Tangerines, 14 x 14 inches, oil, available.

Tangerines just arrived in the market next to my studio. This painting is done as a partner to the previous realism painting Two Pairs. I varied the method this time, though. Two Pears is done with lots of thin glazing, in the best classical tradition. This one is painted much more alla prima.

On another topic, I just returned from the bookstore with a new classical techniques textbook by Virgil Elliot called Traditional Oil Painting: Advanced techniques and concepts from the Renaissance tot he present. The book is dense and data rich--a true pleasure and reference for the scholarly artist, or artistic scholar.

Morning Barn, 24 x 36 inches, pastel, available.

Last week Kim Fancher and I went to Napa and Sonoma for a day of plein air painting. This painting, unfinished as it is, is done from photographs that I took of a decrepit beauty. We stopped by the COPIA center to see a fine exhibit of some of my favorite painters... Nancy MacDonald, Kevin Courter, Kim Fancher Lordier, Keith Wicks, Randall Sexton and someone new to me...Kristin Pallas--very nice paintings. Here are links to their work.

Kevin Courter

Kim Lordier

Nancy MacDonald

Kristine Pallas

Randall Sexton

Keith Wicks

Mayonnaise and Lemons, 6 x 6 inches, oil

Orange Landscape, 18 x 18 inches, pastel, available.

I just noticed that my blog features the color orange quite a lot lately...it must have something to do with fall. This painting is entirely made up, and painted on an used piece of paper. Working on a paper with the grain already partly filled resulted in an interesting scumble effect.

Plums and Persimmons, 18 x 24 inches, pastel, available.

This painting results from a demonstration I did at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts. As always, the less time spent rearranging the still-life, the better the painting.

Winter Squall, Sierra Buttes, 9 x 12 inches, pastel. available.

This painting was done mostly onsite at Sardine Lake in the Gold Lakes Basin north of Truckee. Below, you can see the painting as it was before I tidied it up a little. The original sketch was soaked by snow melting off of the lodgepole pines I was sitting under as I painted. I took a look at it in the studio and tightened up the shapes a little. I kind of like the result--it captures the dusting of snow the high country was getting that day.

Winter Squall, Sierra Buttes, 9 x 12 inches, pastel, before finishing.

Sierra Fall, 20 x 30 inches, oil with palette knife, available.

Here is another product, done from memory and photo reference from my recent trip to the Sierra.

Persimmon and Plum, 14 x 14 inches, palette knife oil.

Persimmons, 8 x 10 inches, oil on panel, available.

Here is another painting in the classical realism mode. As usual I went over to the produce section at the market, and stared at the fruit until I found something interesting to paint. These persimmons made me think of a very famous sumie-e painting called Five Persimmons that I just love. The persimmons ripened as I worked on the painting, each day they had become a richer color.

Sierra Aspens, 11 x 20 inches, pastel, available.

I just returned from a few days in the snow-frosted Sierra. It is fall in Hope Valley, all the aspens are in full blaze. I spent some time painting with Anita Wolff and her congenial group of students, including my pastel buddy, Susan Levitsky. It was very fun to paint with different people, with a very different approach to painting outdoors. I tether my paintings to a very strong value structure. This group are pure colorists--very fun to watch at work.