Oak At Nipomo

"Oak At Nipomo"

15" X 30" Oil on Canvas
I had a painting at a benefit show to help raise funds to restore the Dana Adobe in Nipomo a few months back. While there I took some reference photos and did a plein air painting. The adobe is on a long dead end street and this oak tree is on the property next to the adobe. It's a huge tree that has to be tens and tens of years old with a great spot overlooking the farmlands of Nipomo. Always a sucker for a good looking tree I wanted to paint it so that's what I did.

The interesting thing about this painting is that I ended up really working hard to paint better grasses and the smaller plants in the foreground. Had I painted my usual grasses I would have had this done in 2 days instead of the 3 that it took to complete. I've been admiring the way Clyde Aspevig paints his foregrounds grasses. I stared at his for a good few hours and thought I needed to work more on mine instead of doing my usual "flick of the wrist" grasses that I normally do. Mine are ok but they probably needed to evolve some more. I don't usually paint many small bushes either so that was something I wanted to work more into this painting. I like Clydes grasses but he attains a much more realistic look than I do or can do at this point. That guy sure can paint small plants though...makes me drool.

Showtime....

Entry way into the show. This doorway thing is actually there all of the time. Worked for us though.

I'm really out of shape when it comes to spending a day doing a show....an outdoor show. The show was yesterday and I was dead when I got home. What's worse is I woke up feeling as if I had a hangover and I didn't drink a beer all day. My problem was I only slept 3 hours the night before the show getting ready. Nerves and last minute changes I guess....well, mostly changes. As for the show well, they don't go over well in a bad economy. We did a heroic effort at putting on the show...lots of planning and losts of work. It looked great and came off very smoothly considering this was the first effort of a show by this group here in Los Olivos. I've been to worse shows that had been going on for years. This one was first rate. The problem was that buyers were in short supply. People spending $20 or $30 for jewelry or small crafty items but barely any on paintings. We had groups of artists in 4 locations throughout the town. In our group only 3 small paintings sold...in the group across the street only 1 sold. I don't know about the others but I've heard it wasn't any better. I managed to only sell a couple of books. Ho hum and ---- this economy. Sorry but it's starting to piss me off.

There is always good news and that is we had awesome compliments on my work. We had a hugh number of "lookers'' walk through our canopy and lots of great comments. We had a lady show up who came to see my work and she drove all the way from Palm Desert! That's half way across California. She saw my work online and told me she had to see it in person and she loved it. That was very cool. She bought a book and said she would go see more of my work at the gallery. I love people like that.

I suppose I could be more mad at no art sales but honestly I know I'm doing my best work to date and this economy is killing everyone around here. We made a very good presentation in the booth and I'm always good with the visitors. Come November maybe things will get better....VOTE!

Here are some pics of the day.....

My canopy , above and below, which looked pretty good out there.

As you can see the whole event looked good and there was some outstanding art there. This was Jim Woodark and Richard Rice's setups. Killer work from both artists.
This potter set up next to me and she sold about 7 or 8 pieces by the end of the day. I think her mugs were about $20. Very cool work. She does shows about once a week and told me this summer has been very good for her....so maybe pottery classes are in my future....or jewelry making. Actually those 2 types of items always sell at fairs.


The tire planters were interesting but I think they went home with a big zero too. Nice couple and you had to give them an "A" for effort. I'd have given everyone that same A because all of the artists had good looking work...well, except for one guy. He was juried in with some female portraits but showed up with total nudes that looked as if they were posed by girls out of playboy...too funny. I should have gotten pics of that but I'm sure Linda would have kicked my butt if she saw me with the camera heading over to his booth.

There were many types of art...probably too many. I wasn't crazy about the artists being split up over the town and there were a lot of distractions. We had a paint-out down in the center of town, some things going on in other parts of town, bands, pay areas setup...things I don't normally see at shows. I've sold more at smaller shows but that was when we had an economy to speak of. This was in August too... you know, hot August, so it was a bit too warm for a lot of people. Still everyone gave it their best shot. Win some, lose some. Outdoor shows are like shooting craps no matter what the situation is like, sometimes you sell and sometimes you just go home tired.

Now that this show is over I have a renewed urgency to paint new work for the upcoming Studio Tour in November. I also have a show in October but that is a low keyed show where I don't need to be there. I'm itching to do some new work to replace old ones I've looked at too long over the year. New ideas and you know what the wiseman says...when sales are slow paint your butt off because you'll need a backlog of work when it picks up. Zoom!

Artist Canopy Sign

I am waiting on some small paintings to dry up a bit from varnishing at the last minute so I thought I'd post some of the progress of readying for the show this weekend.

My old sign for the canopy was falling apart. I need to break down and buy one of those fancy ones that are hung across the top of your canopy for shows. I have always got a reason to not do it and everytime a show comes up the sign issue comes up...procrastination at it's best. I was recently at an artists studio as she was having a sale on a lot of her equipment due to her moving back to Canada. She gave me some stretcher bars so I decided to just make a sign since time was short. I wanted a tall sign to fit one of the grids we use to put out front and somehow get my name out there. I used part of the composition from the small painting I had done in the below post titled "Evening Approach". I just added a bit more green to the tree and left an area up top for my name. When the painting and the top area were dry enough I used a projector to place the lettering that was printed on a small sheet of paper. I traced the letters and then put the canvas back on the easel and painted in the letters....I'm no sign painter like my uncle who would do something like this freehanded and it would look perfect. He's a sign painter...I paint letters.

Anyway...while that all was drying I made a frame for it out of a scrap 2x4 I had in the garage. I would like to have used oak but that meant a 30 mile trip to Home Depot so instead I opted for the fir 2x4. Here is what the sign will look like hung in place. We adjusted the floor plann of the booth for the show...see, this is why you put the booth up ahead of time to tweak it to what you want for a particular show....looks cool!!

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.

The Canopy

It's time to get out ye old artist canopy for an upcoming art show next week. There is going to be a huge art show in the small town of Los Olivos with artists from all over the Central Coast participating. 10 AM to 4PM on Saturday the 21st. Click the highlight above to see the other artists and get more info. I'll be on the north end of town in Saarloos Park close to the food booth, hahaha.

We set the canopy up in the back part of our yard to dial things in for this show. I will have some really small paintings as well as the big ones to show so I need to make a display section for that. It's getting late in the game and I am also working on a new sign for the canopy. The vinyl letters on the old one are finally peeling after 5 years. It looks pretty blah here but wait till it's loaded with art and signage up...it will look cool then.

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.

Lupine and Oak

"Lupine and Oak"

5"X 7" Oil on Panel
This is such a small painting, 5x7 inches...I started it 3 days ago! Hahaha. There has been so much stuff going on and I felt guilty each time I walked past this painting sitting on my easel waiting to be finished. Sometimes you have to do things that need to be taken care of and art just has to take a back seat. I used to hate when times like this happened but I discovered there is a silver lining there. An artist needs to get away from time to time from their art. The time spent away from the easel is as important to an artist as the time spent sitting at the easel. You have to recharge the batteries and the time lost also keeps the desire to paint where you need it. When I started this painting I was sort of burned out again....not enough to not want to complete this painting but enough to feel it building inside of me.
Another good thing about the time spent away from this painting is that I did get a lot of things done that needed to get done. I took a huge load of old rotting wood to the dump, fixed up a gas bbq my dad gave me, ordered frames, ordered more frames and badly needed larger brushes, made reservations for a hotel in Coos Bay OR. to drop off a painting and see the museum for the first time up there, smogged the truck, went to a meeting to jury artists for an upcoming guild show and cleaned up the garage so I can make some gallery wrapped canvas that I had promised a friend I'd do....a very long time ago. So things got done. and now I'm itching to start a large painting....good deal!

Moonrise At Foxen Canyon

"Moonrise At Foxen Canyon"

24" X 30" Oil on Canvas

Just finished up this large painting. This was inspired by a small 5"x7" painting done in the studio a few weeks ago. It was nice to go large trying out my new Utrecht paints which I am absolutely loving. Utrecht makes a great cadmium yellow light which lets me mix some awesome greens. I don't buy greens and mix my own from french ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow light and alizarin crimson. I started that combination using Winsor Newton paints using their cadmium yellow pale which is my personal favorite cadmium yellow. I've been trying out various cad yellow lights by other paint companies and Utrecht wins hands down. A good close second would be Lukas's cad yellow light.

I can tell when I'm using the right cad yellow when I can mix my favorite greens in 2 seconds. Using other brands I can play with mixing the same greens for 20 minutes....ok, maybe 5 or 10 but who wants to do that, especially when out painting in the field! It's hard enough to keep the momentum going on a painting without having to mess with the uncertainty in mixing commonly used colors. I like to experiment but not when I'm on a big painting or one that is going really good at any size.

Wooden Boat Foundation

"Surf Training"

16" X 20" Oil On Canvas

Today I received some show info for the upcoming Coast Guard 2010 show reception at the Salmagundi Club in New York. My painting "Surf Training" has been juried into this years collection. I'd love to one day go to one of these show receptions but NY is a long way off and my life has been spent on a budget, haha....someday. Anyways, the letter from the COGAP coordinator, Mary Ann Bader, mentioned that my painting has already been requested for a 2 month show in the Fall. The Wooden Boat Foundation which is located in Port Townsend, WA. has requested the loan of the painting from the Coast Guard's Collection and will be shown for the 2 months in Fall. I think it will be there during the Wooden Boat Foundations annual Wooden Boat Show in September...well, that's my guess since I haven't called the WBF to confirm the details but will soon....so that's' pretty darned good news!

I'm a longtime, no L O N G T I M E boat nut and have been flipping through pages of various boat magazines for years...one of those magazines was Wooden Boat which was always a blast to read through. I still have many copies too. My pride and joy though was one day walking into a second hand store and finding an almost complete collection of Nautical Quarterly books. These hardcover books were the "to die for" books on things nautical in an upscale presentation with the most "your gonna drool all over them" pictures you've ever seen. Each issue had an artists work in there too so that was also great to see. One issue had Loretta Krupinski's beautiful work...what a style. I've also spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours reading through boat plan catalogues and anything else you could read on building a boat. Naturally, the internet has only broadened my reading pleasure immensely. Recently I joined a forum to enjoy reading about guys who have built Tolman Skiffs....tough boat from Renn Tolman in Alaska.

(sorry...I know this absolutely nothing to do with art)

When I read the note from Mary Ann I thought how cool is that to get my work requested by an organization who I have off and on followed for years. I guess it's a personal thing but having my art being associated with a subject I have loved and followed for years is just one of those highlights in life. I feel great! I'm really proud a piece of my work was chosen by the Wooden Boat Foundation to show up in Port Townsend this Fall. Too Cool!

Juried into Coos Bay Show

"Koho At High Tide"

12" X 16" Oil on Panel
I was just informed that my painting "Koho At High Tide" was juried into the 17th Annual Maritime Art Exhibition at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay Oregon. This show is an annual show sponsored by the American Society of Marine Artists. They had 232 submissions by 97 artists and the judges selected 66 works by 41 artists. Very cool! Getting one of my paintings juried into this show with members of the American Society of Marine Artists is a nice feather in my cap...the work in this show is usually very high quality Marine work.

Another nice thing is that two of the 3 judges are two of my favorite artists...Austin Dwyer, a Signature Member of ASMA and June Carey, a Fellow in ASMA. Austin does incredible Marine work and June not only paints great California scenes of the wine country but does fantastic coastal scenes.

I'm hoping to actually go to this show in July. I missed the last one that I was in a few years back because I had another show going on down here that weekend. As the show approaches the CAM website will post pics of the paintings in the show and it's always a rush to see something I've painted in with this caliber of painters. I'm jazzed! The show runs July 17 - Sep 18 at the Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay Oregon.

Along Old Friends

"Along Old Friends"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel
Another alla prima painting that I did after returning from a meeting at the Wildling Museum where we discussed plans for next Novembers Artist Studio Tour. I was preparing a canvas for a larger painting and while waiting for the gesso to dry decided to paint another small work. I painted this one to try out different sky colors and played with the distant treeline colors too. I really like this combination of colors and might just use this for the larger painting I was about to begin.
After painting in the grass I wiped out the trail using a brush and turpentine. Normally I get it really clean but this time I left it sort of stained looking with some thicker areas of "stain" and it gave the trail this sort of grungy smeared look but the colors it left were very cool....I almost didn't want to paint in the trail colors over it. I might have spent more time trying to keep that look but this is a small one that really will be used as a ref for the larger piece...I can mess with it there since there will be more room anyway.

Foxen Canyon Moonrise

"Foxen Canyon Moonrise"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

A little painting done last night to brush up on oak trees...something I seem to not paint as much as I should. I like the way oaks grow and spread out and I love their color. Granville Redmond painted the best oak trees I have ever seen when he was painting his Barbizon school paintings after returning from France and before he began his impressionist work. I'd like to get just close to his ability to paint an oak tree because that would be something to behold. Besides...living in California you have an endless supply of oaks for subject matter.

Plein Air in Nipomo

I dropped off my painting for the show in Nipomo yesterday at noon. I basically set aside the day to get this done so I took my painting gear with me. I looked for a spot along the groves of eucalyptus trees near the Dana Adobe and started painting. I don't know why it is but I have had the really bad knack of painting in midday sun the last 3 or 4 times out. Not a good thing to do despite it always being a convenient time since you aren't getting up early or waiting to chase the late afternoon sun, haha, and yes I mean chase that light if you're not too careful.

Here is a shot of the setup with the view. Not a bad setup out there...just backed the truck up under some shade and sat on the tailgate...that shade lasted about 20 minutes. It would have been perfect had I brought something to eat but I'm always running late and managed to only grab an iced tea out of the fridge when leaving.

I wanted to keep the background trees seperated a bit from the foreground trees on the left so I gave them less leaves and a lot more "air". Here is a shot as the painting was nearing the end....

I have been painting some ocean scenes using this pochade box so I had a lot more piles of paint on there than were needed for painting eucs in nipomo. This is a 9"X12" panel with just gesso on Masonite so the paint was setting up pretty good out there in the sun and nice little breeze that came up. I finished up out there with my stomach growling and headed for Jack In The Box!...saved by the Ultimate Cheeseburger. Here is the finished painting....

It's not a bad little painting and will make a great sketch for a larger studio version. I look at it now and see things I like and things that I'd change...in the studio is the place to really get a good look at what you did out there, digest what works and decide on strategies when doing more PA work...it's an ever evolving lesson on learning to paint better inside and outside. Was a fun day up there.

Sunset

"Sunset"

6"x 6" Oil on Panel

Trying out varying sky colors for evening scenes. Fun painting to do and took a record time as an Alla Prima painting. I think I did this in about a half an hour tops....not bad for alla prima results. Masonite is always such a great help when doing alla prima work...the paint really tacks up quick as the oils settle into the gesso and board. I use Copal for my painting medium so that also helps.

Anyway....I have gotten into the show up in Nipomo with my Nipomo Vista work posted below here somewhere. This is their first show like this so I'm wondering what it will be like....sounds more like a fair with art added in. I think in the long run it is a good deal because it will make some money to help with maintaining the Dana Adobe there...that's a part of California history and since the CA government chooses to waste tax payers money at great expense the Dana Adobe could use all the help it can get. The show is this Sunday but I have to run up there to drop off the painting on Saturday. I was just up there with the painting for jurying too this last Saturday...3 trips. They need to turn the jurying to "Online" jurying since this wastes time and gas running up there 3 times. I hope they get this dialed in down the line. So far though the staff working the show seem really good....like I said, it's their first time putting on this show. Hope it's a fun one.

Above Cachuma Nocturne

"Above Cachuma Nocturne"

5" X 7" Oil on Panel

SOLD
After painting the recent Cachuma hills painting I decided to make a nocturne out of the same view. This was a nice personal challenge to take a day scene and convert it to a nocturne. Values and colors change drastically at night so it is up to the artist to create those changes to pull off a believable night scene. It helps if you've painted a few nocturnes to remember how the light available at night causes these changes.
Handling the flowers was an interesting part of this because I think night would really have these so dark you really wouldn't see much of them unless the moon was really high and full. With a low moon they'd be much darker but I wanted to keep them a good part of the scene and lightened them some. This way I could push their perspective in the scene but still retain an overall nocturne scene. I think this one came out pretty good and am pretty happy with the results.

Catalina Trip

I spent this last weekend over at Catalina Island painting wildflowers. I went over with painting buddy Rich Gallego. We left early saturday morning and came back sunday night. Fast trip but lots of fun. The first painting was done near the airport on the island. On the way up there we saw two heards of buffalo and as we were setting up to paint another one was checking us out from a nearby hillside. Here is my first attempt....
After completing his first painting Rich came by to do a study of a cactus plant nearby. He did this pretty fast and I got some reference photos for future work. There is a lot of cactus on the island and finding a good clump of it to make a good painting would be a breeze any time of year.

The meadow we painted at was about a half mile from the airport and yes you can still order a buffalo burger there.

Rich and his cactus study.....

There were some small golden flowers that were scattered throughout the meadow and they really stood out. I'm not sure what they are called but we have them up here in Solvang too so I'm sure they are fairly common wildflowers. We did see some lupine flowers on the way up to the airport but not enough to write home about.

After painting a good time in the sun I opted to paint in the shade. I have an umbrella that clamps on to my rig but you have to carry that thing, hahaha. Besides, the winds came up in the afternoon so that makes an umbrella into a really good sail...a tree works better if you can find one with a view. I ended up painting two from this location while Rich was down by the harbor painting the pier with it's famous green buildings.

Here's Rich and the pier. He came away with a really good one here but my favorite of his was the cactus study he did on Saturday. I've been wanting to do a cactus painting lately and planned on doing one right after my first one but he beat me to it. Besides....I didn't have to put up with 9000 questions and the ever popular "are you an artist?" like Rich did on the beach.

Overall we had a great time. Rich has a funny sense of humor so we did a lot of laughing. We both did lots of painting and lots of hiking too...my feet and his knees can attest to that. The wildflowers were a little slim but there if you look. I think March or April would have been the primo time for them and that's good too because it's the off-season over there...less tourists and cheaper hotel rates (actually, the room we were at was only $80 for the weekend so we got a good deal there.) Funny, Rich talked to a watercolorist shortly before we left and he told him of a great spot just west of Avalon harbor but you have to crawl on the rocks by the water to get there....had we only known we would have hiked over there but we had a boat to catch....and a nice cushy seat on a boat was all too welcome by Sunday night.

Don't ever ask a guy in an airport tower where you can find wildflowers. You might as well be asking him where is the best place to paint on Mars. The guy knew planes and how to remind us to be on time for the bus to get back to town....or it's a long walk. It didn't take us long to find some to paint though....but there is nothing like the feeling of asking a stupid question even when it's justified, hahahaha. Another fun adventure painting......plus excellent tacos at Petes on Sumner St.

Hills Above Cachuma Lake

"Hills Above Cachuma Lake"

5" X 7" Oil on panel

This one came from a reference photo I had taken while on a hike near Cachuma lake. I made two hikes that day...one in the morning with an overcast sky and then another when the sun came out to get some sunlit pictures. The hike was only about a mile or so so it was no big deal to do it twice. Great weather and with Spring here all was in bloom along the way. I've done two versions of this painting...the other version is a nocturne that was suggested by a painter friend and I'll post that one later. I like this version and see little things that could be touched up on. Fun little painting.

Wildling Museum Auction

Yesterday I attended the Wildling Museums annual BBQ fund raiser at Rancho Arbolado. I had donated a painting for the event that was to be auctioned off to help raise funds for the museum. The winning bid was excellent and the museum staff was very happy. The couple who bought the painting were really nice people and my congratulations to them. While I was there I had the chance to go on a jeep tour of the ranch and do a quick hike to shoot some reference photos.

The lupine and poppies were in bloom throughout the ranch as well as many other native plants.

I also ran into a couple who own another ranch in the valley. They had invited me to paint on their property 2 years ago so I will make it a point to get out there in the next 2 weeks. They are a very nice couple with one of the oldest ranches in the valley. The husband is from one of the original families that settled Solvang.

We stopped for a glass of wine on the jeep tour. This area offered views to the Pacific Ocean and the view is one thing that sets Rancho Arbolado apart from most of the ranches in the valley.

All in all the BBQ went very well thanks to the museum staff who did a great job. The weather was awesome which was in contrast to when I was there to paint months ago. It was windy, muddy and cold when I went there....stuff you deal with when painting plein air.

Nipomo Project

" Nipomo Vista"

12" x 16" Oil on canvas

I was one of 12 artists asked to participate in an event sponsored by the Dana Adobe in Nipomo. They asked the artists to paint a scene of Nipomo past or present. I opted for the present but had a great time researching the town of Nipomo. It seems one of the most famous images out of the depression was photographed there by photographer Dorothea Lange. This is Mrs Lange posing on her car with her big box camera......
The pic she took while stopping in a farm workers camp was known as "Migrant Mother"...you might recognize it....
Lange took a group of photos of this woman and her children. One of them included the tent and some background where she was at while waiting for their car to be repaired on their way to Oregon.

Here is a pic of nipomo today with the same eucalyptus trees in the background...as you can see this area hasn't changed much....

These eucalyptus trees provided shade and a place to camp while working the farm fields of Nipomo. From this shot below you can see some of the pea pickers with the hills of nipomo directly behind them. At the time Dorothea Lange stopped it was because she had saw a sign that read "Pea Pickers Camp".

Anyway....I like history, especially local history! My grandma & grandpa broke horses and picked pecans during the Depression in Oklahoma and Texas. They met at a dance on a saturday night for the pickers...That was a tough bunch of people who made it through that. Next time you sit down to have a fancy coffee drink at Starbucks just think about what some of those people went through....just to survive.

New Frames

"Manu Mele Aground at Santa Barbara"

12" X 24" Oil on Canvas

I need to replace some frames for the gallery and they just arrived...yahoo! These frames are from San Diego Frame Manufacturing. SDFM make great frames and supply frames to many of the frame companies in Southern California. I love their frames and prices but you are going to wait on them...delivery time is usually at least a month from the time of your order. I'm a single artist ordering a small quantity of frames so maybe that is part of the reason. They supply large orders from the big framers so I'm sure they get preference on delivery times. Despite that one snag, SDFM churns out high quality frames for a great price.

Here are some more pics of the new frames......

"Before Sunset"

9" X 12" Oil on Panel

"The Demise of the Allegro, Santa Barbara"

16" X 20" Oil on Canvas