Cabo #2 9 x 12 Acrylic

Cabo #2 Decided to try it a bit larger. No-one dared go into the water on this side of the rocks-too strong undercurrents. While just around the rocks lies the calm gulf where the tourist boats pull in.

Cabo 8 x 10 Acrylic

The bottom of Baja - Cabo

To the right of the rock is the Pacific

To the left of the rocks is the calm gulf

I had an 8 x 10 panel left. I find this too small for my current taste and wanted to use up this panel. Currently I like to do 9 x 12 and 11 x 14 size paintings. The panel was toned earlier an burt sienna/orange tone.

Mena Portrait 11 x 14 Acrylic with white chalk underdrawing

When the sun returns to these parts I'll repost sans flash.

Painting in process - 9 x 14 Acrylic and white charcoal

Stage two: Mena's feet will be eventually buried in grass and a background might come into play. I have been doggie-sitting Mena for a week and will miss her.

My House #7 in the afternoon (#10).

Painting in process

I have toned the panel and drawn Mena using white charcoal. The only colors used so far are ultramarine blue, Cadmiun red medium and Hooker's Green -mixed together they make a brownish green which is fine for this stage. The brush used so far is a Princeton # 4.

Studies for a "Mena" painting Acrylic and Pen

Mendocino Headin to the Beach 9 x 12 Acrylic

Mendocino-Heading to the ocean 9 x 12 Acrylic

I've done this one several times just to keep practicing. I don't use photos much preferring to pain from life. But this little scene reminds me of out vacation last summer.

Heading for the Ocean - Mendocino

I still use a photo reference occasionally when doing a learning series. I have done this view several times. It's always a bit farther to the ocean than it looks.

photo

I tried to stand in the spot where I painted this view (see an earlier post). I mostly painted standing up looking a bit downward. It's interesting to compare a photo to an on site painting.

The blue Tree - photo

This is a photo of the blue tree. Don't get carried away with a photo - on site paintings are interpretations remember.

My House at Dusk # 11 11" x 14" Acrylic

Time to work a bit larger.

Lakeside rocks - 3 Linen 8 x 10 Acrylic

My House at Dusk First in a Series 8 x 10

I made a small change and so repost. As I work all day I only paint evenings during the week. That's why I have been painting at dusk.

Lake Tahoe at Dusk

This was done in acrylic on a pine board 5" x 14" with a base of gesso. A practice piece.

My House at Dusk #8 Acrylic 9 x 12

The "squirrel bucket" hangs outside my work room. The squirrels quickly learned how to climb down the rope and get peanuts from the bucket.

My House at Dusk #7 ACrylic 9 x 12

Back in the forgotten corner of the yard - we built a study for Philomena - a quiet place where she can do her legal work. I sometimes cut out photos and stick them on paintings for fun. I have discovered it can be a good way to check your perspective. Thus "Keri" appears. Keri was our pound puppy for 17 years.

My House at Dusk #6 Acrylic 9 x 12"

I did this one sitting on the back steps in case you are wondering why the horizon line is so low.

My House at Dusck #5 9 x 12 Acrylic

This was done after a day's work when it was getting dark. I had to stand and do the sketch as one foot more to the left and I would be in the pool. Yes the tree really is blue. It's not a tree anymore. After it died I morphed it into a sculpture.

My FIrst Plein Aire painting 8 x 10 acrylic

Watercolor 9 x 12

A practice work based on a Rowland Hilder demonstration. I did this one in 2003 as a learning piece. Rowland travelled on the Lusitania about two weeks before it was sunk by German U-boats. Rowland went on to live to age 94. You never know. My dad was standing by the train tracks when he was about ten years old and the trolley flew off a passing train and landed quite close to him. Dad is now 95. You never know how close you may have come to an early demise.

Tulip fields Acrylic on Pine board 11 x 24"

This is painted on a pine board with three layers of gesso as a base. No references--from my imagination.

Capuccino 9 x 12 Acrylic

From a photo taken by my daughter. I had already toned the canvas board greens and the cups and plate were light green so I decided to make my cups and plate burnt sienna/brown.

Quite marshy pond 9 x 12 Acrylic

I have dabbled with this one for some time. Out of my head. It took a while to take shape. On masonite. 9 x 12. I know it's trite to put a little stream or waterfall right in the center but I couldn't resist.

My House Series #4 Acrylic 8 x 10"

The tree really is blue. This tree died two years ago in the duration of about two weeks. I trimmed it down little by little like a true Virgo and took off all the bark and kept the basic structure which I spray painted blue for a nice yard statuary. Not appreciated by everyone of course. There is an old dog house next to it which I left out (it got painted blue also). This was completed about 8 PM so it's a bit dark. Where is My House #1 you ask. Temporarily misplaced. Soon.

My House Series #3 Acrylic 9 x 12"

Got a bit dark but I had to finish in one sitting. More about the "blue tree" next post.

My House #3 ACrylic 9 x 12

No photo yet as I am having camera difficulties.
wait. As it got darker I kept painting -breaking the rules about
changing light.

My House Series #2 9 x 12 acrylic

As I work all day and
into the darkening hours I rush out when my medical reports are done to paint. By then it is getting dark. This is number 2 of a series called My House. 9 x 12 acrylic - ready to frame
$80.00 Inquire or see also at my ETSY store FineArtMark.etsy.com

Melina & Brodie 11 x 14 acrylic on pine board

Mena acrylic on canvas 12" x 24"

Melina's dog at Lake Tahoe

Viewing Folowers 10 x 12 acrylic

Backyard 8 PM getting dark 8 x 10 acrylic

This is the first in a series I call My House. $60.00 plus $5 ship

Davis Farmer's Mkt Acrylic on wood 16 x 11"

Experimenting with different surfaces - pine board-gesso-acrylic. We were at the Davis Farmer's Market.

Tulips-1 Acrylic 10" x 24" on pine board

Experimenting with various surfaces. Got a 4 ft pine board -cut it in half and used Gesso, two layers as a base. The design is out of my head without any references.

Green Hills 5 x 24 (approx) Acrylic on Birch Panel

Acrylic on a birch board - very poor photo, sorry. This one is from my head-no reference.

Mendocino surfer - Acrylic 9 x 12

Coming out of the surf

Pasture at Janet's Farm watercolor 5.5" x 8.5"

Study in watercolor. Sketch in preparation for a possible larger work. Those aren't splatter in the sky. I'm sure those must be birds flying off.

Watercolor sketch 5.5 x 8.5 (Strathmore Sketch book)

Sister Janet lives in Oregon writes poems, trains horses, and is a nurse. Her pasture.

Mena 8 x 10 Acrylic

Brodie in his wagon 8 x 10 Acrylic

This is the original study. Sometimes things work out better without planning or a drawing. Brodie will grow up in Lake Tahoe, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

Childe Hassam at Work acrylic 10 x 12

I am reposting this one as I did a bit more work on it. Childe Hassam 1859-1935. This is from an old photo in a great work on Childe Hassan by Ulrich W. Hiesinger. It's to remind me of his working conditions. I like the street scenes and horse cabs Childe did before and just after his French stay. After a time he got too much into the French style of Impressionism but eventually returned to be an American style painter.

My first art teacher

When I was 12 an artist set up across the road from where I lived and painted our neighbors fields and barn. For over a week I stood just back of him each day after school. Somehow I knew not to bug him. He was the one who talked. I didn't have the sense that he was a great painter but someone fully engrossed in creating something special. In the following years I recreated his initial sketch many times -- a large mulberry tree towering over a few sheds and fruit stand just in the distance across the strawberry fields. And that's all I will say about that.

It wasn't until I took an art class at a junior college in Maui that I actually started painting.
The instructor let us go out and just paint. The smell of paint, and mediums drew me in. I took some lessons from Betty Brown in suthern California in portrait drawing. But then academic stuides took me away from painting for a number of years.

Thoughts on Painting

Since reading Richard Schmid's book, Alla Prima - Everything I know about Painting, my view of my personal painting journey has been affected. The thing to know about learning to paint is that every painting brings you one step closer to your goal of being a better painter. Learning to be an artist is a personal journey as varied as personalities and circumstances. The things you do while learning to paint are not necessarily things you will continue to do, but are stepping stones.
For example, using a photo to make a painting. Or copying the work of a famous painter to better understand his process. In the beginning there is no personal style. Personal style develops after painting number 2,634 or somewhere thereabouts. Everything up to that point is basic learning and fair game. Art is a way of looking at the world.

I recommend:
"Rolling Hills and Ranches" $65 [www.MALT.org] Marin county plein air painters
"Nature's Temple" $30 Paintings of William Wendt [www.Lagunaartmuseum.org]...