CastThought

Last night and tonight

2012-01-31T00:25:00.000-08:00

Worked on my San Xavier painting last night and Backward Glance painting (pony) tonight. Still lot's of work to do on the San Xavier painting, but I think I've pushed the pony painting about as far as it'll go. So two enjoyable evenings in one post!

San Xavier del Bac Mission - WIP

2012-01-24T00:23:00.000-08:00

Just got back from visiting my dad and stepmom down in Tucson. Met my sister and her husband down there also. We had a wonderful four days with lot's of site seeing and just enjoying the company of family. One of the places we visited was San Xavier del Bac Mission. While wandering around the mission my dad spotted a very cool view of one of the small buildings between two walls, one newly stuccoed and one rather dilapidated. He has an excellent eye for good compositions. So tonight I started a painting of this photo. So far not much to see but the underpainting.

It'll be fun to see where this one goes. 9"x12" Ray Mar panel.

Another Wood River Painting

2012-01-16T01:47:00.000-08:00

Haven't painted in quite some time. Actually, I've been doing some drawing, but not paintings. So tonight I pulled out a small canvas board and did this one. Can't say I'm particularly pleased with it, but what do you expect when you haven't painted for awhile, right?! 9x12 on canvas board.

Just sketch what's in front of ya!

2011-12-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

Just did a little sketching at the kitchen table today. Nothin' fancy.

Backward Glance II - WIP

2011-12-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I decided the last painting I did of this pony looked more like one of those funky horse-like creatures in the movie Avatar. So I'm taking another crack at it and at the same time zooming in on the pony so he takes up more of the canvas. I'm liking it much better! Still some work to do, but here's a sequence of shots. I didn't start with a wash like I usually do.

Backward Glance - Study

2011-11-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

Tonights effort. This is just a 9"x12" study for what I hope will be a larger painting, maybe 16"x20". This is based on a photo taken by a friend of mine, Thyra. I've already done a painting based on another photo she took...what can I say, she's a terrific photographer and was gracious enough to let me use some of her photos as inspiration!

I'll definitely do another study that fills up more of the canvas with this horse before launching into the larger piece. Never done painted a horse before, but I'd sure like do more...just my favorite animal! We have two horses for my girls and neither is big enough for me to ride, but I don't care...I just enjoy looking out my window and seein' them in my pasture. Hmmm, I should just go get some pictures of my own horses - now there's a thought. 9"x12" canvas board.

Paintin' with my daughter, Rachel!!

2011-11-19T17:18:00.000-08:00

Had a wonderful afternoon painting with my youngest daughter, Rachel. We started out just painting a purple sphere and then decided to make it a grape...and in the end decided it looked more like a plum. So a plum it is!! 9"x12" canvas board....with none of that cheap student grade paint...no, this was artist quality all the way, baby ;-) Oh, and colors chosen by Miss Rachel!

Ranch on Wood River - Final

2011-11-11T01:40:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting my painting lately. But given I'm home the next couple days taking care of my wife after surgery (which went very well), I think I'll "reapply" myself. So tonight I finished up the Ranch on Wood River painting. Mainly some touch-ups in the foreground and barn, but I also added in some more clouds behind the tall pine tree.

Shooting these pictures at night is really tough, especially when you don't have proper lighting. The foreground isn't quite as bright as what you see here.

Reach for the Sky...

2011-10-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

So finished another painting tonight based off a photograph taken by an old high school friend named Thyra. With her permission, I've grabbed several photos off her FB to use as inspirations for paintings. She's an amazing photographer! Just want to say thanks, Thyra, for letting me paint from a few of your photo's!!

I have no idea where this is, but the orange rock contrasting against the blue sky and grayish-blue bushes in the foreground just really caught my eye. I added a few clouds for some interest in the sky. Spent a few nights on this one and decided to call it done tonight. It really doesn't do the photo justice, but I think I did alright capturing the colors. Thanks again, Thyra!!

Back from Disneyland...

2011-09-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we just got back from the "happiest place on earth" and I'm inclined to believe it. We had the most wonderful time at Disneyland! We were there 5 days and did and saw just about everything there is. We also have very tired feet so it was nice to kick back today before we're all back to work and school. As fun as Disneyland was, I did miss painting so I put in a little brush time tonight...

Ranch on Wood River

2011-08-31T22:45:00.000-07:00

Started a new painting tonight based on some photo's I took while down visiting my dad and stepmom. They have the most wonderful cabin in Rocky Point, OR, I nice little town along the north shore of Klamath Lake. I grew up in southern Oregon and it was nice to get back there for a long weekend. You can take boy out of southern Oregon countryside, but you can't take the southern Oregon countryside out of this boy. I miss it!

So anyhow...here's a start from a picture I took along the Wood River...

9"x12" oil on canvas board

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 5

2011-08-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Whew! Last day of the workshop. What a great week it's been. Awesome teaching, wonderful folks to paint with and a lot of hard work. This morning we painted Vista House and the gorge from Portland Women's Forum. So here's a few pics from today...

So here's my setup...not a bad view, eh?!
(the Gorge that is)

My easel at the finish line.

...and the finished painting.

We sort of took over this little section
of the park.

Thomas did a little drawing at the end of the workshop
and gave away three of his demos...I won Monday's
demo...yea!!

Over lunch Thomas talked about varnishing and
demoed some varnishes, including this painting
I did some time ago. The darks had sunk in, but
the varnish REALLY brought them back to life!

So in another post I'll talk about some of the take-away's for me from this workshop, but I'll this workshop was worth every penny! Thomas is a terrific instructor and really hones in on the areas your struggling with with clear instruction on how to deal with the problems you're having in your painting. I'd recommend a Thomas Kitts workshop and I'm hoping to take another one in the future.

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 4

2011-08-18T22:29:00.000-07:00

Another good day painting! Started off on Portland's eastside water front. Thomas did a 3 hour demo...lot's of good teaching. He picked a tough subject so it was interesting watching him solve a host of problems. We were down on the dock and it was pretty cold in the morning.

Thomas working out a very loose sketch.

From there we headed to the Gamblin paint factory. That was a blast!! I was surprised at the size of the factory. The put out a lot of paint for 20 or so employees. It was cool seeing the raw pigments which come in from all around the world. They didn't allow us to take pictures in that area, but we were allowed pictures in the rest of the factory.

Fresh batches of newly mixed paint. This is right after
mixing with the oil.

I got such a kick at watching them fill the paint tubes.

Mmmmm.....Ultramarine Blue anyone!

Finally, we finished up the day at Sellwood Riverfront park. This was a free paint. Got some more great instruction from Thomas. He gave me some good tips on establishing the value relationships between various parts of the painting. I started out painting a scene that was lit by the sun which was slightly behind me, but by the time I was finished the sun well in front of me. Painting in such bright light resulted in a very dark painting, especially when compared to a painting a did the day before in the shade which turned out much lighter.

My location at Sellwood Riverfront park.
Started off in the shade, ended in the sun - hot!

After I came in out of the sun I discovered the
intense light made me paint this way too dark.

Tomorrow, the location is Women's Forum up in the Gorge. We'll also do some critiquing from this weeks efforts.

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 3

2011-08-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

What a fun AND educational day today! We were back on Sauvie Island today. Thomas started us off on this I high bluff with a 360° view of this nature reserve. For the morning exercise he had us divide our canvas into four boxes. Then he had us all face south and started a timer. We had 15 minutes to paint what we saw in front of us using one box, then when his timer went off we had to rotate our easels 90° and paint what was in front of us and so on around 360°. Didn't have much time to think, which of course was the point...less thinking about the mechanics of painting and just focusing on painting the SHAPES we saw.

My setup, ready to go!

After the exercise we lined up our easels and the group critiqued
set of painting. A VERY valuable exercise!

After this exercise we picked which one of our four small paintings we liked and then had about 45 minutes to paint a larger version of that painting.

Then off for a lunch time lecture at Bybee Park and more painting in the afternoon. Ahhh, this time with plenty of shade. I chose to paint this the old farmhouse on this park land.

View from my easel.

The three (really six) paintings from today. Thomas demoed
some finishing touches on my painting of the house.

That's it for another day of truly excellent teaching (thanks Thomas!) and alot of hard work! Tomorrow, eastside of the river downtown, a tour of the Gamblin paint factory and more painting out at Sellwood Park. Nite!

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 2

2011-08-16T23:50:00.000-07:00

Man, today nature kicked my butt and reminded me I've got ALOT to learn. We painted at Luscher Farm City Park in Lake Oswego. Thomas started off with a drawing demo, teaching us alot about how to setup the correct proportions between various subjects in the painting, site-size method. He then had us painting in a tight group so we could overhear as he went around and gave some one-on-one instruction to each person. Many valuable lessons learned.

I tried tackling a portion of a large barn, a couple of outbuildings and some trees. My perfectionism got the best of me as I spent too much time "drawing" and not enough time actually laying in paint to capture the shape. My morning painting was disappointing.

He turned us loose in the afternoon to paint where ever we wanted. I still wanted to practice painting a structure so I tackled a white house near the barn. Once again I got my artistic butt handed to me on a canvas! I left my camera in the car so I didn't get any pictures on sight, but I've snapped a picture of the two paintings I did.

Tomorrow, back out to Sauvie Island. I'm learning alot, but I must say this plein air painting ain't for the faint of heart! Geesh!

Thomas Kitts Plein Air Workshop - Day 1

2011-08-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

Whew! What a day! Tiring, but in a good way. Joined up with a gang of about eight folks out on Sauvie Island. Started the morning off at Bybee park (I think that's what the place was called). Thomas went over materials and some color basics. Thomas answered a lot of great questions and picked up a few new terms I hadn't heard before like "sinking-in". Good discussion on the usage of various mediums.

Then off to the wildlife refuge at the west end of the island for a painting demo by Thomas. He demoed while we ate lunch. He did a fantastic job explaining his decision making processes as he painted, he pointed out trouble spots and what to do about them, the importance of transition colors, and much more. He was up-staged a couple of times by a couple of Blue Herons duking it out in the background ;-)

Finally, he turned us loose to paint. It was interesting to see the group spread out and the various things that caught each individual's eye. I found a composition I liked and painted for about 3 hours. While we painted Thomas went around and spent some good quality one-on-one time with each of us. That was probably my favorite part and where I learned the most. So here's a few pics before bed. Headin' out to a Luscher Farm City Park for tomorrow's workshop!

Thomas Kitts Demo

My setup on location

Just a few of my fellow painters

I'm Ready!

2011-08-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

Just received a shipment from Jerry's Artarama with some new paints, 9x12 panels, and a few new brushes and other odds and ends. Finished putting the handle on my homemade wet canvas carrier. And went over Thomas Kitts checklist of things to bring for the workshop. Got it! Check!

Headin' off for some camping up at Little Crater Lake tomorrow with my three favorite girls and then Monday morning headin' out to Sauvie Island bright and early for the first day of the plein air workshop. I'm excited...a whole week painting with a great artist. He'll hand out the list of other painting locations on Monday.

Ooooh...midnight...I better get some sleep!

Homemade Wet Canvas Carrier

2011-08-10T00:44:00.000-07:00

Well, in preparation for Thomas Kitts Plein Air workshop coming up next week my project for this evening was to build my own wet canvas carrier. My little canvas carrier can carry 5 panels at a time up to 12"x16". Or two canvas 3/4" canvas 12"x16". Not bad for one evenings work! All I need to do is put a handle on it tomorrow and I'm all set!! Here's a few picks.

Still needs a handle...and some stain!

Use these small grooves when doing 1/4" panels.

These two large grooves are for 3/4" canvas.

Testing it out with some 9"x12" pa

Backyard Maple - Plein Air

2011-07-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Took my wife in to Dr. appointment (everything's okay) this morning, brought her home, tucked her in to catch up on some sleep and did a quick plein air in my backyard while she slept. This was fast and dirty, but I kinda' like it!

6"x 8" canvas board

Plein Air Evening

2011-07-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! This evening was absolutely perfect for painting outdoors. Grabbed my easel and collapseable bucket and headed outside. This is the same setup I'll be using at Thomas Kitts Plein Air workshop coming up Aug. 15. This view is from my backyard toward one of our favorite neighbors, Dennis and Mary. What caught my eye was the white fence framed by those two large trees and the old rusty burn barrel.

I started out with plenty of light, but by the time I got to the details the light was pretty low. Can you guess how the painting looked when I came inside and put it under the lights....yep, a bit on the light side. I tried using a few things I've learned from the Richard Schmid November DVD I've been watching. The collapseable bucket worked great for hauling various items outside and then doubled nicely has my paper towel trash can. Thanks Kevin MacPherson for that tip!

So here's tonights effort.

6"x8" canvas board

No Painting, but a nice addition to my easel

2011-07-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting more space to set things on with my French easel and spotted this nice little shelf up on Jerry's Artarama. I ordered it just got it today. It's the George Hensen's ShelfHelp...and frankly, I'm impressed. The shelf is 16"x10.5" and comes apart so that it can be packed up within the French easel. Comes with a nice little holder for some brushes and the lip on the right has a number of grooves for keeping your brushes from rolling away. It feels pretty sturdy, too.

I've also been reading through Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson per Thomas Kitts suggestion in preparation for his workshop coming up in August. It's a bit of tough read as Carlson is very "wordy" and they simply wrote a bit different back then. However, I can already see myself in some of the statements he makes about the things beginners tend to do and things I've struggled with in my short time as painter.

So it's been a busy week with no painting :-( but I'm looking forward doing some more painting soon. Gotta' practice up before the workshop and get some thoughts and questions for Mr. Kitts down on paper. I'm looking forward to getting as much from his workshop as I possibly can!!

House with a View

2011-07-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

Today I painted this little 6x8. Was also very excited to get two Richard Schmid DVDs from SmartFlix. Stayed up way too late watching them, but it sure is amazing watching a master "sculpt" an image with brush and paint. I'm not thrilled with the picture quality. You'd think with four camera's in the house I could find one that works, but one's packed up for my daughters trip to summer camp, two have dead batteries and one is torn apart from me trying to fix a lens that would open. Soooo...here's my lovely iPhone pic...iPhone 3G that is, doesn't even have one of the better camera's :-o

6x8 oil on canvas board.

Oregon Coast Sunset - WIP

2011-07-10T00:46:00.000-07:00

So whenever we're on the Oregon coast I come back with a gazillion sunset pictures. My wife makes fun of the fact that I have a hundred pictures of the same sunset, and a handful of the family (slight exaggeration, I think)! So tonight I started painting one of these sunsets. The struggle is not to blend the heck out of it. In fact, as I develop this one further I'm going to try and keep or move more towards a "painterly" approach where the brush strokes are defined and add interest and motion to the painting. It's still very blended right now, but I've got lot's more to do. I like the start though! 9"x12" archival quality canvas.

Evening's Plein Air Effort

2011-07-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Grabbed my easel as soon as I got home and headed outside this evening. This is just one of the views from my backyard. As the sun sets it strikes that tree just right and sets bark this bright golden color. Certainly didn't do it justice, but so some improvement over my last plein air attempt so I thought I'd post it. 6"x8" canvas board.

Follow the Dirt Road

2011-06-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

Another painting tonight. It sure can be a struggle deciding how to simplify sometimes. Probably tried to capture too much detail tonight, but enjoyed my paint time! This one is done with a limited palette: viridian, ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow pale, and titanium white. Oh, and the underpainting was burnt sienna with a little alkyd medium. The actual painting looks so much better than these picks :-(
8"x10" canvas.

Villa - Finished

2011-06-25T02:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm bachin' it tonight. Wife and kids are out of town so I'm staying up insanely late...painting. Did my first value study. Who would've thought painting with black and white could be so hard. I'm sure it was just the subject I picked. Yeah, that's it I'm sure. That one I'll keep to myself ;-)

Tomorrow I plan to get outside and do some plein air around our property. But for now...

I think I'm done with this Villa, at least until I find something else to change...no...I'm done....I think. Yes, done. Painted from a magazine. Tossed in a picture of my makeshift picture holder. You like? Okay, posting the pictures and off to bed. 8"x10" canvas board.

And my picture holder...

Our Barn - Finished

2011-06-22T00:44:00.000-07:00

Few tweaks to finish up the barn tonight. Pictures are horrible, but the painting turned out nice. I replaced my Thalo Green with Viridian. Must say I'm enjoying the greens I'm getting with Viridian. Saw some amazing photo's on a friend's facebook and got permission to paint from the photo's so I've got some good material to work from at night. Can't wait!!

Chipping Sparrow study

2011-06-18T22:58:00.000-07:00

So the object tonight was NOT to produce a "masterpiece", but rather limit my time to force myself to look for the shapes and simplify the shapes. Per Kevin MacPhersons book "Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color", I was only planning to paint 30 minutes, but I didn't get the canvas completely covered so I went over by about 15 minutes. I was painting at night so this was based off a photograph from Birds and Blooms.

Anyhow, I'll be doing lot's more of these small quick studies in preparation for the Thomas Jefferson Kitt's workshop in August. He got my registration today and the class minimum is eight people...so come on, painters!!

So here's tonights 45 minute effort. 6"x8" canvas board.

Worked two paintings tonight

2011-06-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Worked on the reflections in the water and some highlights tonight. I think I'm gonna' call this one done!

Also, did some more work on the painting of our barn. Still gotta' do something about that roof and I'll probably do more touch up on grasses around the barn, post and treeline. It's late and I don't have many lights on in the living room so this picture sucks or maybe it's the camera, or maybe it's just the photographer ;-)

And finally...I'm so excited! I'm signing up for my first workshop. The workshop is put on by an amazing Plein Air artist, Thomas Jefferson Kitts. The workshop is five days of Plein Air instruction in mid August. You can read more about here.

So I'm gonna' try and bust it on some small 6"x8" Plein Air paintings around the place over the next two months so I can be ready to get the most out of this workshop! Can't wait!

Our Barn - WIP

2011-06-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Started a little painting of the barn in our backyard. Still more work to do like finishing the roof (looks kind of flat) and getting barn doors finished. Oil on 11x14 canvas board.

Sunset Fortress - more WIP

2011-05-24T00:02:00.000-07:00

Been too long since I've been in front of the canvas. So tucked the kids in, tucked my wife, earphones on, Pandora radio station of choice - Dido. Tonight I straightened out some walls on the fortress. Ah, the dangers of painting from a photograph...lens distortion makes the vertical walls of the fortress lean in towards the center...and that's what I painted. So I fixed that tonight. Also, spent a great deal of time working over the hillside before the castle. The rocks are very difficult. So next session I'll probably try and tackle the water which I think will really make this painting work.

Sunset Fortress - WIP

2011-05-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

A little more progress on this fortress...still much to do. I think I'm liking the sunlit atmosphere in this one! The white below the fortress is going to be a some light colored rocks leading down to the water. My goodness, painting those rocks it proving to be difficult.

Untitled - WIP

2011-04-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Started a new one a few nights ago. Worked a little more on it tonight. Wow! Walnut oil dry's sssslooooowlllllly. This ones at that uncomfortably loose stage where I always wonder if I can dial it back it into the look I'm hoping for.

Northwest Canyon - more WIP

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

More work on my canyon painting tonight. Was only gonna' paint an hour...that was 2 hours ago :-)
This one's proving to be pretty tough given it's low-key value scheme, but a rewarding challenge!

Villa - WIP

2011-03-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ugh...what a day. Haven't held brush to canvas for awhile...was just what I needed. Turn on the music, grab my favorite brushes, and paint the ugliness of the day away. Think I like where this one's going...

8x10 Oil

A Tribute To My Mom's Art

2011-03-09T23:27:00.000-08:00

Visited my mom this evening. While talking art she dug out two photos of some of her art. One was an oil painting she did from a Walter Foster book and the other an ink drawing . I remember other ink drawings I saw when I was growing up and they were all amazing. The Cougar drawing here, I remember hanging on the wall in my grandma's home. It was huge! The oil painting shown here was her first (yes, first) oil painting!

She doesn't draw or paint anymore (although I suggest she pick up a pen or brush from time to time), but she enjoys watching me learn my way around the canvas. I certainly know where I got my love of art, now I can only hope some her talent rubbed off on me!! So here's a little tribute to my mom's art, here on my little art blog!

Coldwater Lake Study

2011-03-04T00:54:00.000-08:00

Did a quick little study tonight. From a photo I took of Coldwater Lake up near Mount St. Helens. Hmmm, I think it needs more depth. Oil on 8x10 canvas board.

Clackamas River Bend

2011-03-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

Been painting pretty regularly this week. I set up a Yann Tierson "radio station" on Pandora. Incredible music to paint to. After a while I began to realize that my brush strokes were truly guided by the tempo and mood of the music. So what music do you paint to?! Would love to hear what music folks find most inspirational with brush in hand.

So here is tonight's painting effort. I set this painting aside a few months ago and finally decided to pick it up and continue. This is from a photo I took while hiking with my family and some friends high up on the Clackamas River. I had to climb up this little hill and push the trees and bushes aside to snap this picture. Hidden behind the dense forest was this brightly lit bend in the river...twas a nicely hidden treasure!!

Granite - Finished

2011-02-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Finished my granite painting. Mostly just a few touch ups, highlighting some greens, adding in some flowers flowers, and adding a little more color to the granite as it really was rather colorful with some of the stains from years of wind and rain. Re-added some of the speckles by just flicking my brush with a little dark brown and a lot of medium.

So how do a store my left over paints? I've tried a few things, but what seems to work the best for me and it dirt cheap is just to scrape my colors off my palette and lay them down on a styrafoam plate. I take another styrafoam plate and place it over the one with the paints upside down and tape them together. Then I toss this in the freezer. Keeps my paints for a good week or two. That big mess of paint is all the mixed paints after a painting session. Makes for some nice grays. Anyhow, I got that idea from another painter online somewhere, but I don't recall where. Twas a good tip!!

Northwest Canyon - WIP

2011-02-13T01:10:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, this is definitely work in progress...not sure I can reel this one in, but I'll give it my best shot. It's been a really interesting experiment in producing rich blacks. Hopefully I can pull off the feeling of depth this canyon has. The water is going to be tough too as it's very clear so that you can see the boulders in the bottom of this creek, but I still need to show the reflections of the canyon walls and greenery beyond. Yep, this ones a stretch for me :-) 11"x14" canvas board.

Granite - WIP...almost done...I think

2011-02-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

So a quick post of last nights work on my little Granite rock painting. I think a few more small touch-ups and I'll call her done. Canvas board 8"x10".

The Magic of Color Mixing...

2011-01-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Past two nights I've been experimenting with a new palette that has many more transparent colors than the one I normally use. I decided to run through another color table using this new palette and have also been mixing some of the color mixtures themselves to watch the effects. I'm truly fascinated by color! Here's a few shots of my "exercises". When I'm done I'll have a nice set of color charts to reference for real paintins :-

I've already done two tables so those two colors are absent from this table. This table is mixing Dioxazine Purple with every other color on my palette.

First Painting of 2011 - Inspired by Dennis Sheehan

2011-01-28T01:09:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been way too long since I picked up a brush. This evening I stumbled across some amazing YouTube videos of a painter named Dennis Sheehan with some of the most beautiful music playing in the background. However, no where on his YouTube channel did he mention the music being played. So then I remembered a free iPhone app called Shazam. I quickly downloaded to my iPhone, ran Shazam while the song was playing on my computer and in less than a minute it identified the song title and musician, Yann Tierson.

Watching Mr. Sheehan paint was inspirational to say the least. His brush just dances across the canvas, very loosely. Soooo, with kids in bed, Pandora loaded up with a Yann Tierson stream, I tried to paint loosely like I watched Sheehan do. Being Mr. Perfectionist myself...that was a very hard exercise, but man, how rewarding!!!! Here's the result. Canvas board 8"x10".

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

Just couldn't let 1-1-11 go by without at least posting a something. Took two weeks off for the holidays...what a way to end 2010. So much fun! Santa brought me some new Sennelier oil pastels - the 24 landscape pastels and some watercolor pencils. Haven't done much with colored pencil, let alone watercolor pencils, but I thought I might try using those as an underpainting for some OPs.

Hope everyone had a great and safe New Years and here's looking forward to 2011! Will post more paintings soon!

Granite - WIP

2010-11-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

Just started a new 8x10 oil. This is based on a picture my good friend Greg took on one of his High Sierra hikes. He's an amazing photographer and this little study will surely not do his photo justice! I forgot to snap a picture of the underpainting, but remembered to get a shot of the next layer.

Sorry, lighting is horrible on this one. Still lots to do!

Old Barn - Finished

2010-10-17T21:33:00.000-07:00

So I've been painting for almost 2 years now (off and on) and realized I really haven't completed any of the oil paintings I've started. I've completed a few oil pastels, but no oil paintings. So today I finished up a little one I'd been working on...the Old Barn. I received some great critique up on WetCanvas.com and heeded that advice, removing part of the fence that passed in front of the barn. My final struggle was how to paint grass. I'm pretty happy with how the grass ended up, but certainly much more to learn there. One take away in doing the foreground grasses...it really helps to paint the grass in the foreground with a loaded brush! So I'm calling this one done...hope you like it! Canvas board 8"x10"

More work on the Old Barn - WIP

2010-09-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

Worked on the Old Barn painting some more today. I figured it would be nice to actually finish a painting so I think I'll push and get this one done. Worked on the foreground and bit, added a little more detail to the barn and fence. Right now I'm trying to decide whether to leave the fence leading off to the left there or not. Feels like it divides the painting too much and it might be nice to just continue that pasture on up to the forest line. Hmmmm....

Back to Painting - Old Barn WIP

2010-09-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Done with the color exercises for now...back to the painting! I've got a bunch of paintings I've started, but not finished so I thought I'd start finishing some of those paintings up starting with this old barn. Worked on the forested ridge in the background, did some more work on the barn itself and laid in the initial fence posts.

At glance it looks as though I've painted the barn crooked, but in fact there was nothing square about this old barn :-)

800 Colors from a palette of 12

2010-09-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Whew! So this was an interesting and time consuming exercise. I took my palette of 12 colors (plus white & black) and mixed every color with every other color and then tinted each combination giving me 10 values for each color. Some take aways from this exercise....

800 colors is a lot, but you realize that variations are truly infinite. What happens if mixed two colors unevenly and tinted or shaded that? What happens if I add in the complement to grey the color down? It goes on and on!
Got a good feel for which colors are stronger or weaker than other colors. Thalo green, thalo blue - way strong. Raw sienna, alizarin crimson - not so much!
This kind of exercise really sped up my color mixing to the values I wanted.
...and....I should've done this a long time ago :-)

Well, certainly gained a better understanding of color mixing. I had a lot of "ah ha, so that's how you get that color" moments! Now back to the paintings. Anxious to see how this exercise helps my painting!

Color Notes over Musical Notes!!!

2010-09-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Been working on building up some color charts for one of the palettes I've been experimenting with. It's a bit tedious, but rewarding when you can stand back see see the infinite variety of colors at your fingertips (or brush tips I guess). This palette includes thalo green, thalo blue, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, cadmium yellow medium, cadmium red hue, permanent rose, alizarin crimson and then I just include a grey scale using ivory black and titanium white.

Drawing from my sketchbook

2010-09-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

Was just going through my sketchbook and realized I hadn't posted this drawing I did awhile back. Did this while passing the time at a garage sale. Twas' a fun little sketch!!

Started New Oil - Klamath House

2010-08-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

Started a new oil painting tonight. It's a picture of an old dilapidated house down on the north end of Klamath Lake. Been wanting to tackle this one for a while. Decided to go back to my other palette of colors (not the Kevin MacPhearson palette) and I'm I can say I like them much better. So here's the underpainting and first rough sketch.

And just for fun here's my palette. My grandpa made this palette out of thick piece of sheet metal. It's very sturdy, fits my hand nicely and is a breeze to clean up. You can scrap the heck out of this palette! The colors I'm using now include: pthalo green, pthalo blue, ultramarine blue, burnt sienna, raw sienna, burnt umber, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red medium, permanant rose, alizarin crimson, and titanium white.

Brad Teare Blog

2010-08-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Stumbled across an artist who's work I really like, Brad Teare. Turns out he has an amazing blog packed full of really good information. Much of it is revolves around painting with Thick Paint, but there's much more information than that. One of the things I really like is that his blog is a good mix of textual information as well as video shorts demoing various techniques that he's teaching. Only problem I see with painting as thick as he does...I'm not sure I can afford it - that's ALOT of paint!

Turns out his wife, Debra Teare, is also an amazing artist. Her thing is Trompe L'Oeil...never heard of it before stumbling across her site, but it absolutely blew me away. You have to check out the painting she calls "Textures in Tin". Amazing what people can capture with a brush!

I'll definitely be spending some pouring over Brad's blog and pulling out things to try in my own 'fledgling' work ;-)

Tonight's effort

2010-08-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Got a couple hours painting in tonight. Did a lot of work on the treeline and highlights in the trees. Also, more work on the sky...I like the way that's turning out. I'm finding the sunlit sandstone cliff a challenge and soon will be diving (forgive the pun) into the water soon ;-)

Old House - WIP update

2010-07-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to do some more on this old abandoned house. So far I like where it's going. I really enjoy doing the sky, such freedom in pushing the paint around! Can't wait to begin putting details into the house and of course the fine branches on those sparse trees will be a challenge. I know not to try and paint every single little branch, but how to get the equivalent affect...I'm not quite sure.

New Painting Started

2010-07-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

Been trying to up my brush time so I squeezed in 45 minutes on a new 6x8 oil. Still using Kevin MacPherson's palette: cadmium yellow pale, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, pthalo green and titanium white. Will be interesting to see where this one ends up.

I love painting outside!!

2010-07-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Had a great Sunday...did some paintin' outside, a little dip in the pool, watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" one more time. Here's a shot of my little painting setup outside under our big maple tree.

These are still works in progress trying a different color palette than I'm used to.

This one here is based on a photo I took on a hike up the Clackamas River in Oregon. Also work in progress. You'll have to ignore the sunlight hitting the canvas on this shot.

Study based on Kevin MacPherson

2010-07-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

This start is based on a demo in Kevin MacPherson's Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color. Great book as far as I can tell! I like is loose style which is something very hard for me to do...must be the engineer in me...gotta' make those paintings precise ;-) Anyhow, this one is just a rough start focusing on shapes and colors.

Country Scene based on Elizabeth Tolley Demo

2010-06-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

Started this one a while back and picked it up again last night. Just adding more color and various touches. Just a 6x8 canvas board. I got a whole stack of these small canvas boards to practice various paint sketches. With the weather finally getting nice I think I'm gonna' take my painting outside and try my first plein aire soon!

WIP - Carmel by the Sea

2010-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Came back to a painting I started over a year ago based on a picture a friend of mine took on a vacation. Still much to do, but added in the beginnings for the flowers and foliage. Wiped out some detail on the stairs to redo later. Man, stairs are tough to get right.

Been awhile...

2010-06-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

Been awhile since I posted any new paintings. Finally, finished this one I've been working on for awhile...or maybe it's not finished yet...I'm not happy with the upper left corner and the paper's not taking much more OP. Not sure about the top part of the leaf on the left side either...it has sunlight coming across it, but I don't I conveyed that very well. Well, all part of learning!!

Joined Three Rivers Artist Guild - TRAG

2010-02-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

Well, went to my second TRAG meeting last night and decided to join. Pretty exciting to see such an active artist community right here in my own backyard. Looks like they have some cool stuff coming up this year with lot's of opportunity to get my work out in front of some people. Ahhh, now I just need more pieces...need to learn about framing my OPs...need to paint, paint, paint.

You can learn more about TRAG by going to there website - Three Rivers Artist Guild.

Been working on another OP from a photo I took in our garden. A nice bright shot of a pumpkin bloom with a honeybee workin' it. Still to early to show, but I'll get something up here soon.

Small landscape - WIP

2010-01-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

Made a little a time for painting tonight, yea! Just a little 6x8 oil based on a demo out of Elizabeth Tolley's Oil Painter's Solutions Book Landscapes. What a great little book loaded with all kinds of great information and tips.

I think I'm gonna' try a number of these little 6x8's just to get in the practice sketching the paintings out quicker.

Finally, some Christmas vacaton painting!

2009-12-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

I usually take vacation the week between Christmas and New Years, but I always miss out on all the fun leading up to Christmas. So this year I took the week before Christmas off! Been havin' lot's of fun with my wife and girls.

Also, visited a few local galleries here in Oregon City. Even found out about a local organization called the Three Rivers Guild which I'm going have to check out on their next meeting. Looks like a great way to meet some other artists in this area.

So here's a few things I did today. Continued work on an existing piece and sketched out a quick sketch for a new 6"x8" piece. I'm going to try and knock out some smaller paintings and work on painting a little looser and simplify, simplify, simplify!

Back to the oils...

2009-11-29T23:56:00.000-08:00

I actually got a chance to return to my oil paints this evening!! Did some refinement to the house and roofs. Also began dialing in the bridge a bit. This one's still got a long ways to go and it's stretch for my skills at this point :-O

I'll be anxious to see how this one progresses...or digresses, whatever the case may be!!

Pristine Rose - Final

2009-11-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm going to call this one done. Darkened the background with some deep blues and a little black. I like the results!! I'll probably post one more picture once I get this one matted and framed, but that'll be awhile. I haven't actually framed any of my work yet, so that'll be fun.

Now it's back to my oils again. I'm going to try and finish up the Reflections at Flatford Bridge study. I've gotta' figure out how refine the bridge so that it...well...looks like a bridge.

Layin' in the background...

2009-11-20T23:47:00.000-08:00

Spent about 2 1/2 hours goin' after the background tonight. I think a little more work on the leaves and I think I may increase the gradient from lighter towards the top and darker towards the bottom. I've cropped this in my editor (haven't actually physically done any cropping).

I've learned alot on this one. I've also learned just how much OP that Art Spectrum paper eats up too!!

More work on the Pristine...

2009-11-15T22:32:00.001-08:00

Finally, got a chance to spend some more time on the Pristine. Finished out the petals and tested some backgrounds along the top which will be cropped. There's basically four color swatches up top. I'm thinking the two greens to the right, and I think I favor the greens on the far right.

Also, plan to add a faint hint of the stem and leaves below the rose.

Pristine Rose - WIP

2009-11-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

Started a new OP last night. Been looking at this picture I took of a Pristine rose. Finally, decided to try painting a flower. This was really hard to draw until I drew a grid. Obviously, still WIP.

Whole Week...no painting!

2009-11-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a whole week since I've had a chance to pick up a brush! Finally, MADE some today. Continued work on Reflections at Flatford Bridge, but the DVDs have long since been returned so I'm having to go off memory of what I learned while I had the DVDs. Did some glazes over the trees and water and then layed in some sky. Nice to be painting again.

Johnnie Liliedahl Study - Reflections at Flatford Bridge

2009-10-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I was excited to get my next DVD study by Johnnie Liliedahl from Smartflix.com the other day. This one is a two hour demonstration including some building structures and the main focus being reflections in the water. I really like her teaching and style, having gone through her Forked Path study. She paints VERY loosely on the underpainting and glaze layers and then zeroes in on details in the painting phases.

So here's my underpainting. At this stage, honestly, I have to wonder how I'll dial it into an actual painting worth looking at, but I felt that way with the Forked Path painting I did...and I liked how that one turned out :-)

Blue Jay - Final (maybe)

2009-10-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

I think I've pushed myself about as far as I can go on this without wrecking it. Debated on whether to tame the bright branches on the right, but they actually show up more in this photo than in real life so decided to leave it. Had a tough time laying in the berries. My Erengi ArtAspirers are fairly firm OPs. I have a few Senneliers which are alot softer and lay over the Erengi's very well...but didn't have any reds for the berries. Note to self...pick up some more Sennelier's for the highlights!

So I think I'm done on this one (unless I go back a mess with those other branches) ;-)

Blue Jay - WIP II

2009-10-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

Finally, had a few hours free to for painting last night! More work on the Blue Jay. This part was scary...I like the Jay and was having problems dialing in the color on the background. Lot's more work to go.

Blue Jay - WIP

2009-10-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

Did a little more on the Blue Jay tonight. I'm just amazed by OP artists that can define such fine details in their OP paintings. This is a fun painting though...I like working with many shades of blue.

Had another "duh" moment...discovered what those little metal tabs were for on my easel...yeah, they do a really nice job of holding onto my canvas without the easel itself getting in the way. Neat!!

Switchin' gears...going OPs on this one...

2009-10-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I sat down to draw with my daughter at the kitchen table. Didn't have time to setup or cleanup the oils so I grabbed my oil pastels (OPs), found a good picture to "attempt" and got busy. After the kids were in bed, I did a little more and decided to continue on this drawing to see where I could take it! So at this stage this go either way...my best OP yet...OR a real OP disaster. I've forgotten just how unforgiving OPs are compared to oils!!

Forked Path - Final....I think

2009-09-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

Well, tonight I added some highlights, grass detail, and introduced some sky into the trees. I think I'm going to call this one done and move on. Learned alot and fun so this was success!

Carmel by the Sea...

2009-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken by a friend on one of her vacations. I started this painting even before my still life, but then set it aside for while. Came back, did a little more, and now I'm trying to figure out how to move forward with it. The stairs have me a bit perplexed!

Here's an early version of the painting...

Here's a later version...added some of the roof tiles, refined some of the doorways and texture on the walls...

Practicing with Glazes...

2009-09-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

So I met a professional artist named Doug Miller at his studio in Leavenworth, WA. He recommended I check out SmartFlix.com for teaching videos. So I did. My first rental was a DVD - Johnnie Liliedahl's The Forked Path. It was a study in glazes.

So here's my first glaze layer.

And here's after another glaze layer and some opaques.

Apples anyone?

2009-09-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

So here's my first still life in Oils. I thought I was done with this one, but then decided it was too "orangey". So I came back later and deepened the red using a glaze.

2009-09-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of drawings of some rocks for an exercise on WetCanvas.com, using OPs.

Wood Duck

2009-09-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Then I got rather adventurous and decided to try and draw an animal…

My "studio"...

2009-09-27T10:26:00.001-07:00

So here’s what my makeshift “studio” looked like when I started.

First crack at oil pastels (OPs)

2009-09-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Started playin’ with oil pastels in December ‘08. I liked them enough that I bought a great 92 color OP set called ArtAspirer by Erengi. Here’s the first painting I did with those. I did this based on a monthly challenge on WetCanvas.com.

Paintin' Shapes

2009-09-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Here are my first two oil paintings. These were done as exercises from a book by Kathleen Lochen Staiger called “The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted”. When I saw that book, I thought, “Hey, that books for me. How did she know I always wanted an oil painting class!”

Found some old soft pastels...

2009-09-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I found a box of old soft pastels that I just had to try…

Did ya’ notice the sheep…yeah, those little white smudges…uh huh…those are sheep!

First Drawings...

2009-09-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the first drawing I did back in October ‘08.

Gotta' love that nice fingerprint and Cheetoh stain on the landscape drawing....doh!

Half the fun of art is sharin’ the experience…

2009-09-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

I used to enjoy drawing as a kid. My mom even bought me a little oil paint set and some canvas boards. I’m sure somewhere in her garage are some little paintings of mountains, trees…oh and for some reason I painted a little red outhouse. I remember that one because I think that was my “masterpiece” at the time.
Somewhere along the way though, I just stopped drawing and painting. I was 13 or 14. I dunno…maybe girls and cars became more interesting to me at the time, but for whatever reason I just stopped drawing and painting. That’s the way it was for 25+ years. Funny thing is though…in the back of my mind I kept reminding myself how much I would really like to learn to oil paint.

Here about a year ago, I had a real “DUH!” kind of moment. I’m grown up, I’ve got my own money, why not just buy some painting supplies and go for it?! Well, that’s what did and I’ve been havin’ a ball ever since. I bought a little pencil set first and started drawing. I found some old Guitar oil pastels that my mom hardly used. I thought those were fun so I bought a 90 color Art Aspire oil pastel set. Then I found a great book on oil painting so I picked up some paints based on the pallet this author used. Oh and even picked up nice plein aire easel using a gift certificate from my work. Along the way I’ve also played with a few water colors and some soft pastels, too.

So as the title of this posts says, half the fun of art is sharin’ the experience and that’s what this blog is all about…right from the start. I hope folks will enjoy my art and get a kick out of my mistakes. I still have a hard time considering myself an artist…maybe that’ll change after I frame my first painting…who knows! But in the meantime, feel free to look, comment, and even criteque what you see.
Thanks for lookin’!