beauties. It happens to artists, we see something and just know in our hearts that someday we will paint it. Finally, I had the time.

Oil on Canvas, 16" X 20"

"Newcomb Ranch" ©

About 20 plein air painters gathered at Newcomb Ranch today to paint. The Angeles Crest Highway from La Canada to Palmdale is open once again. The road is perfect with many turn outs that painters can use for unusual vistas of the San Gabriels from inside the range. We painted all morning, ate lunch in the cafe and shared our paintings with one another.

Helpful hint to artists: Taking a horrible cheap panel I primed it with Gamblin Ground to see if the panel would work better. Absolutely!

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"Rolling In" ©

Another sea foam green wave rolling in at Malibu. Tomorrow I am painting in the mountains so it will be a big shift from thinking about waves and sand.

Oil on Panel, 8" X 10"

"Sunny Afternoon" ©

Another sunny afternoon in Malibu, what can you say, other then paradise.

Oil on panel, 9" X 12"

"Afternoon at Leo Carrillo"

Today was Art Day at Janet's house for August. She had the great idea of inviting artists to come and just create for a day at her home. Since most artist work solo this is a welcome chance to connect with other artists in a casual setting. I had been to Leo Carrillo beach the day before painting and with my memory and reference info I painted what I remembered of that lovely late afternoon.

Oil on Panel, 10" X 8"

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"One Lane Home" ©

Painting along side this one lane dirt road, some folks drove slowly past giving us the one finger raised off the steering wheel greeting with a nod of their heads and some drove past at 50 miles an hour leaving us in a huge dust cloud.

Oil on panel, 12" X 12"

"Mirrors to the Sky" ©

The California Art Club is having an exhibition this fall with an Asian theme and so I researched ideas coming up with rice paddies mirroring the sky above for my submission painting. A painting adventure to the Pacific Asian region is now on my wish list....

Oil on canvas, 20" X 24"

"August Afternoon" ©

The Cottonwood trees up in Wyoming are tall creatures full of personality. Around my home they are short and wide, it's all about the water source. Makes sense as nature always does once you understand her.

Oil on Canvas, 16" X 20"

"Summer Storm Passing" ©

Over 2600 miles driven, 2225 unread emails, 1600 photos, 17 paintings and 2 weeks later I am back in Southern California. One of the many truths about painting I learned was "too much variety causes chaos, not enough variety causes boredom and it takes 1000's of inspired decisions to find the right balance".

Oil on canvas, 20" X 24"

Teton Valley Paintings

After painting for 10 days with Scott Christensen, he asked that we bring a group of paintings into his studio so he could see a "body" of work to critique. While hunting though my wet panel carriers for paintings I found pieces I had done a few days ago and completely forgotten already. Miles of dirt roads, rivers and clouds made time speed up, living months in days.





























My animal of the day was a moose, moving really fast across a field of hay. She is the little dark dot in the hay.

"Kids Fishing Pond"

The weather turns quickly in the Teton Valley. Starting out a painting in full sun, a few minutes later the sky turns dark, the wind kicks up and light rain gives warning to the coming rain. Tonight a complete rainbow arched over the fields, just before a golden glow blanketed the world.

Oil on panel, 8" X 10"