March 10 - Home from the Ranch, but still thinkin' about it...

I'm home now, long drive through some sere and desolate country between Tucson and Riverside. However, my mind is still on the vistas of the grasslands and mountains of Southern Arizona, so here's the first of two plein air paintings I did while there. This one is a 5 x 7 acrylic ($100), entitled "Through the Gate and Left--Horse Trail at Grapevine Canyon Ranch". Long title, but anyone who has stayed there will know this area! I still feel as if I'm there, not sitting here at my desk in my studio again. It will be a few days before I'm settled back in, but my first job was to water my recent plantings! Tomorrow I pick up my dog from the kennel, start shipping paintings and orders, and sort through the mail. And paint!
The entire postings for the Daily Paintings are here. I'm updating the www.dailypaintings.com website only once a week, and I'll get after that later this week. It will have links for purchase, unless you email me directly.

February 11 - At Sam Maloof's Place

"Sam and Beverly Maloof's Home" On location Saturday I did this 12 x 9 acrylic of the front entrance of the wonderful Craftsman style home of this American icon of woodworking. (You can find out more at http://www.malooffoundation.org )
The gardens are all drought tolerant and beautifully laid out with some of the trees actually having been moved from the old location to this newer property next to the San Gorgonio mountains. I wanted to paint some more, but as it was getting later, and I forgot my spray bottle to keep the paints moist, so I had to pack up.  $325

A photo of me and the icon of American furniture design.

After the rain this morning, I spent some time working in the yard, transplanting agave and aloe to new locations on the slopes, and filling the dumpster with more vegetation as we continue to clear up the property. It's starting to look more like "our" space now, and that is a comfort.

Howdy, Pardner! At the beginning of next month, I'm going to a working cattle ranch in southern Arizona for a week of painting and riding and teaching--they do have internet, so you'll be able to see lots of pictures and paintings! The daily paintings won't stop, but will definitely take on a more "cowboy" look for that week! And those Arizona skies...yum!

February 10 - The Four Seasons, Summer 5 x 7

"Summer Field" The final image of the four paintings depicting the seasons. The first one (Autumn, February 7) came from the source photograph, the other three are completely out of my imagination. The Color System makes it really easy to choose colors that work, and even change the season, because you have room to play since many of the problems are solved for choosing the color. I really enjoyed doing these four paintings, however now I need to produce some more serious work for galleries and the designer. Orignal 5 x 7 acrylic $120.

January 31 - Learning Time Again! Painting Lesson!

Learning time again!  Major changes to bring to you in today's painting, continuing the 12 x 12 oil from yesterday. Some very important things have happened, and I hope I have enough "room" in the message to share it with you! Note how I changed the packground, dividing up the rear space and more effectively placing the figures on a stage with a backdrop. Viewers are more comfortable when  given the illusion that the scene is "contained" for their intimate perusal. The shadowed wall behind, and the openings create that illusion. I cobbled together the new packground from other source photos taken at Del Mar Race Track. Love that tourquoise which is their color!
I have attached another image as an extremely important aspect of painting, demonstrated for you in taking this stage of the painting and manipulating it in my photo editing program. I took out all the color, and flipped it over, with the prime purpose of showing you how important abstract structure is (created in values). Structure is the skeleton of the artwork. Look at the placement and the relationships of the darkest values to the lightest values. And also note that although the background has openings in the wall, they are very close in value to the wall itself to convey the illusion that the wall and openings are further back in the picture. When you look at the upright, colored one, the values don't look that close back there!  I share this with you because one thing I find with many artists is a lack of understanding of how crucially important creating a strong value structure is to the end painting.

January 20 - Fairmont Park, Riverside, On Location Today

"Fairmont Park Afternoon" What a great time today! I received an email inviting me to join about 15 other plein air (on location) artists for a pot luck lunch and an afternoon of painting at a local park, complete with lake. This 9 x 12 oil is my first canvas, and it was fun to keep "cleaning out the boxes" and using a lot of paint to get the feeling I was after. The fishing folk on the pier were compliant enough to stay put and the palm trees on the right were fun to do with palette knife and lots of paint! Oil, 9 x 12 for $250 after I sign it!