Tuesday, March 25, 2014

View of Coit Tower

 

 View of Coit Tower
original oil painting, 8x10
Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD
 
The view on Filbert Street in San Francisco has the Bay and Coit Tower in the background.  Coit Tower is a classic icon of San Francisco. Built in 1933 the tower is 210 feet tall, art deco style and located in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Montgomery St, San Francisco

Montgomery St, San Francisco
original oil painting, 14x11
Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD

The painting above is on Montgomery Street, in the Financial District in San Francisco. The tall buildings block the sun, except in a few places. I liked the contrast of the sun shining on the street with the dark buildings in the shadows.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

View from West Cliff, Santa Cruz

View from West Cliff, Santa Cruz 
original oil 6x6
Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD

The cliffs are very dramatic on the westside of Santa Cruz - a good subject for a painting.  As I setup to paint, it was a beautiful clear day and a wave was coming in from the right.  The surfers were just behind me at Steamer Lane. 

There were two main challenges with this painting. The first was to edit out details of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the distance.  And the second was to emphasize the solid rock shapes in the foreground.  Emphasizing the rocks was easy because of the sharp contrast in values on the cliffs, the light yellow ochre color contrasts against the black shapes.  Simplifying the background is part of composing a scene.  I repeated some of the same shapes and used grayer values to make the background recede.   

Thursday, December 19, 2013

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. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Penny Ice Creamery, Santa Cruz

The Penny Ice Creamery, Santa Cruz
original oil painting, 12x12
Viewpoints Gallery
SOLD

The Penny Ice Creamery on 41st Avenue in Santa Cruz, makes small batches of delicious ice cream completely from scratch. There's an open kitchen where you can watch the process of making ice cream.  They use flavors that change with the seasons and feature local organic ingredients. 

Next door is Pink Godzilla, a sushi restaurant.  I like the name and weird logo of a graphic pink godzilla on a surfboard.  Together I think the buildings make an interesting painting with the warm and cool color combination. The people add life and movement to the composition.


Monday, November 11, 2013

Monterey Ave, Capitola

Monterey Ave, Capitola
6x6 original oil painting, $150
Studio Gallery
 
 
This small painting shows a street in Capitola called Monterey Ave.  The yellow building on the left is El Toro Mexican Restaurant and in the middle of the painting is a grassy area called "Lawn Way".  I liked the contrast of the buildings against the lawn and landscape in the distance.  I also liked the weird angles of the cross walk that draw you into the composition.
 
This painting is in a show is called "Tiny" and runs through December 24 at Studio Gallery, 1815 Polk Street, San Francisco.  Studio Gallery is celebrating their 10th Anniversary this month.