Since April 2020 I have 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.
Coming’ at Ya, 24×12, oil on canvas
The waves come crashing in, pounding the narrow walls, rushing in and out creating thunderous sound. With sea spray in your face, there is nothing like standing on a bluff over the thrashing waves…especially in Big Sur, California!
Today’s offering from the studio hoosegow is another vertical water painting. This piece is a cove in Garrapata State Park, now not too far from our new home we just moved to. Be sure to click on the picture to see the entire painting.
You can read more about the location and also pictures of the development of this piece here…
Since April 2020 I have 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.
“Thunderbird Lodge”, 24×12, oil on gallery wrap canvas
Today’s offering from the house of detention. After I did the painting shown yesterday, I launched into a ‘Vertical Water’ series, one of which is shown below. There is also a great backstory about the “Tahoe Elephant” on my weblog here–
Since April 2020 I have 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.
Tahoe Squall Line, 6×6, oil on panel
Another painting in my annual holiday sale, Lake Tahoe is frequented by stormy weather during all seasons of the year. This piece depicts the steep eastern shoreline as a squall moves across the lake.
This is part of my still active holiday mini sale you can see here–
Since April 2020 I have 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.
“Truckee Blue”, 6×8, oil on panel, available 2020 Magnificent Miniatures
“Truckee Blue”, 6×8, oil on panel, available 2020 Magnificent Miniatures From the “Studio büntetés-végrehajtási intézet”, just finished, is another painting for my annual miniatures for sale through the holiday season. For 120 miles, the Truckee flows from Lake Tahoe, from the high Sierra to the desert, winding through mountain canyons, thru the communities of Tahoe City, Truckee, Reno, and Sparks. I have painted it many times in both plein air and studio…there is a never ending supply of different scenes in different weather and mood.
This is part of my still active holiday mini sale you can see here–
For the last 280 days I have 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.
Hood River Valley, 30×40, oil on canvas
This was the first post on FB April 4, 2020 kicking off what is now 281 days of posting one painting a day.
Since we are all sitting around staring at Facebook waiting for someone to post, how about some nice paintings…
For the last 280 days I have 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.
Canadian Rockies, 22×28, acrylic on canvas
Regarded as one of the most stunning alpine drives in the world, Icefields Parkway is an unforgettable way to immerse yourself in the Canadian Rockies. Also know as Canada Hwy 93, it connects the towns of Banff and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. With soaring rocky mountain peaks, icefields and vast sweeping valleys all along the route, every winding curve of the parkway fills the windshield with a new view. Jaw-dropping vistas of the Rocky Mountains and jagged snow covered peaks dwarf the glaciers in the valleys below. In addition to the extraordinary views, wildlife such as elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and the occasional bear or wolf are often spotted from the highway.
I traveled the Icefields Parkway in the mid-80’s in my RV, and have itched to go back ever since…but never have. We had lunch at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise during the journey decades ago, and on my bucket list is to return and stay for a few nights.
Lets leave the troubles of the USA for a moment and go north to Canada with today’s diversion from the bad news. From the “naujas studijos karantinas” with a painting along this wonderful parkway. This is one of my older acrylics and depicts the Bow River, but not sure what peak is in the background.
Yesterday I started the first in a series of how I learned to paint water. As I mentioned, what took me a week some forty years ago, I now do in an hour or two. Being primarily self-taught this is the second painting I did trying to learn to paint the multiple layers of water.
From the “quarentena de novo estúdio” I completed this around the same time of the work posted yesterday, around 1979. It was from a photo taken on a backpacking trip in the high Sierra. The deer weren’t there, but added them into the scene. Painting in oils, I first did the rocks, then let it dry, and kept glazing and adding layers. It took weeks between the drying and painting process. Now days I have learned how to paint wet into wet and everything can be done in one sitting.
This piece was also given to my parents which they hung in their home for many years, and now I think one of their grandchildren inherited it.
The photo might be a little blurry as it was scanned from a slide, and not sure what happened in the process.
Most artists can pinpoint certain works or events which led to a breakthrough painting, allowing them to reach a new plateau in their journey in creating art. In the next few posts, I’ll show a few works from the ‘way-back-machine’ on how I learned to paint water. I’ll tell the end of the story now…what used to take me a week to paint, I can now do in an hour or two. Due to the popularity of the book “Outliers”, they say it takes 10,000 hours to be truly “world class” at something. I am not sure about that, but learning to paint is a life long journey and endeavour!
From the “noua carantin? de studio” is a piece I did around 1978. The scene is a creek in the San Gabriel Mountains just above Pasadena, CA, probably the West Fork of the San Gabriel River. I took a photo of this scene during a hike and later painted it in my art studio (at the time also known as the living room) in Altadena, CA. The painting is a bit monochromatic, but I loved painting the clear water and rocks below.
As a post note, I later gave this piece to my parents which they hung in their home for many years, and now I think one of their grandchildren inherited it.
One of the spectacular views in the world is Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. The point offers a superb view of several of Yosemite National Park’s well-known landmarks, including Yosemite Valley, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Liberty Cap, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls, Clouds Rest, and Yosemite’s high country. It is a must do if visiting Yosemite National Park. I just completed a new commission of the Glacier Point view, but maybe a little backstory first…
We started 2020 with a move to a new home in Marina, CA, not far from Monterey and Carmel. Due to last minute flooring problems with the new house, we had to change our plans and put all our stuff in storage and stay in temporary housing for almost a month. Well, we finally made it to the new place, and then the virus stuff hit!
The last painting I did at the old home was a commission piece and the subject of my last blog. Recently I posted a photo of that painting on Facebook, and another long time collector wanted one similar. So, the first painting I did in the new place is another commission piece of the same scene. Kind of like bookends to our move. I won’t make a duplicate of a prior painting but in order to be true, you can’t change the features of Half Dome, the falls, and other landmarks, but you can change the viewpoint, make it different in mood, skies, time of day, lighting, etc.
I don’t really have a studio set up yet as we are planning on building an outbuilding for the studio, so I set up in the garage. The contents of my old studio is still in boxes, some of which you can see in the first picture below.
Below are some pictures of development of the painting. This might look a little familiar as it seems a rerun of my last blog post!
I used my plein air easel in the garage to do the painting. Since the light is poor, I only could paint during the day under natural sunlight.
The block-in. I wanted to limit the foreground to give the viewer an idea of the over 3,000 foot drop off to the valley below.
I do another block-in starting to indicate the local color. Most of the sky is completed in one sitting so-as to keep itsoft, fluffy, and loose.
Continuing by painting the far mountains and Upper Yosemite Valley, including Liberty Cap. Also developing patterns of sunlight and shadow.
Starting to work on and define Half Dome
Further defining Half Dome and the bench it sits on.
Here is further definition of the shadows and lit areas. I am also working out how much of a foreground to put it.
Putting in the foreground. I am wanting to show the drop-off from 3200 feet to the valley floor.
More foreground definition.
The bottom left looks a little empty, and I need something to bring the eye back into the painting, so I keep adding trees to the drop-off.
The final painting is at the top of this weblog entry. I always seem to want to keep on working on a piece but then it starts to look overworked, but I think I stopped at the right level here.
Awhile back, a couple from the bay area, Van and Kathy, visited Yosemite and saw one of my paintings hanging in the Yosemite Renaissance show at the Yosemite Museum. The painting, titled “Misty Sentinel” can be seen here. They liked my work, so made an appointment to come by the studio and look at more paintings. They ended up purchasing 3 paintings, and mentioned they might want me to do a commission.
Van had hiked and camped all over parts of the Yosemite back country, from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley, including a trek to the top of Half Dome. What he wanted was a morning view from Glacier Point, Yosemite as a reminder of his trekking.
Below is a diary of our journey together to create a painting. At each step of the way, I would email a photo to them so they could give their input as we progressed.
We started out by trading a number of photos to nail down the location, perspective and view he wanted.
I sent him this composite of several photos I took quite a few years ago of Glacier Point. You can see Nevada Falls in the middle right. Van wanted a view which showed both Vernal and Nevada Falls.
Van then sent this view closer to what he wanted, which showed both Vernal and Nevada Falls.
Van and Kathy cut out some cardboard to see what size painting they wanted, and put it up on the wall it will hang. We decided on a 22×28 canvas.
To get the view correct, I first did a pencil sketch and emailed it to them. He wanted to show a little bit more of the cliffs on the left and right, so I erased that part, and redrew just the sides resulting in this sketch. Since I had to push in from the sides, the scene is not exactly correct to perspective. I also wanted to bring forward the falls on the right, so made them a little more pronounced than what you might see in real life.
We were in the process of selling our home so my studio was crammed full of storage boxes and no room to paint.
So, I set my portable easel on the side of the house by the trash cans to do a small color study.
Van was very discerning on what he wanted, which was a view at around 10:00am, so I did a rough color sketch to see if I got the right mood and general colors correct.
The next step was to transfer the sketch to the full size canvas. I usually do this freehand, and don’t use grid marks, but in this case used a grid to ensure all elements, especially Half Dome were in perspective according to the approved original pencil sketch.
In the meantime, our house sold and we didn’t have to keep it quite so ‘staged’ for potential buyers. It was the start of the rainy season, so our solarium sun room became a temporary studio.
Next is a color block-in with one color, a purplish hue from a mixture of Ultramarine Blue and Quinacridone Red. The underlying purple will give the entire painting a warm undertone.
My palette consisted of the following: Cobalt Blue, Thalo Blue (just for pure sky), Ultramarine Blue, Quinacridone Red, Cadmium Red Deep, Sap Green, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Orange, Hanson Yellow Light, Quick Dry White.
The next step is a continuation of the block-in putting in a little more neutral grays and refining the drawing. The gray is a varying mixture of Cobalt/Cad Red Deep.
Van wanted lenticular clouds, so those were sketched in.
I now start to refine from the sky down to the distant mountains, and start putting more color in the valley to the right.
Detail of the ‘Little Yosemite Valley” area at this stage.
I now turn my attention to Half Dome, the star of the show, and start to detail it continuing to use the Cobalt/Cad Red gray and the purple mixed with various amounts of white to detail the cliff. I also begin to add Yellow Ochre, and Hansen Yellow Light for the trees both in sunlight and shadow. Also, Van wanted more lenticular clouds over the distant peak, so put those in. I also start placing some morning fog and other wisps of clouds here and there.
The foreground is next, where I place the trees, and continue to work all over the canvas adjusting accordingly.
Continuing the foreground and adjusting.
Several times during this stage, I let it dry, and then put a coat of Liquin over the background mountains to isolate the layer and thinly paint in more atmosphere in the distance.
Detailing the foreground and adjusting.
At this stage, I made an appointment with the the collectors to deliver the painting, and for the next several days made minor adjustments prior to delivery.
The night before delivery of the finished piece, something still bugged me about it, and my wife suggested more green and brighten up the foreground. I also didn’t like the straight line. on Half Dome’s shoulder, so broke that up to make it more like a ragged cliff. This was done the morning before the delivery, so it was still a little wet.
Here is the piece as I delivered it to the collectors. Please note throughout this diary, the painting was photographed in various lighting, and although I tried to correct it in Photoshop, sometimes it just was a little different.
Upon arrival at the collectors home, Van asked for a few changes, as it is really hard to judge a painting by online photos.
I touched up the sky a bit, and also downplayed the foreground taking out some of the highlights so the eye would tend to go to the distant peaks and valleys.
Here is another picture of the piece in their home. Since it wasn’t framed yet, we propped it up on a few open drawers
Doing commissions can sometimes be a hit and miss, trial and error process until both the artist and collector are satisfied. When the collectors first saw the piece in real life, they said it did not look quite like the pictures I had been texting and emailing online, even though I tried to send as accurate photo of the painting I could. After touching it up a bit at delivery time, though, it seemed they were pleased, at least I hope so!!
