October 2017

A Revolutionary New Painting Technique

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AKA How Not to Transport a Painting
AKA A New Type of Street Art
AKA Society of Western Artists Demo

The story starts at a demo I did for the Society of Western Artists in San Bruno, CA, last Saturday.  I never thought in a few hours I would discover a new painting technique not heard of before.

Four years ago I did a demo for them of a snow scene along the Truckee River and they wanted me to do another snow scene.  I had recently been doing a number of miniature paintings for the holiday season, and a number of misty mini’s of moody, misty, seascape, landscape and Sierra scenes, so decided to do a larger, 16×20 misty Yosemite scene of Sentinel Rock in Yosemite Valley, CA. 

It was a great two hours of demoing, technique, and jokes with a lively crowd constantly peppering me with questions. Here’s a few pictures during the demo– Click on the thumbnails for a larger picture

SWA Demo
SWA Demo
SWA Demo

I am usually not crazy about my demo paintings, but this one was turning out well, even though it was only half done, so I was anxious to complete it back in the studio. Here is a picture of the piece as I was nearing the end of the demo–

Original painting near end of the demo (courtesy John Barrow)
Original painting near end of the demo (courtesy John Barrow)

After loading up, and heading out for the hour drive home, as soon as I entered the freeway, realized I had left the wet demo painting on top of the car!  I pulled over, and it was gone!  So, I turned around, went back, and found the painting face down in the middle of El Camino Real, the busy main boulevard.  It was in the middle of the lane and didn’t look run over, but one corner was damaged. Here is a recreation of the scene with the painting in the road.

Recreation of my painting face down on El Camino Real
Recreation of my painting face down on El Camino Real

…and the painting now looked like this:

My demo painting was now a snowstorm!
My demo painting was now a snowstorm!

The asphalt had gouged out spots all over the surface and my misty Yosemite painting had turned into a snowstorm!  I just accidentally discovered a new way to paint snowstorms!  What a great new technique! Just do your painting, then go out and rub it on the road! Asphalt probably works best, but maybe I can try cement streets also!

To top it off, a copy of a Neff original, even though half done, is now in the asphalt of San Bruno, albeit a reverse image.  Maybe I should charge them?!?

All tongue in cheek of course, and I actually don’t recommend you transport paintings this way!

So now, the decision is: 1) pick out a few pieces of asphalt, trim the bad corner off, leave it as is and finish it; 2) paint back over it; or 3) start a new painting.  The corner was damaged enough I started a new painting since at most a couple hours painting time was lost during the demo.  Here is the new painting at about the same development as the demo was before the snowstorm–

The new painting at about the same completion as the demo.
The new painting at about the same completion as the demo.

I spent the next few days finishing the painting —

Misty Sentinel,16x20,oil on board
Misty Sentinel,16×20,oil on board

So now, what do I do with the original snow storm painting? Any suggestions?

BTW, we are planning on producing a short video of the demo as SWA videoed much of it, so stay tuned!

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Drops of Color, Everywhere

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Carson Colors, 8x16, oil on panel, plein air
Carson Colors, 8×16, oil on panel, plein air

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
– Albert Camus

Just returned from my usual annual fall trip to the Sierra’s to paint and explore the fall color. I generally go to Lake Tahoe and Hope Valley, but sometimes over Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park and around the Lee Vining area along the eastern Sierra escarpment. This year was Tahoe.

I didn’t really have an agenda to do a lot of finished world class paintings this trip, but take it slow, enjoy the colors, do some paint studies, explore, and absorb the surroundings.

Sunday, I drove up Hwy 88 looking for color around Silver and Caples lakes, but color was past it’s prime, so decided to keep going over Carson Pass into Hope Valley. I have painted here many times for fall color. I settled on a spot by the West Fork Carson River and close to where I had painted in prior years. I ended up right under a highway bridge, and painting a scene looking under the overpass.

(Click on a thumbnail picture to see an enlarged version.)

View under the bridge
View under the bridge
View under the bridge

I got about half done with the painting, but was tired after the drive, so headed into South Lake Tahoe to check into the motel.

Next morning, I waited until it warmed up a bit from below freezing to go out. I have painted in rain, sleet, snow, freezing temps, etc. so been there done that, and today it was wait for a little warmth!

It was back out to Hope Valley, which is about 20 miles south of Lake Tahoe, and started a painting just across from Sorenson’s Resort, again on the Carson River as it starts to tumble out of Hope Valley. This time I was painting on top of a bridge!

Across the street is Sorensons Resort
Painting on the bridge
Painting on the bridge
Half finished color study
Looking back at Hope Valley

I got about half done, then decided to head back to yesterday’s spot and finish yesterday’s painting. Bonita Paulis, an art acquaintance stopped by for a chat. After living in the area 35 years, she gave me some great out-of-the way places to paint.

The most complete piece I did on the trip
The most complete piece I did on the trip

Tuesday morning I trekked down to Carson City, NV, to have breakfast with an old childhood friend I hadn’t seen in years. After a great time reminiscing, went back up the mountain to Tahoe, and in the afternoon ended up on the Upper Truckee River, which had some great spots Bonita had told me about the day before.

Upper Truckee Creek area
Upper Truckee Creek area
Upper Truckee Creek area
Another half done painting

Time to head home Wednesday after stopping at James Harold Gallery in Tahoe City to swap some new miniature paintings with some older pieces.

On an artistic note, I many times have a difficult time painting fall color aspen trees, so this trip was helpful. They are harder to paint than it seems. After trying to faithfully reproduce the color and value of the leaves, it always looks a little too bright and gaudy to me, and I need to tone them down. I did get one painting finished, and two started to finish in the studio. The journey of art never ends!

On a technical note, I have found Grumbacher Cadmium-Barium Yellow Medium is almost the exact color of the aspen at their height of yellow color. Other brands don’t seem to match as well.

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Baja Splash

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Baja Splash, 5x5, oil on panel
Baja Splash, 5×5, oil on panel

AKA A Mexican Adventure

This is just a little 5×5 painting, and didn’t take long to do, but brought back a flood of memories. It could be on almost any coastline on any continent in the world, but it is actually in Baja California, Mexico.

In 1978, I had recently moved back to Pasadena, California after spending my teens and twenties growing up in East Texas. A friend, Bob Ellsworth, invited me to go down to Mexico with some other friends (forgot who) to go snorkeling. We rented a motorhome, wetsuits, snorkeling gear etc. and headed south of the border to Puerto Kennedy on a peninsula about 20 miles south of Ensenada, Mexico. Here’s a map of where it is in relation to Ensenada”

Puerto Kennedy
Puerto Kennedy

It was the middle of nowhere with dirt roads, no facilities, no other people, etc. We camped right above Puerto Kennedy, and at night we could only see one light many miles down the coast. It was an ‘iffy’ area, and I wouldn’t go there today. Even back then Bob was ‘packing’.

The others took to the water and soon were hauling up fish on their spearguns. Well, I wasn’t much of a snorkeler as it was my first true snorkeling adventure in the ocean, but the water, fish, coral, and surroundings were absolutely beautiful. After getting woozy bobbing up and down in the incoming swells, shivering in the cold water (even with a wetsuit on), loosing a swimfin, which Bob had to go dive for, I decided to spend the rest the of weekend sketching the area.

When we got back to Pasadena, I soon painted several paintings from the trip, including a large painting, similar to this mini, and it won second place in a local art competition.

It was certainly a fun adventure!

By the way, in case you missed them on social media, here are a few more miniatures of Lake Tahoe just completed.

East Side View, 7x5 miniature, oil on panel
East Side View, 7×5 miniature, oil on panel
East Side Squall, 6x4 miniature, oil on panel
East Side Squall, 6×4 miniature, oil on panel

That’s it for now! Thanks for stopping by!

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A Third Trio

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Continuing my seasonal miniature paintings, here are three more, all in Yosemite National Park. I have already sold a number of miniatures this season and am departing slightly the 6×6 square format to other sizes.

Dropping a total of 2,425 feet, Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in Yosemite National Park, and one of the highest on the globe.

Misty Yosemite Falls, 5x7 miniature, oil on panel
Misty Yosemite Falls, 5×7 miniature, oil on panel

Here’s another 6×6 in Yosemite National Park. This is one of the falls or cataracts as the Merced River tumbles out of Yosemite Valley.

Turgid Merced, 6x6 miniature, oil on linen panel
Turgid Merced, 6×6 miniature, oil on linen panel

Built in 1922, Yosemite Creek Bridge is the oldest stone bridge in Yosemite Valley, spanning Yosemite Creek below Yosemite Falls (shown above).

Yosemite Creek Bridge, 4x6 miniature, oil on canvas board
Yosemite Creek Bridge, 4×6 miniature, oil on canvas board

There are more on the easel, so stay tuned!

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