13 of 30 - Dogs and Cars - Wanderlust

Wanderlust

Oil on Linen on board

8x10"

To Purchase

This is more of a camper than a car, but I've been wanting to paint it for a while!  It sort of fits with my general theme of dramatic light...and hopefully no one has noticed I took a few days off from the challenge;)   This camper belongs to a gentleman who stopped by the workshop I took with Colin Page last year around this time on beautiful Balboa Island.   He enjoyed seeing the artists at work, and if I remember correctly he was selling postcards and such on his journey up and down the coast.  He sure has a unique and delightfully decorated mode of transportation!

On another note, I will be teaching a Workshop this April 16th and 17th in Thousand Oaks, focusing on Composition and Confident Brush Strokes.

We will be working on simplifying what we see through several value exercises and, making our brush strokes count!

Learn more here

7 of 30 - Dogs and Cars - The Lexie Look

The Lexie Look

12x12"

Oil on Gessoboard

DPW

This was a little more colorful, even for me.   It was fun painting on gessoboard at this size and playing with some different brush strokes.

And it was no wonder Lexie was looking at me with a little caution as she had just greeted our dog who isn't always on his best behavior;)

6 of 30 - Dogs and Cars - Desserts to Die For

Desserts to Die For

11x14

Oil on Linen Panel

DPW

So painting this one made me really happy!  You know when you find a subject that combines several of the things you get excited about painting!

I got a photo of this scene at an art event.   I love cars with personality and the light just happened to be fabulous at the moment I saw this.   I've been painting a lot of paintings with a dramatic sun recently it seems.   I've also been thinking a lot about the work of Bernie Fuchs lately, and I'm really inspired by his compositions, so I felt that in this piece I got to play with some of what's influenced me in his work....I could still get looser though!!...lol:-)

Here are a few examples of Bernie Fuchs work from my pinterest page:

5 of 30 - Dogs and Cars - Mike's Museum

(Feeling right at home) in Mike's Museum

6x6"

Oil

DPW

In December I had the great opportunity to be invited to a tour of a local Car Museum.  I was also allowed to take a lot of photos of this amazing collection of classic cars.  Happy me!!!    

I decided to make a Volvo my first attempt to paint one from my reference photos.  Being Swedish and all.   The fun thing about Cars is to get to add those great high-lights at the end to make everything sparkle:-)  That's a lot easier to paint when a car is parked outside with the sun hitting it....;)

Inside in a Museum, there are a lot more light sources....This tends to create an enormous amount of reflections and high-lights, so I'm still trying to figure out how to tackle that challenge.

Happy Painting!

4 of 30 - Dogs and Cars - Proud Pit

Proud Pit

8x8"

Oil on Linen on Panel
 DPW

Here's my second version of the Pit bull.   I worked on keeping my light and shadow areas separate and I like how that worked out with the yellow line:-)

3 of 30 - Cars and Dogs - A Close Bond

A Close Bond

8x8"

Oil on Linen on Panel
DPW

A few months ago I was up in Carpinteria to take some photos for a commission and met this dog and his owner at the mechanic's shop across the street from my subject.  In talking to this hardworking gentleman he found out I was an artist and wanted to see if I could paint his dog.  I took a few shots focusing on getting some interesting back-lighting and and shadows and I ended up painting two pictures of him. 
My focus in this one was to establishing some clear values, and to describe the strong afternoon-light.   I didn't quite stick to having dark be dominant, then less medium and a sliver of light as I decided to add some cooler color in the ground area to add some variety to all that orange and that made there be more than a sliver of the lightest value...It's interesting to see how little changes make a big difference.   It's ultimately all a matter of personal artistic preference and I might still want to change it back to what I had (see below) before I bring it back to Carp to try to find this sweet pitt's owner:-) That is if I want the highlights on the dog's head to be the central focus...

30 in 30 - Cars and Dogs - Day 2

"Close to the Beach"

6x6"

Oil

DPW

I had a marvelous day taking pictures by the Newport Pier this fall and I loved the way the afternoon light came down all these side streets right by the beach.  And lucky me, I found a VW bug on one of those streets as well.   I will be painting more from those images to come.

If you are interested in my 2016 Calendar I have just a few more left!!
Just follow this link to learn more and order yours.

30 in 30 - Cars and Dogs - Day 1

Kay's New Adventure

6x6"
Oil
DPW

Just finished this as a commission, which was just approved, and it will be my first addition to the 30 in 30 challenge starting in January - today!!! - 2016  You can join as well!  Just go to http://30paintingsin30days.weebly.com/ to sign up!

I'm looking forward to painting some more cars this month, in preparation for my trip to Cuba with 100 other artists and photographers organized by Eric Rhoads and Philip Levine.  Very excited about the cars, the architecture, the people and the music we will encounter!!

Happy New Years to you!!!  May your year be filled with wonder and adventure!!

If you are interested in my 2016 Calendar I have a few more left!!
Just follow this link to learn more.