Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Monument Butte SOLD (Click here to bid on eBay)



The views down in the valley are endless. I may try to get into the Guinness Book of Records as the person that's painted the most Monument Valley paintings by the time I'm done. Click on the image for a larger view.

Three Tomatoes SOLD (Click here to bid on eBay)



Here's a painting created from another batch of tomatoes brought home. I was thinking of painting them still in thier wrapper but at the last minute, decided to just depict three on a vine. Click on the image for a larger view

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Three Sisters SOLD (Click here to view eBay results)



On our trip this year out west, we managed to make our way through Monument Valley again. Although it was mid afternoon by the time we were able to cruise through it, the light ended up being pretty nice, especially for backlit scenes like this. Click on the image for a larger view.

Putting the Kettle on SOLD (Click here to bid on eBay)



I painted a tea kettle before and it was alot of fun to try to pull off the effect of a heated coil stove, so when we stayed in Jackson there was a kettle in the hotel room where we stayed. I couldn't resist. Now that I think of it, there was a great wood burning fireplace that I should have taken some shots of. Click on the image for a larger view.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Beach House SOLD (Click here to bid on eBay)



This painting was done from the same photo shoot when we went down to Oceanside Pier in May. The house is cool looking and I suppose pretty comfortable for whoever lives there, but the constant traffic and beach noise must get old.
Someone told me it's illegal to paint a scenery of someone's home in France, without permission. I can understand why. Some older homes can make great paintings. Click on the image for a larger view.

Peaches on a Platter SOLD(Click here to view eBay results)



I needed to get back to still lifes for a break. Seems I can look at scenery paintings alot more objectively if I can get away from painting big spaces of color, and concentrate on small shapes of an object. After trying to correctly depict smaller objects, the larger elements of a landscape seem easier to translate into a paint stroke. Thes peaches and and glass platter had a nice color compliment to the background that I found to be fun to figure out. Usually a strong mauve field of color would look terrible with greens and yellows. Click on the image for a larger view.

Firepit on the Beach SOLD (Click here to view eBay results)



This was a shot I took from Oceanside Beach which has gone through a big change in the last decade or so. The beach is just as crowded but the surrounding streets have been cleared of it's older houses and Condos and high rise hotels are being built. Click on the image for a larger view.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Sliced Tomato SOLD (Click here to bid on eBay)



I decided to try to get away from landscapes for a day. Mostly because the one that I was painting last night wasn't coming out as I hoped. Tomatoes are always fun, and we had a Taco Salad last night, and I grabbed the main ingredient before it got diced up for dinner. Click on the image for a larger view.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Cracked Rock at Noon SOLD (Click here to view results on eBay)



This is a painting of the same rock I painted a couple of weeks ago, except this shot was taken around noon when I got half way up the trail to Hidden Falls before running out of battery power. I think I could have pushed this painting further, but there's always a point where you just don't know if the extra work is going to pay off or make it weaker. I really like to make my paintings look like paintings with a roughness still visable. Rendering is okay but smoothing it out is counter effective to what the scene is all about. The water would have looked better rendered but not the rocks. Click on the image for a larger view.

Mt Moran SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



I had trouble with this painting. The mountain is so large, and so far away, that you can't get too colorful with the structure. Giving it more color brings it too close and too much detail brings it forward also. The only color you can lay on is blue which is the haze and atmosphere that shows up when something is far away. At the same time the forest is just about black with shade and the deep color of the pine limbs. Click on the image for a larger view.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Sunset Over the Butte SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



On our drive back home we stopped twice, once in Albuquerque, NM, and then in Ogalalla, Nebraska. I couldn't remember where this butte was for sure, but it has to be somewhere between Payson, Arizona and Albuquerque. My camera couldn't quite capture the real colors, but even if it didn't, it came up with some that were quite dramatic.

Mountain StreamSOLD(Click here to auction results on eBay)



This painting was created from a shot I took of the first small waterfall that you reach on the trail to Hidden Falls. This stream and falls were alot more interesting to me to paint than the larger Hidden Falls. This area has a quiet and colorful feel to it itself, whereas the Hidden Falls area is noisy and all whitewater. I may create a painting from Hidden Falls, but it's not too high on my list right now.

Oceanside Pier SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



Kerry and I got to the beach just once on our trip to San Marcos last month. We went to the Oceanside Pier area in Oceanside Ca. that to me seems like it's being updated and dramatically changed from the scenes that I remembered from just a few years ago. The neighborhood houses have been moved back in places to make room for high rise hotels, and some of the older beach houses once sitting on the beach have been replaced altogether by large condominium projects. I liked the old Oceanside.

Purple Mountains SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



It never stops amazing me how these mountains could have been formed. The time it took and the forces involved are mind boggling. It's hard to comprehend how they can look so peaceful today, full of wildlife and unchanged for centuries.

Morning Nap SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



This is a scene that is very common in the ranches around Jackson Wyoming. It started as a cowboy town that catered to trappers and traders, and only in the last 50 years did it become a great resort city with art, hiking and skiing being it's primary attractions. It's natural beauty is amazing but the most unique thing that I think it has is the wildlife that this year included a family of Grizzlies. That would be surprising for even Yellowstone which is 100 miles north. Usually brown bears are the only ones you see.

Slope of Grand Teton SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)


This painting was fun doing because it showed the dramatic angles and layers that you come across when walking in the Tetons. You're always aware that this is the backyard of alot of different animals, both friendly and dangerous. Thier tracks are all over the place and with the snow drifts, even more obvious.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Bubba's BBQ Condiments SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)

Path Along the Lake SOLD (Click here to see auction results on eBay)



Here's a painting that I was anxious to do that was going to be part of a series of paintings I was going to produce. When I was actually on my hike up to Hidden Falls in Teton National Forest, I was constantly aware of how I was wondering if I was going to make the 2 mile trek to the falls. I had no water, no bear spray, no food, but the worst thing of all, I had less than a quarter of battery life on my camera. What was I thinking. I got three or four shots of Hidden Falls on that day, and had to do the same hike the next day with water, energy bars, and two fully charged batteries. I passed on the bear spray. They said it was only effective at a distance of 5 to 10 feet, and I figure if I get that close I may as well wrestle them. Click on the image for a larger view.
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