Blue and Green

" Evening Blue and Green"

9" x 12" Oil on canvas covered panel

Another good color combination I like is a Cerulean Blue sky with dark greens in the foreground. Throw in a little slightly pinkish clouds and it's hard to goof that up. Not that this is a perfect painting...there is always room to improve and I've already decided what I would have done differently on this one for the paintings down the road.

Depth in a Painting

One of the things early painters seem to struggle with is adding depth into their paintings. Depth adds to the atmosphere while also adding a wonderful sense of space into one's painting. You are working with Aerial, or, Atmospheric perspective here. You can look these terms up and read volumes about this type of perspective as well as other types. I don't want to write a book here so I'll put it in a nutshell for you.
To add depth you need to work on your atmospheric perspective. This means the farther back your distance is colors will be less brite, less intense, will start to move into the blue/grey range. You will have less detail, less sharp edges, less focus. The eye is a magnificent machine but even it has it's limitations. Heat, moisture, airborne particles and distance will cause the eye to see less of anything the further it recedes. All you have to do now is to remember these things and practice pushing your distance in your paintings.
This painting I've done was just painted from a basic pencil thumbnail sketch I did on a scrap piece of paper with a drafting pencil. There are no color notes or actual picture to work from because I know what it will look like before I start the painting. It's a good thing to get into the habit of seeing your painting, visualising it, before you actually paint it. Then you just paint what you see in your head. The better you visualise it the better you will paint it.
Here is my pencil sketch.....

It's very simple and of no particular place. I can see my sky and tree colors as well as the foreground so this sketch is more a map of where to put my lines on my canvas. I'll add my sky working my way down to the trees. At the trees I will add some very light yellow ochre suggesting the haze you would see closer to the land.

At this point I want to add my distant mountains which will be blue. I will then add some of my "grey" mud to some white paint and then paint that into the base of the mountains to add more "atmospheric haze" to them. This gives the effect of distant mountains by the blueing of their color and hazy filtered light/color at their base....all of this adds to the illusion of distance.

Here you see the blue of the mountains blocked in. Before I leave this step I will also take a clean brush and drag just a bit of sky color along the top line of the mountains...this softens that edge...remember? Less sharp edges as they recede. My mud mix kept in a jar for later uses....What is it??? After you clean your brushes in a jar long enough you end up with a thick mud of paint at the bottom of your jar. I periodically scrape it into this jar for adding grey to my paint mixes...when I paint plein air I will use a tube of Paynes Grey but in the studio I use this leftover paint.

Here is the painting with my mountains done, my distant and foreground trees added....this is basically the blocked in stage and I will start tweaking these parts once they are all in place.

Now the rest of the painting is blocked in. After this I took a brush rinsed in turpentine and wiped out the paint for my trail. I then painted in a mix of white/yellow ochre and ultramarine blue for the trail.

Trail "wiped in" Once the trail was painted in I darkened my foreground grasses on either side and began to work my grasses and edges of the trail. In the end this is what the painting looked like.

It's all in stages. Very light or faint background work...nice mid value colors for the midground and strong darks in the foreground...much sharper detail and edges closer up and soft brushwork in the distance. Paint what your eyes can see...the exaggrate that and psuh it as far as you want to go with it. The early tendancy I think is to not push it as much so keep working at it and push a little harder each time...go lighter where you need it and darker where you need it...softer brushwork and stronger brushwork. Don't sweat it if you don't get the results you want...just start another painting and keep your mind and eye in control of that brush and paint.

Oaks on the Chamberlain Ranch

"Oaks on the Chamberlain Ranch"

22" X 28" Oil on canvas

In this painting I wanted to try capturing the evening light against the hillsides. The warm tones of last light against a hillside is always a favorite sight to me so why not paint it. Our grassy hills are all now brown with the summer here. This always leads to wonderful earthtones to mix and try getting right.
I'm always amazed at how great some paintings can look from across a room while others look better the closer you get. This one is stunning as you get back and the eye can mix the colors without being bothered by the detail...much like seeing it in real life. Each time I walk into the studio this painting catches my eye even if my overhead painting lamp isn't on....when it's left on the painting looks even better.

I had a painting in a 22" x 28" frame but it was painted a while back and I thought another attempt at that size was in the cards. They had a recent canvas sale so I picked one up at that size and painted this one up to replace the older painting....a good thing too because I'm much happier with this image.

Goleta

On one of my trips down to Santa Barbara I decided to take the beach route instead of climbing over the mountains. This was last winter and we had a storm blowing out and these huge clouds were what was left over. Nothing like winter to bring in these great cloud formations we get here. The Pacific ocean would be just to the left of this scene but it gets painted enough and I wanted the clouds over the mountains anyway.

"Goleta Skies"
9" X 12" Oil on canvas covered panel
a detail of the painting....

A Desert Sunset

" A Desert Sunset"

8" x 10"
The reference photo for this painting was taken at sunset in the small town of Los Olivos just north of here last week. When I started painting in the foreground I began to see more of a desert sunset appearing so I just went ahead and finished it off that way....low desert scrub plants and grasses. Works for me...this one really reminds me of the Mojave desert at sunset.

I was recently watching the mini series Lonesome Dove and just floored (floored again since I saw Lonesome Dove when it was first broadcast in 1989) by the photography/cinematography....Lonesome Dove was filmed in both Texas and New Mexico but how they filmed it is was what made the difference. It is truly a masterpiece caught on film and everyone associated with that film was right on the mark. I suppose seeing the awesome evening scenes in the early part of it was what made me want to paint a sunset scene.

A detail of the painting....

Carrizo Wash

I used this particular color scheme on one of my earlier paintings and liked it. Something about the white sandy wash against the olive greens of the desert plants that I like. I decided to do another painting but on a smaller 8" x 10" format. I had a couple of masonite panels laying around in that size so off I went. I'm not sure if I'll stop on this one yet or not...I like it as it is but might opt to add more flowers, maybe. We had 2 daughters both graduating this last week so I didn't get any painting done and this was my painting to get back into the swing of things. Took a little longer than normal, 2 days of on and off painting. I don't like to skip painting for any length of time because it takes me a while to get back into the groove.

"Carrizo Wash"

8" x 10" Oil on panel

Moon Over The Chamberlain Ranch

" Moon Over The Chamberlain Ranch"

12" X 16" Oil on panel

There is a spot along Foxen Canyon that is up on a hill...one way looks towards the canyon andthe other has a great view of the rolling foothills of the Figueroa mountains. I never realised it but all of that property belongs to the Chamberlain ranch. These hills are used for cattle grazing and many times it is just the cattle and me up there. I did this painting at late evening showing the full moon rising up over the Figueroas.

A detail of the painting....

I was trying to keep these distant oaks soft looking and with various shapes. I also used them a bit to show the curve of the land out there.

Carrizo Spring

"Carrizo Spring"

12" X 16" Oil on panel

Getting good reference photos of the Carrizo Plain in bloom has really inspired me to paint yet another scene from that area. I like painting scenes of the Mojave desert but have yet to really get out there when things are really blooming. The atmosphere of the Mojave has been what I've painted there so far. The Carrizo Plain seems to me to be about color and sky....beautiful skies out there and a lot like skies here...almost too blue to paint them. They come off looking contrived so I keep away from super blue skies. You have to look for the glitches in nature at times to form a believeable painting, hahaha.
This dirt road ran right through an area of the plain that was carpeted in beautiful gold and yellow flowers....very small flowers but formed what looked like a rolling landscape of color.

A Detail of the painting....

Figueroa Mountain Hillside

"Figueroa Mountains Hillside"

9"x 12" Oil on canvas covered panel

Just finished this one up that I had painted to work on bright sunlight. I had taken some reference photos from the Figueroa mountains in afternoon light. I had some great shots of the rocks and grasses catching the light so they've been the inspiration to paint a few of that area.


I'm not crazy about the photograph of this painting. I've just upgraded to a newer computer but using my old monitor and the colors seem to be slightly off in my monitor now. I'm finding it hard to get used to the new colors and wondering why they seem to be different....possibly the color profile from the computer??? I dunno.

Mustard Painting

"A Peaceful Afternoon"

8" X 10" Oil on masonite panel

Every year the mustard comes to California and blooms along the hillsides and in the valleys. I actually enjoy painting mustard and am still experimenting with how to paint it. It's always fun to paint mustard though so to me this little painting was worth the time to complete it. The painting is on gessoed masonite which is a nice texture to work with. I'm now applying 3 coats of gesso on masonite which seems to be working for me. I felt like 2 coats was allowing too much of the oil in the paint to soak up into the gesso so I've gone with 3 coats which seems to keep the paint from dragging off the brush in the later stages of the painting.

The Carrizo Plain

Wanting to make good use of my reference photos taken up at the Carrizo Plain I decided to paint another scene from there. This one has more bushes and those tiny yellow flowers that were carpeting the hillsides. In the distance was the Temblor mountain range half covered in shadow by the passing clouds that day. A really nice scene of color and value changes to paint. "Carrizo Plain Springtime"
12" X 16"
Oil on Canvas Covered Panel

Santa Maria Sunset

"Santa Maria Sunset"

12" X 16" Oil on canvas covered panel

Alla Prima work is so fun when it goes right. I started this one this morning and finished it in about 3 hours. I've used the clouds like this before in another paiting so I tried it again here. Fro that point I just used my imagination to paint this one. When I finished up it reminded me of an area I've seen many times near the town of Santa Maria so that is where the title came from. They get great sunsets up there. These out of your head paintings are always fun and fast. A nice break from PA or working from a reference photo.

Here are some detail photos.....

Caliente Mountains

There are 2 mountain ranges that border the Carrizo Plain, the Temblor Range and the Caliente Range. This scene is looking towards the Caliente mountain range to the west of the Plain. The area is rugged and breathtaking. I was so fortunate to get there this Spring while the plants were still blooming. Soon the heat will come to the Plain but it goes with the territory.

"Caliente Mountains Afternoon"

8" X 10" Oil on canvas covered panel

A detail of the painting...

Carrizo Plain...again

"On The Carrizo Plain"

12" x 16" Oil on canvas covered panel

I decided to do yet another painting of the Carrizo Plain. I'm sure I will do many more in time so bear with me. This scene was painted simply because I love painting trails. I took a lot of photos out there where I saw trails leading off into the wilds. This particular one led to the foothills of the Elkhorn hills near the south entrance to the Plain.

The other thing that caught my eye was the immence distance there is across the Plain and the effects that causes on the atmosphere in the scene. There is an almost hazy effect on the distant mountains. I love how the details of these mountains were soflty blurred simply because of this hazy effect from nature. Very cool to see and paint. Below is a detail of the painting....

Here is the reference photo that I worked from. As you can see I cropped the area that I wanted and worked from that. This ref photo actually has many paintable scenes in it...you just have to spot them and grab your brushes.

See that cloud? Do you realize that cloud runs across the valley which means it was at least 5 miles long!

Carrizo Plain...in Bloom

I took some good reference photos on my recent journey to the Carrizo Plain. The Carrizo Plain is located west of the town of Taft which is west of Bakersfield. The San Andreas fault runs the length of the eastern side of the Plain and this is one of the best places along the fault to view it since there is very little erosion up there. They get very little rainfall which means erosion damage is almost nil along the fault.


This view is part of the Elkhorn hills in the foreground and in the distance you can see the Temblor mountain range. It's beautiful up on the Plain and clouds so low you feel you are almost on the same level as they glide by.

"Carrizo Plain in Spring"

12" x 16"

Palos Verde Mustard

" Palos Verde Mustard"

9"x12"

Last year I went to Portuguese Bend to paint mustard. Had a great time seeing painter friends of mine and meeting some new painters. While there I strolled around snapping reference photos and this painting was done from one of those images. It was getting late in the evening and this bit of trees across the field of mustard grabbed my attention.

Here is a shot of the reference photo. This field of mustard looked so awesome as the light began to dwindle before we left the area. This is a very cool spot not readily open to the public. I was told this field was actually a bean field back before WW2 and was tended by the many Japanese that lived in the area.

Azusa Canyon Morning

"Azusa Canyon Morning"

12"x16"

I think with most artists there is a love for light and it's effects on color. Naturally this would cause artists to love morning and evening light...both my favorite times of day and the best time to head out of the house with a camera or pochade box if you are quick enough to catch it on your canvas. I suppose you could spend the rest of your life just trying to capture evening light and it's many variations of light on many scenes....happening daily! Morning light is just as spectacular but I think in a more subdued way. Cool colors frequented by explosions of warms.
This Easter morning I headed up into Azusa canyon to take some reference photos of morning light and it's effect on the canyon walls. I wanted to get shots of the pale filtered light and then try variations of that in paintings. This one is my first from that trip and I pushed the pale light that would recede on more distant background mountains. If you look at my ref you can see that the pale light was darker and really made the foreground hillside foliage contrast better. On lightening the background hills I lost some of that contrast...but that's ok, this was about pushing that pale light, not contrast.

Foxen Canyon Mustard

"Foxen Canyon Mustard"

12"x16"

Spring has arrived and the wildflowers are growing throughout the hillsides of the Central Coast. Poppies, Lupine and Wild Mustard are giving off wonderful color splashes that photographers and artists are snagging up left and right in their works.


This scene is off of Foxen Canyon road just above the Firestone Vineyards just north of the small town of Los Olivos.

Azusa Canyon Wash

This scene was painted from a reference photo taken Easter morning. Azusa canyon is a short drive from where I grew up in Pasadena. I've spend many a day up in the canyon. I even caught my first fish just below the canyon at a place called Happy Jacks Fish Farm. Across the street there was a pasture with buffalo grazing. Both of these places are long gone with condominiums in their place. Glad I was raised here before the great disappearance!

I have collected several reference photos of this scene taken from the freeway as I drove by. California Impressionist painter Elmer Wachtel painted the same scene probably 30-40 years before I was born and was most likely setup where the freeway now is and where I took my ref photos out of a speeding car window. Not to be in the exact same spot, I drove to the west side of the wash and took a new reference photo from there. The wash is now fenced off to the public but I made do. I didn't want to paint the smaller dams in the foreground so I just winged it with my own foreground version.

Here is my reference photo.....

And here is the finished painting of mine...

"Azusa Canyon Wash"

12" x 24"
My reference photo doesn't show the wash at all. The dams block it out but I've seen it enough times to just paint it in. At the base of the mountains I added suggested buildings and homes so this is actually a little of both the past and present.

Details.....

In The Figueroas

I took my daughter up to the Figueroa mountains last week to get some ref photos of the wildflowers and managed to get some good late afternoon shots. This scene looks over our valley and had these great rocks in the foreground so I decided to go for it. Despite my lack of confidence with painting rocks I think the end result doesn't look half bad. I'll continue to work on rocks down the line since that is what I feel is a painting weakness of mine.


Here it is up on the easel. The top, or background area, is finished and I am blocking in the foreground colors.

Here is the finished piece below

"In The Figueroas"

16" X 20" Oil on Canvas