"Antiques" ©

One of the many advantages of belonging to an art club is the opportunity to exhibit in many different types of shows.  I almost always paint landscapes, as you know.  The California Art Club is offering an exhibit soon of still life paintings and so I was pushed into leaving my comfort zone of trees and mountains and delve into flowers.  It took me a couple of days to find my way in the petals and I'll keep at it till it feels right.  

Oil on Canvas,  16" X 20"

p.s.  This Sunday, July 29th, 4pm - 6pm, if your in the Pasadena area, stop by Gales Restaurant and say Hi!  Belinda Del Pesco and I are showing about 45 paintings.  Gale will have wine and appetizers for everyone.  

"Eaton Canyon Riverbed" ©

Yesterday I visited the Edgar Payne exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art with a group of artist friends.  Beyond the brilliant compositions I was struck by Payne's use of gray.  Wanting to put some of what I learned onto canvas right away I painted this scene using all shades of gray, as much as possible.  I had a great time, a bonus to a special day, my 26th year of being married to my number one guy, Mike.  Love you!

Oil on Canvas,  20" X 24"

"Grazing On Gold" ©

While framing and hanging a new show for Gales Restaurant in Pasadena I painted this piece.  It was more about the color then subject.  The location is near the Monastery in Carmel, California.  I am still dinking with the cows, looking at size and placement.  Yes, someday they will be cows.  Or the whole thing may get scrapped.  The untold secret is I painted this painting on top of a painting of Half Dome in Yosemite that should have never seen the light of day.  

Oil on canvas,  16" X 20"

"Malibu View" ©

George Malone planned a California Art Club paint out at the Adamson House in Malibu today.  I jumped into my art-mobil and headed out early this morning.  As I headed toward the ocean the fog was drifting onto shore in waves.  I decided to paint looking towards inland so I would have the least amount of shifting light as possible.  After painting all morning we ate lunch talking about art, shows and all the typical art speak.  Afterwards we headed to the Weisman Museum at Pepperdine to view the "On Location in Malibu 2012" exhibit of CAC Artist/Signature members.  There are some real gems in that exhibit and if you are in the area it's a show that is worth your time.  

Oil on Panel, 9" X 12"

"Rocky Riverbed" ©

"Rocky Riverbed"

Oil on Canvas, 20" X 24"

I started this painting a while ago and pulled it out today to see if I could pull it together well enough to frame it.  Scott Christensen told me, to know if a painting is done, just ask yourself if you would hang it on your own wall.  It's a nice high bar to consider and usually the answer is no.  

This image shows the painting before I tweaked it.  The original painting was a 12" X 12" plein air that sold so I didn't have the reference.  Note to self, don't sell the plein air pieces until I am sure I am done with them.  What I wanted to solve is the leaves on the Sycamore, strong diagonal of the brush in shade in the lower right corner, river rocks, tree trunk and brush on the other side of the riverbank. OK, I can see by writing this, I painted the whole piece over again.  

Here is the finished painting on the easel, so you can compare the before and after easily.  

"Rocky Riverbed"

20" X 24", Oil on Canvas

Happy Fourth of July!

This morning I painted this 6" X 8" study to figure out a large canvas of Bryce Canyon.  Painting a small piece is a quick way to discover the possibilities and challenges in making the scene larger.   Anything that is just a little off in the small painting will be a huge problem in the larger version.  

"Summer Day Ends" ©

It has been a while since I posted a few images of a painting in process and thought this would be a candidate.  The scene is located in Eaton Canyon.  Usually I look for a view with an entry, such as a river or path.  Today I just went for the light on the distant mountains and hope that will pull the viewer into the painting. 

To help keep the values nailed down, I painted a loose wash in all the local colors, on the blank canvas.    

My goal is to cover the entire canvas thinly with paint.  

I was ignoring our hungry cat and she reached up from the floor and gently placed her paw in this pile of Viridian paint.  Lesson learned: don't ignore the cat, unless you have lots of time to clean a paint covered paw.  

At this point I have each element covered in paint.  Now I start again, working from dark to light.  I did paint the sky in before the tree so that I could work the leaves into the wet paint of the sky.  

  12" X 16" Oil on Canvas