Light ,Shadow and things....

A Study...12"x16"

Still playing with light and shadow, this painting came was started to follow up some things from a previous sketch. Halfway through it though some other ideas popped into my mind and the painting changed into it's own. That was ok to do as the painting came out well enough. I like the grassy area in the foreground catching the late afternoon sunlight and the rest of the grasses in shadow. I was originally going to try painting the shadow areas with blues and purples but opted to go this way. 

Foxen Canyon Afternoon

"Foxen Canyon Afternoon"

12"x16" Oil on Canvas

Did this painting based on a photo taken last winter overlooking Foxen Canyon. This area is just above the Firestone Winery and close to my favorite spot up there. The background hills always catch the late afternoon light really well and the grasses get it too. I like the place and enjoy just being around up there. It is taking me a while to get used to painting smaller again but I'm coming around slowly but surely, haha.
Here is a detail of the background area....Fun adding the metal fenceposts. I used the egde of the painting knife to add the wire very loosely. I like the shadowed color on the hillsides here.

Carlos De Haes, Born in Brussels 1826 and died in Madrid 1898. I had never heard of De Haes and last night while browsing some art related subjects on youtube I bumped into a clip of his paintings. Blown away would be an understatement. De Haes was a super painter with a wonderful sense of illumination, light and technical prowess. If you'd like to see a video presentation check it out here and enjoy!

I really love his sense of light and his commanding way of painting large scenes of very simple landscape subjects. Many of his works have that muted grey look that worked well in landscapes compared to todays bright, colorful works. Those toned down paintings had an enormous amount of mood put into them simply by the use of muted color. It's very hard to find a painting with mood in it today when so much color is being used by todays painters....I'm guilty of it too but that is  the way people want it so I'm told.

I did a Google search of De Haes and found another blog that has some awesome large images of his work and also some background of the artist that makes for a good read. If you have 10 minutes do check out this mans work...it is well worth your time.   

Mission Santa Ynez Bluffs

"Mission Santa Ynez Buffs"

36" X 48" Oil on Canvas

Mission Santa Ynez is located on a piece of land next to Solvang on one side and these bluffs on the other. Below the bluffs are the fields that the missionaries and Chumash Indians grew olives. It's a beautiful overlook towards the east end of the valley and a great place to sit in the shade of the pepper and sycamore trees there and wonder how many people had done the same long, long ago. Lets see if you know your mission history....did you know that the Calfiornia missions were built within a days "walk" from each other going up the coastal road which would later become Hwy 1?? Did you know that I live right next to a small creek called adobe creek and the mud from there built guess what??? Have you ever tried to dig adobe when it is hard and dry like it is in my yard???....I'm veering off the path (....and you don't want to try an dig dry adobe....ever!).
The painting looks good here but my camera loves and sucks up yellows so I had to back off the intensity here which has made my trees look a little dull unlike the rich, vibrant greens they are....sorry about that, life is always a trade off.

Under the Golden Gate

"Spying The Golden Gate"

18" X 24" Oil on Canvas

As the cutter Stratton prepared to enter the San Francisco bay the crew was busy preparing the dock lines for our arrival. To this they played Molly Hatchets "Flirtin' With Disaster" over the loudspeakers on the boat deck...a ritual of the crew when arriving in port it seems. I wasn't overly eager to tell anyone of them that song came out in 1979, the year I finished up my 3 years with the Army. It's an age thing, haha. One of the female crew members was peering over the side checking our distance to the Golden Gate bridge and I snapped a shot of her. I thought it would make a good painting portraying the combination of fog and breaking sunlight...and eager anticipation. It had been 6 months for the crew since leaving Mississippi, going through the ship trials and shakedown, cruising up the East Coast, back through the Panama canal and finally arriving here at Alameda. It was only 4 days for me and I'd be on the ship when most of them left when we arrived and leave the following morning at 0500.

The deployment was a great experience for me. I took plenty of reference photos and got to travel aboard ship with the Coast Guard on one of their newest $467 million dollar National Security Cutters. These Legend Class cutters can travel at 30+ knots and travel up to 12000 miles on a patrol. They have high tech communications, surveillance systems, improved small boat launching and retrieving, helicopter and drone handling systems...they are awesome and look it too.

  The crew of the cutter Morganthau taking a break from loading supplies to check out the Stratton as we arrived in Alameda 

When we docked at Coast Guard island in Alameda it was really very cool to see the cutter Morganthau side tied to the cutter Bertholf. The Morganthau is a Hamilton Class cutter which is what the Legend Class cutters are replacing. The Hamilton Class cutters have earned their place in the Coast Guards history but time moves on and newer ships come with much improvement. As much as it was a thrill to ride aboard the Stratton it was equally a thrill to see the Morganthau in person and up close.

The newer ships are much larger and have the ability to carry and launch up to 3 small boats from the stern through large opening doors. The small boats simply slide out and slide back in when docking with the Stratton.

 Going on deployment with the Coast Guard was truly a great ride and I appreciate the chance to have done it.

CGC Stratton

"San Pedro Twilight, CGC Stratton"

18" X 24" Oil on Canvas

I'm really behind on posting things on the blog lately. I've been bouncing between my landscapes and Coast Guard paintings. This is another painting that I will submit later this year to the CG. This scene was painted from reference photos during my brief time aboard the cutter Stratton. On my first night with the cutter I spent my time collecting photos from various angles dockside and some on board too. I'd have plenty of time during the next 4 days to get shots while underway.

The ship is beautiful and has awesome lines and I really couldn't have asked for better light in San Pedro for the backdrop. I have spent thousands of hours down in San Pedro over the years adding to my personal reference photos of various ships and fishing boats. This past experience made it easy to get what I wanted and so far 2 of my paintings of the Stratton have have been while she was here.

One area of painting that I am not as strong as I wish is figures. There were no crew up on deck in this scene so I added them from other reference photos. I sketched them in making sure I kept them to scale and placed them in areas of the ship that I knew the crew usually hung out at. I like this angle because you can see the cranes and the big doors on the stern of the ship that open to launch the small boats. The Stratton can carry up to 3 small boats on the stern and another boat on her starboard at about midship. The small boat you see in the detail image above was being delivered by the Stratton to one of the other cutters already in Alameda. You can also see the large hydraulic rams used to launch and retireve the boats to the right of the small boat.

I'm really loving painting water and water in a harbor near a boat is my favorite type of water to paint. The outgoing tide made for some interesting lines as the water flowed past the ship. The late sky light and strong shadows of the ship make for great contrasting light and darks. Evening light is always the best to work with for me.  

"Evening Prelude"

22" X 28" Oil on Canvas

Whenever I drive back from Santa Barbara to Solvang I have to cross over the Santa Ynez mountains. This scene is a familiar sight whe driving up towards San Marcos Pass. I caight it not long ago in afternoon light and worked from a reference photo to come up with this painting. I loved the light hitting that ridge line giving it that pale apperance and the strong contrasting colors in the foreground hillsides along the edge of the road. Stuff like that really grabs my eye.

Here is a detail of the painting....

   

Stream in the Arroyo

The inspiration for this painting came from Pasadena. I wanted to try painting a stream scene and there is a really nice stream running under the Colorado Street bridge and the 134 freeway bridge there. This is the water runnoff from the San Gabriel mountains that originally was the main water supply, along with 4 wells, to the Indiana Colony who settled Pasadena in the 1880's. Above you can see the old Colorado Bridge to the left and the 6 lane 134 on the right.

 Looking under the 134 you can see the foliage that grows along the stream. This stream at times can become a raging torrent due to winter rains in the San Gabriels. Devils gate dam and other water control areas along the arroyo have kept any major flooding from happining for years. I've wandered all over the arroyo over the years and taken plenty of reference photos. Down under this bridge is a great shaded spot that this painting came from.

 Stream in the Arroyo

22" x 28" Oil

Fun painting that came out nicely. I like the bright sun relfected off the sky on the waters surface and the dark shadows on the water cast by both the undersides of the bridge and trees. I also like the nice contrast between the young and old trees.

A couple of details pics from the painting....

"Foxen Canyon Oaks"

18" X 36" Oil on Canvas

Once again we had storms over the valley this Spring bringing much needed rain and my favorite, cool looking clouds once the storm begins to pass. I headed up to Foxen Canyon Road one afternoon as a storm began to blow out of the valley to get some reference photos. My favorite spot overlooks both the Firestone Winery and the Chamberlin Ranch on either side of the road. I don't paint there much because it is a wind tunnel a lot of times....major wind so I just take reference photos there. This scene has been painted by me in probably 5 or 6 paintings over the years. It is looking south towards the Santa Ynez mountains seperating our valley from Santa Barbara and the big Pacific ocean.

Oak Above Santa Barbara

"Oak Above Santa Barbara"

22" X 28" Oil on Canvas

I was driving back from Pasadena when I saw this oak tree on a hillside off the highway just above Santa Barbara. I've seen this tree many times and in different light. Normally, I don't paint midday scenes but actually I took the reference photo around 4-5 pm. The fact was the sun was slightly above and behind me putting the tree in direct sunlight, casting shadow to the backside of the tree.

What drew me to paint this scene was working with a tree that was in full sun. I liked the dark shadows under and behind the tree and the sweeping hillsides. I liked the Santa Ynez mountains as the low looking backdrop with the cloud formation covering the tips of the mountains. It is a scene that I see a lot around here. During the day this is a pretty typical scene up here. I've done plenty of late afternoon scenes so catching a scene in direct sunlight was refreshing to me.   

Alisal Trail

Alisal Trail

18" X 24"

Oil on Canvas

This is a scene just south of Solvang heading towards Nojoqui Falls. This trail is actually a two lane road that I've driven quite often heading towards a favorite stand of Sycamore trees to gather reference photos. I like this spot and have painted plein air just a bit further down the road. I like the spot and enjoy looking towards the valley over the hill and just seeing big puffy clouds gliding along the ridge line here. The cattle that belong to the Alisal Ranch will occasionally come strolling by the wire fences lining the road which always make for interesting company. If you try and apporach them they shoot off down the valley where less humans reside. It's hard to believe such large animals can be so intimidated by man....then again they aren't eating us are they?

Last Light

Last Light on the Oaks

20"X 24" Oil on Canvas

Taking a break from the Coast Guard work, this painting is of a spot close to home. This hillside is a view right from the end of my driveway. We had a storm blow out and when that happens I like to grab my camera and take reference photos of the clouds over our hillsides. I like a blue sky as much as the next guy but add massive clouds and things start getting majestic!
I like the colors of the last light hitting the trees so that was the goal here without getting over dramatic about it. The dark colors for the shadowed parts of the trees were a dark mix of Alizarin, Ultramraine Blue and a hint of Cad Yellow Light for taste....my usual colors. Fun painting.
Some details....

That little young sycamore was fun to throw in there and a nice contrast in color.

  

The Whammy!

The Whammy...

Sometimes life just throws you a curve ball. Since mid December I've been fending off the pitches and beginning to wonder when they are going to stop being thrown at me. The same week I was to leave aboard the Coast Guard cutter Stratton my youngest sister had a stroke. There wouldn't be any test results for a week so I went on the cutter. When I came back our family was told she had stomach cancer that was too advanced for any treatment. A blood clot from that actually caused the stroke. Our family made plans to bring her home to my nephews house and provide hospice care for her. I would go and stay down there during the week taking my turn with helping my mom care for my sister. My sister passed away peacefully about a month ago. I am thankful for the time I spent with her and would tell you if you ever get the chance to look after a loved one in the last days of their life to do it. It can be a lot of work but you will never regret one second of it. Having the chance to look after someone you love when they need it most is a blessing and if God ever offers it to you don't think twice.
Incidentally, I came back home after the first week down with my sister and got a phone call from a girl I worked with back in the 80's at Bell & Howell. She was 4 years older than me and became a good friend. Debbie had moved to Mississippi when she married and we still kept in touch over the years. She was calling to tell me that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was in hospice care at her home now. My heart sank. My good friend Debbie passed away just over a week after that phone call. It has been a terrible end of one year and beginning of another.

And life goes on....in the last two months it seems anything with wheels on it at our place has decided to break. First, my car has developed a crack in the exhaust manifold keeping it from passing the smog check...that's on hold. Linda's car started leaking water from what looked like a radiator hose so I replaced it only to find out it was a leak in the radiator behind the hose...so I put in a new radiator. While waiting for the radiator to arrive we used our truck to get around. The truck soon developed a bad misfire when going uphill. I installed new spark plugs, a rotor and distributer cap....problem solved!
A week later I walk out the door and notice a funny line on the inside of one of Linda's car tires...turns out the tire was showing the nylon cords there so I took it down to buy a new tire. Same day the dishwasher motor goes out...that's on hold.

 Radiator replacement fun. It is a lot easier to replace the radiator on my old van than it is on Linda's sporty little car. I'd have taken pics of all of the other fun stuff that has broken but I wasn't in the mood.

Oh no...not done yet. Two days ago Linda's car door window decides to not go all the way up. The next day the window drops down into the door on it's own! I took the door apart and find it has a stripped nylon wheel the window cables ride on but of course you can't just replace the wheel, we had to go buy a the whole assembly called a "window regulator". I just put that in with Linda's help this morning....and so we go inside to celebrate with a cup of coffee...that's right, the coffee pot is broke. Won't boil the coffee at all despite the lights being on. Drove to WalMart and bought a new one but that was nice since we didn't need to worry about the car door window falling down.

At this point I won't go into the lawn mower bearing going out a few weeks ago...
I woke up this morning and told Linda "don't touch anything!...don't even look at it". We are tip toeing at this point. I love to fix things but this has been like rapid fire lately. Of course, I brought that broken coffee pot to my studio and if nothing else breaks in the next few days I will pull it apart to see what went wrong other than it resides here at our house....where things, lately, have gone whammy.           

Pasadena Show

Had fun last night at the Contemporary Masters: Artistic Eden III show in Pasadena. Linda and I had a few family guests show up which was great but there was some confusion regarding guests. This is the first artist reception I've ever been to that didn't seem to want a large turn out so we didn't really put out the word. Apparently they wanted only the artists and maybe just a couple of their guests. Couple?!? The show runs for 5 months so if you live nearby do go and see it! It is totally worth it.   
The show is very impressive and held at the beautiful Pasadena Museum of History on the grounds of the Fenyes Mansion in Pasadena. I was really honored to just get into this show and can't thank whoever the judge was enough for that. There was some incredible work there and the subject matter, anything painted of the San Gabriel Valley, was something I loved seeing since I grew up there.

Rich Gallego on left and myself next to my painting of the Colorado Street bridge.

  

When I was growing up in Pasadena I used to think how cool it would be to actually be an artist painting all of these parts of Pasadena that I liked...historical stuff, cool spots I knew about and the places that were a part of my life growing up there. Walking around enjoying all of this work of scenes from the valley was like finally seeing that happen even though I only painted 3 of them myself. There were a lot of artists there who live in Pasadena and the valley so it was neat to be connected to them in that respect.

My painting of Eaton Canyon which was in a prime location at the show....right as you walk in. The gods of art were on my side there, haha. 

My painter friend Rich Gallego and his wife Ludelle were both there and Rich and I have the same sense of humor, we get along great. Rich had a good painting of a sycamore in Fall in there too. New to this show was artist Joe Millazo. Joe is from Arcadia and he works in pen & ink so I've seen his work around for a while now. Joe and I have been in the Los Olivos Quick Draw together. I dig his work...was fun to say hi to him last night.
Also ran into painter friend Laura Wamsgans and it was fun to chat with her. Laura has a great sense of humor and had a really nice interior scene she painted in the show. My gallery owner Jasminka Gabrie and her hubby Jimmy were both there too. We almost went out with them after the show but we had a 16 year old at home alone and I always worry about fire! hahaha. In fact, right before we arrived at the show he called us to let us know the house still hadn't burned down...good kid.        

Contemporary Masters Show

Contemporary Masters, Artistic Eden III Show

I have been very fortunate to have been asked to submit work for the Contemporary Masters Show. This event is held at the Pasadena Museum of History located on the grounds of the beautiful Fenyes Mansion. The event is sponsored by PAGA. 

The show is an invitational show and the subject was anything located within the San Gabriel valley. Luckily I have been painting scenes from the Arroyo and Eaton Canyon so I entered 4 pieces. I received an email that 3 of my paintings had been juried into the show. These were 3 large paintings of mine so I'm going to have a heck of a time getting these down to Pasadena. The largest, with it's big 6" frame will have to go into the back of our truck because neither of our cars will hold it....man, am I glad we have a truck! I'm very honored to have 3 of my pieces make it into the show and yaking about getting the work down there is just one of those annoyances any artist would put up with in getting into a show.   

One nice thing too is that I have been really putting my work into nice frames the last 3 or 4 years. I have made an effort to use better and better frames and getting into this show is one reason for that. It is really nice when you are notified that your work has been juried into a show and you don't have to go out and do the 100 yard sprint to dig up a frame befitting the venue. Whew!

And now the details...the show starts on Saturday, March 10th, 2012 and will run for 5 months.

The address is 470 W. Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA.

The work in the show is not for sale at the museum but if anyone is interested in purchasing info they may contact Jasminka at Gallery Gabrie.  

Here are the 3 paintings that made it into the show...

    "Eaton Canyon Dusk"

Oil, 36"x 48"

   "Bridges Over The Arroyo"

Oil, 30"x 40"

"Over Linda Vista"

Oil, 18" x 24"

Home Again

Coast Guard Cutter Stratton, San Pedro, CA

I'm back from my deployment on the National Security Cutter Stratton. I met the ship in San Pedro, CA last week. After being assigned a room with 5 other members of the crew I was give a tour of the ship by Bosun's Mate Macdonald. Mac would answer all of the my questions and generally watch out for me while on board. I was allowed to go about the ship snapping photos on my own for the rest of the cruise up to San Fransisco. I think the crew were not as interested in me being on board as they were in getting to Alameda, the ships home port. Some of the crew had been working to bring this ship here for up to a year and the others were pretty much gone from home to bring the ship home 3-6 months. The crew wanted to go home and I don't blame them. 

Myself and Bosun's Mate Macdoanld

 Cutter Stratton

We left the following morning which was great since I needed a towel and forgot my comb. There is no supply room on board so I took the shore leave van into downtown Long Beach and bought what I needed at WalMart. There were going to be 12 other civilians on board and the next day they were doing what they could to come up with towels for them...lucky me. I talked to one of the crew and when he first boarded a ship he had forgot his towel and had to go a week using his shirt to dry off.

On the bridge of the Stratton

The next day we headed up through the Santa Barbara channel which is pretty busy with ship, fishing boat and pleasure boat traffic. As we neared Pt. Mugu Captain Cashin brought the Stratton up to 30 knots and maintained that speed for 2 hours. This was not a situation to be painting en plein air up on deck. I was glad I did not bring painting gear. Over the next few days the weather and ocean swells would have made plein air painting too challenging for me. The winds alone would have made painting a chore and you need to be out of the way of the crew at all times. In older ships they had side decks to move about the ship. These new cutters do not have side decks so you are constantly heading below decks to move forward or aft. There are also no portholes so once inside you see no ocean or land...Mac said it is a lot like a submarine that runs on top of the water. If you tend to get seasick being inside one of these for most of your days would drive you crazy.

 Sunset off of the Central Coast

 Steaming up the Santa Barbara Channel would be the last of our smooth seas. Once out on the open Pacific we would have stronger winds and heavier swells. Some of the machinery I needed to photograph was either not on board or non operational at this point. This is more of a delivery than a Coast Guard mission so that was expected. I took shots at what was available and that will have to work for me. The good part of being on board was being able to really know how the ship feels and acts, what the equipment looks like up close and how it all relates. Understanding how the crew works and what is happening on a daily basis also helps to portray this ship on canvas. Going on board will help immensely to give a more accurate account to the paintings later. I'm thankful for the opportunity from the Coast Guard as well as the kindness and courtesy with all of my questions to the Captain, XO and crew while on board. It doesn't get any better than this.

Rolling with the swells before dawn

 Sunrise and chilly weather as we moved north.

Sunday was cold and grey with clouds moving in. I would wake up usually about 3 times a night and finally get up around 5:30 or 6am...my choice. The ships crew operates 24 hours a day so it is hard not to be wakened by the sounds of doors shutting in long narrow companionways or crew members getting dressed to pull their watch. Although there were 6 of us in our stateroom there were never more than 3-5 in there at any one time due to the strange hours of their watch or duties. The strong swells also kept you rolling around in your rack the further north we travelled.

Docking in Alameda, CA

After heavy swells all Sunday night we arrived at our destination. Even I was happy to reach nice steady land. I didn't get sick so that was a bonus. I was able to snap a gazillion shots. I took my sketchbook but the situation to sketch never came up. Early on I was too busy hunting down my shots and later the swells were too strong and it was too cold. I probably could have used the desk in our room to sketch but the guys needed that and I didn't want to get in their way. Being on board the ship for that length of time made it easy to make mental notes for painting and I also made notes in a small notebook I kept so I feel I'm good to go there. Speaking to the crew members about life on board and their duties is also very helpful to me. Understanding the crews point of view helps make sense of a lot of things that might come out in some of the paintings later.

      The CGC Morgenthau is a Hamilton Class cutter. The CGC Bertholf, the first built Legend Class Cutter that will replace the Hamilton Class ships. These ships along with the NSC Waesche were waiting for us in Alameda when we arrived.

   In the darkness before dawn I would talk with one of the crew while he checked the operations of the deck cranes used to launch the small boats. You get a feel for that type of duty when you are actually standing there watching it be done. If I choose to paint that I will do so while understanding the procedure and really knowing the cold and dark conditions it is done in.

Lowering the Colors

      The crew of the Stratton hooking up the fresh water lines to use while in port and fill the ships tanks. The cutter Waesche in the distance.

With the crew mostly off the ship and me staying another night I was able to finish up getting photos I wanted without getting in the way. I checked my painting notes and once satisfied began to pack my gear for the trip home early the next morning. Mac was still aboard so I was able to ask more questions too. Mac is a great guy and helped me immensely. Very professional and dedicated to what he does for a living. If I wanted to see something he always offered to take me there. There were other members of the crew too, who I ashamedly cannot remember their names, who helped me also. They gave me their point of view and voice and things they said I have no doubt will work its way into my work. Overall my time on board was an awesome opportunity for an artist to get first hand reference material, observations and background info. This material will help in future works and I'm sure help to produce better paintings to submit. I enjoyed the trip, a chance of a lifetime for me, and can't thank the following people enough for the chance to do it....

Mary Ann Bader

Karen Loew

Rear ADM Schultz

Captain Charles Cashin

CDR Laura Collins

 Crew of the CGC Stratton.

and my pal BM Macdonald      

      Now to paint....   

Made The Papers....

Last week the Santa Barbara Independent ran an article on my upcoming depoyment with the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Stratton. Click Here to Read. Nice article. Lately I've been spending my time buzzing around trying to get too many things done. I hung a show for another artist friend of mine in a downtown Los Olivos restaraunt early this morning...then used our tractor to help my neighbor move a lot of compost alongside her hilly terrain to keep our projected rains from washing away her hillside.

I went shopping in every store in two cities both 30 miles away to try and pick up a lens I badly need for my camera before boarding the ship...nobody had it so at the last minute I ordered in online from a company in NY...should be here Tuesday. Drove 120 miles to Pasadena to pick up another lens a friend is letting me borrow because it has Vibration Reduction built in. Both of my len's don't have VR and in low light without a tripod it's a safe bet that half my shots are blurred.  A VR lens should fix that. Have done a ton of reading about low light photography and watched about 40 videos on youtube about it an other photo stuff...just to brush up and learn some new things.

We had our Small Works show too and now it is on auto pilot...meaning the show runs until January. Good looking show too. The reception was fun and I was able to talk to some of the other artists which is always a bonus. Here in between all of this I've been writing press releases and doing the followup on that...in fact, a reporter from our local paper will be here tomorrow doing an interview about the deployment. I did one over the phone for a paper up in Santa Maria last week too. I've also managed to get in some reading of two issues of Southwest Art that I had set aside to read at a later date. Did I mention mowing the lawn to mulch this falls leave harvest!?  

Studio Tour...finis

Ready for schmoozing!

We wait every year for the Studio Tour to come along because of 2 reasons...meeting and talking with the people who like my work and, of course, sales. Day one of the tour was a slow start but picked up by midday. We had some new people come by who saw my preview piece in the museum and in the brochure put out by the Wildling Art Museum who hosts the event. This year we even had a few who mentioned they saw my work on the website that is put together by the museum....cool!

The paintings were framed and looked great. We made some nametags that look comparable to what you see at a gallery show...professional looking.

We also had a lot of past visitors come by and it was great to renew old friendships. Always great to see these friends who stop by and we get a chance to bring each other up to speed. The weather was great yesterday too. Nice blue skies and perfect temps made for nice conditions to talk inside and out. Linda did a great job with snacks and drinks which is always received well by the kids who come along with their parents.

Linda again did very well with the munchies!

Day two, Sunday, was a different ballgame. We woke to the sound of heavy rain on our deck outside  the bedroom and at that point I lost all hope of a good crowd, or any crowd, showing up. We did get a some small groups of people showing up between 12-2 but mostly it was a day of the occasional couples, nothing like Saturday. More small sales on Sunday though so it all added up to decent sales for the entire show. I'm happy.

Linda looking very small next to the Eaton Canyon painting. That painting impressed a lot of people on both days.

One thing we tried this year is a bargain basement table. We put a lot of our older paintings mixed in with some sketches and small works, all unframed, and they provided a good flow of sales. We'll do this again next year. Very few people are looking for the big works to buy and it has to be the economy...everyone understands that so I won't dwell on that. We did manage to get the interest of a couple of serious buyers and that might happen down the line. A nice couple from down south have expressed interest in works I have at Gallery Gabrie and will go there to see more work. I plugged the heck out of my gallery down in Pasadena so hopefully a few others will stop in there soon too.   

Presentation...presentation....presentation!