Wildling Museum Demo

The Wildling Museum, Los Olivos, CA

As forecasted, rain Saturday and Sunday this weekend, the weekend of the demo I would do at the Wildling Museum in Los Olivos. Watching the weather channel we knew the rain was on it's way and the weatherman was right on the money.

When Linda and I arrived to set up it was dry still but overcast and cold. Needless to say very few people came to the event put on by all of the art venues in town with artists giving demonstrations at various locations. At the museum I would guess maybe 50 people came by but I think the cold kept them moving to take things in before heading for home. I met some nice people and a few of the other artists stopped by to talk. The rain came and I came away with a decent eucalyptus painting and went home a little wet and with some freezing hands and feet.

Brrrrrr! Doesn't look that cold huh...ya had to be there. I forgot to tell Linda to take the flash off so there is a bad glare here on the painting. One artist came by and turns out she lived in Hawaii at the same time that Linda lived there and her daughter went to the same school as Linda's daughter....small world. A photographer showing at the coffee shop came by and all 4 of us had a lot of laughs. It was nice to be out hanging with artist friends.

This is a better pic of the painting...pretty common subject with me lately, these eucalyptus trees, I'm messing with various color strategies. The sky doesn't show well here but it is this nice greenish blue blending into a light violet towards the bottom...too subtle to show good in this pic. I don't know what is up with my digital camera that has worked great for the last 4 years...might be time to get another one with more megapixels. That little camera (old faithful) gets good details of anything under 16x20 but it's just not taking good images of the larger paintings. This painting is an 18x24 so the details get blurred. Lots of distractions out there today and there are things I might change on this one but overall I'm pretty happy with how the painting came out. As for the day spent there, well, sometimes nature works with you and sometimes it doesn't. Despite the cold I think we all had a fun time of it.

Santa Ynez Valley Morning

"Valley Morning"

9" X 12" Oil on Canvas
Just a quick painting that I painted this morning while looking out of my backdoor and seeing this scene. It was a small section of the landscape visable and took about 1, 1/2 hours. I didn't have time to work on a larger piece since I need to get ready for the demo tomorrow at the Wildling Art Museum. Come on out, it's going to rain, thunder and probably be windy! hahaha. Why do a demo on a good day right? hahaha. I heard the forecasted rain for this weekend a few days ago but that's ok...the museum has a large wrap around porch and even it it got that ugly they offered a room inside...but I like it outside. We'll see what happens.

Figueroa Mountain Foothills

"Foothills Of The Figueroas"

12"x16" Oil on Canvas
This painting was started as more of a sketch to practice dialing in warm colored grasses but eventually worked it's way to a more completed painting. I also used this piece to experiment with atmosphere and depth wanting to get more of a "thickness" in the air across the valley. I didn't overly push that thickness in the air because I just wanted it to evident in the painting and not overbearing. My reference photo had a more crisp look to it since the air is so clean and clear up here so I added what's in the painting. I'm happy with the results and that's what is more important than the actual capturing of what was there in the photo.

Painting Demo - Los Olivos, CA

For any of you who live within driving distance to Los Olivos, CA (just above Santa Barbara), I will be doing a painting demo at the Wildling Art Museum. My demo will be part of the Artist And Easels day long show in the sleepy town of Los Olivos.
If you enjoy good wine, great art and a small town atmosphere then this is a good show for you. There will be many artists throughout the town giving demos.
My demo will be between 11 and 3 at the Wildling Art Museum. There is a great coffee shop next door so it can't get better than that! If you have some spare time please come by and have a fun day enjoying art.

Saturday, March 19, 11-3

The Wildling Art Museum... 2928 San Marcos Ave., Los Olivos, CA (805) 688-1082

Alla Prima Painting

"Misty Eucalyptus Trees"

12" X 16" Oil on Canvas
This painting was done alla prima tonight in about 2 hours. I wasn't really racing to finish it or paint alla prima to begin with...it just turned out to be an alla prima painting in a couple of hours which is always nice. I did this one more as a study than anything since I wanted to try out some different background color mixes for the sky. I made this sky with a mix of white, cerulean blue and a dab of cad yellow light added to that blue mix in the lower part of the sky. I wanted a greenish look to it because I wanted to paint the background trees with a slightly darker mix of that lower sky color. This always gives the painting a nice hazy, almost foggy look in the distance. I wish the green showed better here, it's a subtle mix as it rises into the cerulean upper sky and looks pretty cool when you're standing in front of it. Cerulean blue and cad yellow gives a really nice pale green but it requires very little cad yellow since that color is so intense.