Small paintings series. Mostly demos for the class. Small prices and a great hliday gift.

snowmelt

Always winter never spring has been the theme of our washington weather. I really enjoy the sun on the snow and the way the shadows turn cool purple or blue. Have not been posting much due to graduations and sports with my daughter but that stuff is important to.

Lowering sun on the river creates rich lite. love the misdirection of the vines in the foreground. The light is also very rich.

Sold

A small vineyard outside a french town. Love the patterns that the buildings form mixed with the green of the farmland.

Another night study. I tried to add more blue to the night sky just to see the effect.

An intense sunset combined with the storm clouds is a great contrast. The complimentary colors that form make the drama even greater. Values in the blues also flatten out which makes the light that much more spectacular.

This is some obscure pasture but I love the way the light hits the trees and the reflection of sky in the drainage ditch. Beauty is all around us.

Moonrise

I saw the show in Denver " The Color of Night" nocturnes painted by by Remington. It was really stunning the idea of night painting and the way he portrayed color at night. There is a book as well that I highly reccomend titled "the color of night" probably published by the Denver Art Museum. Might be a good DPW challenge for all.

Finally a nice day to paint the tulips. They were really full and blooming with the blast of sunshine. They are just North of Seattle and always a rite of spring for many northwesterners.

California Coast

My first post on the Daily Painter Originals site. A great group of artists and I am honored to be juried in. This is a scene of the California Coast. I really tried to simplify the light and shadow shapes in the rocks. Just a small 6x6 study.

Long and skinny study for a commision possiblilty. Its morning light over the olympic mountains. I have another that I will post that I like a little better but this one has gotten some good peer feedback.

A bit of a change. This fine animal is Jet who my daughter rode on a trail ride. Many great memories.

A lighthouse in a Seattle Park. I tried to capture the reflected light at sunset especially in the buildings. Also driftwood takes on a beautiful color when the light reflects into it.

This is a painting from our trip to Las Vegas via Arizona and Utah. I cant remember the specific spot but the trail along the hillside was spectacular. I love the green accents the brush gives to the rocky hillside and the canyons in the distance.

winter warmth

A winter study of trees and snow. Its amazing the subtle colors of snow and the range of warm and cool that it reflects. Again excuse the quality of the photograph. Its a bit washed but the best I could muster.

Utah Vista

Small Study for the class I teach. Its about atmosphere and the way it affects color and value. I love the area around Utah and Zion National Park. Mostly the images remind me of Edgar Payne and his dramatic landscapes. It also reminds me of being warm again which due to our cold wet spring cannot happen soon enough

Vineyard study. The backlit sky in this piece was challenging as well as the perspective especially in the distance. A little bit different palette as well. The value scale in foiliage and trees is always something I am chasing trying to get right.

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The conversation. A sketch done on the beach at the Washington coast. I like the light that forms from sun filtered by moisture. Its hard to get right and express it in paint. Practice outdoors I guess and failure breeds success.

A farm scene outside of our little town in rural Washington. Painting distance is always a good thing for me to work on. Thats where painting outside comes in handy. You notice the atmosphere more when you are outside. I used the scanner for this one so the close up version looks a bit weird. FYI

Decided to throw this piece in despite it being a little older than the new stuff I have been doing. The perspective of the road and flat light accentuate the bright flowers in the field making them seem like a big shape. I have always liked this piece mostly for its abstraction in the shapes.

A very quick study of a scene in california. My main focus was to study the trees and work on the value of the greens. I will probably work this sketch into something more finished and larger. I like the composition of the trees leading you back into the piece. Maybe some clouds in version 2 and some definition to the foreground. The study is being used in the High School play where I teach art. Kids needed paintings for the set. Maybe broadway is its next stop? Have a great weekend.

Kind of a departure as this is a study to find a scene that might work bigger. I like the sweeping vista down to the water and the color of the islands. The San Juans in Washington are truly a beautiful place to paint. The sea air makes for some really dramatic lighting. This scene is in the early afternoon.

The photo of this is not that great so my apologies. Its a scene in the snow in the DNR lands in Boise Idaho. The snow and sun along with the red colors that the branches turn in the cold winter months are really spectacular. A great nuetral base to stage color is formed by the scrub brush.

A trip to yosemite is always rich with images. This is a mid day study in the summer. The shadows and greens are a nice contrast to the washed out subtle colors of the rocks. Value in a lot of ways is more important in a succesful painting than color is. Although if you can nail them both....

A Quick sketch of the cactus plant that blooms in our house every winter. Its very stunning with the greens and reds together. Its small (only 5x5 ) but I like the spontaneous feel it has.

A quick study of beach grass on the washington coast. The evergreens are as always beaten by the elements and create interesting shapes and rich greens. To all the fresh paint daily daily painters your work has been really good lately and I appreciate the kind comments on mine as well.

I rarely do not include the horizon in my landscape pictures. This view of a small fir along the water worked out as a study with the bay as a background. As in other tree pieces I enjoy the character that gets shaped with wind and rain and the other elements. Kind of like us in that the trials and storms of life are used to shape our character.

Another direction in the same painting session. A little later in the morning so colors are a bit different especially in the shadows. The clouds started to billow a bit as well.

A different size piece today. Its also a little larger. I like the shapes of weathered trees. It gives them a special character and personality. Also the grey of the trunks pick up interesting shadow colors much like snow. This one I moved up because it is also on the fresh paint daily painters site. Have a great weekend.

Scan of a painting of our new dog sammy. He went to the beach and played in the snow and had no end of fun chasing the birds. Just a fun pic

Putting this on the fresh paint site so I moved it up to the top of the blog. Its a smaller sketch of a road in the islands in the early morning. I like to work small because the brush strokes tend to get simlified and more direct. This is what I call a paintbox sketch because it fits neatly in the open lid of my small paintbox.

Morning colors

This image was done early in the morning in the coastal desert portion of Washington. The blue of the morning light and the way it colors the nuetral grasslands and sagebrush are great subject matter.

Tiptoe thru the Tulips

Spring is just around the corner (we hope). The flowers in the Skagit Valley of Washington create a sea of color that is so magnificent its hard to paint. The contrast of the mountains help balance the color of the flowers. Alot of these pieces are exercises in getting proper value relationships especially of the flowers.

A scene through the dunes to the north sea in Holland. My wifes father walked us through the invasion of Holland and what he rembered as they came on shore. I love europe and the real history of its people. The coastal light during the long days of northern light creates great color.
Would love to return someday to explore more of the wonder of Creation that exists a world away.

A southwestern scene. trying to match up the freshpaint daily painters and the blog. This was from a drive we took last year. I love the warmth of the colors in the desert and the sage greens the vegetation presents. I am also a sucker for the California Impressionists many of home chose the desert as subject matter.

My first Fresh Paint Daily Painter entry. This is a piece from the skagit valley in Washington state. It is so colorful that it is hard to express in paint and design the large shape of the tulips into an interesting composition. You can purchase this piece here or from www.freshpaintdailypainters.com . Hopefully I will be making daily entries here and on the site. Please bear with me as I figure out how to manipulate the freshpaint site to make contact and purchasing more streamlined. Other pieces in the blog I will try to price as well but if you are intertested in one email me.

small sketch of a mountain lake. working on some compositional stuff with masses. the simplification of trees as well as a the snow shapes starts to abstract realism and create an interesting painting

same drive late late sunset or early evening if you are so inclined. its a stormy sky so the blue is much more intense in the sky.

Lone Tree One

A tree in the SanJuan Islands of Washington State. Right around sunset. The weathered shape of the greenery forms some great patterns that catch the fading light. Also the driftwood lights up the beach.

the sorting table

Women sorting grapes. I am taken by the ordinary tasks of workers and the character they exhibit. This is a quick small study mostly to get color.

Golden Fields SOLD

This is view of some farmland at that golden moment that we are blessed with every day. I love the compliments that form in the shadows and the atmosphere diffusing the hills in the distance.

Happy New Year. This is a painting of the Yosemite Valley. The colors especially in the shadows are so saturated with great color. It sets a great stage for the warm soft lights. One of my favorite places. This is a paintbox painting and is 8X8 inches. Might grow into a big version one day but the sketch and its reaction to the color still interesting.