Sunday, February 22, 2009

Jessie's Grove Barn, 10 x 10 inches, oil.

Kim Fancher and I went out to Lodi to paint antique barns for a show at the Knowlton Gallery. Hey, sometimes the magic works-I like this one! It embodies the odd combination of freshness and precision that comes with plein air painting.
Carmel Dunes in the Morning, 18 x 24 inches, pastel.

This is a painting I did outdoors two years ago--reworked. I took it out last week and worked it over again, changing the format, cropping the base of the painting and enhancing the color. I am quite pleased with the result. It was too large a canvas to finish successfully outdoors. Sometimes that works, but sometimes the light just changes to fast to keep up.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Strawberries, detail of larger work, 16 x 20 inches, pastel.

I did this painting for a demonstration of few weeks ago for Artists by the Bay in San Mateo.
The painting, sadly, did not get completed. However, the small bits of cool blue really made the painting sparkle--without them, the strawberries looked dull and flat. That is a take home lesson that I can really live with, even though I did not get to finish the painting.