Tiare Trance

New figure painting, Tiare Trance. This one is 11x14 in oils on board.

Hood River Farm, 12x12 plein air

Another recent plein air painting. The first day on this one I did a fairly complete block in with a lot of texture. It was a good start but not quite locked in on the lights and darks so I came back a few days later and did a second pass to finish the painting.

Plein air, Soft Blue 9x12

Recent plein air on a warm summer day.

The Bright Tree

The Bright Tree, 9x12 oils on board. Working on the backlit landscape with this one.

Flower Farm

A new plein air piece from last week. Flower Farm, 11x14 oils on board.

This is a beautiful spot to paint and the weather was wonderful.

Pearl District

Pearl District 30x40, oil on canvas. SOLD.

This is the first cityscape I have done in a long time. Nice to be back into one of these; everyone likes them. I don't know why I don't paint more of them. This piece is also the first large cityscape for me. Most of my earlier ones were smaller pieces.

New plein air from last week.

Iris Path 9x12 oils.
Country Road 9x12 oils.
Around The Corner 12x16 oils.

Some new plein air paintings from last week.

All in oils.

New plein air from last week.

Warm Afternoon close up.

Warm Afternoon, 16x20.

Spring Path, 11x14.

Afternoon Shadows, 9x12.

A few new ones from our sunny days last week.

California Poppies

California Poppies, 16x20 oils on board.

Outside last week

Sunny Day 16x20, oils.

Small Pond 11x14, oils.

From last week painting outside in oils with thick paint and palette knives.

Thick paint 16x20

Spring Runoff, 16x20 in acrylics. Using A LOT of paint and my set of knives for some heavy texture on this one. Actually starting to sculpt the paint in the foreground field. I am still working out how to handle the edges.

Plein Air from last week

Country View, 9x12 oils on board.

Another one from this week, Down The Road 9x12

More thick paint with a palette knife out in the field.

Down The Road, 9x12 oils on board.

Soft Day 12x12 plein air

From this week, Soft Day 12x12. Another piece from this week painting with a knife for the main foreground and the sky.

Spring Trees plein air 9x12

From this week out at Sauvie Island. Spring Trees, 9x12 oils on board.

Working on nice natural greens out in the field. Again painting a lot of this with a knife and adding heavy texture where I can.

Plein air from last week

New 11x14, Spring Blossoms. This was mostly palette knife and thick paint again. Detail highlights were added later back in the studio. I also made the road a nice country meadow, I do this often in my plein air paintings. Sometimes I like to make the setting more natural.

Plein air, dodging showers and moving paint

Another from a few days ago, Springtime, 11x14 oils over acrylic on board.

Well I needed to get some even thicker paint down and it was going to be another day of dodging rain showers so I brought out some acrylics today and out down some PAINT.

You can see from the outside photos how things can change fast when painting plein air. Started out fairly nice with some sun out. Ended with a storm cell coming in for a visit but I had most of what I needed in by then. Speed painting at its best, well for me that is!

This one was also mostly knife work. Back in the studio, I finished this with oils.

Plein air fast before the rain comes!

From last week, Distant Trees, 9x12 oils on board. Had move quick on this one as a storm front was moving fast. I was able to get most what I needed before getting rained on and I finished up back in the studio the next day.

This piece was mostly palette knife in the field using thick paint for a heavy texture build up. I always think down heavy paint but the next day it looks medium at the most. Don't get me wrong, this has a lot of paint texture and nice juicy areas but I think I might have to get out the small shovel soon. I want to do some HEAVY work, need to buy the BIG tubes of paint.

I use sticks and stuff I find in the field for my brushes these days too. Hard times yeah, but it is more of a finger you to all the hard correct academics and staying in bounds! And galleries that don't pay and all that stuff. Don't worry, I still like all those beautiful technically correct paintings ..... and the artist that paint them. I'll go paint with anyone but I might end up pushing paint around with a bunch sticks that day!

Dancer 11x14 oils

Recent figure work. Dancer, 11x14 oils on board.

I really the dark dramatic lighting on this dancer from a Salon L'Orient show I went to last spring.

Wet Day 9x12 plein air oils on board.

Plein air from last week between .... you guessed it ..... MORE rain!

9x12 in oils on board with mostly palette knife for the main painting.

Trying some thick oil paint on this one.

Plein air from a couple days ago

A little 12x12 I did outside using a palette knife and a lot of thick paint. Again mixing directly on the paint board.

More texture painting, plein air this time.

Close up, Green Fields.
Green Fields, 16x20 oil over acrylic on board.
Golden Field, close up.
Golden Field, 16x20 acrylics on board.

A couple more from last few days. I went outside between rain showers to try these out in the field. Using big tubes of acrylic paint and mixing directly on the painting as I go. For the Green Fields piece, I tried some oils on top of the acrylics back in studio.

Oak trees, 11x14 acrylic on board.
Distant Gold, 12x12 acrylic on board.

So now I'm trying something a little different, laying in the paint heavy with knives and mixing direct on the painting. These are in acrylics, going for the thick lush paint.

New plein air ...... in between rainy days

In between storms I managed to sneak out for a quick paint trip outside.

I did the major block in and painting outside then added the finishing details back in my dry studio a few days later.

Sooner or later it HAS to get nice again!

Early Spring, 11x14 oil on board.

The Distant Light

Another new piece, The Distant Light. This one is 18x24 inches in oils on board.

New large Oil painting

Still Evening, 36x60 inches. Oil on canvas.

Innes skies

Well it's been forever since my last post. Getting over a nasty cold when I looked out my window and saw what looked like a good George Innes style sunset setting up. Grabbed my camera went out for a while to see what I could find and was glad I did. Here are a couple shots from this evening.