"Road to Rankin Ranch" ©

Driving down the mountain as the elevation drops pine trees give way to oaks, as you head to Rankin Ranch. This is the vista just as you arrive, once you hit the basin floor. This little painting is all about the early morning light.

12" X 16", Oil on Canvas

"Rankin Ranch Bridle Trail" ©

Set up on the side of the bridle path I learned that it's not a good idea to paint on the side of a hill nestled in a tangle of tree roots. True the legs of the tripod can adjust to the hill but after a while some muscles started protesting and I found it frustrating not being able to back away from the easel to look at the painting from a distance. The sound of a snake had me looking for something slithering, a real distraction to the painting process. Plein air painting joys.

Oil on Panel, 12" X 12"

"Walker Basin" ©

The strange limbs and trunk structure of the trees in the pasture immediately caught my attention when figuring out a spot to paint on the Rankin Ranch. I found out that the cows create the sculptural trees by using the bark as a scratching post.

Oil on Panel, 9" X 12"

"Old Stage Stop" ©

Pockets full of gold, men stopped here on a break from the dusty trail to Bakersfield. Rankin Ranch has several generations historically documented with great stories of snake races and kids smoking behind the water tank. Today I unpacked my car and repacked it for an art show this weekend at Moorpark Park, in Studio City. If your in town it should be a gem of a small show, under shady trees. It's on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Moorpark St. My spot number is B14.

Oil on Panel, 12" X 12"

"Teton Valley Creek" ©

Don't mind the bugs and dirt mixed into the paint. I am sure you have heard of "chick" magnets, oil paint is a "bug" magnet. speaking of bugs and dirt, I am headed out to paint at a dude ranch for a few days with about 20 other artists (fun). From what I hear there isn't any Internet available so I'll be off the grid for a bit. Sounds great to me. Consider the "gone painting" shingle hung......

Oil on Panel, 9" X 12"

"Eaton Canyon" ©

Eaton Canyon is a classic Southern California location for painting. This Sycamore dressed in it's fall glory greets every visitor as you head up to the waterfall.

Oil on Canvas, 18" X 24"







The response to the process images was so positive I thought a bit of brush work might be interesting too, since you can't see the work in the full view of the painting.

This little photo is a close up of part of the mountain.

Here is a bit of the sky.

Finally a bit of the tree. I'll keep working on the painting over the next several days. I have found it's of benefit to set the painting where I can pass it often during the day, spotting details that need adjustment at a glance.

"Deep in the Arroyo" ©

It's been a while since I posted a painting in process. I thought this painting would be a good example. The last image is the beginning of the piece, where all the major decisions happen. The middle image shows blocked in color shapes. The view is under the 134 freeway, in the Arroyo, with the Colorado Street bridge behind me.

Oil on Canvas, 30" X 24"

Adding large areas of color, following the established pattern of the under painting. I am constantly adjusting and looking in the large mirror behind me to make sure all elements are visible and working.

Beginning the painting I used a wash of burnt sienna to establish patterns and values. I know that the whole painting is about the beautiful light on the sunlit trees, rocks and stream. By painting this wash I can guarantee success telling my story.

"Santa Paula Farmland" ©

In reality the cloud was all by itself, hanging above the mountain on a clear blue sky and that was what attracted me to the view. And as usual I spread it out a bit to make a better painting, playing goddess, at least that is what my family says. That is one of the many thrills of painting landscapes. Artists can move mountains with the stroke of the brush.

Oil on panel, 8" X 6"

"Morning Clouds" ©

Quiet and cool in the early morning watching the dusting of pink arrive upon the lavendar clouds I imagined most of the world still asleep.

Oil on panel, 6" X 8"

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"Summers End" ©

This weekend under the influence of DayQuil, dampening a summer cold I painted this piece. The idea of the painting is to capture the feeling of the end of summer that Labor Day weekend signifies.

Oil on Canvas, 24" X 20"

"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"

"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"

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"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"