'RED HILLS' 
 Carquinez strait landscape

I was experimenting with inventing a composition using thicker paint, lots of color and working some with a palette knife. This was done during a workshop with Jerrold Turner- a wonderful painter and generous teacher.

9 "X 12"

Oil on linen covered hardboard

ROCKS AND OCEAN

The Pacific Coast near Asilomar

I saw this view of the ocean from a sea-weedy bluff just south of Asilomar. The composition looks like a Chinese brush painting... I used to own some and looked at them at lot- so they influenced the way I saw this scene.

9" X 12"

Oil on linen covered board

CLOUDS & WATER

This is the small quick painting I did after 'MAUVE CLOUDS'. The fog was rolling in over the horizon by then.

Oil on hardboard

5" X 7"

'MAUVE CLOUDS'
Asilomar Seascape

Another painting day at the beach. The fog bank hung over the horizon, making the colors all purply.

9" X 12"

Oil on hardboard

WAVES CRASHING

Seascape at Asilomar beach 

This was the small study I dashed off after OCEAN WAVES. It was one of those overcast summer mornings, so the colors appeared intense without the very deep shadows of a sunny day.  I believe that is because the pupils widen to let in more light when the sky is darker. 

Oil on hardboard    

5" X 7" 

'OCEAN WAVES'
The waves rolling in to the shore at Asilomar, California

I observed the waves rolling in for a long while before beginning to paint. They are moving so fast that you really have to paint from memory when on location at the beach. I like the way the blue-green intensifies in saturation just under the curl of foam. Paintings is always about edges, color, brushstrokes and relationships.

Oil on linen mounted on hardboard

9" X 12"

'PACIFIC GROVE'

I painted this small one quickly after a longer study. Its nice to have all the colors mixed, ready and just get it down. A foreign tourist watched me for a while and then exclaimed, "Isn't it wonderful, you just stand there and paint!!"...  sounds so easy.

Oil on hardboard

5" X 7"

Model in a Red Dress

This was painted from a live model in two long sessions. We all thought the dress and shoes reflected her bold personality. I was going for a color statement based on the red chemise.

11" X 14"

Oil on Canvas board

RIVER ROCKS II

This was done quickly with the palette paint remaining after a concentrated effort on the first version. I think the expressionistic paint strokes and color came together well in the smaller, faster version. 

Oil on hardboard

5" X 7"

'RIVER ROCKS MARIPOSA'  

Painting the rock formations along the Agua Fria river, Mariposa, California this spring was an exciting challenge for me.  With the sounds and events of natural life unfolding, I set up my easel and gear in the cold. I set to painting nature's rock sculpture in fast changing light; trying to make water fluid, rocks solid, the land dewy and warming in the early morning.

Oil on Canvas board

9" X 12"

"FIGURE 35" 

Nude with Blues and Greens

Oil painting

11" X 14"

Oil on Canvas

DOOR OF DAWN
The sun rose over the hill and as it broke through the trees it resembled a radiant key-hole.

Oil on hardboard
5" X 7"

AGUA FRIA AT DAWN

I rose at the barest hint of daylight to set up for painting en plein air by the Agua Fria. The California wildflowers were profuse in April- varieties that grow in the higher elevation of the Sierra foothills were not familiar to me. The sun rose just behind the hill and lit up the cold blue rocks and water with warm light. I was working with a value filter.. basically a small sheet of red film in a mat. Looking through this filter helped me to see the patterns of light and dark as abstract shapes first. Some painters teach that the values of these areas should remain clearly delineated.

Oil on canvas board

9" X 12"

ROCKY

I dashed off this little painting after laboring long on another rock painting by a creek in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite valley. This little guy popped up on the rock and posed for awhile. 


Oil on hardwood
6" X 6"

REFLECTION IN COMPUTER SCREEN

I turned off the computer and painted my reflection. When the nest is empty a woman has time to reflect on herself. Thinking about issues of beauty, fading beauty, and the beauty in the little details of a silver hair or a wrinkle.

Oil on maple

6"X 6"

FIGURE 33
The fun thing about developing a level of comfort with our models, is that sometimes they will try out some fantasy/costumes. This familiarity makes for interesting paintings.

14" X 18"

Oil on canvas board

'TOMATOES IN STRIPED BOWL'

Something caught my painter's eye, and so I seized the moment. My thoughts went to a recent e-letter from Robert Genn's list called the painter keys, about 'kissing'. Should objects touch? How much overlap is enough in a composition? I also thought about something I heard Wayne Thiebaud say in an interview on 'Spark' (pbs.org), he spoke about articulating the variations of light in a painting as glint, gleam and glow.

Oil on canvas

5" X 7"

"ALL CRACKED UP"

OK, I haven't lost it just yet. This is my response to the Daily Painters Website challenge! The first week of the month there is a group theme.
I haven't been posting lately, but I have been painting..

6"X 8"

Oil on maple hard wood panel

CLOUDS

The cloud formations have been magnificent lately- so I started this from a window view. I was thinking about composition ideas I've been reading about, like dominance and subordination or notan, light/dark shape relationships. Since this was small I decided to paint more thickly than I usually do, pushing the paint around.

Oil on hardboard

5" X 7"

PACKING PAPER ON SILL

This crumpled packing paper caught my eye as it looked like sculpture. I was really challenged to paint it in a cool blue room, with the warm western late afternoon light.

Oil on canvas
14" X 18"