Apricot Jam. 12 x 16 inches, pastel.

My mom and I made apricot jam for 5 hours last weekend. I loved the color of the jam and included it in a demonstration still-life that I created for the Frank Bette Center Plein Air paintout. What a wonderful reason to use orange!

Cottonwoods, 23 x 26 inches, pastel.

Here is a work in progress done from a photo taken at one of my favorite painting spots in Bolinas. I do not think it is really done yet, in spite of having signed it.

Alameda Crane, 9x12 inches, pastel.

This painting was completed as a demonstration for my workshop in Alameda. The color harmony of the painting is really the point. I was pleased with the fairly original color harmonies in the painting.

For the first time on a trip to visit family-in-law in the Netherlands, I was able to get some painting done! Yay! I also visited the Mauritshuis in the Hague and viewed the Girl with the Pearl Earring among other wonderful paintings.

Here are two sketches from the trip.

Night Study, 8 x 10 inches, pastel

Allow me to present one of the two paintings that I entered into the Auction show at the Carmel Art Festival. We painters had a great time painting in the sun and each other's company. To See a few more paintings done during the festival, please visit my Web site's landscape page.

Yellow Barn, 18x24 inches, pastel, sold.

Study, 5x5 inches, oil, nfs.

This rather comic-book style small painting is just made up by me. I start with a backbone and then treat the painting as if it were a sculpture, adding and scraping paint off until the painting looks fairly "right". I can tell though, that I was not looking at a real person... it just does not have the veracity of true observation.

Green-eyed Blonde, 5x5 inches, oil, nfs.

I have been finishing up each day's painting with a small quick sketch done on a five by five panel. A square format always seems to lead me to an unusual composition. After a year and a half of only pastels painting, painting in oil is a challenge--I went to the art store and bought new brushes today, so I must be serious.

(I am not self-fixated, I am just the cheapest model I know--really. I work for cookies).

Rose Worship, 11 x 13 inches, pastel, available.

I was done painting for the day, and this scene caught my eye so strongly that I unpacked my kit and did a quick study. The pastel strokes here are put on the paper almost like sumi-e brush painting. Each stroke tries to convey the gesture or gestalt of what it is describing.

Riotous Spring, 11 x 14 inches, pastel, available.

This composition is a strange one, I was pleased with its success. I had to crouch down on the pathway in order to see the painting I wanted to paint. I like the right inside the flower garden result.