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.