Hand painted grids

The Three Hundred, 2008. oil on canvas 60 x 72

Here it is...my latest commission. I really had a lot of fun doing this painting. The collectors let me make a painting. They showed me their land and then said to me, "We want you to make the best painting you can, so do whatever you need to do to make the best panting you can for us." "Wahoo!!" I thought. I get to do the painting however it needs to be done. That's not to say that their commission wasn't without its challenges. Their ranch is very large, so I knew that trying to literally paint the whole thing was really going to be impossible, and even if I was going to try and paint it how I wanted to, I would still be painting thousands of trees. Plus the trees were not a defining element for the painting. I had to find an element that I could build the painting around. Exploring around their ranch I found it in a spring creek that ran through their property. I knew that if I got that right, it would feel like their ranch.

When they came into to my studio to see the finished painting for the first time they immediately said, "Hey, that's our three hundred..."

Let me tell you, that felt good.

Making Tracks

Orange Notes, 2008. oil on panel 12 x 12

I continue to explore different color ideas. Here is one of my more recent efforts. I don't really know where this is going to lead...but then that really isn't the point, is it? I don't know who said it first but I'm stealing it from Wolf Kahn,

"I just follow my brushes and let them take me wherever they want to go..."

Slinging paint

Around Evening, 2008. 9 x 12 sold

I have been slinging paint on a very large commission (a 60 x 72) for the better part of the last eight weeks. As a result, I haven't had a lot of time to do any other work, but this was a piece I did while I was letting the large piece sit. Do you ever need to let a painting sit for a while? These big commissions take so much energy that it feels good just to be able to knock out a smaller painting in a much more manageable time period.

I'll post the commission when its finished.

Hopefully it will be done this week.

Wet Dirt

Early Spring Fields, 2008. oil on panel 7 x 8

I was thinking about those wet spring days that we have around here every year when I did this little painting. The fields are wet with some of them planted and others are waiting to be so. The air is always clean and clear between spring storms. I really look foward to this time of year.

Enjoy.

outside...again

spring pastures, 2008. oil on panel 14 x 20 sold

This is a painting that I did outside recently. It was done on a large private ranch on the eastern side of the valley. When I get the opprotunity to paint on private property, I always jump at the chance because I get access to great places to paint that are often not available to me. I was very fimiliar with this area since I have been painting this section of the Merced River for almost a decade, but this year I was able to go anywhere I wanted to go, instead having to stay only on the side of the road. I knew that there were some hills just off the road that I thought would offer some fantasic views of the Merced River Valley. I scrambled up the hill and was treated to a great overlook. I came back and painted several views. What a treat!

My Newest Stuff

Just Passing Through, 2008. oil on canvas 24 x 20 sold

I love the big clouds that somtimes roll through the valley every spring. In this piece really wanted to push how big the clouds feel sometimes, so I turned the canvas sideways (at least for me) made the horizon very low to emphasize the vastness of the sky.

Enjoy.

This painting is part of The Central Valley Landscape Show at First Street Gallery during the month of June. The Reception is on June 6th from 6-8 PM. Stop by if you are in the area.

I don't understand

Golden Twilight, 2008. oil on canvas, 28 x 34. sold.

It feels strange sometimes when a painting comes together. I often struggle to make a painting work when I try new ideas. When I finished this painting, my wife commented, "You've been trying to paint yellow clouds for ten years, I think you finally got it right." And I thought back and I think she's right. It was 1997 when I first painted some strange looking yellow clouds in one of my paintings that prompted someone who was in my studio to say, "Is that piece done?" Not words any artist wants to hear. I've been fiddling with yellow clouds ever since, and not very successfully. I can't tell you why they started to work now. I guess persistence does pays off.

This painting is for the Central Valley Landscape show at First Street Gallery in June.