Donald Neff

Nick White , in Memoriam

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A good artist & painting buddy of mine passed away last week.  I had known Nick White about 5 years and he was one of the nicest, no nonsense, down to earth guys I have ever known.  Nick was the leader of the Los Gatos Art Association plein air group, and it was primarily his effort, energy, and care which kept the group going.  Besides painting together in the local area many times over the years, we took several painting trips together, such as one to the Eastern Sierras in October 2006 to paint the fall colors.

There were no memorial services for him, but a group of friends gathered at his home today in remembrance. Below are a few photos of the gathering–

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Next are a few photos of Nick during some of our painting adventures together.  I didn’t have any closeups of him, but mainly just pictures of him doing what he loved doing!! —

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Lastly, here is a picture of Rebecca, Nicks wife at the recent Touch My HeART show.  Rebecca is also an artist and frequent paints with the group–

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We will all certainly miss Nick & wish the best for Rebecca.

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Touch my HeART Gala

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I promise this is the last post on Touch my HeART.  Since I had won 2nd place, I got a free ticket to tonights gala. By the time I got there, my three paintings were gone, chosen by someone attending.  Below are a few picts.

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Touched by MyHeart

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“It was a dark and stormy night”…yes it was when I drove over to the the Touch My HeART, artists reception tonight. An unusual California downpour drenched everything on my drive.  When I arrived at the event, I was amazed by the line out the door and the crowd to get in. It was the biggest crowd I have seen at any of the Los Gatos charity events.

I donated 3 miniatures and they told me ahead of time I was honored with 2nd place…so, just a few picts.

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Touch MyHeART

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The local charity event, Touch My HeART, is in its seventh year of fundraising for The Museums of Los Gatos, supporting the activities of Art Museum of Los Gatos. I will be participating in the show this year.  Although they have changed the format over the years, it basically goes like this…patrons may purchase a ticket for $120 for the “Gala Event” on Valentines Day, February 14.  They then get to choose one of the miniature paintings contributed for the show.

I will have 3 paintings in the show, all 5×7 gallery wrap.  Gallery wrap means the painting is not framed, but the painting wraps around the end to a depth of about an inch. I have one painting each of Lake Tahoe, Yosemite Valley, and Big Sur in the show.  Below is the Yosmite Valley Painting.

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If anybody is interesting in obtaining one of my miniatures, then be sure to check this venue out, as they will be going for about 1/3 my normal gallery prices…plus you get food and wine! More information and tickets may be found on their web site.

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Prado Museum on Google Earth

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I am a real fan of Google Earth.  If you haven’t tried it, please do!  From virtually scouting out plein air painting sites, to finding houses I lived in as a child, to virtually exploring a Greek isle before a Mediterranean cruise, it has many uses.

Now, Google has added artistic masterpieces to Google Earth and Google Maps.  You can read a Time article about it here, and access the masterpieces here on Google Earth or Maps.

The 14 current images that have been scanned at the Museo del Prado include..

  • Artemis by Rembrandt
  • Self Portrait by Albrecht Durer
  • The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid by Francisco Goya
  • The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest by El Greco
  • The Cardinal by Raphael
  • Descent from the Cross by Roger van der Weyden
  • Emperor Carlos V on Horseback by Titian
  • The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch
  • Jacob’s Dream by José de Ribera
  • Inmaculada Concepción by Giambattista Tiepolo
  • The Annunciation by Fra Angelico
  • Crucifixion by Juan de Flandes
  • The Family of Felipe IV, or Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez
  • The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens

So, if you haven’t downloaded Google Earth yet you’re missing out! Hopefully Google will continue to expand this feature.

Google says “The paintings have been photographed in very high resolution and contain as many as 14,000 million pixels (14 gigapixels). With this high level resolution you are able to see fine details such as the tiny bee on a flower in The Three Graces (Las Tres Gracias), delicate tears on the faces of the figures in The Descent from the Cross (El Descendimiento ) and complex figures in The Garden of Earthly Delights (El Jardin de las Delicias)” on their Google Earth and Maps blog here.

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Leonardo, 500 Years Into the Future

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Leonardo da Vinci is celebrated as the inventor of extraordinary machines and mechanical devices that entered the common heritage of technical culture only several centuries after his death.

The San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation has had an exhibit about Leonardo da Vinci for the past several months.  I visited the exhibit today.

I haven’t studied Leonardo closely, so was interested to see what I could learn.  I have seen many of his paintings in the Louvre in Paris, including the Mona Lisa.  The exhibit centered more around the machines and mechanical culture of the Renaissance period than paintings.  The only original pieces in the exhibit actually by da Vinci were some of his notebooks.  There were only two paintings in a separate gallery, none by da Vinci, but by two of his disciples.

I walked away with two major impressions about the man.  First, not to diminish his genius, but da Vinci was more a product of his time and didn’t work in a vacuum.  Much of his inventiveness was built on the shoulders of others, including contemporaries, and not in isolation.

Secondly, and most important, is summed up by one of the plaques in the exhibit:

For Leonardo painting is supreme among the sciences, since it is based on the mathematical principles of perspective, it recurs to the to the verification of experience and is nourished by universal knowledge.

In other words, he considered painting the ultimate science vigorously applying the other sciences of perspective, proportionality, mathematics, atmosphere, etc.to his paintings.  Much of this was explained in the exhibit including the Golden ratio, human proportionality, etc.  Quite a contrast to today’s modern artists who declare “anything you say is art, is art”.

Below are a few pictures from today–

Showing the construction of the Renaissance era:

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Some of the actual manuscripts–

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Machines invented during that period for construction and other uses–

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If you live in the area, be sure to visit the exhibit as it is closing soon!

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Creative Spotlite Features Demo

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Creative Spotlite, a great online source for free art lessons, discount art supplies and other resources just featured my new Commission/Demo to their art instruction blog.  If you haven’t checked out their website and blog, it is a great resource for any artist.  You can also subscribe to their art instruction blog just like any weblog, and/or receive emails with updates to their Artist Spotlite and Painting Lessions.  Be sure to check them out!

You can check out my demo on their site here, or on my own website here.

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Anatomy of a Commission

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Earlier this year I did a large commissioned painting of Yosemite Valley at the height of the fall colors. The development of this commission is now documented as an Oil Painting demo on my primary web site. Included in the demo are portions of emails between me and the collector as the painting progressed which gives gives insight into the thought processes we all went through.

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Election Day

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I awoke to the pitter-patter of rain this election day morning.  It rained until about 9:00 AM, then cleared off to partly cloudy skies.  As I headed out to the polling place around ten o’clock, the clearing skies were wonderful.  We were getting the billowing cumulus clouds and fresh sky which is only common here after a winter storm.

I couldn’t resist, so after casting my ballot, I went home, ate lunch, and then headed out to the hills right behind my home to paint the wonderful sky before it was gone.  I took two 6×8 canvas boards, one toned with my usual Transparent Iron Oxide (somewhat like a Burnt Sienna), and the other just the white canvas.  I wanted to see how much the toned colors would come through on the sky.

I drove up one of the roads behind my house.  It was a wonderful, crisp and only slightly breezy day—

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I first painted towards San Jose and Silicon Valley with the sky as the center of interest.  Using the white canvas panel, I spent about 30 minutes on it–

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I then turned my easel around the exact opposite direction and painted the hills behind me with the clouds swirling around the tops.  Below is the second painting, using the toned panel.  Again I spent about 30 minutes on it as I wanted to capture the sky as quickly as possible.

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I think I will stick with the toned panel for sky paintings, as the warmth can show through.  Below is a picture of my easel by the car, which I had to take with my cell phone as the camera battery had just died.

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As I write this, I am not sure who will win the election.  Both my paintings, although very simple in composition, turned out to be ‘keepers’ so I walked away with two winners!!

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Forbes Mill

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Forbes Mill was built in 1854 and is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. What is left of the mill is now part of the History Museum of Los Gatos. The museum just opened a permanent display of local artists, and I was invited to join.  Paintings will be rotated about every 2 months.

I hung one painting, a miniature of a clearing storm in the California foothills.  The paintings are for sale, so if  you are in the area, be sure and stop in.  Below is my painting currently hanging.

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Lifting Storm * 5×7 * Oil on board

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