Month: June 2011

Hollister Almost Finished

June 18, 2011 / By

This is the painting mentioned in the previous blog from my motorcycle travels down Highway 25 south of Hollister, CA. It is just about done. I will let it sit for a week or two, and then finish a few details. Right now I am titling this “Hollister”, but might change that once it goes to a gallery. It’s a 30×40 oil on canvas.

hollisterclosetodone.jpg

They are growing a lot of grapes in that area now, and the green you see on the top of the distant hill are grapevines. I have some more interesting studies of these rolling grape fields, which I might do in the future.

Here is a larger jpg of the painting if interested.

A Harley, Highway 25, and a Painting

June 7, 2011 / By

One of my favorite motorcycle rides in the bay area is Highway 25 south of Hollister, California. It is a great motorcycle road out in the middle of nowhere with wide sweeping curves and long straightaways. We usually do it 3 or 4 times a year. I have actually done several short videos on the ride you can find on youTube HERE and HERE.

The area is a constant terrain of farmlands, barns, old ranch houses, abandoned buildings and wide open spaces…a painters paradise. When we ride, it is usually a group affair and very few stops. Every time I go, I tell myself I am going to bring the RV down sometime and just paint for a few days.

On a ride we did several weeks ago, it was just Pete and me, so we stopped quite a bit so I could take pictures along the way. My pastoral scenes are becoming more popular, and I wanted to do a big California Hills type scene. Today, I started a 30×40 which is a composite of several photo studies I did on the ride. I won’t give you a day-by-day account like the last big Yosemite painting, but below are a few pictures from the ride, and the sketch in of the painting.

hollister2.jpg

hollister3.jpg

hollister1.jpg

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