Clearing Up

Oil on Paper, 8 x 10 inches

This a small painting that I did last spring when the sun finally came out after several dark, rainy days.  I tried to show some of the interesting cloud shapes that were moving around when the cloud cover was clearing up.

Oak Tree Sketches

Here's a set of on-site sketches I did for a painting that I have in mind for the future. An old oak tree would be the central element of the painting.  I did these sketches between late April and early May at about the same time of day to get the same light and shadow effects on the tree trunk and branches.

Woodland Scene

Woodland Scene, Watercolor on sketchbook page, 5x3.5 inches

Something to look at.  A page from one of my sketchbooks.

Studio Tools

In Full Sun

"In Full Sun"

Oil on panel

8x10 inches

This is a plein air study that I did during a walk along the west edge of Annadel State Park.  It shows a mound of brush catching the warm  rays of afternoon sunlight.  I will be glad to see some warmer days like this again.

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.