Valley Trail

I did this painting mainly to practice more at painting trails through native grass. Trails are becoming very fun to paint. I am wanting to paint these types of scenes more and more. I enjoy pushing the distance in a valley scene and throwing in the trees randomly...this of course was another scene out of my head instead of using a reference photo. The joy of painting these is you don't become a slave, or even have to worry about becoming a slave, to a reference photo. There is such freedom in composing whatever you like in a scene and so these paintings develop pretty fast and I end up doing most of them Alla Prima. A fun one to do.

"Valley Trail"

9"x12" Oil on Canvas

Here are a couple of detail shots....

Another Nocturne!

"Moonlit Meadow" 11" X 14" Oil on Canvas

I did this nocturne to work on the various shades of night sky. Night skies are always handled so differently by various artists I have seen. Good thing, keeps them from getting boring and allows the viewer to "see" better. Actual night can be so dark at times. I have found myself really checking out the light and what you can see, detail and color wise, on moonlit nights. This was done Alla Prima, like a lot of my work lately, which is always a challenge and fun as hell!

Here are a couple of details....

Valley Eucalyptus

This has become yet another painting in what has practically become a series of paintings from imagination. I think lately I have been doing every other painting from imagination. Makes sense, you learn to draw things with a pencil from looking at them. Then, you begin to draw things from memory. Most people can remember what something looks like, a particular sunset at the beach or the view out of the car window when driving through the desert....the cool thing about being an artist is we can usually not only remember them in our minds but can draw or paint them from our minds. It's pretty snazzy being an artist. You have to enjoy these little things because you sure can't rely on enjoying the tons of money that comes rolling in from being an artist! hahahaha.

This particular one started out as just wanting to paint a sky using Cerulean blue instead of my usual Ultramarine Blue. Gives your sky a nice blue/green look. Throw in some white or slighly yellow clouds and you get an old look to your painting....I'm starting to love that look in my paintings. I threw in some lupine too for the fun of it and to practice suggesting flowering plants in my paintings....can't always be grass you know.

"Guardians"

11" X 14" Oil on Canvas

Some details...

Mojave Nocturne..the desert at night

The desert at night...if you have never been there to feel that you need to! Summers are anywhere from super cold to down-right hot! Still, it is pretty awesome being in the desert in the moonlight. Naturally, I couldn't wait to paint a scene from the Mojave desert which is located right over the mountains from where I grew up in Pasadena. Out here we call it the High Desert because it is up there elevation wise except for it's lowest part, Death Valley, which is below sea level and hot as heck! We also have other desert parts called the low desert...looks about the same too like where Palm Springs is, gets hot there too!
Anyway, this scene is off of a road crossing the desert called Pearblossom Hwy. In the distance you can see the back of the mountains that had snow on them at the time.

California Art Club Show

I received a call-to-artists notice for an upcoming show in Pasadena by the California Art Club of which I am a member. I entered 2 paintings hoping to get in on this show and just received word that both paintings were juried into the show. I was also notified that my painting of a mustard field down in Palos Verdes was selected by the jury for special recognition. This is not an awards show nor is money handed out so I'm assuming they just really liked the painting....always a good thing!
There will be a show reception that is open to the public so if you live within driving distance of Pasadena please come and say hi! Here are the show details....

Where - The Womens City Club of Pasadena, 160 N. Oakland Ave. Pasadena, CA
When - The show runs June 23 - November 26 2008
Reception - Saturday, July 12, 5-7PM

I'm pretty jazzed about the nocturne, "The Foot Trail", getting into the show. It is my second nocturne ever, the first being a terrible version of a barn on our property. So far I've done 4 nocturnes including a desert nocturne. I have totally learned something on each one and each nocturne gets better and better I think. If you want to break out of the rut of your everyday paintings do a nocturne! It's a whole new set of rules but so fun to do.