Joel Lake Reflections

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This painting is done on velour paper with soft pastels and measures 8"x12".  Joel is our tax guy who only lives down here during tax season.  The rest of the time he spends in Washington.  He lives on this remote lake and names all of the features after friends and family members.  He has got this really layed back sarcastic sense of humor which I like a lot.  His name is Joel hence the name of the painting.

Washington Forest

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This painting was the last in the series I did for my customer.  It is on velour paper and measures 23"x29". 

Shadows and Sun Upon the Path

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This is one of those paintings that just flowed.  From start to finish there was no stopping until it was complete.  It isn't my best painting but it was very satisfying to work on.  Frequently I find when I leave a painting for a day or two and it has not been completed; I lose the feeling for it.  This painting was so easy for me I felt guilty selling it for the same price as the others that I had worked so hard on.  SOLD in private collection

                 

Trees in the Fog

    

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This painting was one of the paintings that were sold.  It is painted on velour paper and measures approx. 38"x30".  SOLD in private collection

Island in Washington

This painting was commissioned and purchased for a couple from Washington.  It was my first straight up commission.  It was difficult for me because I had never been to any of the locations I was painting.  I felt a lot of pressure trying to convey the feeling of the area because of the length of time the couple had spent there.  I thought this was one of my better efforts.  I really liked how all of the muted grays turned out.  This painting measures 22"x29" and is done on velour paper.  Sold in private collection

Rocky River

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This painting was one of the final paintings I did on commission for a couple from Washington.  This one did not make the cut.  The rock in the center of the river does not look like your typical rock.  Although this rock looks like the picture they gave me I should have used artistic license to make it look like a rock people expect to see.  There is too much focus on this rock to have it look like this.

Cascading Through Shadows

   

This painting was one of the paintings that did not make the cut for the couple who I painted for.  This painting was a challenge for me in that I had never been to this location.  In addition the challenge of the moving water through the shadows proved to be difficult for me.  If that were not enough the bright sunlight in the background and the rocks in the shadows in the foreground all came together to make this a painting that was difficult to establish any unity.  This painting is done on velour paper and measures 23"x29".

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This soft pastel painting is done on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  This is yet another painting done for my interior designers client from Washington.    After meeting with the customer I had a better idea of what they were looking for.  I then began a second group of paintings with no watercolor underpainting and went for a softer look with a change in surface.  The next several posts will show you the change in direction I made.

Filtered Light Through the Trees

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This soft pastel painting is done on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  This is one of the series of paintings I did for the customer from Washington.  Although a very busy subject I was trying to convey the quiet lushness of the forest.

Sunlight Through the Trees

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This pastel painting is done with soft pastels on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with an underpainting of water color.  This is one of the paintings I did for a customer.  After meeting with the customer I found that this painting was the closest to what they were looking for.  I have gone back to the drawing board as it were and have cranked out a couple of more paintings.  I will be posting those soon.  I used photos that they provided.

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This painting is done on belgium mist Kitty Wallis paper with soft pastels and measures 22"x26".  I did this

painting as part of a group of paintings that I worked up for a client of a interior designer I work with from time to time.  The customer was from Washington state and wanted picture that reminded them of home.

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This soft pastel painting is done on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  This painting measures 23"x26".  This painting is one of the series I did for my interior decorator's client. 

Into the Eucalyptus

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This pastel painting is done on velour paper and is done with soft pastels.  The painting measures 23"x29".  This scene is from a hike I took up along Black Star Canyon Road. 

Donner Canyon Sycamore Stand

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This pastel painting is done on velour paper with soft pastels and measures 14"x23".  This scene was painted from my hike through Donner Canyon in the Chino Hills State Park.  The park is recovering from the fires that ravaged the park a year and a half ago.  This painting was done in Febuary as Spring was just starting to take hold after the rains stopped.  In the distance you can see the Cleveland National Forest.

From Under the Sycamore

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This painting is on velour paper made with soft pastel and measures 29"x23".  This painting was done from a visit to Irvine Park which was established around 20's.  The day was an unseasonalbly warm spring day with Santa Ana winds blowing through the canyon.  As with so many parks in the area it was once part of a vast cattle ranch.  In my search for Sycamore trees this park had a huge number of old trees.  My only regret was that the majority of the trees were manicured.

Shadows along the Creek

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This painting is done on velour paper and is of a Sycamore tree in the Santiago Canyon.  It measures 25"x29.5".

Light Running Through The Woods

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This soft pastel painting is done on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  I liked the light touching and running through the shadows.  This pastel painting is part of the work I did for our customers who lived there.

Sunset Cliffs Reflection

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This painting of Sunset Cliffs is done on La Carte Pastel Card and measures 23"x26.5".  I have been studying the book by Robert Henri called "The Art Spirit".  Though this book was assembled in 1923, I find myself identifying with many of his  thoughts.  I thought in particular for this painting the following quote was appropriate ..."the most vital things in a landscape endure only a moment"...The colors I used I thought were right for the moment based on my memory of it.  The movement of the waves and the contrast of the light on the horizon and the shadows upon the cliffs all came out as I remember them.

Swamp Grass

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This soft pastel painting is done on Belgium Mist Kitty Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  The colors of the plants around the water and the differences in their colors is what interested me in this subject.  This painting is of a bog in Washington State which is part of the work I was doing for a client who came from the area.  When showing the pictures I found the customer wanted something less impressionistic.  I got those ideas of what they wanted from meeting with them in person.  I am now working on a group of new paintings that reflect what they were looking for.

Twilight at Sunset Cliffs

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The contrast between the ever changing waves as they reflected these other wordly colors and hushed buzz of all the people who had come to watch the sunset was the feeling I was trying to convey with this painting.  These ideas were expressed as well as I could at the time.  I feel like I should try this painting again.  The rocks are not subtle enough.  The colors in them were as interesting as the waves and the reflections of twilight in them.  I want to impress more detail in the rocks without making the waves any less important.

Sunset Cliffs

That early evening was hushed and full of energy as the day closed with a quiet bang.  The light impossible.  The shadows infinite.  The haze blending the details as the suns last moments made everything that came before it that day irrelevant.  This painting is finished but the subject was not captured as I would have hoped.  I will paint Sunset Cliffs again.  This series is done.  This is not the last painting but for this post I wanted to try and put into words what I felt the evening I was inspired to paint this landscape.

Fading Twilight at Sunset Cliffs

                                                  This was my second painting in the series from Sunset Cliffs.  The sun was just dipping under the horizon leaving this pink afterglow on the cliffs.  The colors on the rocks were shifting by the minute as I hiked along the edge of the ocean.

Incoming Tide at Sunset Cliffs

This painting was inspired by a plein air painting article in Southwest Artist Magazine.  The artist Scott W. Prior http://www.scottwprior.com/  painted this same scene from about the same vantage point.  This beach is in the older part of San Diego in the Ocean Beach part of the city.  These cliffs are an amazing park at the edge of the city.  At sunset hundreds of locals gather to watch the sun go down.  The local surfers climb down these crazy paths leading to the beach.  I would not try it at all.  The surfers climb down with their surf boards which seems like something only the most experienced mountain goats would attempt.  The quality of light as the sun scrapes the Pacific changes everything.  The color of the cliffs with the last light of the day turns a beautiful landscape into something so intense it transends the cliche.  This scene is from the fall.  I want to go back to paint these cliffs during the summer where the light at sunset will last longer and feel stronger.

Last Light Chino Hills

This painting is a view of north Orange County from the Chino Hills State Park.  This area is also know as Coyote Hills because of the large population of coyotes that have inhabited the area.  These hills run from the edge of LA County across the top of Orange County before the reach the edge of the Cleveland National Forest.

Stillness Before Nightfall

This painting is a view of the Cleveland National Forest from the Chino Hills State Park.  I had little time to get back down off of the hills from the time I took this picture.

Black Star Canyon Road

This painting is in the Cleveland National Forest.  I had been searching for out of the way places to paint that were near my house.  What I did was zero in on the area around my house using google maps.  I found this road that went up into the heart of the Cleveland National Forest that had easy public access.  So I got in the car and 20 minutes later I was hiking up Black Star Canyon Road.  The area had been surveyed in the 30's.  I found one of the national survey spikes while hiking.  It was really interesting to see that people were still living on this isolated road.  I could not see any signs of electrical power or running water.  There were a number of abondoned homes and vehicles in various states of decompostion.  There were also a number of cattle ranches along the road.  Some of the views were amazing.  You quickly got the feeling you were a lot further away from the suburbs than you actually were.  This painting was a success for me in 2 areas.  I thought I got the contrast right and I liked the outcome of the ariel perspective.  These have been a couple of areas of focus for me for the last couple of months.  Village Art Center Art Walk 11/9-2/10 & 11/10-3/11.  This painting also showed at the In the Light of Day show at the Brea Gallery from 8/6/11-9/16/11.

Sycamores and Oaks

                                                                      This is my last in a series of Sycamore paintings for the time being.  This painting is from the Laguna Wilderness Park a couple of miles from the Pacific Ocean.  This painting was from an early Fall afternoon.  The hazy blue skies increased the aerial perspective in this piece.  The trees in the background are California Oaks.  My next series of paintings will be on Sunset Cliffs in San Diego.  I am going to continue my search for great Sycamore landscape compositions.  Another series of paintings I am considering is a focus on the Coyotee Hills.  This area is protected by the Chino Hills Park.  These hills still support drilling for oil in some areas.  These rolling hills are about 20 miles in length and at its widest point 5 miles.  They run into the Cleveland National Forest.  The shapes of the hills and the colors of the shadows at different times of day have caught my attention for some time.

Santiago Sycamore

This scene appealed to me because of the trees shape.  The Sycamore trees run along a creek through the Santiago Canyon.  My trip to the canyon was in the middle of summer.  The time of day was around noon.  All of the grasses had dried up months earlier.  The color of the grass against the color of the tree captured my interest.  This painting is done on pastel card with a dry underpainting of pastel.  In the collection of John and Gloria Jones

Santiago Canyon Sycamore

This painting measures 19"x 25" and is done La Carte Pastel Card.  Running through the Canyon is a creek and along the creek are hundreds of Sycamores.  The canyon runs from the edge of the Cleveland National Forest towards the Pacific and ends in the El Torro / Laguna Beach area.  The area was a cattle ranch owned by the Irvine family.  What really interested me was the contrast of the dry grasses and the greeness of the foliage around the creek.  I also found the cast shadows of the tree onto the dry grasses grabbing my attention.  As I constantly try to improve I set many goals for myself.  These are not enormous unattainable things but simple ones that come from seeing art work that I admire and self criticism.  One of these goals is to portray shadows in a more lively fashion.  Seeing the color of the object as a combination of the value change created by the shadow but maintaining it's own identity and proper color relationship to the object casting the shadow and itself has been a recent focus.

San Clemente Canyon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   This painting was inspired by a quick hike in San Diego.  I saw this site from the freeway when on a soccer trip with the family.  My wife and son waited in the car while I quickly explored the canyon.  I took my camera and quickly snapped off about 60 pictures of the area.  In the midst of the suburbs is this cantyon with a creek running to the ocean with Sycamore trees that have been there for some time.  I was only able to get about a half mile into the canyon before the message was relayed to me that I had to get back to the car and go.  I will try to get back when I have more time.

Summer Sycamores

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

This painting is the third in the series from the Laguna Canyon Wilderness Area.  As with the others it is done on Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  This series of paintings represents some growth for me as an artist.  After studying some of Kim Lordiers paintings at the Huse gallery on Balboa island and reading an article by Kim on her mark making, I decided I needed to work on my mark making.  The two biggest influences as artists for me are Van Gogh and Monet.  In  my opinion they both had amazing mark making technique.  The challenge for me as a pastel artist is to not over work a painting and to get it right the first time and step away from it.  I work with soft pastels exclusively.  They tend to fill the tooth of the paper quicker than harder pastels.  The use of the water color underpainting has freed up my mark making in that I do not have to worry about covering the surface of the painting with pastel.  This has allowed me to be more expressive with my mark making and sped up my overall time working on the painting.  It makes it harder for me to overwork the surface.  In the collection of Bob and Mary Jane Major

Laguna Canyon Afternoon

When I have found an area rich with subject matter it seems natural for me to work a series of paintings.  For about a year I have been interested in sycamore trees.  They each seem to have their own personality.  I love the way they twist and turn.  I find the color of the bark and the contrast of the changing leaf colors amazing.  Although we don't really have seasons in Southern California the sycamore trees are on their own program.  I am looking for old, untouched trees in settings as untouched by man as possible.  The thing I like about this painting is the cast shadow from the trees.  It is something I have been working on.  For me the shadow pulls the painting together.  This painting is from the Laguna Wilderness Area.  It is done on Wallis paper with a water color underpainting.  As with all posts, if you click the image it will enlarge

Village Art Center 3/10-9/10

Laguna Canyon Sycamore

Hello, I have been away for quite a while.  After a year and a half of painting and not working I had to go back to what I know.  I am back to managing big box retailing.  The biggest obstacle is the lack of time I can devote to some of the things I love.  After a nine month layoff from blogging I am back.  I did not stop painting but it did slow way down.  I am now at a point where I can get more focused on my painting.   Because my time is limited I am going to work harder with the time I have.  The rules have changed but my goals remain the same.  I am going to have to achieve them by doing some things differently.  This painting comes from a field trip I took last October to the Laguna Wilderness Area.  One of my goals is to spend more time painting from life.  The only draw back is the amount of time it takes to paint outside.  I live in Orange County California.  It is an amazing area with many beautiful places to paint.  It is almost impossible to find landscapes not touched by "progress".  One of the main themes of my work is trying to capture landscapes that have not been ruined by the development of Southern California.  I do not have the luxury of visiting the same spot day after day to capture the images in my landscapes.  When I am driving I am always looking for that spot off the beaten path-the road less taken as it were.  The other way I find places to paint is by using google maps.  I find a general area that I want to explore and then I move over the map until I find an area that looks good.  I then plan my field trip for a day off.  I usually start early to get the right shadows and I am off with my digital camera.  I compose the picture in the view finder and snap hundreds of pictures a visit.  I do not stop in one area or another but keep walking and letting my instinct guide the camera.  I go until I run out of time.  I come back download the photos and work with photo shop to generate the same saturation, hue, and contrast that I remember from my trip.  Laguna Canyon Wilderness is a pastel painting on Kelly Wallis sanded paper.  This painting is done with a variety of soft pastels over a underpainting of water color.  The size of the painting is approximately 23"HX35"W.  It is going to be displayed at the gallery I show at Village Art Center.  A Night in Fullerton Village Art Center 11/9-2/10 Village Center Art Walk 11/10-3/11

Last Light at Sunset Cliffs

This painting is the last of my Sunset Cliffs series for now.  I feel like there is much more that I have not yet captured.  The glow of the light on the cliffs is what interested me in these landscapes.  I plan on visiting again this summer and getting more reference photos from Torrey Pines and La Jolla cliffs.

Morrow Canyon Sycamore

This plein air pastel was completed on velour board and measures 18.5"x 26.5"

South Ridge Haze

This pastel painting measures 15.5"x24.5". It was done on Kitty Wallis sanded paper. I did a fairly detailed watercolor underpainting. I established basic values and the overall composition.  A Night in Fullerton, Village Art Center 11/9-2/10

A Night in Fullerton

This is the art of pastel artist Brad Faegre. I envy his draftmanship and markmaking. He had about twenty paintings there that night.

http://www.faegrefineart.com/

A Night in Fullerton

This is Marciano Martinez a watercolor and oil painter. He is a professor of art at Fullerton College.

A Night in Fullerton

Sue Ellen Cooper was one of the artists at the Village Art Center. Sue Ellen is a color pencil artist who describes her compostion as whimsical. Sue Ellen is planning on spending more time on her art. She has been busy overseeing her baby-The Red Hat Society. http://www.redhatsociety.com/infonew/howitstarted.html

A Night in Fullerton

The Village Art Center in downtown Fullerton just before the festivities began.

A Night in Fullerton

The owners of the Village Art Center Jim and Ann Thacker. Their gallery was filled with customers, patrons, family and friends. They made it a wonderful night for everyone.

A Night in Fullerton

I have 8 paintings in the Village Art Center. The titles of those paintings are: Yampa River, South Ridge Haze, Area Closed, Twilight at Chino Hills, D.T. Flemming Beach, Laguna Tide, Laguna Salt Creek II, and Laguna Shore Break.

A Night in Fullerton

A Night in Fullerton

Clouds over the San Gabriels

This painting is done with soft pastels on Kitty Wallis sanded paper with a watercolor underpainting. The painting measures 20.75"x 24".

Chino Hills Afternoon

This soft pastel painting is done on Kitty Wallis sanded paper with a watercolor underpainting. The painting measures 17.5"x 24".

Shadows in Chino Hills

This pastel painting is done on Kitty Wallis sanded paper with a underpainting of watercolor. The painting measures 18.25"x 24".

Modern Landscape Reception I

Modern Landscape Reception II