Gallery In The Vines

North of where I live is a place called Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo. It is here that I have my work carried by Gallery In The Vines. It is run by Ex-NY artist Patti Robbins and her husband Robbie....great people! I know, they run it and I'm in there so they have to be great people...no, they really are. Patti is super nice and really understands artists because she is one of them.

I went there yesterday to switch out some work to help spur sales and it's what we do every now and then to keep the work in there fresh. It's always fun to see how the new work will look hanging under lights in somewhere other than my house.

inside the gallery....

Thanks to our sagging...no, demolished economy there have been little art sales lately. Can't do anything about that except paint better while the sales are slumping so when they come back I'll be ready with new work. I don't know why it is but going to any gallery always gets me charged up to do newer, better work....everytime! Sometimes it is because you see someone elses work that inspires you...sometimes it is just seeing your work in there and thinking to yourself I can do better....I will do better. In my situtation it is usually either of these two reasons 50% of the time.

3 of my pieces on the right side...

There are 2 other artist friends from my Guild in there also. I love going in there to see their work under the lights in a gallery environment too. Both very good artists and I'm really proud to be in there with them. Lets hope that galleries across the nation can manage to hang in there despite the lack of sales. Artists are doing what they can to hang in there too and it's getting really interesting.....

Tonal Visitation

"Alisos Canyon Sunset"

12" X 16" Oil on masonite panel

I had this reference photo of a sunset and decided to try painting it. I decided to use less detail to produce a painting in a more tonal vein. I like the look of some tonal paintings and thought it would be neat to give it a try and came up with this piece. Maybe I added a bit too much detail for a really true tonal painting but to me this is in that direction and it was a fun piece to work on.


I was just up yesterday switching work in the gallery I'm in at Edna Valley. I decided while there that I need to do more work for that area so I need to move off of this one and get back to work. Still, you have to stop once in a while to experiment for your own mental health.

Spring Show

The Artist Guild of the Santa Ynez Valley had a show in Los Olivos this last Saturday. I was one of 3 artists who were going to paint plein air in the park next door during the event. There isn't much to paint there so I decided to paint a scene where I could put in some wildflowers that I recently saw up in the Figueroa moutains the week before.

Spring brings the California poppies and Lupine. The Figuroa mountains are a close drive and I went up there the previous Monday and Wednesday taking photos for reference material and also scoping out some painting locations for future plein air work. As you can see the poppies and lupine were out in force in spots right along the road.I started my painting during the show and pretty much finished it. When I brought it home I put in the poppies and lupine. People come up to talk and I needed to work out show so I couldn't finish it there. Anyway, shows are a fun time to visit with fellow artsts and relax a little from the painting chores in the studio. Here is my finished painting. The lupine and poppies were on my mind since seeing them so it was oln yfitting to add them in this scene. Mine are toned down a bit since I like subtle color work anyway. I'm happy with it.

Valley Poppies

Another scene painted to work on shadow and distance. This is no particular area around here but working from imagination. I'm sure this valley in various areas looks very similar to this scene. Spring rolls around and the California poppies begin to bloom all over the place. The Lupine should be blooming soon so I'm keeping my eye out for it.

"Valley Poppies"

9" X 12" Oil on Masonite Panel

I will be in a show with my local artists guild this Saturday and will probably paint outside with a friend of mine, Syd McCutcheon. I'll probably do a similar scene to this one since there isn't much to paint in the park where we will be painting at. I did this one to warm up for the show. Took me about 2 hours today so I think I'll be ok for Saturday. I'd hate to get out there and draw a blank for a subject or totally goof it. I'd like to be able to do one of these in less than an hour but I'm still not able to paint that quick using my imagination. Sometimes you have to see in your mind what you want and then make that happen with the paint. Sometimes you paint it but don't like it so you think of something else that works so this stuff slows me down a bit.

The Same Scene

I painted this scene once before this last summer I think. I wanted to give it another try to work more on the shadowed areas of this scene. I really like afternoon light and the variations of light and shadow that time of day brings. I absolutely love what the sun does to color at evening too...that wonderful golden time of day. Theres only a hint of that light in this painting as it is just prior to that time of day...but there was this great shadowed area to play with so it was worth another shot at re-doing this scene.

"Evening Near Lompoc"

9" X 12" Oil on masonite panel

Sisquoc...and clearing haze

"Haze Clearing Near Sisquoc"

15" x 30"

To be honest, the small town of Sisquoc is about a couple of miles down the road if you followed that fence line meandering off into the distance in my latest painting. This ranch is in the Santa Maria valley right before you turn south for the drive through Foxen Canyon. Santa Maria valley heads right down to the ocean so they get great fog in there. Just a fun painting to do....

a small detail shot....