December 31, 2021 December 31, 2021 / By Donald Neff
Everyone have a happy and prosperous 2022! Lets hope we fare better than 2020 and 2021!
2021 Miniatures Holiday Sale Extended!
I have some great paintings left which haven’t sold this holiday season, so I am extending the annual miniatures sale through the end of January 2022. Spend some of your Christmas gift cash! If you are looking for a great keepsake for the new year, this is the biggest discount I ever sell my paintings, some up to 70% off. Price is for framed or unframed original as shown. Shipping is free in the continental US.
December 25, 2021 December 25, 2021 / By Donald Neff
I started this website in 2001, which was one of the earlier artists websites around. Things were a bit more primitive then and harder to put together. Being from a tech background, though, I used the then state of the art tools, and kept the same look over the years. Between then and now we got smart phones, iPads, and all kinds of other devices. Web site building also got a lot easier. But, my website stayed it’s cluttered self.
I have now launched a new site, much cleaner, less cluttered, and is mobile device friendly. You are looking at it now. I am still curating some of the paintings under the Works tab, and adding a few pages, but the bulk of the old site has been moved over. Please enjoy browsing around, and let me know if there are any problems.
For the techies, I used to use Dreamweaver to build the site, but it has gotten way to complex and costly for what I need in a simple website. So, I just built on my weblog which runs under a local/private copy of WordPress.
December 14, 2021 December 14, 2021 / By Donald Neff
Looking for last minute gifts? Would you like a Donald Neff painting in the form of a jigsaw puzzle?? Some of my most popular prints are now in puzzle form! Choose from two sizes! Fine Art America is having a 20% off on puzzles and other items. Order now so you can get it before Christmas!
December 11, 2021 December 11, 2021 / By Donald Neff
Roy’s Beach, 12×24, oil on gallery wrap canvas
I never met Roy. But from now on, will certainly remember him.
One of the greatest satisfactions an artist can have is when a painting has extra special meaning to the collector. Besides just being a nice scenic painting to hang on a wall, if the place has some special significance to the purchaser, it also means something to the artist.
Last February I painted a scene of Ft Ord Dunes State Beach. We frequently walk among the dunes near our new home in Marina, CA, and we always pass by the scene. The late afternoon sun on Monterey Bay and the beach are just stunning. The painting sold almost immediately online. You can read about it here.
During my Open Studio event last October, Allen Crane, a lifelong resident of Marina, stopped by and told me he really wanted that painting, but it sold so fast he missed his chance to purchase it. I told him I could do a commission piece similar to the painting, although I wouldn’t paint the exact same thing. We settled on making it more of a sunset scene.
He then told me the story of why he wanted the painting…well, I’ll let him tell you in is own words:
Roy and Allen Crane first moved to Marina in the fall of 1964 after their father, Donald, retired from the US Army. Roy absolutely loved walking, very briskly, on the beach – Ft Ord Dunes State Beach was his favorite starting point for his daily walks. He always had a sighting to share – of whales, or porpoises, of the squid boats or flocks of pelicans following the curve of the waves. Nobody else seemed to see as much activity on the waves as Roy did, then again, not everyone walked for miles, daily, on the beach either. Roy passed away in his sleep at his childhood home in Marina, on Sept.22, 2020. A few days later, Allen held a memorial for his brother on this beach (he calls it Roy’s Beach) attended by friends and neighbors from all over Northern California.
Allen Crane
During the painting of this commission, and many times before and after, we walk by the very same scene, and we see the porpoises, squid boats, and pelicans just like Roy and Allen had for so many decades. It’s still there, and to be enjoyed for everyone many more decades to come.
December 7, 2021 December 7, 2021 / By Donald Neff
From April 2020, for a year, I posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts. Some of these paintings are still available.
“Late”, 18×24, oil on canvas, Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley Studio Versions
In 2014, after spending a year going out once a week in my quest to paint “The Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley”, I was just a little melancholy. So, I determined to paint some larger studio versions of my favorite pieces done on location the past year. Hence, a new series was born.
On this 340th day of posting a brief diversion from the virus news is another nocturne. I have been posting a few nocturnes of Silicon Valley, AKA Santa Clara Valley, painted from the hills above my home in San Jose. This might look familiar, as it is a studio piece of the plein air work I posted a few days ago.
December 3, 2021 December 3, 2021 / By Donald Neff
From April 2020, for a year, I posted on Facebook a painting each day as a brief diversion from the lockdowns and other bad news this year. Neglecting my weblog, I’ll post in the coming days some of my better posts. Some of these paintings are still available.
“Victorian Lore”, 24×12, oil on canvas, plein air.
Alum Rock Park in the foothills just east of San Jose was founded in 1872. With its dozens of mineral springs, it became a nationally famous health destination. Stone grottos were built around 20 springs, along with bath houses, hotels, saloons, a zoo, and other facilities over the years. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, San Jose residents and others could take the trolly from downtown east to commune with nature, partake of the mineral baths, and other attractions.
All that is gone now except the stone bridges, and grottos. The park has basically ‘returned to nature’.
From the “ny studiekarantæne”, I originally painted this for the Los Gatos Art Festival plein air event. The painting is of one of the remaining foot bridges across Penitencia Creek in the park built in 1913. It didn’t sell at that show, so I touched it up later in the studio. It’s also part of my vertical water series I add to occasionally you can see here– https://pin.it/5Mbc7D2
