a Painters Blog

Pacifica, California

2007 24×30 Pacifica, Ca

It seems like every time I blog I am apologizing for not blogging more.

Things have just been crazy lately. Between shows, delivering and shipping new work, new galleries and my workshops…I am about as swamped as I have ever been.

For now, here is a painting I did on Saturday in Pacifica, Ca. This is what painting is all about…a gorgeous view and good company. What more could you ask for? Enjoy!

Davenport, California

2007 24×36 Shark Tooth Beach

I went out today for a bit of Plein Air with artist Mike Baily. Mike picked an area call Shark Tooth Beach which was absolutely gorgeous. I need some coastal paintings and it is always nice to have a local show you great painting locations. The trouble with the California Coast is many locations are hidden from the road. Unless you know just where to stop you would never know what a great location it is.

This painting started rough but pulled together in the end. The biggest challenge in this painting was the shade area of the rock had to be just right or the painting would never work. Because there is so much reflected light in the cove I needed to find a nice warm/cool gray. Every color affects every other color around it. Towards the end of the painting the light had shifted and I couldn’t help myself and changed it quickly to this. Luckily everything was finished and it was only a matter of changing the shapes of a few things and warming up the light areas. I really am not much of a mid-day painter the lighting is never dramatic enough to inspire me. I usually prefer early morning or late afternoon but we got off to a late start.

I also got a sneak peak as Mike prepares for open studio. WOW! He has tons and tons of paintings for those of you visiting his studio. For more information visit his blog.

Santa Cruz, California

30×40 Untitled 2007

After reviewing the painting the next day I had a lot more work then first anticipated. When painting something this large outside I expect to come back to the studio and resolve minor issues.

For example:

• Edges
• Clean up the color a bit

This painting had far more then minor issues.

• The foreground was too heavy and although painted well didn’t fit with the over all mood of the painting.
• The rocks sandwiched between the horizon and center of interest were boring and the lighting was not believable.

Sigh.

Under normal circumstances I would just scrape the painting down and move on. But me and my big blogging mouth had to mention that the painting was nearly finished.

What to do?

Because the paint was sticky I had to scrape everything down that was going to be repainted. The sky, the water, the distant rocks, and the foreground. SCRAPED! Tell me again why I can’t just scrape this down and call it a night oh yeah…my BIG blogging mouth”.

Here is the finished piece! Although it is different from what Mike and I were seeing, the mood and center of interest in the painting never changed.
Enjoy!

Continue to read the post of me opening my big mouth….

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30×40 Untitled 2007

Today I wanted to get out on the coast for a little plein air. I emailed artist Mike Baily to see if he would like to join me and fortunately he was free. Mike really picked an awesome location and the weather was fantastic the whole day.

Here is one of the paintings I nearly completed. It still needs a little clean up but it is nearly finished.

I will look at it in the morning with rested eyes.

Right Now…Must sleep!