Picnic Table

Oil on canvas, 8x10 inches

Here is a small painting I did last spring of a picnic table and trees at Spring Lake Regional Park.  In this piece I concentrated on using strong colors and thick paint with minimal detail to show the effect of afternoon light coming through the trees.  (Click on the image to get a closer view of the heavy paint texture).

SMART Train

Last Friday I attended the ground breaking ceremony for the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Train at the Petaluma station site.  During the proceedings I did a small sketch of the crowd listening to a speech by Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown.  Note the two men wearing hard hats and safety vests in the drawing.

Ponytail Palm

This afternoon while I was waiting for my wife to get home, I did this watercolor and ink sketch of a potted "ponytail" palm. I used a new watercolor sketching kit, based on the one that Sonoma County artist Richard Sheppard showed me during the Healdsburg sketch crawl.

Calistoga Plein Air

This is really old news but...back in October (when I was not keeping up with this blog), I participated in the 1st Annual Calistoga Plein Air Paint Out competition.  The weather was perfect, I had a great time painting and met some really talented artists.  I look forward to taking part again next October.

"City of Calistoga", Oil on Panel, 9x12 inches

On the first day of the two-day event I painted this view of the Calistoga City Hall building.  I spent more time trying to "fix" the palm tree behind the bell tower than on the rest of the painting.

Third Place ribbon

I won third place for this painting.  I was very excited to receive the award.

"Pioneer Park", Oil on Panel, 11x14 inches

On the second day I painted this gazebo in a city park, not far from the City Hall building.

Bodega Head Cliffs

Watercolor and pencil on paper

Here's a small watercolor sketch I did a while back of the cliffs at Bodega Head.  I've tried to show the effect of late afternoon winter light by contrasting the long dark shadows against the bright foam of the surf.

Hogbacks

Late yesterday afternoon I did these two quick drawings in my 3.5 by 5.5 inch pocket sketchbook of the "Hogback Rocks" at Wright's Beach, .  The weather was perfect for plein air painting, considering the time of the year.

Winter Shadows

Duncan's Landing Shadows, 3.5 x 5" sketchbook, December 2011

Duncans's Landing Cove, 11x14", Oil on Panel, January 2009

Duncans's Landing is on of our favorite spots along the Sonoma Coast of northern California.  We have stopped here many times over the years to watch the ocean waves crash on the rocks, or just read and relax here.  By now I have done more than a few sketches and paintings from this spot.  One feature that I have returned to draw and paint is the cliff and beach of the small cove at Duncan's Landing.  Above are two of my attempts to capture the deep winter shadows that are so characteristic of the northern California coast at this time of the year.

Happy Valentine's Day

"Starfish in Love", Chalk on kitchen blackboard

Radio

India ink, reed pen and chalk on wove paper

Often, while painting in my studio, I enjoy listening to the radio, especially whenever I can tune in a good classical music program.  The radio in this drawing is one that I currently have packed away in our earthquake kit.  I also have a vintage Westinghouse transistor radio that I use.  There is a picture of it at La Vie Graphite, from a blogger who shares my interest in radios, as well as manual, portable typewriters, fountain pens (and other writing instruments) and journals.  I really enjoy looking at the photos on his site.

Coffee

Pen and ink drawing in sketchbook, 5.5 x 7 inches

I like to grind coffee beans in this old hand crank coffee mill.  I found it on eBay a few years ago.  Made in Germany during the 1950's; it continues to serve me well each day.  I did a pen and ink drawing of it one of my sketch books.  I didn't leave enough room on the right side to show the knob on the end of the hand crank.