Visions of Nebraska

I recently had a junket to, of all places, Lincoln Nebraska. Nebraska is a very, very flat place which definitely brings to mind the phase "big sky country". This is an interpretation of western Nebraska, which is primarily range land. This is a watercolor. Tony has challenged me to do it in oil, to see how the mediums differ. Should be interesting!

Lath House at Huntington Gardens

This is a view of the newly opened, steel and glass botanical lath house at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, California. For fun, I show a sunny scene in the foreground with a rainstorm sweeping in over the hills in the distance. The building posed a challenge. The lath was laid in using liquid frisket (sort of like painting with rubber cement). After the initial color pass, the frisket is removed and stark white lines remain. Then you have to somehow blend the color together to make the structure look like it exists in space, add shadow, etc. This was my first try working with liquid frisket.

Don's Last View of a Tropical Shore

A good buddy, Don Lynch, has given up life in the States and is moving to Alberta Canada to pursue a sculpting career. Go, Don! I gifted Don with this tropical scene, so he would have something warm to look at during -20 degree winter days...

Still Life, with Cat

This is your classic still life study of a bowl of fruit. When I finished it, I had a lot of empty space left in the picture, so I decided to add the cat as a "feature". This is my first attempt at rendering fur in watercolor. I decided to try out some iridescent silver watercolor as an undercoat, which really popped the individual hairs rendered in dark gray over the top. Coincidentally, the week I painted this, we adopted a Russian blue cat who looks like the picture. Welcome Dmitri, the Russian blue!

I recently enjoyed a great exhibit at the Huntington Library of Constable's 6 foot oils and full size sketches. The sketches were very impressionistic (60 years before impressionism) but Constable then did them over in the required, tight style of the day where every leaf on the tree was defined. He liked a Z-shaped composition with theatrical lighting effects to force your eye to move around the canvas. This is my attempt at a Constable-style picture, rendered rather small and in watercolor rather than in oil. The original is startlingly vivid in tone for a watercolor. (Sold)

A watercolor where I was practicing layering colors and creating transparent reflections. Would you believe the underlying color on the table is a hot pink? This is a charming German Hummel figurine that dates from 1952, quite different from the Hummel figurines I remember seeing in America. A loan from cousin Vivi to practice figure drawing.

Wipe Out

Something beachy for on-coming hot weather. I'm practicing people--this is your basic stick figure! This is a watercolor. The foreground achieves added interest by scrunching plastic wrap on the wet paint, then doing over painting on the dry page.

"No Place Like Gnome"

This one is just for fun, a little picture of an English cottage intentionally done "Kincade" style. The gnome was a last minute addition to solve a flaw in the watercolor paper!

Sunflowers

After I sold Menage a Trois, I received a commission for another picture. The buyer wanted me to duplicate the picture in oils. As you can see, oil and watercolor are NOT the same medium. Deconstructing the watercolor's washes was an interesting exercise. Here's the result...

Lavender Tea

For all the "Red Hat" ladies, here is the first of my "Red Hat" series. All set and ready for tea! There will be future additions to this series, I hope to have a set of greeting cards using the red hat theme...

Blue Heron

Here's this week's entry. It was an attempt to do a more abstract background combined with a realistic foreground. By accident I discovered that by overlaying the blue tones on the heron with a little yellow ochre the result improved the sense of volume on the figure.

Foggy Morn

This is another California impressionist piece. My reference was a rhodedendron bush in a redwood forest, a lovely photo shot by Thomas Mangelsen. The painting is very different from the original reference material. One of the beauties of painting is the ability to draw inspiration from many sources and transmute it to your own idea. The full effect of the fog, with the trees showing through, only appears if you place the painting under a spot light. The shot above shows the full effect. This oil painting, 24"x30", is priced at $650.00.

Rocky Point, California

I became interested in California impressionism after viewing Dennis Doheny's work. I can only dream of being as fine a painter some time in the far future! I have plenty of material to draw upon from frequent trips through Big Sur, a favorite photo site for Tony. Even when painting a particular spot on the coast, I can remove roads, add fog, and change the lighting in the scene. The photo I used as reference was a very dark grab shot, so I let the sun come on in the painting. This oil painting, 24"x30", is priced at $650.00.

Old Vines

This is a recent oil painting that sold shortly before the gallery show. I'm thinking of doing a vineyard series similar to the Provence series. The painting is 24"x30". I like it because I can really feel the wind in the trees and some of the flowers seem to be turning into butterflies.

New Works

People bought watercolors and wanted to take them home. At first I thought I would insist that the pieces remain throughout the show. Then the lightbulb went off--an opportunity to hang new works! Here are new works that will be hung this week at the show. Drop back in and check it out. (Note, no weekend hours: Open 9-12 & 3-6 M-W-F, 3-7 T-Th.)
The top picture is quite a departure for me, I really went "Van Gogh" with this and just let the paint rush around the paper. It is titled "Menage a Trois", price $200.00.
The bottom painting is a basket of hydrangeas, titled "Hydrangeas" (can't be creative every day...), priced at $75.00. You may ask why two pictures of a similar size have different prices...it is a direct function of the framing cost!

All My Friends at the Show

Thank you to all our friends who turned out to see the show, because I definitely had performance anxiety before the opening. What if someone sneered at my work??? Instead I heard many great comments and found the experience painless. And now, here's the show!

Water Lily #2

The next day I got a call that another piece had sold. Here it is. Very exciting!! (I rushed right out and bought more frames... not quite keeping up with my earnings...)

Sold a Watercolor - "Rapunzel Dreams"

Within 15 minutes I sold my only painting which featured a person, "Rapunzel Dreams". You can see it posted along with the photo reference it was drawn from, Christie in a bathtub shot! Drawing and painting people is not my forte, so I was pleased to be approached by people inquiring about possible commissions for pictures featuring people. (Gulp, now I might have to perform!).

(Tony's note: We did not have a chance to properly shoot the art before the show as it was only just completed. The photo shown has glare off the glass and was shot at the reception. We hope to get a better one before the buyer takes possession. The black and white photo was shot at Roy King's Esperanza Studios several years ago.)

First Sale of the Show

I had pre-sold the picture "Heat of the Day", one of the lavender field pictures. It was fun to tack up a "sold" sign just as the show opened.

Opening Night of the Gallery Show

The show opened Thursday night at 6 pm with a very nice wine and cheese reception. Some people were confused to discover the show was hidden in a chiropractic office on the second floor of a strip mall, but were pleasantly surprised when they made their way upstairs. We had 60-80 people turn out for the show. On my side was representational art, water lilies, lavender fields, California coastline pictures, etc. On the other side was wild and crazy abstract art! Attendees tended to divide quickly based on their personal taste. Here's a picture of my co-artist, Dr. Barry Carlin, myself, and Barry's friend Barbara.