Bright Bridge - Views from Alameda

"Bright Bridge"

Oil on Canvasboard

6x8"

DPW Auction

I make it a habit to get back to painting small sketches and thumbnails.  Often as a start to larger studio work, and on location, but also when I need a jumpstart and want to get excited about accomplishing something tangible in a day of painting and I want to get away from getting too hung up on a larger work where I might be getting too caught up in getting something right:-)

Car Sketching - 17 of 30 - Swedish Car Show

Swedish Car Show

(by Tydingesjon's Camping)

Oil on linen on panel

10x10

DPW

One of those great days this summer where the kids had fun playing in the shallow waters of this lake  and "me oh my" there where cars lining up for that evening's classic car show for my Dad and I to check out.

Car Sketching - 14 of 30 - Shiny for Sale

10x10"

Oil on Linen on Panel

DPW

I'm sure nobody's noticing that I have a few days missing on the road to 30...:-)  Sometimes, even when I paint a lot...it takes a while until I'm ready to say done.   This is one of 3 classic beauties found on the way to Chatham this summer - shiny and for sale.

Car Sketching - 8 of 30 - Havana to Home

Havana to Home

12x12

Oil on Gessoboard

DPW

So many lovely memories from Cuba... Including those evenings bartering for the best ride home after a night of salsa music, holding on for dear life as our driver sped through the night and intersections.   Those favorite cars of mine, without seat belts or catalytic converters, but with so much history and so many journeys and stories to tell.    I've been wanting to paint this one for awhile.

You can see more of my paintings from Cuba here.

Car Sketching - 6 of 30 - Harbor Hangout

8x10
Oil on LinenPanel
Sold

Day 6 of 30 - Here's another Car Sketch..."Harbor Hangout" I think I will call it....I enjoyed simplifying this one...painting it almost in a watercolor fashion with different color pools/washes to make up the shadow area and really bright highlights...

Car Sketching - 3 of 30 - Red Snapper

"Red Snapper"

8x10"

Oil on Linen Panel

To Purchase

I loved all the red I saw when I took the photo reference of this one.   Big VW Car Meet and I got the just as the sun was going down...although I'm not a 100% certain if this is a VW...I'm sure someone would be able to tell me:-)...

By the way I'm putting all my car sketches up for the DPW Auction, starting really low...;)

Car Sketching Day 2 of 30 - Before the Dance

8x8"

Oil on Canvas Panel

To Purchase

I named it "Before the Dance", but it could also have been named "After the Reindeer Sausage" as spotting this bug took place in between those events.  Spent a few hours at this Camping spot by a small lake in Skane, Sweden.  The kids swam, my Dad and I took a gander at some of the vintage car lining up for the evenings meet and before the dance would start I bought some different sausages to try when we got back home.  These campers have really had a resurgence in Sweden as all the people who used to go as kids now have kids of their own.

Car Sketching - 30 in 30 - "First Date"

First Date

Oil on Linen Panel

8x10"

To Purchase

Paintings from My Trip to Cuba

This February I had the fantastic opportunity to visit Cuba - and paint!!!
100 of us participated in this adventure, thanks to Eric Rhoads of Plein Air Magazine who organized this Historic trip.   And it was perfect timing as I just happened to be in search for a way to get to Cuba to paint all those fantastic old cars.

The sights, the smells, the sounds, the colors, the cars and the people.  All made an ever-lasting impression on me.
While I was there I went entirely off the grid for the week, which was pretty liberating:-)  and it's been a bit of an overwhelming endeavor to blog about it since I got back :-)

I've been filled with gratitude for many more opportunities that have come from this trip and
you can read all about my experience in 2 articles written by local papers (see the links above), and you can also read my thoughts on the trip at PleinairCollector.com.

Turner Vinson created a video about our trip that you can see here.
See more of my photos on FB here

There are 2 gallery exhibits that I will be participating in:
The Crystal Moll Gallery in Baltimore, MD April 4th to May 24th
The McBride Gallery in Annapolis, MD May 1st to June 26th

Coming up I will be posting the studio pieces I've created since I got back in the states, but
here are the pleinair sketches I did in Cuba:

"What's New becomes Old" Oil, 8x10"

"Built to Last" Oil, 12x9"

"Alley Patina", Oil, 8x10

"Renee's 56' Buick" Oil, 12x12"

"No Drama", Oil, 9x12"

Crystal Moll Gallery

"Ghosts of the Past", Oil, 12x12"

Crystal Moll Gallery

"Reina Maria"Oil, 8x10"

"Taller Experiential Graphica", Oil, 12x12"

McBride Gallery

"A Day in Cojimar - Passing Hemingway" 

McBride Gallery

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.

30 in 30 - Reaching for Light

"Reaching for Light"

6x6"

Oil on Gessoboard
DPW


Got a question from Kaethe Baeler  (Check out her beautiful work!!) regarding what my green formula is?   So I thought I'd just share it in my post!


 I've had a lot of different greens on my palette over the years, trying to figure out the secret formula to great greens:-)  Everything from Sap Green to Viridian and using yellows and blues to mix:-)  I still use Gamblin Cadmium Green Light for some of those Poppy Light Greens, but that's the only straight green color I use now.

What was really helpful for me in thinking about greens was something Wyllis Heaton shared about the fact that greens are never as cool as we think.
Here is what Wyllis said on FB in his answer to the question about his greens:

"Green is the hardest thing for me to paint! I avoid scenes with a lot green if I can... But the main thing about green in a sunlight scene is it can almost never be warm enough... Basically the greens you can buy as paints are Way too green to describe foliage... The best way to see this on the freeway... Those freeway signs are green for real, like green paint green, compare that green to the natural greens around it... You'll see how much warmer the nature is.. I carry Turquoise and lemon yellow on my palette, so I can make super green for those occasions, but it's usually an unholy combo"

After I read that I've tried to be really conscious of pushing my greens warmer than I think they are.  And looking around in nature, I agree with what Wyllis says.

Recently I've also changed what I do when it comes to mixing my greens after seeing the greens of fellow amazing CA artist Karen Werner.
I loved the greens she was mixing and she told me that she took a workshop with Kim English (who is definitely on my list of artists to study with).  And what she had learned from him was to use Paynes Gray and Lemon Yellow to mix those really nice warm greens.  

So that is what I've been doing lately, I have added black on top of the Paynes Gray and I use that with different yellows and oranges, with a little addition of Cad Green light when I want a bright, but slightly cooler green.  I've also added Alizarin Yellow - Williamsburg Oils (courtesy Colin Page) to my arsenal of yellows.   It's a really nice and transparent and works great for a warm toning of the canvas and for mixing greens with.

So Kaethe, that's my loooong answer to your question on my greens.  And it goes to show how much we learn from fellow artists and friends!  I'm so grateful for those friendships!

Happy Painting!!

 

30 in 30 - Light Around the Edge

Light Around the Edge

6x6"

Oil on Gessoboard

DPW

More Hydrangeas!  Sort of nice to work on a series for the 30 in 30 Challenge.  Learn more about the challenge here - maybe you'd like to join?  We'll see if this series will keep me going til the end...I've been known to mix things up:-)

30 in 30 - Light Continued

"Light Continued"

6x6"

Oil on Gessoboard

DPW

Here's another ART SELFIE with my friend Bob Raser.   Read more about him in this earlier post.

I don't feel like I have a lot to say about my own art right now, so I just want to share the joy of having known our Pleinair Bob!

Miss you!