Evening Commute

Evening Commute

original oil painting 6x6 SOLD

Studio Gallery

Driving North on the 101 Freeway, I liked the warm light of sunset and the rhythmic patterns of the cars on the freeway. Although everyone hates to commute, there is beauty in the repetitive patterns, shapes and colors. I like the way my eye bounces around from warm to cool colors and shape to shape.

Summer Reflections

Summer Reflections

original oil painting, 11x14 $475

Viewpoints Gallery

Summer is almost over - the last day of summer is only two weeks away - September 22. Recently, I painted with the Woodside Plein Air group at Ann Hogle's house in Woodside.  Ann's home is on an acreage with native oaks and redwood trees.  Ann and her husband have a big vegetable garden, flower garden, lemon and lime trees. They are kind of self sufficient, which is good because they are up in the Santa Cruz mountains.  I chose a view of her swimming pool because I liked the organic shape, the orange retaining wall and the reflections in the water. 

California and Polk, San Francisco

California and Polk, San Francisco

original oil painting, 11x14

Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD

I started this painting about a year ago for a show in San Francisco.  I was intimidated by the complex composition, so I set it aside.  I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago.  The wide asphalt street, the grooves for the cable cars and magenta building on the right were challenges . . . but I finished and I really like the painting.

It's on display at Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos.

Capitola Cliffs

Capitola Cliffs

original oil painting, 6x6

Viewpoints Gallery

SOLD

The warm sunny days this winter and calm ocean waters have made perfect conditions for colorful reflections on the ocean surface in Capitola.

Whiskey Hill Rd, Woodside

Whiskey Hill Rd, Woodside

original oil, 6x6

Studio Gallery

 SOLD

Another painting in "Tiny" at Studio Gallery in San Francisco through December 24th.

I ride my bike on Whiskey Hill Road in the mornings.  I was trying to capture the sense of distance and atmosphere in the Santa Cruz mountains with this painting. 

Chill Out Cafe, Santa Cruz

Chill Out Cafe, Santa Cruz

original oil painting, 10x8 SOLD

available at the Buenaventura Gallery, Sept 11 - Oct 6
Reception: Saturday, Sept 15, 4:00 - 7:00pm

The Chill Out Cafe is on 41st Avenue in Santa Cruz.  It's a charming Santa Cruz hangout, full of locals eating breakfast burritos.  I've wanted to paint the building for a while because of the barn red color and it's popularity among surfers.
  

Lagoon at Hendry's Beach, Santa Barbara

Lagoon at Hendry's Beach, Santa Barbara

original oil painting, 10x8

SOLD

In March, Chris Beirne and I painted together in Southern California.  I asked Chris to find a place to paint with big cliffs, along the ocean. Chris picked Hendry's Beach in Santa Barbara and suggested that we paint at sunset. It was unusally warm and sunny, which meant the beach was packed with people, not the best situation for plein air painting.   

When I returned home, I painted the scene above. It's funny that I ended up painting the lagoon instead of the cliffs.  I was attracted to the reflections on the pond, the green in the hills and the vertical compositional elements of the fan palms.  You can see the long shadows from the setting sun.

Ojai Preserve at Sunset

Ojai Preserve at Sunset

Original oil painting, 8x10

SOLD

I've been painting with my friend Chris Beirne to prepare for our art exhibit in September. Recently we were scouting a painting location in Santa Barbara and we ended up back in Ojai. We decided to head over to Chris's favorite painting spot on Besant Road, to paint as the sun was setting.

The meadow where we painted is called the Ojai Preserve, an open space with walking trails and Eucalyptus trees in the background. As the sun dropped lower in the sky, we set up to paint. The trees behind me were casting a shadow on the road and there was a red/orange tint in the background in my scene. The light was shifting which gave me a more dramatic value range to work with. We painted for about an hour before the entire scene was engulfed in shadows. The beauty of painting at sunset is the warm glow the sunlight casts on everything, however, you have to paint VERY quickly.

After I returned home I did the painting above in my studio, using my plein air painting as a reference.

I have to add some information about this palm tree, since I love to paint palm trees. It's a California Fan Palm (Washingtonia Filifera), the only palm native to the Western United States and an iconic palm tree in California.

The Cove, La Jolla

The Cove, La Jolla

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

We spent Christmas in La Jolla with my family. The weather was beautiful, 80 degrees, and we were half a block from the Windansea beach. We were also near the Cove, a swimming and diving beach that is sheltered by sandstone cliffs.  La Jolla Cove has some of the clearest water of all San Diego beaches.  It is also part of the San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve .

In my painting above, the shallow areas of the water are emerald green with some yellow hues.  As the water gets a little deeper the color turns ultramarine blue with some gray tones.  On clear days along the ocean front, there is usually a line of reddish-purple haze near the horizon line.

San Francisco Street 4 (in progress)

I'm working on a larger version of the painting I posted last week.  I liked the painting so much, I decided to paint a larger version 16"x20."  I started the painting by laying in the values using transparent red oxide as an underpainting.  I'm about half way done. So far I really like the painting.  It can be a love/hate relationship when I'm working on a painting. We'll see how it comes out when it's finished.  I'll post the finished painting.

O'Farrell and Jones, San Francisco

O'Farrell and Jones, San Francisco

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

I'm back to painting the City.  October is a beautiful time in San Francisco.  After a long foggy summer, the sun is shining in San Francisco.

When painting scenes of San Francisco it can be a little tricky to capture the sun on the streets.  It depends upon the height of the buildings and the time of the day.  Usually artists prefer to paint in early morning or late afternoon light because the long shadows create drama in compositions.  But in San Francisco, it can be better to paint and photograph at noon with the sun directly overhead. On some streets, midday is the only time the sunlight can break through the tall buildings.

The cable car in the painting above is a replica of the old car on the O'Farrell and Jones Street line. I like the red color that the cable car brings to the composition.  I also like the warmth in the street where the sun hits, I've added a little yellow to the cool gray to warm up the color on the street.

Endless Summer Show

Endless Summer Show

50-50 III, Sanchez Arts Center

The fifty 6"x6" paintings are finished and the show is installed at the Sanchez Arts Center.  I painted beach scenes, beach volleyball games, surfers, sailboats, cyclists, motorcycles and a few vintage cars.  My theme expanded to include things that I came across or happened upon while painting for fifty days.

Two days before I began to paint, I picked up 50 6"x6" small wood panels for my artwork.  I chose to paint on gessoed canvas rather than the wood.  Each painting started with a transparent red oxide tonal underpainting to help me with value.  I really have to think about value while I'm painting, it doesn't come naturally to me. (Value is defined as the relative lightness or darkness of a color.)   

After each painting dried, I glued the finished paintings to the wood panel.  At the end of July I was getting behind schedule when my brother and his family visited.  My niece Ann helped me glue many of the paintings to the panels.

To see more of my paintings in the show visit my website on the available paintings page.

Below is a photograph of the installation of the fifty paintings.  The show runs through October 2nd at the Sanchez Art Center.

Endless Summer

Endless Summer

6x6 original oil painting

SOLD

A couple of weeks ago I made a quick trip to Ventura to paint for two days with my friend Chris Beirne.  We were lucky, it was sunny in Ventura, so we spent the day from 9:00-5:00 painting at the beach at Surfer's Point.

Although the water temperature is around 62 degrees at this time of year, there were quite a few people on the beach and in the water.  "Obviously tourists" as Chris said.  Locals would only be in the water with a wetsuit this early in the summer.

This painting is for the 50-50 show in August at the Pacifica Art Center, my theme is "Endless Summer."

Pacific Heights 2

Pacific Heights 2

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Pacific Heights offers panoramic views of the city, with all streets leading to the San Francisco Bay.  I want to paint large street scenes of San Francisco, so I'm practicing with small paintings to try out different compositions.  Not all small paintings make good large paintings, but it's the best way to start.

Last week I was chosen to participate in an exhibition at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica, CA.  The show is called "50-50 Show III."  Each artist will paint 50 small 6x6 inch paintings in 50 days and then exhibit the paintings in August.  My theme is "Endless Summer," so expect to see some beach scene paintings during the next couple of months as I prepare for the show.

San Francisco Street 2

San Francisco Street 2

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

Steep rolling hills, a dense eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and stunning views of the Pacific and Bay, make the roughly seven mile square that is San Francisco, one of the world's most visually interesting cities.

I have long been drawn to street scene compositions. I have always been intrigued by the juxtaposition of the natural and the man-made. I find that the contrast of the tall buildings, and the long shadows that they cast, with the softness and color of the natural elements, like trees and bushes, brings both tension and harmony to the composition.

Beach Street, Santa Cruz

Beach Street, Santa Cruz

8x10 original oil painting

SOLD

As you're walking along Beach Street in Santa Cruz, to the right is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the Wharf and the Pacific Ocean.  On the left is the street scene above.  Beach Street is lined with surf shops, bikini shops, restaurants and all things related to surfing.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

11x14 original oil painting SOLD

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco was originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art.  Bernard Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts and was inspired by Greek and Roman architecture. The 1100 foot pergola and central rotunda were built around a lagoon which provides a mirrored surface to reflect the grand buildings.

The painting above was painted plein air at the Palace of Fine Arts.  I painted with my friend Camilla, on an unusually sunny day, with clear blue skies.  Capturing the perspective of the corinthian columns was a challenge, as well as the gold color of the rotunda dome.  This 11x14" painting is available framed.