June 17 - When Your Muse Takes A Hike

"When Your Muse Takes a Hike" I'm sitting here chuckling and not a small bit of embarassed to show this to you, but if you can learn from it, so be it! This is the second painting I did last Thursday on location, and it surely is a problem child! The artist's muse went out for a beer and left me struggling. There is so much wrong with this painting that I hardly know where to begin. So how about if you make a list, and really tear into it? And then tell me what you'd change to make it better. I'm so used to helping students with the latter response, that I'm ready to have each of you analyze this one and flex your design muscles. Its future is dim, no matter what. 6 x 6 inch oil, unsigned for a reason!

June 16 - The Big Horses Finished

"Continuation" Here is the earlier 30 x 40 painting, much more toward the finished state. It was suggested by one member of the list to paint a buckskin, and after contemplation, here he is. Again, all of this from my head, no references. I also decided to add three more horses so the feeling of the herd would be maintained. It isn't finished yet, but you can see how much more is laid down now. I will get back into it and take care of the anatomical issues plaguing me for not using references, and also to modify the foreground. Please compare this to June 13th's painting. Oh, the dark upper corner isn't dark, that is just the problem with photographing such a large piece at night.

June 15 - Pony Tails (Draft Horse)

"Pony Tails" This is a 6 x 8 canvas, and I picked up the brushes to begin it at a bit after 11 pm. Just a wonderfully busy day, and full of pleasurable things--riding the horse, working on my courses for the college, and... well, laundry. So what do I like about this one? The color, of course. The position of the girl, achieved with minimal brushwork, and the thick paint on the right side of the draft horse. I could tweak it some more, but I sure like it right now! Oil $200

June 14 - On location, Fairmont Park

"Redwood Avenue, Fairmont Park, Riverside" On location again, this time in the city of Riverside with the Plein Air Artists of Riverside (PAAR) group. About eight of us showed up to paint the water and the vistas. My muse was with me, but not about to have me paint water today. I did two small ones, this a 5 x 7, of the afternoon light coming through the trees to the blooming jacaranda trees. That's my car on the far right--the one that used to belong to my folks. It's a silver Ford Taurus, but not easily identified with my brushwork. I think the second car got totaled... I'll have to fix that tommorrow, when I work again on the horses. $100

June 13 - Horses, a BIG One

Well, I thought I'd have a finished one for you today, but instead, a large one in process.  I DO have some tweaked ones put up in June's and May's archives.  I went back and finished the foggy morning workout for the Harness Tracks Auction (May 26th painting), and also finished up the details on June 4th's  "In a Mountain Valley".  More subtle the difference on the latter work, but major difference on the former!  Some of you have said you keep archives on your computer of these, so you'll really see a difference.
  Today's painting is the beginning of a commission of "horses coming at you" that was requested by a collector.  I'm doing this totally from my head without references, because to get those references, you'd have to be ready to be stomped!  So I have to imagine how the horses would look, the leg locations, and all the ordinary rest of the stuff, and plot out a design that will hold up from across the room.  Howard Pyle used to say, "thirty minutes, thirty yards" in talking about that crucial initial lay-in and how it must be a strong structure.  
  You can also see some of my working methods in that I sketched the horses, then started laying in one to an almost finished state, and then did the upper background.  The middle horse is next, and he is only about 1/3 finished.  The left horse will need some tweaking on the forelegs size, and I haven't decided what color yet

June 12 - Thunderheads over the Desert

"Evening Light, SRP" Below is the painting that came off my brushes when I first set up, at the gala at the Riverside Art Museum on Friday night.  It is a larger painting, 16 x 20 on board-backed canvas, and I surely enjoyed painting it.  Out of my head, from countless memories of the Santa Rosa Plateau.  In the days prior to the event, the desert skies to the east had been filled with tropical moisture, creating these wondrous thunderheads.  From the Plateau it is possible to see these, which dissipate as the sun sets.  The orange-y light of the approaching evening, and the dry grasses of the meadows create the compliment of the sky in the distance over the desert.  
  And I always love pathways...where are we going today? $300

June 11 - Backlit Oak and Rocks

This little painting (it is only 6 x 4 inches) is the second painting on location when the fog was rolling in while painting on location at the Santa Rosa Plateau again.  
  The light was changing, the colors becoming oh-so-subtle, and the need to quickly capture the composition, the values and the lighting were imminently crucial for the success of this little one.  I look at it now, and I can FEEL the time of day, the weather, and the light... can you?
  I truly like this painting.  Although a small one, it represents the true connection an artist can get in an on-location work.  100% done on location, no "tweaking", I'm honored to share it with you.