July 30 - Marathon Day!

Whew!  What a marathon day!  Not one, but TWO paintings, and both 30 x 20 inch acrylics.  A diptych, with each painting going on one side of an armoire for this La Quinta commission--the FINAL paintings!
  Tomorrow I UPS the tube of paintings (these were painted unstretched) and then sit back and twiddle my thumbs (not!) until escrow closes on the new-to-us house.  Very exciting!  We were over there today, taking pictures and meeting the owner, learning about this special house, and I took 53 photos.  I'll cobble together a web page with the details about the new studio and the site.  Turns out the entire property is surrounded by dedicated open space, county parkland!  Privacy and no close neighbors!
  The painting today is the left side painting as one-half of the two paintings.  Doing these unstretched is an interesting endeavor.  I cut the canvas with an extra three inches all around so the framer would have a lot to work with, and then used a piece of foam core to back the canvas.  It was held on the foam core with two clips at the top.  Then I put the foam core and canvas up on the easel.  It's not much different than working on a board-backed canvas.  I used an extra couple of larger clips to hold it steady and got to work.  I'd marked the canvas with a pencil delineating the edges, and then gesso'd the surface.  When I work on canvas with acrylics, I always gesso first, because that gives me a consistency of "tooth" on which to start painting.  This painting is already SOLD to Greene and Associates.

July 29 - Oak Savannah

"Oak Savannah Evening" is an 18 x 24 inch acrylic, showing a full range of color and bathed in the warmth of the evening light.  The quercus agrifolia, or Coastal Live Oak, is a common native to the grasslands of the plateaus of the coastal mountains and valleys of California.  We have one here on our acreage, possibly 400 years old.  Gnarled and with small spined leaves, deer and goats enjoy browsing the lower branches.  I painted this with layers of color, developing the deep values of the tree and shadow areas, and making passes of lighter colors to develop the sunlit areas and details.  Using acrylics this way allows the viewer's eye to travel deeply into the painting while remaining in a small visual area.  The depth of the layers creates interesting interactions of color transparency, which is one of the major reasons I enjoy using them.  Available for $350 as an 18 x 24
This painting is SOLD to Dee and Dick Staley of Lake Elsinore, California.

July 28 - Rocks, another decorator commission

This is the third and final 16 x 20 painting for the hallways of the new facility over in La Quinta who's name is a mystery to me (they said if I knew more they'd have to kill me), and now I need to begin two 30 x 20 deserts for either side of a large armoire (sp?).  I cannot conceive of how this place is going to look, so I'm certainly going to make a point to go see it, or at least have someone over in the desert take some pictures for me, after they're installed.
  When this weekend is over, I can get back to "regular" painting, focusing on some new color work, the paintings for the next DVDs, and just "relax" back into equine paintings.  Of course, August has a high school reunion (toomany years, y'know) and my birthday's coming up soon.
 
I really enjoyed painting this one, as I hauled out the high solid gels to texture up the brush marks, and that lent itself well to the rocks.  This painting is SOLD to Greene and Associates.

July 27 - Ocatillo Desert

I got a bit side-tracked today, we went and looked at a house that set off all the bells and whistles for both of us, and we have been doing the scrambling to get paperwork in order to make the "offer they can't refuse".
  It's a buyer's market now, mostly, so we'll have to wait and see if everything works out.  However, I pulled back and painted a 5 x 7 acrylic today because of all the interruptions to the normal procedures.  It's a nice one, though, with the grays and softness of the Southwest desert light.  Although small, it definitely has a warm and colorful feeling. This one IS for sale.  $100.
This painting has been SOLD to the collection of Berta Strulovici of Philadelphia.

July 26 - Another Decorator Commission

Today's painting is a 16 x 20 acrylic, destined (just received the approval) to be sited in an entry of this project in La Quinta, along with two others.  it is one of those scenes found in the Coachella Valley in the evening--sunlight and the green of the fields below the mountains. I have such a deadline to meet, that I feel some pressure (as if painting every day with a new one to show you wasn't pressure--well, it isn't.  But I digress.)
  I sense the pressure extrinsically rather than from within, as having to do work for another's expectations and with a definite timeline is always challenging.  But as artists, isn't the challenge--the puzzle--what drives us to paint?  I know that's a major factor in my work.  There's the puzzle of the design, what works, what doesn't.  The puzzle of how to make it all work together so the painting doesn't look like a couple of jig saw pieces got into the mix.  The puzzle of how to make the viewer stay within the design, and directed on the path I have to figure out while creating.  As your eyes wander over this painting, make a note of where your gaze rests, where your eyes go next.  Those are paths in design intentionally made for you.  To ignore paths is to either confuse your viewers or create disinterest.  A good book for learning about visual paths is Edgar Payne's Composition in Landscape Painting.
This painting is already SOLD to Greene and Associates.

July 25 - Evening Palm

It is nice to sit down after a long day with a glass of White Merlot (Sutter Home) and a couple slices of smoked provolone as the evening closes in with the quiet and velvety thick dark.   I prepare to close up the studio for the night.  The weather has been so brutally hot, the only way I can get any decent work done in there is to literally go jump in the pool and come back inside soaking wet.  I completed one of the seven paintings for the commissions for the La Quinta job, and this one is the second one off the easel.  I apologize for the image quality--it is 30 x 20 inches, and I couldn't get consistent light on it tonight.  Maybe it is the wine?...but I think it's the size of it. 
SOLD to Sally Green and Associates, Interior Decorators

July 24 - A Figurative Work

Do you think an artist ever truly "arrives"?  By that I mean achieve all their creative goals?  I don't think so.  Every time I reach a new level of knowledge in my technique, a new challenge presents itself. This is good, both for me and for artists reading this.  Many of you have emailed kind words of enthusiasm about my work, and of course I am grateful.  But even an artist who seems to make it look easy has challenges.  That's part of what this art creating is all about.  One can never "arrive"!  We are all on a journey to different destinations, with the destination constantly moving!  Frustrating?  Only if you focus on the destination instead of all the beautiful points along the way.  One of the reasons I don't get intimidated by a blank canvas is because I always see it as a step on my journey, not a performance on the platform of the destination.  It's all in the attitude you bring to the easel.  Am I learning, or performing?  Yesterday's painting opened a door to new thoughts about edges and space, and now I will be following a different destination's path on controlling more of the execution of those elusive edges for better paintings.  "It never ends." When applied to things other than art, that would elicit a sigh.  I have a huge grin on my face!

Today's painting is a 6 x 6 gallery-wrap oil, and just a bit of fun.  Called "In the Park" it shows a man and his dog, both taking what we call "practice naps".  Perhaps he was at an obedience trial?  Or retired and just enjoying the day in the park.  No matter who or why, the scene is timeless, and tinged with humor.  Those of you looking for some learning, notice the gradual transition from intense foreground colors with high contract between light and shadow, versus the distant areas, made clearly so because of less contrast, and less color intensity.

July 23 - Second Plein Air, Virgas

"Virgas" I have been told that when rain falls out of a cloud and doesn't reach the ground, that phenomenum is called a virga. Last night we had a bunch of them as the thunder and lightning moved away, and the evening light showed through the storm clouds in a glory of sunset glow that was changing as fast as I could paint it. This is the second canvas of the "Sitting Outside in the chair at the Opening" paint session while it was so hot. It is a 7 x 5 inch oil, and I feel it realy captures that light in the sky at this time of day. $100

July 22 - Plein Air Again

"Remnants of the Storm" Tonight was the gallery opening of "Au Naturel", the group show of the Plein Air Artists of Riverside (PAAR), from 6 to 9 pm.  Showing about 50 pieces, it was diverse and yet a collection of very good plein air work.  It was HOT, however, I mean the temperature.  Today it ranged from 108 to 112 in our area with 38-45% humidity, and rotund thunderstorms marched across the skies, thwacking lightning and big winds around like an upset, overweight shopper.
  We dodged one storm on our way in, but ran smack dab through another one to get to the show.  I brought my oils, in my smaller plein air setup, and braved the storm and heat by sitting outside to do a couple little 7 x 5 canvases.  The air was fresh, and although it felt like "breathing soup" (love that line), I managed to do two paintings before the light left.  Today's is the first, showing the clouds and the changing sky as the sun approached the horizon.  Those of you familiar with my color system will know exactly where each color went, and why.  But I broke one rule, and you might see it in the darker values of the clouds.  
  Sold to new collector Charlotte McDavid of Birmingham, Alabama.

July 21 - New Book Out!

Here's a bit of news! I have a new book coming out in August from Walter Foster, which is in kit form with the paints right along with the lessons! I was searching on the web for links to and from my site, and found that Walter Foster has taken six of the lessons from my Horses in Acrylics book and printed this lessons-with-supplies book! Geared for the beginning painter in acrylics, this is a hardbound book due to hit Amazon.com and other art book stores next month. So your daily painting is on the cover of this book--it was a 12 x 16 acrylic, and is SOLD to Lynda Sappington, another author who also sculpts horses who I'm honored to call a friend. You can find out more about this book here. (Opens a new window.)

July 20 - Aussie Dog Commission Finished

Well, here's Roper, finished and hopefully pleasing the Wood family. If one chooses to do commissioned work, as I do oftentimes, one always has the knowledge that as an artist, you are painting to a memory. That can be really difficult, because  you in your artist-mode look at the imagery supplied see the possibilities based upon your training and experience. Yet in the head of the people asking you to do this is a complex idea of what was, or what they remember, having changed what was to "fit" their own perceptions.   

I enjoy doing commissions, because I believe my abilities lie in being able to get inside the source material, to find the real "life" in the animal (or person). So far, I've been either lucky, or people are too afraid of my reputation to come back and say, "Um, Elin, I hate to say this, but our beloved Pookie's eyes weren't crossed." But they'll always be a first time.

Maybe I get away with a lot because I'm such a loose painter.  Artists whose work is needle tight tend to attract the jobs that we artists like to call "commissions from Hell", because the people like to see every freckle and hair in place. I'd never make it in those circles!

July 19 - Australian Shepherd Commission

Today's painting is the beginning stages of a commissioned piece, of a beloved Australian Shepherd, owned by Judy and Bill Wood of Canada.  I'm including two of the photographs I'm using for source material, and also making changes depending upon the request of the family for whom I'm painting this.
  I tend to "grope" at this phase, making things out of proportion because in the second pass of this 16 x 12 oil, I'll really find the edges I need, and make the corrections.  Please don't write and tell me the dog's face is all 'wrong"... I'll fix that tomorrow!
  You can see the major color areas at this point, but the painting does not have the "life" I like to bring to posthumous portraits yet.  Tomorrow, if all goes well, it will.
Not for Sale.

July 18 - Dozing (Appaloosa Horse)

"Dozing" Today we have a little exercise in color, working out some details for perhaps a larger painting,  This tricolor Appaloosa is dozing in the heat of a day, full of the humidity we have been experiencing lately.  It's a 6 x 6 acrylic on gallery wrap, and just seems to ooze that sleepy time of day.  Must be because I'm kinda tired tonight?
  Those of you looking to learn something, note the values.  Take it into a photo editing program and take out the color (desaturate) and look at the values, where the contrast is strongest, the movement of darks to keep you in the painting.  It is also a complimentary color scheme, blue/orange. $100 via Paypal or through my Daily Paintings web site.

July 17 - Downtown Idyllwild

Today's painting is another acrylic.  I really need to switch the taboret around and get back to oils, but oh! I do love the acrylics, too!  This is a little 5 x 7 view down the main street of the mountain community of Idyllwild, looking toward the landmark Lily Rock, same one I painted in different light a few days ago.  I have done this scene on location in a larger format, and it was fun to revisit it with only a rather poor photo I took at the time.  When you have lousy source material, it really takes you to task to produce something more from your core.  I heard a quote today on National Public Radio that sort of fits:  "Sometimes you just have to take the leap and create the wings on your way down."  Doesn't that clearly describe what painting can be?  It doesn't work for tax records, but it can be a lot of fun when you just KNOW you've flown before, to pick up those brushes without a hint of wings, and be soaring by the time the painting is finished.
SOLD to new collectors Bert and Peg Hall of Roseville, California.

July 16 - Lesson Paianting Finished, "Moonlight"

"Moonlight on the Water" Here is the mid-month lesson painting, all finished now. You can compare the two images right next to one another and see the improvements. With such a good beginning, the second time spent with the work is mostly about edges. The entire painting was painted over completely in this pass, adding interest to larger areas with variations of color and brush work, yet the weight and importance of each transition and edge was considered to maintain the hierarchy of edges--subordination to the most important ones--near the focal point. Adding the lighter green grass between the moon and its watery reflection creates a wonderful feeling of distance and softness to the scene.

Completely out of my head, this 12 x 16 on board can be purchased. $225 (Sale Pending)

July 15 - Lesson painting, first pass

How did it get to be the 15th so fast?  My goodness.  I promised you a lesson back on the first, so here it is.  This day we're beginning a 12 x 16 acrylic, a moonlight scene (I still have the acrylic palette near the easel).  The subject is partially out of my head, and partially based on visual memories of the Vernal Pools at the Plateau.  These pools are shallow seasonal lakes that disappear by this time of year.  
I first did a quick sketch to locate the horizon line, the focal points and the major shapes of the design.  The second phase is to gesso the canvas before starting with any paint.  I gesso under acrylics because the layers are initially thin, and I like the brilliant white of the canvas for that first layer.  Then this first covering of the entire canvas goes on, to both get rid of the white and also to establish the abstract structure.  
  The majority of colors used in this pass are the cool palette, mostly Ultramarine Blue, Thalo Green and white in the landscape, and white, alizarin crimson, yellow ochre and ultramarine blue in the sky.  The moon was loosely painted in (isn't even ROUND!) with cadmium orange and white.
  Water is generally done with vertical strokes of anything that is reflected (tree shapes) and horizontal strokes for anything that is caught on the surface (the moon reflection).  
  Even in this first pass to cover the canvas, you can see a lot of the finished idea already.  Lots more to do, though.

July 14 - Lily Rock in Idyllwild

Today's painting is a 15 x 30 ACRYLIC (about time I went back to them, ehh?) of a monolith rock in Strawberry Valley, called Lily Rock, in  the mountain community of Idyllwild.  Idyllwild  sits at 6200 feet, is cool when its over 100 down here, and a favorite place to go to enjoy the pines and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  This painting is going to the gallery up there, and will be delivered tomorrow, Saturday, along with three others.  Idyllwild is not in the fire zone, but is across the Palm Springs/desert pass from the 62,000 acre blaze in the San Gorgonio wilderness--that's headed to Big Bear.  Tomorrow it is supposed to reach a record high of 110 degrees Fahrenheit down here. What a challenge for the firefighters.  Blech.  However, most of the central and western United States is under heat wave as well, I hear, so I'd best do no complaining!  This one will only be for sale through the gallery in Idyllwild.

The beach was nice yesterday, now to the other extreme--the mountains!  No matter, either place is cooler than around here!

July 13 - Tide Pools (Plein Air)

Here I sit in a coffee shop on the edge of the ocean, looking out at an idyllic ocean scene near Laguna Beach, and enjoying a blended latte. (Love the wifi!) I watch people walking on the beach and enjoying the summer evening.  I've spent the day enjoying some of the great contemporary artists whose work is on display in the Laguna Festival of the Arts, and environs-- a lovely day of art and enjoyment, culminated by a plein air painting session on the edge of the waves.
  "Tide Pools" is a view looking over the edge of the cliffs north of the beach area, into the marine sanctuary, in the late afternoon, well before sunset.  The high horizon line (edge of the ocean) in the composition definitely tells the viewer that you are high above the water.  The waves come in, break and leave the sea foam and spin drift as residuals of the white waves, and under the clear water, you see the rocks of the submerged tide pools in the foreground.
SOLD to new collector Emilie Buchwald of Edina, Minnesota, founder and publisher of Milkweed Editions.

July 12 - Royal Anne Cherries

My mom grew up in Seattle, and the Northwest is known for its cherries, especially the Royal Annes.  As a kid in Virginia, I was able to enjoy them only canned, and it was such a treat to have my Mom bring a can home, and we'd open it and eat them together, laughing at how good they were.  Nowadays we can enjoy them fresh from the store, and as a rare treat, I brought home a small bag today.  While I enjoyed the rest of them, I set up five singles as this still life.  But I had an accident, and all five rolled off the platform and into the mineral spirits!  I fished them out with a brush, wiped them down, and set the still life up again.  Keeping them set up was certainly a lot easier as I wasn't tempted to eat them before I finished!

  I like to call this one "May I Have This Dance?" in its 6 x 6 oil state on gallery wrap canvas. I hope you enjoy it. 
SOLD to the collection of Suzanne McCurdy of Colville, Washington.

July 11 - Cantaloupe

"Cantaloupe" Way back last year, when I started these daily paintings, I sliced a cantaloupe melon and painted it.  Tonight I did the same, and this one turned out sweeter!  Ahh the fruits of summer--is there anything better?  This is a six by six oil, on gallery wrap canvas, and the slice of cantaloupe is gone as a delicious night snack, but not from this painting! $100

July 10 - Apple, sliced

"An Apple a Day" - Well, not really.  This Gala has been getting sliced and given to the studio canary as a treat over the last several days.  I did a bit more slicing on it tonight and it whispered, "Paint me."  After a dunk in some lemon juice (to keep it from darkening in the setup), off it went to the studio and now is preserved in oils forever on this five by seven canvas.  A rather simple subject, after yesterday's profound one.  Simple still life setups such as today's painting are a good way for you (and me) to relax, and still paint.  One doesn't have to do the equivalent of Raphael's "Madonna of the Meadows" every time we lift our brushes.  Sometimes something simple flexes the mental and hand muscles just enough to provide the links between bigger works.  There is still enough design thought going on, the placement of the slices, the lighting with consideration for the shadow shapes.  There's the real exercise! $100

July 9 - Mom, I'm still grieving

Why is it so hard to paint one's mother's face?  I am revisiting dealing with my Mom's death last April, and the only way I can cope with the wash of sadness is to paint her.  I keep finding images and even when looking at myself, I see her.  This image is her in the one bed-room apartment where she moved shortly after my dad died.  Living independently, perhaps not yet using her walker, she is a mature woman, lit from the sliding glass doorway to her small patio.  She used to put her index finger on her cheek just the way you see it here, and although odd, is a normal pose.  I find myself doing it, too.  The composition is one of strength, with the verticals framing her, objects of her life on the shelf of the china cabinet behind her, and the split-leaf philodendron almost paying homage to her spirit.  All of her houses had one of these tropical plants, some growing several feet tall.

In the collection of my sister, Leslie Gerhardt of Anaheim, California

July 8 - Gallery Show Opening

Tonight was the opening of the Summer Art Show at the Santa Rosa   Plateau Visitors' Center, and I thought you would enjoy some images  from that opening. It was crowded, sales were good, and there were 14  other artists showing their work on the walls and room dividers. I  spent time talking to my friends and collectors, (that's Gabriel  Baber with me in two of the images) and thoroughly enjoyed the  evening. I had several paintings on display, and the invitation  painting is the big one behind me in the upper left and left side of  the image. This show benefits the Foundation, charged with finding  funds to provide transportation for every third grader to come up to  the Plateau from every elementary school within fifty miles.  Fun  evening, but no new painting. I hope you enjoy this look into the  
artist's life.

July 7 - Summer Aspens

I had been talking on the phone with the curator of the show at the Santa Rosa Plateau (yes, Rob, that's what you are!), and mentioned a planned visit to the White Mountains of Arizona perhaps in August.  I love the mountains, and that conversation planted the seeds of this quick 6 x 6 canvas of backlit summer aspens.  I certainly hope there is a little trip to see them and paint from life this summer.  If not, I'll still see them in October when they turn.
Loads of paint and brushwork on this one. $125

July 6 - Washing Up at Del Mar Race Track

Sometimes a painting will tell me how big it needs to be.  This was the case today, when I pulled out a 6 x 4 inch canvas, and then sorted through some of the un-filed photo references to pick something to brighten your day.  A couple of photos of this girl washing "her favorite racehorse" at Del Mar caught my eye, and so I composited it up into a quick design.  It wouldn't cooperate and fit into a rectangle. And the power of the structure of the painting wouldn't lend itself to a small format of only six inches.  Take a look at the lines and movement of the structure, and think about where your eye goes as it wanders over the canvas.  Each part is designed to carry your eye on a journey. Even the two buckets need to be there.
 So to solve my dilemma about size, I retrieved a canvas from my "paint over them before they see the light of day" pile and brought this one to life on a 12 x 12 inch box canvas.  When I paint over a canvas, I always paint thickly, and never over one that has a final varnish.  It was with a sigh of relief that I obliterated a cute palm tree with a coconut wrapped like a present.  You don't want to go there, trust me!
  Join with me tonight as I raise a glass of wine to honor the sacrifice of a bad painting, and to celebrate with you the birth of a better one.  
  12 x 12 inches, on gallery-wrap (no framing needed) and I'm enjoying the painting of human figures these few days.  $400

July 5 - Beach Babes

"Beach Babes"  I just love this daily painting!  Why?  First and foremost, it has good, solid design.  Second, it is a fun painting.  There are SO many possible stories to entertain the viewer.  It gives everyone, from the gossip to the voyeur, something to appeal to the senses.  I took the reference photos for this a few years ago when I was out at Catalina Island (you know, the one off the coast of California, "Twenty-six miles across the sea.").  People were lounging on the sand, and playing in the harbor water.  The design on this one is strong and interdependent.  Put your fingers over any one figure or item in the composition, and you'll see what I mean; it just weakens the painting.  Most reference shots you take are never as well designed as what the artist can do with their skills.
  Beach scenes also give me an opportunity to really pull out the stops on color.  Beachwear is bright and generally has a ton of pure color.  For this painting, I resurrected one of my favorite Classsic Oils, Platinum Violet.  You'll see it in the bathing suits and the shadow on the distant man's tee shirt.  
  Although this one isn't a lesson painting, there is much to learn from it.  
  A 12 x 16 oil, it is available for $400.

July 4 - Lesson Painting Finished!

"Keeping Cool" a 12 x 16 demonstration painting for the daily painting group, now finished. Contrast this with the July 3 work, and you'll see how much has been detailed out and adjusted to give your eye something to enjoy in every part of the canvas. There are small areas of rest for the eyes, like the upper right bluish corner, and the larger tree leaves above the riders, but the rest of the canyon and stream area are full of visual brushwork excitement.
Note the use of the warm thalo blue on the jeans (nowhere else) to bring your eye to the figures, and the use of alizarin in the light shirt of the left rider. This is intentional, to bring you to the focal point. The flashes of ultramarine blue and white in the lower right and on the left of the riders are "hop scotch spots" for your eye to travel through the painting. I bet you can find more!
You'll see that I haven't strayed far from the original rough structure, which still holds up, even though the layers on top and brushwork have made the structure less important. You can easily see it by squinting your eyes almost closed. That abstract structure really, REALLY matters!

July 3 - Lesson Painting Continued

Remember I said that working on the mid-values is a step to making a good painting better? The mid values are my largest area of the canvas, and those middle values play subordinate rolls to both the darks and especially the lights. In this image (bluish glare on upper right, sorry) you can see that I have taken the larger areas laid in, and made each of them more interesting to the viewer, without leaving the value range of that area. "Embellishing the big shapes".
This part of the painting process takes about as long as the final details--I just use bigger brushes! When I eventually DO get to the details of the water and the two riders, I'll use smaller brushes, and more pure color. I will also break the rules on warm/cool, putting some warms in the shadowed figures to really make them jump out at you. The reason I choose to do this is the figures are also middle value, and I have to contrast them from the major part of the painting, and I can only use purity of color and/or switching the palettes (using warm in a shadowed area) to really catch your eye.

July 2 - Second Day of Lesson Painting

Second "mental mindset" of the process of painting begins with the laying in of the middle values.  This painting will be slightly below mid-key, which means there will be a dominance (in area) of middle values; a slightly smaller area of darks, and then the littlest area (square inches) composed of the light values.  Since I'm aware of this going in, I can spend a goodly amount of time working on variances within the middle value range to create interest in these non-focal-point areas.  The theory about balance of values comes directly from Edgar Whitney, an American watercolorist and extraordinary teacher who wrote a book on painting. Most of the book is about designing good paintings, and I've adopted his "Mama, Papa, Baby" balancing of values as explained above, to my work.  He talks about six value plans, that have proven to be most desirous on our eyes, and which make good paintings for collectors. 

So these middle values are being embelished and made interesting before I even begin to paint the focal points.  They of course will be subordinate to the final brush strokes.  I'm using my Color System palette, staying with warms in the sunlight and cools in the shadows and grayed colors everywhere.  Why? Because grayed colors pause the eye, and allow the viewer to "get" more out of the painting.  I can remember standing in front of a Leslie Humphrey oil a year ago and just in awe of her mastery of grays.  The only semi-pure color in the piece was in the tail of the horse going over the brush.  I understood what she did with that painting, and how masterful it is.  Most artists don't mix good grays, so their work doesn't captivate the viewer.

July 1 - Lesson Painting, Step One

Beginning with July, I'm going to do two lessons a month for you. Here is the first lesson painting: "Keeping Cool" Today I took my mare and met up with some other riders at Bonelli Park, near Raging Waters water park for a four-hour ride. The temperatures soared to 112 F, and where we rode it was 104. HOT weather... You can see a picture of me (covered because I don't want to risk skin cancer) on my mare in the water where we cooled off, through this link. I took our small digital camera, and later combined two photos of the other riders in the stream bed into a great composition for a 12 x 16 painting that sits now on the easel. Today I'm sending you the link to the source material (combo of two digital images) . I have the painting about 90% finished right now, and I'm really excited how it is turning out.
Please go to the source image and then compare it to the first pass I've sent to you today. I ask you to do that, because that will give you an insight into what I change to make common photography into good paintings. You might look at this and ask yourself, "What would I do with this image?"
To explain the first lay in, I am developing the abstract structure over a mid-value toned canvas. For this toning, I used Artist Spectrum brand Italian Pink, which turns out to be a lovely grayed transparent yellow. Over that, I've blocked in the structure of the darker values using a larger brush and burnt umber and thalo green. These dark values will be the larger stage against which colors and lesser value contrasts will play. Note the asymmetrical balance, which will be set to a steelyard by a smaller focal point on the right side nearer the right shore.
Tomorrow the lesson continues. This one will go three days (Hey, family's coming over for a barbeque tomorrow--I have to clean house at some point!)

June 30 -

It is the end of the month, and 178 paintings so far this year... I hope you're enjoying them!  Sometimes I just have to paint things, and other times the painting subject eludes me, and i need to go search for it.  Tonight was a compromise--I had images in my head, and sorting through reference material, came up with an old B/W of a plowing match, on one of those foggy days.  This needs a bit more work, but I'm happy with it so far.  It is a 10 x 20 canvas, so it is also a bit larger than most dailies.  You'll see the "fixed" one replacing this one in a few days.
  I do have a couple of commissions coming up (Kim, yours!!) and want to spend some time on them... but not until after this weekend!  Family's coming over on Sunday, and I have to hunt down the dust bunnies, and even throw a pot and pan around the kitchen.  Cleaning the pool was no problem, because the water is 90, and the air was just a bit above that.  Nice!

June 29 - Milk Maid

Today's painting is another 6 x 8 (I have a couple boxes of them and they just keep popping up on my easel) of a girl I'm either calling "Yellow Dress" or "Before Milking".
  Had a lot of fun painting the figure, trying to get the nuances of the arm shapes and her pose to look relaxed.  Buckets are a passel of fun to paint!  And the source was a black and white old time photo, so I had to brighten up her dress and give her a contemporary hair and "look".  Using the Color System made painting the lights and shadows on the grass near and into the distance a piece of cake.  
  Now I have a cat sitting here next to the keyboard wondering if I am going to feed her.  That's the Pesto kitty, so named for her consistent need for attention.  Perhaps she will be tomorrow's subject?

June 28 - That Still Life Again, in Oils

Remember that I did the acrylic version of this still life for the Del Mar Fair a couple months ago? They took it and presented it on a wall with other artists who had approached this same subject using distinct media, including oils, watercolor, pastel, and drawing. The idea was to educate and entertain. I saw the final framed works, and it makes an impressive presentation! The Del Mar Fair runs through next Tuesday, and I won't be able to get down there again. I ran across the reference photo while "de-piling" the studio, and thought you'd enjoy seeing my take on it in oils, at least half as much as I enjoyed painting this little 8 x 6 canvas. Real quick, real small, but still enjoyable in the terseness of it all!
So although the larger 16 x 20 is gone for education, now I have a smaller version replete with all that color. However, at $175 it might be gone, too.

June 27 - Smoke Trees from the Desert

"Smoke Trees" This is a 16 x 20 canvas for today's painting, and I had fully intended to do this one in stages, to show the different points of development--sort of an online lesson.  But....  I went into the studio to start this one, and it just got ahold of me and wouldn't let go!  I just fought and released myself long enough to escape to the computer to send this to you.  It is 90-100% finished now, and I'm quite pleased with it.  Now I'm not going back in there, because I just might paint all night!  If I do tweak it some more, I'll post an update on June's archive at the dailypaintings.com site.  
  For those of you not familiar with the low deserts of California, in the dry washes you can find smoke trees, so named because from a distance their spiny, leafless branches give the impression of smoke. In the summer months they have purple blooms.  Hardy to a fault, they grow to about 20 feet.

June 26 - Color Study, Del Mar Race Track

"Color Study, Del Mar" I spent some time now that I'm home, in the studio looking over some sales catelogues from Sotheby's from some time ago. They auctioned off a few Sir Alfred Munnings' paintings, and I enjoyed seeing how he manipulated a brush. This little 6 x 4 painting resulted in the wee hours of the night, to put into practice what came through my eyes earlier in the day. The essence of the subject, with rich brushmarks. This source was a photo I took at Del Mar last summer. One of the things I was working toward is the thick aplication of paint, without overworking any area. Now I'm off to sleep, with a full plate this week and many more daily paintings about which to dream! Original oil, shown actual size of 6 x 4 inches $100 from the artist. 

June 25 - Barb Reading

"Barb Reading" Here I sit, trapped in the Denver Airport, having had the most wonderful day, until spiraling down to a lousy return batch of problems that I'd not wish on my worst enemy!  First, since I didn't make my connecting flight on my arrival on the 22nd, the airline assumed I'd died, and sold my seats, effectively canceling my return reservations, for which I'd PAID, of course!  After unsnarling the first leg of my flight, I get on the plane, and I find that someone from the prior flight had urinated on the cushion and then hidden it under napkins and a blanket.  YUCK!  
  Sigh....
  Now I'm on standby with a three hour wait for my flight to our local airport in Southern California, which is already 40 minutes behind schedule.  I did get a bit of money for the hassles they caused me, but if anyone can learn from this, I'll sure feel better.  Let 'em know you're still alive if you miss a flight, even if it is their fault!  I don't fly enough to know these kinds of things, and they don't TELL you.  You'd think with my email and phone address, someone would call instead of taking away my flights!
  This morning we enjoyed a wonderful brunch and then I painted Barb, who thoroughly enjoys the newspapers and the game of Scrabble.  This is a 9 x 12 inch canvas, (which she now owns) showing her sitting at Gaye's dining room table.  It took me a little over an hour to do. I love the feeling of light...
  I'm sending it early, because I know I'm going to be stuck in this airport for a while, and will be home a bit late..
SOLD

June 24 - Monument Park Russian Olive

"Russian Olive in Monument Park" On location to paint the view to the Colorado Rockies from the creek that runs north/south through Colorado Springs. While my two friends went walking, I plunked down and plugged in the Ipod to hear "The DaVinci Code" and painted this 12 x 16 oil. the Russian olive trees are a beautiful smoke gray, like smoke trees in my familiar California desert. I love their contrast against the greens. And of course the sound of trickling water isn't too shabby! SOLD

June 23 - Gaye Relaxing

"Relaxing" This is my coworker ffrom 32 years ago when I lived and worked in Germany in the mid 70s, and at whose house I am currently staying. Gaye is full of humor and life, with a joy that is hard to beat. Raised mostly in Europe, she and I worked for the military (not in) and had a great time in our 20s while single and living overseas. We'd been out among the shops and stores, and had come back to the house to relax before taking my rental car to the airport. I have always wanted to capture that elfin look of hers, and think I've finally succeeded. 9 x 12 oil

June 22 - From Colorado Springs

I'm writing to you from Colorado Springs, in the state of Colorado, tonight, and am visiting friends I used to work with (ulp) 32 years ago, when I lived and worked in Europe. We've gathered to share memories and catch up with our lives, and it will be a gloriously fun weekend. However, I missed my connecting flight from Denver, so I had to rent a car and drive down. It's really late, and a "wet" daily isn't forthcoming. Interesting, though... when I arrived at my friend's place, my eyes fell on a painting I had done shortly after we'd met.
Now this is to be taken with a grain of salt, folks. This one is 30 years old, and I had no record or memory of it! It even has my *old* name signed... archivists will have a field day tracking down these...um... "gems".

June 21 - Summer Squash

"Summer Squash" What's meaningful today? Oh, I went into the garden for the first time in a week, and did some weeding... and the zucchini and summer straight neck squash were already producing! I picked, threw a couple really big ones (how does zucchini DO that--grow so big so fast?) to the chickens, and brought this one in to the studio for today's painting.
The way the leaf was attached at the stem was intriguing, and its placement like a hand on the counter seemed to lend itself to a stalwart message... "We are not through yet; you will be buried in summer squash!" I'm fine with that, because his brethren were mighty tasty! How does your garden grow? The pole beans are next, followed by the summer sweet corn, which is about four feet tall today.
Original oil, 6 x 8 inches, done with palette knife on the highlights, and a single source light for chiaroscuro. Enjoy! Here's one that won't get away from you in size, and will stay scrumptious on your wall forever! $100

June 20 - In at Del Mar (Thoroughbred)

"In at Del Mar" A punny title on the sign, and the action in this painting.  The groom is leading the horse "into" the track area, the sign says "IN", and we are definitely "in" Del Mar Race Track!
  This was a 12 x 16 demonstration painting for my demo at the San Diego County Fair today.  I enjoyed the demo after a rough start, with phone calls and forgetting the ticket entry stuff, having to drive back to get them, and being late on account of it all.  However I stayed later and kept on painting.  
  Problem with this one, is it is a bit too complex to be a demonstration piece (for me).  I was talking the entire time and I need time to process the details and the overall planning.  Although it has a strong abstract structure holding it together, it is weak in a bunch of areas (don't tell me, I know where they are!!)  
  It will be reworked perhaps tomorrow, and reposted in a finished state, perhaps as a learning/lesson.  Hopefully it will be worth the wait.  It is deep in the "uglies" at the moment!
  After the demonstration, I spent the rest of the afternoon being a "Fair Junkie", seeing all the kitchen gadgets, the carnies with the carnival rides (I like looking at the people who run the rides--not the rides themselves!), shopping for odds and ends, and eating all the "heartburn specials" that are peculiarly found only at county fairs.  Can you say "Haystack Onions?"  I've also posted a link to a nice digital of the view from the Sky Ride that I took.  Very Del Mar Fair.
  Fun day!

June 19 - More Cowboy Coffee

"Now what?" He's got his coffee, and has a *look* on his face.  Could be he broke too many broncs and the pieces of his face don't fit together so well any more.  Could be he thinks you're a greenhorn!  Could be he's got some inner joke going on, but regardless of the reason, he has a Mona Lisa smile on his craggy face.  Can you see it there, in the twinkle of his eye?  Original oil, 12 x 9 inches.
  Enough already, it is after midnight and this is the same fellow pouring the coffee from yesterday, but now he's going to down some of his brew.  If I work him over some more, I think I'll turn him into a Sam Elliott kinda guy...
  Fun to paint tho', even if it is night owl time!

June 18 - Cowboy Coffee

"Sharing a Cup"  I drink coffee.  Love the stuff.  I even have a Capresso 1300 automatic machine in the studio, I'm that bad about it.  OK, I drink decaf.  Now don't jump all over me about health risks, I know the story.  I just love the aroma, the flavors, the... nevermind.  Today's painting is about coffee.  It is about sharing the pouring of a cup of java between friends.  It is only 12 x 12 inches, and FELL off my brushes. I just love the guy's hands.  Nice to have the muse back in the house!  This from source material taken at Big Bear in 2003.  I keep references for ages, because back in '03 I didn't have the skills to tackle this subject.  We can grow into our source material!
$300 from me.

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.