I just received word I was accepted into this national plein air show, now the fourth year in a row. The first year I entered, I was honored with Best In Oils, but nothing since. This makes two plein air shows I will be participating in May, the Los Gatos Plein Air May 28-30, and this one, May 14-17. Below is a picture I did last year for the Carmel Show.
First Rays * 12×24 * Oil
Carmel Art Festival Read More »
Sierra Road winds from San Jose into the eastern foothills of Santa Clara Valley (otherwise known as Silicon Valley). I was out on that road watching the Tour of California a week ago, as you may have read in a previous blog. I was rained out for painting, so went back today. A storm had just cleared, and the skies were wonderful! I found a great spot overlooking the valley, and could actually see downtown San Francisco, looming over the bay 50 miles away. Mt Tamalpais was directly behind it. What a great day!
I ended up doing a small panorama, 8×16 inches in about 90 minutes. It turned out quite well, a real keeper. I even painted in a wisp of San Francisco way in the distance. Below are a few shots from my vantage point.
Below is the painting. I will probably touch it up a bit, but doesn’t need much!
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–
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!! —
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–
We will all certainly miss Nick & wish the best for Rebecca.
Nick White , in Memoriam Read More »
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—
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–
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.
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.
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!!
I just returned from the Seasons of Martis plein air event. Rather than detail the entire trip day by day, I’ll just throw in a few pictures of my 5 day trip to the Lake Tahoe area.
After checking in on Wednesday, I headed out to the Truckee River to do a painting. I ended up painting close to Patricia Wallis, another participant in the show–
Below is my easel by the Truckee–
Below is the completed Truckee painting. This is just a quick snapshot and I will try to get a better photo on my website–
The next morning I headed over to Waddle Ranch. The gate is normally locked, but they unlocked it so we artists could paint the area. It was very windy, so I huddled right next to the car–
Below is my partially completed painting on the easel–
Friday morning I went out on Mt Watson road which had a magnificent view of the valley–
Below is a quick snapshot of the painting–
The clouds rolled in Friday afternoon, and snow was predicted for later in the day, so I retreated to the motel to do touch-ups and framing.
I ended up entering just two of the four paintings in the show, the Truckee River painting and the view from Mt Watson road. There was a reception on Saturday night, but I forgot to bring my camera.
I had Sunday morning free, so went out and painted the lake. It was probably my best painting of the trip, but the show didn’t allow paintings of Lake Tahoe…just Martis Valley–
Below is a shot of the show on Sunday afternoon–
I have been back from my motorcycle trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons for over a week, and have really been remiss in reporting the trip.
Although this was primarily a riding trip, I managed to break away from the pack and do two paintings in Yellowstone. I have been to both Yellowstone and the Tetons many times, but riding around on a Harley is definitely a unique and fun experience! To demonstrate that point, below is a picture of me on my Harley wondering where that beast was headed. He actually ended up walking off the road right behind me!
My first painting was at Firehole Falls. Below are a couple shots of the falls, and my portable easel.
My next painting was of Lower Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. I started the painting late in the day, and the falls were backlit by the afternoon sun. What a wondrous view! The first photo was actually taken earlier the next day, and then the painting sitting on my tripod.
Below are a couple shots of the paintings after I returned home. They need touching up a bit, but just painting in this wondrous place was reward in itself.
Yellowstone by Harley Read More »
I am blogging from Wells, Nevada, a tiny town at the crossroads of Interstate 80 and Highway 93 in the Northeast corner of Nevada. I have been on the road for two days on the Harley with the destination of Yellowstone and the Tetons. I’m travelling with a couple of couples, one on a Honda Goldwing, the other on a Yamaha FJR. Needless to say we are having a great time riding!
Tomorrow we will travel up 93 into Idaho and then across to West Yellowstone where we will stay for a few days and tour the park.
I brought my paints, and plan to let my fellow motorcycle riders tour the park while I pick out places to paint. I’m travelling with a unique set of painting equipment (at least for me) as I have to carry 11 days worth of living on my bike. If it works out, I’ll give details later.  I have been to the Yellowstone a number of times, so am more anxious to paint than see every geyser!Â
After that, we are off to the Tetons for a couple days. Below is a plein air I did of Mt Moran the last time I visited this area….hope to do more!!
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I just received a copy of the poster for the upcoming Seasons of Martis event which I am honored to participate in this October. Below is the poster. You can get more information from their website here.
I just returned from a week long trip to Big Sandy, Texas. I visit fairly often as my parents and sister live there. My last visit was December of last year to dedicate a painting I donated to a local church there.
I had been experimenting with water soluble oils recently and brought those on this trip. Sometimes when I travel, it is too inconvenient to find turpentine at my destination, so many times take acrylics, which I recently did on our cruise to Alaska.
Many of you know I spent 15 years in East Texas from the time I was about 13 years of age. I started painting while there, and at the time painted from other peoples photos such as calendars, etc. of far off spectacular places. Didn’t seem like there was a lot to paint in my local area. Now that I go back, I find good painting subjects everywhere! I think the mark of a good artist is to make the seemingly ordinary and mundane into something of beauty.
With visiting family and friends, I only took one morning to paint. It didn’t take me long to find a nice pasture and pond just south of Big Sandy close to the Sabine River. I brought only minimal equipment and ended up using the hood of the car as my easel. It was somewhat cloudy, but the pink of the early morning sun was wonderful. However, it soon began to rain, so I had to stop as the water soluble paints were smearing all over the canvas! I will continue to experiment with these paints.
Below is a picture of the scene. You can see the painting in progress on the hood of my car–
Of Big Sandy, TX and Water Soluable Oils Read More »
I just returned from a short visit to Lake Tahoe. My primary mission was to deliver 27 paintings to the James Harold Gallery for my one-person show which starts this holiday weekend. Between that, and the 20 or so paintings they currently have on hand, it should be a pretty good show. The works are mainly of Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, both studio and plein air. Below is a shot of one of the premier paintings (and also the largest) in the show:
“The Red Boat” (Cave Rock) * 48×36
The painting was so well received, several patrons expressed interest in it before it was even hung!
Of course, I did paint, but the conditions were not completely ideal as a lot of smoke was blowing in from the California wildfires. At times you could not see the other side of the lake! I’ll include just a few shots from my 3 day visit–
My easel and a partially complete painting–
From a painting session, Wednesday morning, it started as a beautiful day before the smoke started to roll in–
Here is a quick shot of the last painting on my easel, very near completion–
A Quick Trip to Tahoe Read More »
