Santa Ynez Valley Inspired

Valley Evening

12x16 Oil on panel

Continuing my fun with trees, namely eucalyptus trees, this is another Santa Ynez valley inspired painting. The only drawback to this looking more like the valley is the pinkish violet mountains. Ours usually turn a bluish color with pink highlights along the ridges. Still, these scene reminds me a lof of the valley in late afternoon light as the sun goes down over the Santa Rita hills to the west of us. Threw in the little trail here and added some birds....the birds came along because this morning I was thumbing through an old Walter Foster book written by artist William Palluth and he used birds a lot in his paintings, thank you Mr. Palluth. I liked the way Palluth painted his foliage and grasses. If you ever come across some of his work or one of his old books take a look, you'll enjoy the paintings of his.

Here is a detail shot of that nice looking tree to the left......fun with trunks!

Spring Landscape

"Spring Landscape"

9" X 12" Oil on Panel

This painting started out as a spare panel being used to try out some old paints I had. I never intended to make a painting out of it, I just wanted to try some paints out. After trying out those paints I continued on with other projects and this panel was leaning up against the wall near my easel. Many times I would look over at it seeing various compositions out of the random bits of paint on the panel. After finishing another project I decided to just make something out of those bits of paint and created this scene. I've never began a painting like that but it was pretty fun to approach a painting that way. Maybe for fun you should try to make some random brush strokes on a blank panel and then force yourself to create a composition out of what you have there.    

Hillside Evening

"Hillside Evening"

12x16 Oil on Panel

Trying to improve an older painting that I felt was never quite complete back when I painted it. I went back in and repainted the background mountain, added moredetail to the foreground hillside and slightly adjusted the tree tops. I'm happier with the finish now. I don't usually go back over older paintings but this one grabbed my attention the other day while I was going over my older work. There is just a yucky feeling I get when painting over dried paint. I don't prefer painting over wet paint either. I like painting over tacky, sticky paint which is where my paint usually is by the end of the day or the next morning. Despite all of that ,this one ended up with a decent look to it so I'm calling it quits at this point. 

Spring In California

"Spring In California"

24" X 30" Oil on Canvas
I painted this scene over a year ago on an 8"x10" canvas. The painting came out pretty nice so I entered it in a California Art Club show and it sold. I honestly didn't think it would sell and had planned on using the painting as a reference to paint a larger version. Luckily I had taken a good photo of it so the other day I got that out and used it as my ref. I went larger and also made some changes to the painting. The original had a lot of poppies in the foreground but the last few paintings I've done had poppies so I didn't want to paint those again. I like this version and think it is going to look very nice in a frame.

California Landscape Painting

"California Spring Landscape"

12" X 16" Oil on Canvas
We've had rain for the last two days which I imagine has given me the inspiration to finally finish up this painting. I had started it before the new year arrvied but lost the inspiration to give it a good finish due to other things going on. Eventually it sat leaned against a wall drying and making me feel guilty for not finishing it every time I saw it. With the rain here I decided it was as good a time as any to finish up. Now the only guilt I have is in letting it sit for so long driving me crazy. Some paintings are after your soul.
No specific location for this one, it is just a typical scene of what the area looks like along the central coast of California. Oaks dominate the landscape of rolling hillsides and in spring the wildflowers will carpet the grass lined valleys.

Distant Hills

"Evening Approach"

5" x 7" Oil on panel

SOLD
Did this painting to work on the colors and atmosphere you see of distant mountains in evening light. I like playing with those distant highlights on the mountainsides as they collect the last rays of sun. I used an old tube of Shiva Cadmium Orange to do the trees. This tube is one I've had since college in the early 80's. That old tube was more than half full and beautiful color still! I miss Shiva paints. Had to pick that up at the Standard Brands art section right there on Fair Oaks in Pasadena long before it closed it's doors. I think this painting has some great color in it and a nice sense of mood...I'm happy with it.

Santa Ynez Rolling Hills

"At The Foothills"

24" X 36" Oil on Canvas
Finished this one up right before my trip to Oregon. There are so many things going on right now it took me a while to get somewhat caught up enough to post anything here. Sales are still super slow but you still need to keep moving and trying things. I like this scene and have painted similar scenes from the evening I spent here taking reference photos. These colors are so typical of this area...in fact, a lot of the California landscape looks like this. The warm ochre tones and rich dark greens of the oaks are hard to ignore for an artist. Most of this land is used for grazing cattle by the Chamberlin Ranch here in Santa Ynez.